Montana's Conservation Heroes

MONTANA’S

CONSERVATION

HEROES Representing a mix of occupations and approaches, the newest inductees into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame embody a common vision of protecting the lands, waters, and wildlife that make Montana the last best place. By Tom Palmer EdiToR’s NoTE: At a public ceremony in Helena last December, 16 conservation heroes— living and deceased—were inducted into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame. Nationally renowned conservation leader and author Jim Posewitz of Helena, for years a biologist and conservation advocate with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, founded the hall of fame in 2012 with support from the Montana Historical Society, which verifies the histories and significance of nominees. A volunteer board of representatives from Montana’s Outdoor Legacy Foundation, the Montana Wildlife Federation, the Montana Wilderness  Association, Montana Trout Unlimited, and FWP select new inductees every two years. The Cinnabar Foundation and NorthWestern Energy are partners in the project.  Posewitz, himself a 2016 inductee, introduced the 2018 inductees:

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MARCH–APRIL 2019

FWP.MT.GOV/MTOUTDOORS

to our time carried by individuals who cared, showed up, and stood up on their behalf. They are amenities that, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “add to the beauty of living and therefore to the joy of life.” The 16 people we recognize tonight are but a small sample of the legions of worthy and deserving Montanans. These people, along with those inducted in 2014 and 2016, came from all facets of Montana society. They include pioneers, politicians, artists, resource managers, grassroots activists, and individual Montanans—people who simply would not allow America’s last best place to just slip away. We thank and honor them all.

2018 INDUCTEE PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE MONTANA OUTDOOR HALL OF FAME

Jim Posewitz

hen Montana people ratified our Constitution in 1972 it began with: “We the people of Montana (are) grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains....” They did so knowing that within those grand mountains and across those vast plains there lived a richly restored fish and wildlife abundance, a grand collection of waterways flowing fresh and free, and quiet places destined to remain forever wild. Today, 154 years after the Montana Territory was born, we gather to recognize that these precious outdoor amenities came

JOEL CALDWELL

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Lewis and Clark at Eagle Creek, 1967. By Thomas Hart Benton. Courtesy of the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis.

Michel Pablo, Charles A. Allard

MICHEL PABLO 1844–1914 CHARLES A. ALLARD 1852–1896 There  was  a  time  when  30  million  bison roamed North America. In 1830, mass destruction of the animals began. Two million bison were slaughtered in 1870 alone.   Then came two 19th-century men born to Indian mothers who worked together to save the buffalo—and by extension, perhaps, their native culture—from extinction. In  1873,  reservation  ranchers  Charles  A.  Allard  and  Michel  Pablo  purchased  several

orphaned calves that had been brought over the Continental Divide to the Flathead Valley.   Allard was a chatterbox, an effusive salesman. Pablo, a pensive agriculturist and businessman. They made a perfect team. They  turned  their  buffalo  out  in  the fence-free Flathead and Mission Valleys. While their intent was entrepreneurial, they  also  aspired  to  help  replenish  a  wild buffalo population. When  Allard  died  in  1896,  following complications from a fall from his horse, the Allard-Pablo herd numbered 300. Allard’s half-share  was  dispersed  to  several  U.S.

MONTANA OUTDOORS

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