Conflict Might Sell, But Consensus Lasts

While presidential nominee hopefuls take turns slinging mud at one another and an armed militia declares a war on public lands, the Blackfoot Challenge and partners continue to work below the headlines, finding lasting solutions by working together. As this onslaught of “political theater” grabs the attention of the media, I’m reassured by the alternative approach many are taking, and have been for decades, to solving conflicts.

I’m reminded of the 80/20 rule, coined by third-generation Helmville rancher David Mannix and Blackfoot Challenge Board member, that suggests we focus on the 80 percent we have in common, not the 20 percent we don’t. Yes, it’s an optimistic ratio but we likely have much more in common than we may think. So why don’t we start by identifying that, working together on something we both care about. You’ll get to know me, I’ll get to know you, and we can get something done. Then later, we’ll have built the credibility and confidence in one-another to tackle the 20 percent.

By using this simple (but not necessarily easy) approach, the individuals that live, work and recreate here have amassed a long list of outcomes for the wildlife, water, lands and people of this remarkable watershed.

It’s been inspiring in the last few weeks to see the upwelling of commentary stating that Ammon Bundy and his gang do not in fact represent the majority of rural Westerners. In contrast, the people who live here have chosen to be a part of the solution and have found ways to work with their neighbors, public agencies included. And thank goodness they have. The alternative “us versus them” approach just doesn’t seem to have much of a future. We’ve already proven that we can achieve more by working together, so you can trust that your partners at the Blackfoot Challenge will continue to do just that.

Please read on for a few recent highlights of our community-based work.

Wildlife Conflict Reduction

Calving season is just around the corner for valley ranches and that means so is another round of the Carcass Pick-Up Program. This will be the 14th consecutive year the Blackfoot Challenge has coordinated this program that reduces conflicts between carnivores and livestock by removing carcasses from ranches and bringing them to a centralized composting facility.

Since the program began, nearly 6,500 carcasses have been removed from livestock ranches in the Blackfoot, as well as in other parts of Missoula, Powell, Lewis & Clark and Granite Counties. More than 100 landowners now participate and wildlife/livestock conflicts in these areas continue to decline.

The Blackfoot in particular has witnessed a 93 percent decline in conflicts since 2003, due not only to the high participation in the Carcass Pick-Up Program but the use of other conflict-reducing strategies as well, such as fencing off calving areas and beehives, the use of bear-proof containers, and monitoring wolf and grizzly bear activity in the summer through the Range Rider Program. All combined, these strategies are increasing grizzly and wolf survival while simultaneously supporting multi-generational family ranches. A win-win.

If you’d like to learn more about this program, or just watch a neat short documentary, visit https://vimeo.com/131528982.

This 17-minute film entitled “Living with Carnivores: Boneyeards, Bears and Wolves,” explores the history of wildlife/livestock conflict in the Blackfoot, shares the stories of those affected and details the home-grown solutions that have developed and why they work. Give it a look and let us know what you think.

Clearwater-Blackfoot Project

This January marks the one-year anniversary of the Clearwater-Blackfoot Project (CBP), the 117,000-acre contiguous block of land expanding west out of Seeley Lake now managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The Challenge is working together with TNC, the surrounding communities and other nonprofit and public partners to develop a shared vision for the future use and ownership of these lands.

The first year of the project was one of collecting information and increasing awareness. TNC had an exhaustive road and stream crossing inventory completed, in addition to spending a lot of time on-foot getting to know the area, changing locks, treating weeds, mapping fence lines, updating grazing leases, etc. The CBP Working Group met three times and decided to establish two sub-work groups, one to develop criteria to evaluate private purchase proposals and the second to develop strategies to increase community awareness and participation.

We also coordinated with Five Valleys Land Trust to host a celebratory event at the cathedral-esque ponderosa pine grove known as Primm’s Meadow and have plans to host a similar event again this summer closer to Seeley Lake.

If you weren’t able to make it to a public meeting, work group meeting or other CBP-related event last year, the Project has a new website where we’re posting all meeting minutes, inventory reports, upcoming events and more: http://www.nature.org/blackfoot. There is also an area where you can submit your thoughts, ideas and questions on anything related to the CBP. We hope you’ll take advantage of this.

Announcing “The Blackfoot Steward” Newsletter

In addition to our regular email newsletter, the Challenge will begin distributing “The Blackfoot Steward” at the end of the month in response to member interest. Linking Blackfoot watershed residents to helpful resources is central to our mission, so we are launching this new email newsletter as a means to keep folks informed on natural resource topics that impact our watershed.

Aimed at landowners, both large and small, the newsletter will incorporate everything from soil health to weed identification to water quality topics. We plan to share new partnership and funding opportunities, emerging range and water science, training and workshop announcements, and Blackfoot Challenge program updates.

We’ll kick off the inaugural issue in late January – with plans to publish every other month. If you’d like to subscribe, please send an email to Jennifer Schoonen, Blackfoot Challenge water program coordinator, at jennifer@blackfootchallenge.org.

Become a Member

If you support the ground-up, collaborative approach to conserving and enhancing natural resources and rural livelihoods in the Blackfoot, consider becoming a member of the Blackfoot Challenge. There are no dues and you will be able to stay in-the-know about Blackfoot Challenge programs and events through our mailing list. Just drop us a line at outreach@blackfootchallenge.org if you’d like to sign up.

Until next time, thanks for committing to be a part of the solution. We hope you and yours have a wonderful winter.