• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

		The Nature Conservancy in Montana Montana About the Chapter Chapter News Places We Protect Montana State Tax Credit Events Science & Stewardship Grizzly Bears Press Releases Contact Us Pine Butte Guest Ranch Ways of Giving Conservation Buyers

Landscape on the Edge

Cover of the "Landscape on the Edge" DVD Photo © Amy Colson What ranchers have to say... "If we can keep this landscape intact but sill have families, still have kids running around on horseback, have thriving communities, they're going to say 50 to 100 years from now, 'they got it right.'" --rancher Dusty Crary "These big ranches provide winter range for these [wildlife] species and if you have subdivisions the wildlife have no place to winter." --rancher Karl Rappold

A pond on the Rocky Mountain Front
Photo © Doug Bostrom

Rocky Mountain Front DVD
addresses how to keep ranchlands intact

Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, where the vast prairie bumps up against the mountains of Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, is home to unique wild assemblage of critters and plant species. Almost one-third of the plant species documented in Montana are found on the Front. It's also the last place in the nation where grizzly bears roam onto the prairies as they did when Lewis and Clark explored the region 200 years ago.

The Front is also home to several generations of ranch families. As in many areas across the West, these ranchers face enormous challenges in preserving their way of life. Pressure to develop their lands and the habitat they safeguard is intense. Increasingly, ranchers who want to keep their land and way of life are turning to conservation easements. This tool keeps the land intact and allows traditional ranch activities to continue.

Many of these ranchers present their views on a new Conservancy DVD called "Landscape on the Edge." The DVD documents their love of this landscape and way of life as well as their concern for preserving the Front for future generations. The program offers compelling reasons for covering their lands with conservation easements. This voluntary conservation tool has been used to conserve almost 1.5 million acres across Montana, protecting some of the most ecologically significant private lands from unwanted development.

This 13-minute DVD is intended to be used as a conservation and fundraising tool. For information about "Landscape on the Edge," contact the Conservancy at 406-443-0303. 

Credits
Narrated by Jim Posewitz
Directed & edited by Amy Colson
Music by Milton Menasco
Camera: Amy Colson, Tonya Easbey & Marianne Zugel
Additional footage provided by:
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Park
National Parks Conservation Association
Nature Conservancy Canada