The Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame’s latest class of honorees has a strong thread of Greater Yellowstone connections.
Whether developing bike trails in Livingston or the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness designation in Congress, this year’s award winners left lasting marks on local maps, according to MOHF Board President Bert Lindler. And they did so in ways that increase the access, enjoyment and resilience of those places for all other Montanans, he said.
The Hall has been spotlighting “conservation heroes” every two years since 2014. Lindler joked that “We have a lot of gray hair at our biennial celebrations,” but this year had found a countercurrent to turn the focus toward the future. With the support of the Cinnabar Foundation, MOHF will also recognize the 16 Held v. Montana youth plaintiffs, whose successful lawsuit enforced Montanans’ constitutional rights to a “clean and healthful environment,” including a stable climate system.
This year’s list includes:
Jeanne-Marie Souvigney of Livingston. Souvigney earned a master’s degree in environmental studies from the University of Montana before going to work as a community organizer for the Northern Plains Resource Council in Billings in 1983. In 1990, she joined the Greater Yellowstone Coalition as its national parks program director, where she worked for 11 years. There she organized coalitions to improve Yellowstone National Park bison management that helped stop the slaughter of thousands of animals in the 1980s, and pushed Congress to pass the Old Faithful Protection Act of 1994, protecting the park’s geothermal treasures from energy development. Souvigney also helped form the Park County Environmental Council, now celebrating its 35th year of environmental advocacy. She has been pivotal in realizing community projects with the Livingston-Park County Trails and Greenway Committee and Livingston Parks and Trails Committee, organizing volunteer efforts to improve the Mayor’s Landing Fishing Access Site, Highway 89S bike trails and lower Fleshman Creek’s dog park. In 1999, Souvigney helped found Montana Conservation Voters, where she led public outreach campaigns until her retirement in 2018.
Rick and Susie Graetz of Missoula. Although they lived for long stretches in Helena and Big Sky, the Graetzs left their footprints across the Rocky Mountain West. In 1970, they cofounded Montana Magazine, which grew into one of the nation’s largest regional publications with a focus on outdoor adventure and photography. They also copublished more than 30 books popularizing the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, wilderness areas, and anthologies of western writers and photographers. In 1983, Rick helped found the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. At the University of Montana, Rick taught geography for 16 years and since 2020 has been leading classes at the Davidson Honors College in mountain ecosystems. He directs the UM Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative, where Susie is managing editor of the institute’s publications. They are currently working on research and writing initiatives focused on the “High Divide” region extending from the Greater Yellowstone into central Idaho.
Chris Servheen of Missoula. Servheen earned his doctorate degree in wildlife biology from the University of Montana studying grizzly bears just as they were coming under Endangered Species Act protection in the 1970s. He became U.S. Fish and Wildlife grizzly recovery coordinator in 1981, and spent the next 35 years leading government efforts to restore the bears to their Rocky Mountain habitats. In that time, grizzly bear numbers expanded from a few hundred to more than 2,000 in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. During the later part of his FWS career, Servheen worked on countering white nose syndrome, a fatal fungal disease destroying wild bat populations across North America. Outside his federal responsibilities, Servheen served as an adjunct research associate professor at UM, leading graduate committees and teaching international wildlife conservation for 18 years. After retirement from FWS in 2016, Servheen advocated for grizzlies and other wildlife through the Montana Wildlife Federation and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Teddy Roe of Billings. Roe was a 1959 graduate of the University of Montana’s School of Journalism, and combined his interests in international political science and Beartooth Mountains fishing to land a job with Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana. He moved over to the staff of Montana junior Senator Lee Metcalf, becoming his legislative director in 1973. In that time, Roe directed many of Metcalf’s wilderness campaigns, including the Upper Missouri Wild and Scenic River Act in 1976, and the Montana Wilderness Study Act in 1977. When Metcalf died unexpectedly in 1978, Roe rallied congressional allies to pass the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness bill and the Great Bear Wilderness Bill. Roe is a founding member of Montana Conservation Elders.
Bill Cunningham of Choteau. Although he lives on the edge of the Rocky Mountain Front, Cunningham’s outdoor legacy can be felt across the Treasure State. He earned a forestry degree from the University of Montana and served in both the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army before returning to wilderness issues. That drew the attention of Stewart Brandborg of the Wilderness Society, who directed Cunningham’s advocacy skills toward congressional legislation; included were the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Act, Great Bear Wilderness Act, listing of the Upper Missouri River as a Wild and Scenic River, and the designations of the Scapegoat and Rattlesnake wilderness areas, and passage of the Endangered American Wilderness Act. Cunningham used his backcountry skills to persuade lawmakers and other stakeholders about the value of wild places, leading expeditions into remote areas where he had written guide books. In the 1980s, he became the first full-time staff member of the Montana Wilderness Association, and also taught at the UM Wilderness Institute.
Sean Gerrity of Bozeman. Gerrity grew up in Great Falls and graduated from Montana State University in 1983 before starting the management consulting business Catalyst Consulting in Santa Cruz, California. He returned to Bozeman in 1996, where he learned about a movement to preserve and restore part of the Northern Great Plains. In 2001, he helped found the American Prairie Reserve, and raised private funds to buy a 21,500-acre ranch just north of the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge. Now known as American Prairie, the nonprofit organization stewards more than a half-million acres abutting the CMR and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. There, Gerrity led an effort to restore free-roaming, disease-free bison to the landscape, while also supporting traditional cattle-ranching operations. He retired from American Prairie in 2018, and is currently leading a podcast, “The Answers are Out There,” interviewing innovators on ways to improve and restore nature, biodiversity and wildlife.
The Class of 2025 inductees will be honored at a December 6 celebration in Helena. Other awardees for 2025 include Jim Jensen of Helena, Robert Mangan of Poplar, Wally McRae of Forsyth, Greg Munther of Missoula; as well as the late Tom “Hobnail Tom” Edwards of Ovando (1899-1975), and Clancy Gordon of Missoula (1921-1981).
The Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame was founded in 2013 to honor Montana’s conservation heroes and tell their stories.
Visit mtoutdoorhalloffame.org to learn more about the Hall or to register for the induction banquet.
