This series brings timely and interesting wilderness topics to the public to raise awareness and inspire community discussion. These events takes place on the Third Wednesday in February, March and April 2023 in the large community room in FVCC’s Arts & Technology Building. Free of charge, all are welcome.
Presented by: Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Wild Montana Flathead-Kootenai Chapter, Northwest Montana Lookout Association, and the Natural Resources Conservation Management Program at Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC).
2024 Wilderness Speaker Series:
All events will take place in the Large Community Room (Room 139) in the Arts & Technology Building at FVCC from 7:00 - 8:15 pm.
Wednesday, February 21st
Speaker: Mark Hufstetler, Historian & Lookout
Topic: “Forest Fire Lookouts - Past & Present”
Montana’s fire lookout towers are much-loved icons of the National Forests, and have played a vital role in wildland fire management for over a century. Mark’s presentation will take a look at the lives of the men and women who have staffed these towers over the generations — a unique shared experience that is remarkably little-changed today.
Mark Hufstetler spent his childhood at Forest Service ranger stations within the Challis, Bridger, and Dixie National Forests. His first visit to Twin Peaks lookout sparked a lifelong interest. During and after college, Mark spent six years with Glacier National Park concessions, seeking out the park’s lookouts on his days off. Mark received his master’s degree in History at Montana State University, and spent three decades as a professional historian before deciding he wanted to get back into the outdoors. In 2015 he joined the volunteer lookout program for the Flathead National Forest, and spent 24 days in Cooney, Cyclone, and Baptiste Lookouts. In 2018, Mark staffed Porphyry Peak Lookout with the Lewis and Clark National Forest before returning in 2019 to Baptiste Lookout as a paid staffer. He’s worked there ever since and plans to return in 2024.
Wednesday, March 20th
Speaker: Tim Manley, retired Montana FWP Grizzly Bear Management Specialist
Topic: “The Changing World of Bear Management in Northwest Montana”
Tim joins us with nearly four decades of experience as a grizzly bear biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. He will share how improvements in technology, equipment, and techniques have revolutionized how grizzly habitat is mapped, populations are estimated, and conflicts with humans avoided. Tim's career connected landowners with scientists and agency staff to keep bears out of conflict, and we'll hear his stories of capturing, handling, and monitoring this charismatic predator to protect them.
Tim Manly recently retired from a 37-year career as a wildlife biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks where he was the Region 1 Grizzly Bear Management Specialist for nearly three decades. His career focused on research and management of grizzly bears across northwest Montana. Earlier in his career Tim also researched mountain caribou, big game habitat, and Columbian Sharp-tailed grouse. Since retiring, Tim enjoys traveling, hiking, camping, and being a Road Scholar field instructor in Glacier Park with his wife, Rachel.
Wednesday, April 17th
Panel: Artists from past Artist Wilderness Connection residencies
Topic: “Celebrating 20 Years of Artist Wilderness Connection in the Bob”
2024 marks the 20th anniversary of Artist Wilderness Connection, a collaborative program between the Flathead National Forest, Hockaday Museum of Art, Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and Swan Valley Connections. Each summer this residency places artists in backcountry Forest Service cabins to create work in a beautiful, remote wilderness setting. Over its twenty years this program has hosted a broad range of artists and styles – painters, writers, musicians, sculptors, poets, photographers, and more. Since the program’s first summer in 2004, 56 artists have participated in venturing into the wilds to gain inspiration and dive deeper into their craft.
The panel will feature four artists who have participated in the residency:
• Rob Akey (2009, Pendant Cabin) who creates fine art oil paintings from his studio in Whitefish. www.robakey.com
• Richie Carter (2016, Granite Cabin) from Kalispell who specializes in large scale still life and landscape paintings. www.richiecarterfinearts.com
• Francesca Droll (2017, Granite Cabin), an avid plein air painter and soft pastel artist based in Bigfork. francescadroll.com
• Gini Ogle (2017, Granite Cabin) is based in Kalispell and specializes in oil, watercolor and calligraphy. forfineart.com/fine-art/gini-ogle/
This panel will be moderated by Alyssa Cordova, Executive Director for the Hockaday Museum of Art.
Archive — Watch past presentations here!
2023 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
2022 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
“Four-Fifths a Grizzly”
Speaker: Doug Chadwick
Through DNA, scientific studies and his own personal stories, Chadwick challenges anyone to consider whether they are separate from or part of nature.
“A Deep Time Tour Through Montana's Wilderness Areas”
Speaker: Kallie Moore
Join the University of Montana’s Fossil Librarian to journey through the ancient past of some of Montana's Wilderness areas and find out what kind of life was roaming around the Bob Marshall Wilderness around 500 million of years ago
“In Search of the Mount Cleveland Five”
Speaker: Terry Kennedy, author
Terry shares stories of his climbing endeavors with colorful Montana climbers and their close calls, antics and tears – with the grief and inspiration of the Mount Cleveland tragedy always present.
2021 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
“A New Way Into the Wild: Inclusion as a Criterion for the Future of Conservation”
Speaker: Dr. J. Drew Lanham, PhD
Dr. Lanham explores the issues of diversity, inclusion and justice in conservation work in this in-depth discussion with BMWF’s Bill Hodge.
“Owls of Montana”
Speaker: Denver Holt of the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, MT
One of the world’s leading experts on owls, this interactive presentation will leave you with memorable and practical tips for identifying every local owl species.
“Working the Wilderness - Early Leaders for Wild Lands”
Speaker: John McCarthy, author
John shares excerpts from his book, Working the Wilderness, about the people who built the foundation for the wilderness program that exists today.
2020 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
“Whitefish Range Wildlife”
Speaker: Tim Thier
Tim shares three decades worth of knowledge from monitoring and researching wildlife in the North Fork of the Flathead and Whitefish Range.
2019 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
“Women Write the Wilderness”
Speaker: Susan Purvis, explorer, educator, and Go Find author
Susan discusses the challenges in writing about her personal experiences with wild places and how women’s narratives can connect people to the landscape.
“Wilderness Fisheries Management”
Speakers: Jim Vashro, retired FWP fisheries manager; Leo Rosenthal, FWP fisheries biologist; Matt Boyer, FWP science program supervisor
Montana FWP fisheries managers describe efforts to preserve fisheries integrity in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
“Rangers, Trappers, and Trailblazers: Early Adventures in the Bob Marshall Wilderness”
Speaker: John Fraley, author
The story of the 1928 trip of the Forest Service's Robert Marshall through the South Fork, and how Bob’s wilderness ethic may have been informed by this 8-day, breakneck trip.
2018 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
2017 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
2017 Wilderness Speaker Series Lecture #1: Mountain Goats of Northwest Montana PART 1
“100 Days of Solitude”
Speaker: Amy Pearson, Adjunct Professor, Humanities Division, FVCC
Fire lookout, poet, and English Professor at FVCC, Amy Pearson, will share the life changing experience and writings that resulted from the summer she lived and worked at Jumbo Lookout in the heart of the Bob.
2017 Wilderness Speaker Series Lecture #1: Mountain Goats of Northwest Montana PART 2
“THE NAMES OF THE STARS, A Life In The Wilds"
Speaker: Pete Fromm, wilderness author.
Acclaimed author of "Indian Creek Chronicles," the story of his seven winter months alone in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness tending salmon eggs, Pete's newest book, "THE NAMES OF THE STARS; A Life In The Wilds" is the story of another month alone in the wilderness caring for fish eggs, this time the Bob.
2016 Wilderness Speaker Series Recordings
2016 Wilderness Speaker Series Lecture #1: "Wilderness Fire Management"
2016 Wilderness Speaker Series Lecture #3: "This is the Crown of the Continent, Our Home" Rick Graetz
2016 Wilderness Speaker Series Lecture #2: "From Yellowstone to Yukon, Nature Needs Half"