October 3, 2011

Conferences, Wolves, and Bears...Oh My!
by Fiona Brown

This has been a jam packed week for the L&L students —kind of like shark week, if sharks were wolves and bears and conservation professionals.

We got up bright and early and drove to Polson to participate in the 2nd Annual Roundtable on the Crown of the Continent Conference. This was a great opportunity for students to make connections with dynamic individuals and organizations from across Montana and Canada. Our highlights were by far the speakers and performers from the Blackfeet, Salish, Kootenai, Ktunaxa and Blood Tribes.

The next day, we hiked 15 miles back to the Swan Valley over the majestic Mission Mountains. We had gorgeous weather and incredible panoramic views as a backdrop for practicing field skills. We staggered into the big green van at 7:40 p.m., exactly. Erin won the bet on our arrival time by 30 seconds.

On Monday a group of perspective students from the University of Montana came to visit L&L. While Adam was giving an animal tracking seminar in the morning, bear experts from Fish, Wildlife & Parks paid us a surprise visit with two Swedish predator management experts in tow. We not only learned about predator management in the Swan Valley, but also learned that there are 300,000 moose in Sweden, and the word for "bear" in Swedish is bear. That afternoon we investigated wolf signs.

Now we are busily learning about forest stewardship techniques and policies to promote sustainable forest management more broadly. We can't believe that every day is so full of fun, learning and experiences that open our eyes to new realities.