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

As eleven of my classmates and I descended into a slot canyon in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, a nearby hiker stopped and asked, “How come you aren’t in school?”  It’s mid-September and we are about as far from traditional classrooms as we could be. The wild, remote landscapes of Montana have become

Sitting in the Great Falls doctor’s office with a sling on my right arm, I sighed, replaying the moment I dislocated my shoulder in the Bob Marshall Wilderness over and over in my head like a broken record. I almost couldn’t comprehend that days before we had been blissfully trekking along and now I was

My name is Jackson, I’m a current student of the Conservation Across Boundaries course, and I’m here to share some of the things I’ve learned, along with a few observations I’ve made. The very first concept we studied on this course also happened to be one I was unfamiliar with. It’s the idea of Traditional

Not many people get to stand on the seafloor. At least, not consciously. When I strode into Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness on July 12, 2021, I wasn’t immediately concerned with the long history of the region with my exhilarated attention thoroughly divided between the cliffs and peaks surrounding the Gibson Reservoir and my dusty boots,

MONTANA AFOOT & AFLOAT FINAL PRESENTATION: Join us Wednesday, October 23 from 5:30-7:00 PM at the UM FLAT studio to welcome our Afoot & Afloat students back to Missoula after two months in the field! Be the first to hear their stories, see their photos, and ask them questions about their remarkable journey across Montana.

Prior to traveling with WRFI, I had never seen mountains in person. As I am writing this blog, I am sitting somewhere in Jumbo, surrounded completely by land structures that were only an image to me five weeks ago. I am also surrounded by students, professors, hosts, and speakers who were only names on an

My name is Moira Bruce and I just finished my freshman year of college at the University of Montana. I was born and raised in Montana, so I am exploring more of my state and the area around it. I excitedly signed up for this course because it fit right into my major, resource conservation,

When I signed up for the Montana Afoot and Afloat course last winter, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting myself into, but two months of backpacking and kayaking through Montana while getting a semester’s worth of credits sounded exciting enough for me to apply. I figured I would get to see a lot

Every summer of my life has been spent in my home state – North Carolina – and that has been very comfortable. Easy trips to the beach and long days spent by the pool. This past year, though, something changed. For the first time in my life, I wanted to make myself uncomfortable. It was