”When I first saw Montana, I knew I would love her. I would ride her Great Plains, to the end of my days.” Excerpted from folk music artist Colter Wall’s song “Bob Fudge”
WRFI has opened my eyes and given me a whole new perspective on the beauty of the mountains of Montana. Growing up in Eastern Washington state, I never got opportunities to spend in the backcountry without driving 3+ hours away from home. But now, there’s nothing I would rather do more than hop in the car and make a run to the mountains. This experience has also opened my eyes to the true meaning behind Ecology.
A specific experience that hit me with a new perspective was the beaver dam analogue work day with the Big Hole Watershed Committee and the Montana Conservation Corps. We spent a day filling beaver dams with sedge, hemp fiber, and conifer saplings to try and plug up the dams and fill a creek bed with water to help the willow saplings in their growth process. This experience really showed me that it does take a lot of time, effort, and money to make progress in the field of Restoration Ecology. And that alone is something I can hold onto for the rest of my time in this field.
Not only that, but the following night I had a great conversation with the Executive Director of the Big Hole Watershed Committee, Pedro Marques, about the people in this industry that he has assisted in making decisions like building golf courses, fishing reservoirs, and other various recreation zones. It really made me realize and appreciate the work he has done and showed me how far you can get if you put your nose the the grindstone and do the hard work, the smart work, and can keep a good conversation going. Overall, just being a decent human being, which you would think would be an easy task but is hard to find nowadays.
It’s one thing to sit in a lecture hall and read PowerPoint presentations, take notes, exams, etc. But its another to actually get out there, get your hands dirty, and get real perspectives from real people in this line of work. There’s nothing in this life that I would trade back for the opportunity and experience that WRFI has provided and what it opened my eyes to.
