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Fall Naturalist's Tour of the Rockies
Date: Time: Overview: The Naturalist Tour is designed to encourage ecological understanding through daily field trips in a spectacular landscape. This workshop will be alive with exploration, learning, and discovery—a treat for anyone interested in nature, whether a novice or expert! A maximum of sixteen people will participate in order to promote an intimate learning environment. We’ll spend the majority of our time outdoors, learning through discovery in a variety of habitats. During September, the landscape is bursting with changing colors and the clean, crisp mountain air truly invigorating. We’ll explore the Conservancy's immense Pine Butte Preserve, a fascinating assemblage of wetlands, prairie, and foothills – home to the world's last prairie grizzly bears. We’ll also hike into the wild Rocky Mountain Front, a scenic blend of peaks and forests, inhabited by a bounty of rare wildlife. The field trips for this workshop will involve a substantial amount of hiking in terrain that varies from prairie foothills to mountains. We’ll be at elevations ranging from 4,000 - 6,500 feet. Round-trip lengths of these hikes will range from 2-8 miles. All of our hikes will be paced gently to best accommodate the needs and abilities of the group. And, of course, we’ll pause frequently along the way to discuss local natural history. This workshop will span a topics ranging from wildlife and plant biology to geology and archaeology. Our emphasis will be on the art of "reading" the land -- the ability to see and interpret the land in a broad ecological sense. You’ll learn how to recognize and understand plant communities and habitat types; interpret animal signs in a way that enables you to spot more wildlife, and come to a better understanding of the relationships between fauna, flora, and the land itself.
A series of brief lectures and audio-visual programs will round out our time spent in the beautiful and peaceful wild lands of northern Montana. Accomodations: You’ll stay at the historic Pine Butte Guest Ranch, set in a spectacular mountain valley surrounded by thousands of acres of wilderness. It’s the perfect place to "get away from it all" and enjoy outstanding food and cozy lodging.
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