Building relations

 Guest post by 2023 student Camryn Brown - 

To kick off the start of our two weeks in Montana, we went to the 10th annual Matador Ranch Symposium. Here, scientists and ranchers were able to share what was happening in both sectors so that both sides were informed. While I had context about their relationship from last semester's class, this helped me place exactly where the two groups sat. I liked that the ranchers and scientists were able to come together and discuss things that might have been controversial or agitating had they not been explained face-to-face. It was nice that plenty of people showed up in support of each other. At the end of the symposium, we were able to talk with a local rancher, Leo Barthelmess, on his perspective about different ecological issues we have been learning about. One of the more interesting things from our conversation was concerning prairie dogs. Barthelmess strongly dislikes prairie dogs; he thinks that they are annoying and negatively affect his ability to ranch. However, he has a town of prairie dogs on his ranch where he is unable to grow anything, and made sure to mention that when he has visitors, he always takes the time to show them his prairie dogs. I think that statement in particular is interesting because he acknowledges both sides. There are people, like himself, that dislike prairie dogs, and there are people that prairie dogs are ecologically beneficial. Perhaps this small act of tolerance is the start of ranchers and scientists working together to come up with a solution that is sustainable for all parties involved. 

In contrast to this, we met with Damien Austin, an employee for the American Prairie Reserve. The American Prairie Reserve is a non-profit organization that is trying to piece together over 3 million acres of land that will act as land where wildlife can simply be wildlife. They are aiming for over 3 million acres of land because this is widely accepted as the amount of land needed to have a prairie ecosystem that can support itself. They face a lot of controversy, particularly with ranchers. Signs have been appearing across Montana, as shown in the picture above. When asked about the signs, Austin said that in years prior, they tried to ignore the controversy surrounding them and have since realized that ignoring is not the answer. It only leads to more issues and less support for their cause. Since then, they have been working on their communication to help ease the tension between ranchers and themselves. They have a decent amount of way to go, but it’s a start. Hopefully they can continue to build relations with their neighbors and other Montana residents so they can understand how the American Prairie Reserve will promote biodiversity and leave their lifestyle unharmed.

Spread out across 2 days, we met with 4 graduate students to learn more about their research and fieldwork methods. One common theme throughout each of the research projects is that many grassland species are ignored and/or understudied. We met with Andrew Dreelin who researches nest success of grassland birds depending on their location relative to prairie dogs. I am particularly interested in birds, so I loved hearing about his work and how much effort he puts into it. We also met with Dana Nelson, who is a PhD student at Clemson, and is working on reintroducing swift foxes into the prairies. We drove around looking for any swift foxes in the habitat and visited old swift fox dens. One interesting part of her research is that swift foxes are one of the only carnivores that the general public feels positively about. Another researcher that we met with was Claire Bresnan, who is studying bison ecology and how they move in herds now that they have been reintroduced in a controlled environment. Bresnan commented on the threat, or lack thereof, of brucellosis in bison. Her research was quite exciting, as she gets to watch the bison closely with a drone. Lastly, we met with Nancy Raginski, who is studying pipit ecology. I was fascinated by her work. She, along with her techs, watch for the birds displaying in the air, set up a net, attract them down to the net using a decoy bird, record information like weight, wing length, etc, and then band the bird with a tracker. Her goal is to find out more about pipits migration habits and their lives through this. The tracker is shown in the picture above; the bird wears it like a miniature backpack. When the bird flies past a motus tower, which have been built around the world, she will be alerted that the bird is there, thus allowing her to research their movement. I loved hearing her talk about her work and the impacts it could possibly have. I also enjoyed talking with each of the lab techs and learning about their experiences and how they ended up in each of their labs. This section of class felt particularly special and important to me because of that.

We also visited the Charles M Russel National Wildlife Refuge, which is found in the Missouri Breaks. We learned about the history of the Missouri Breaks and Cow Island. It was nice to learn more about the history of the land and actually look at where important historical events took place. I particularly found this sign interesting because of how the Montana Parks handle the fine line between research, conservation, and human activity. My first thought to protect these species would have been to completely restrict fishing activity from this pond, but instead, the park services decided to trust and educate the fishermen so that all parties benefited.