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What Does 'Last Best Place' Mean in 2020?

August 20, 2020

How should we deal with loss of place?
Timothy Tate suspects that the famed phrase, coined for Montana by Bill Kittredge and Annick Smith, stands for values now under siege
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Devils Tower Vs. Bear Lodge: How A Name Shapes The Way Westerners Approach Holy Ground

June 16, 2020

Bear Lodge a.k.a. Devils Tower
Just because one culture dismisses the sacredness of a site does that mean it isn't? A young climber reflects on native reverence for a monolith that mountaineers regard as a fine place to play
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Guest Essay: Why The Gallatin Mountains Need Permanent Protection, Especially Now

June 5, 2020

One lake in the wild Gallatins
As a seasonal backcountry ranger-naturalist in adjacent Yellowstone, Orville "Butch" Bach has witnessed change coming to the region for decades—and fewer spots left untouched by people
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Ron Marlenee Was A Proud Burr In The Hiking Boots Of Environmentalists

April 30, 2020

The late Ron Marlenee
The former Montana Congressman who died this week could be prickly but he delighted in delivering zingers and representing rural people
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Of God And Guns: How The Sagebrush Rebellion Turned Into A Hotbed Of Armed Modern Radicals

March 24, 2020

A cowboy petroglyph?
In this excerpt from Betsy Gaines Quammen's new book 'American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God & Public Lands in the West,' the author explores how Utah became the center of anti-federalism
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Beauty As Antidote For Living In Heavy Times

December 20, 2019

Sinopah, crown jewel of the Two Medicine area
For painter Barbara Rusmore, the restorative power of nature is a catalyst for art and advocacy
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In Home Land

November 28, 2019

Crow leaders in 1881
Long before the Absaroka-Beartooths became a federal wilderness and before Yellowstone was called 'wonderland,'  they were home ground to the Crow. An essay by Shane Doyle
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Up North There's Concern About Skinny Grizzlies And Declining Salmon

November 11, 2019

A coastal grizzly feasts on salmon
Another reminder that all grizzly foods aren't equal. When you lose one, as has been shown in Greater Yellowstone, it can disorder things at an ecosystem level
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Making Contact With Richard Louv: How Animals Save And Heal Us

November 10, 2019

Grizzly clan fording a stream
"Our Wild Calling," the new "game-changing" book by Richard Louv, explores why our connection with other species is good for society, our mental health and the wild places that matter to us
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Wyoming Keeps Falling Behind While Jackson Hole Thrives—Why?

October 17, 2019

Jackson Hole's success  is about more than the Tetons
Compared to her Rocky Mountain neighbors, the state is the only one losing people. Wyoming's leaders have some soul-searching to do
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If The Challenges Facing Jackson Hole Can't Be Fixed, Then What's The Fate Of Greater Yellowstone?

October 14, 2019

Looking northward toward the Tetons
Will "collaboration as usual" save America's most iconic ecosystem or it is time for new leaders touting a braver new vision?
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Soliloquy For The Fall: Nature Is A Place Where Non-conformists Can Find Themselves

September 29, 2019

The Tetons with fall colors
Susan Marsh riffs eloquently on connecting to place, loss of place and what's worth saving. Are we in Greater Yellowstone listening?
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The Mighty Return Of Tatanka

September 4, 2019

A bison in Yellowstone
Poet Lois Red Elk writes of buffalo dreams becoming fulfilled and rumbling spirits finding a way home
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Are Montana And Neighboring States Doing Enough To Protect Their Natural Assets?

August 12, 2019

Maintaining healthy wildlands require investment
A leading business entrepreneur says investment necessary to maintain healthy outdoor economy, wildlife in northern Rockies and high quality of life
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