Beyond Beverages: How Coffee and Wine Help Grizzly Bears

Merlot or Syrah? French roast or Colombian? A grizzly bear might not know the difference, but that doesn't mean wine and coffee can't make a big difference for the iconic species.

Look no further than two western Montana businesses, Missoula's Ten Spoon Vineyard & Winery and Whitefish's Montana Coffee Traders. Each contributes daily to the long-term survival of the grizzly bear through business partnerships with The Vital Ground Foundation, a Missoula-based land trust dedicated to conserving habitat for grizzlies and other wildlife in the Northern Rockies.

Vital Ground's Business Partners in Conservation program provides critical support for the organization's work and a unique opportunity for businesses to align themselves with conservation values. Ten Spoon and Montana Coffee Traders are two of the program's most recognizable participants, thanks to their affiliated products, Prairie Thunder wine and Grizzly Blend coffee.

Each time a consumer purchases a pound of Grizzly Blend or a bottle of Prairie Thunder, they contribute $1 to Vital Ground and its mission of protecting and restoring healthy grizzly populations for future generations.

They'll get to enjoy a first-rate beverage, too. Prairie Thunder is a dinner-table favorite in the region, a special blend of Petite Syrah and Zinfandel grapes with the silky, rich flavors of dark cherry, coffee and chocolate on a berry field and a hint of strawberry splashing throughout.

"Prairie Thunder wine honors the great grizzly bear," says winemaker Andy Sponseller. "Where the grizzly roams, the land is healthy and all animals flourish."

The wine took home a silver medal from New York's 2014 Finger Lakes competition. Its label features Amy Shapira's striking photograph of a grizzly in prairie grass backed by billowing storm clouds.

Meanwhile, Montana Coffee Trader's Grizzly Blend is a certified organic and Fair Trade dark roast. Rich, earthy, and full-bodied-like the coat of a healthy grizzly-the blend jumps off the shelf with Missoula artist Monte Dolack's painting "The Great Bear" featured on its label, the same image seen on automobiles throughout Montana thanks to Vital Ground's charity license plate.

Of course, Vital Ground's business partnerships extend beyond beverages. In 2016, more than two dozen businesses donated a portion of their profits or offered services or expertise to Vital Ground. Ranging from local banks and artists to giants like Google and Amazon Smile, Vital Ground's business partners enjoy opportunities like product royalty agreements, corporate foundation grants, annual business memberships, sponsorship and co-branding, and employee gift-matching programs. And they align themselves with Vital Ground's unique niche in the conservation world.

As an accredited land trust, Vital Ground is the only organization dedicated to grizzly bears that makes a measurable difference through conservation easements and other on-the-ground land transactions with willing landowners.

Furthermore, thanks in part to its association with the iconic Hollywood grizzly Bart the Bear-of Legends of the Fall fame, among others-Vital Ground offers its business partners an inside track to a large and diverse base of supporters. By linking themselves with the image of North America's most charismatic wild species, companies can demonstrate social responsibility and a commitment to tangible conservation efforts like Vital Ground's.

"Vital Ground's business partners program offers the opportunity to match corporate values with on-the-ground action ‒ especially for conservation-minded businesses in the Northern Rockies," says Ryan Lutey, Vital Ground's executive director. "Cause-related marketing helps for-profit companies illustrate their support of wildlife habitat, open spaces and the many associated benefits, while simultaneously extending Vital Ground's reach to new audiences ‒ their consumers ‒ who might not be familiar with our work."

The organization works directly with landowners throughout the five federally-designated grizzly bear recovery zones: The Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem extending from Glacier National Park to Missoula, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the smaller Cabinet-Yaak, Selkirk, and North Cascades ecosystems spreading from Montana into the Idaho Panhandle and Washington.

These are the places where grizzlies can still roam in the Lower 48 but, as development continues to expand throughout the West, it's up to conservation-minded groups like Vital Ground and its business partners to ensure that the Great Bear remains a part of the region's future.

And whether it's through wine, coffee or gift-matching, that's a goal that many can help achieve.

Matt Hart is a Wyss Conservation Scholar in the Environmental Studies Graduate Program at the University of Montana and an intern for Vital Ground.