Throughout my life, I have experienced quite a lot of — and subsequently accrued — a plethora of trauma. Some of these traumas included: watching a man die at 13, growing up neurodivergent (in a household that greatly values traditional “intelligence”) that was met with verbal abuse, and being physically abused in relationships, just to

By the end of this six-week trip, I have changed quite a bit. At the beginning, I was less fit, unsure of how to backpack, nervous about the bathroom situation, and completely unfamiliar with the ecology and culture of Montana. During our first section in the Snowcrest Mountain Range, I was introduced to so many

Thimbleberry, lodgepole, lupine, wild roses, oregon grapes, wild strawberries, beargrass, arrowleaf balsamroot; these are the flowers and shrubs that I recognized as we made our way up rocky slopes into the Bob Marshall Wilderness–an area I’ve called my backyard since I was eight years old, when my parents moved my family to the small town

Imagine a continent full of bison… and you have caught a glimpse into North America over 300 years ago, when there were approximately 50 million of them. From the Florida Everglades to the desert southwest to the plains of the Midwest, and the freezing Canadian Rockies. You could look across the landscape from your front

Cold water touches my feet, wrapped up securely in my Chacos as I travel through the Tobacco Root Mountain Range with the Wild Rockies Field Institute’s (WRFI) semester course, “Conservation Across Boundaries.” The water has a bluish-green tint, and is so calm the surface looks like glass. The wind occasionally disrupts the flat water, adding

“More Fire, Less Ice” was Daniel Lombardi’s summary of the effects of climate change in Glacier. Daniel is a Communications Specialist for Glacier National Park whom we met with to discuss climate change in the park. Between 1966 and 2015, the last summer the USGS was able to effectively map the glaciers, every single named

Sitting in a rodeo box in Augusta, Montana, I am reflecting on the juxtaposition of cultures we’ve experienced on our ride across Montana so far. This morning we spoke with Hal Herring, an avid hunter and environmentalist with a deep Alabama drawl. Along the way we’ve met activists whose chosen method of communication is theater,

I recently graduated from college and I am unsure what my next move in life is. Traveling across the state on my bicycle has given me plenty of time to think. I take in my surroundings. I notice how the birds are communicating with one another. I notice how trees help bring shade to our

Less than two weeks ago, my hiking boots were mostly clean and I fell asleep listening to the sounds of the ocean. I was at home in Southern California, where I often drive straight from college to go camping with my parents and my brother at the nearby state beach that we’ve been visiting since

Arriving in Montana for the first time from my hometown, north of Toronto Canada, I wasn’t sure what to expect. To be totally transparent I was equal parts excited and nervous to start the Conservation Across Boundaries course… definitely more nervous. I wasn’t sure what conservation issues would look like. Would they be similar or