Spring 2019 Newsletter

The Confluence Spring 2019

From The Director “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” - Hal Borland

Swan Valley Connections 6887 MT Highway 83 Condon, MT 59826 p: (406) 754-3137 f: (406) 754-2965 info@svconnections.org

Board Members

Greetings Friends,

Happy Spring to you all! Welcome to the time of year where we enjoy the adventure of ever-changing conditions: snow melting that freezes at night into ice, which melts and becomes mud, getting snowed upon again. The days are getting longer, with light coloring the peaks of the Swans and Missions at dusk and dawn; new winged neighbors arriving every day announcing their excitement in trills, peeps, and song; old neighbors waking from their winter slumber and ambling around in search of food; treasures revealed in my driveway, dog toys still frozen to the ground. And welcome to our Annual Report, where we tell you how we’ve spent our money in the last year and give you a preview into 2019.

In 2018, we invested in ourselves, hiring additional employees to increase the capacity of our aquatic, educational, and marketing programs, and we adjusted salaries to bring current employees closer to a livable wage, knowing that qualified, happy team members will do the best work for this place we love so much. We purchased new equipment for our education and monitoring programs to replace the tired, outdated, and broken, recognizing that our students, from K-Grey, deserve the best and safest experience available. We updated our operations technology to make us more efficient and productive, and created new marketing materials to better tell our story and demonstrate the value and beauty of our intact ecosystem.

At the close of 2018, The Nature Conservancy invested in us and this landscape, by donating the last quarter section of the Montana Legacy Project lands in the Swan Valley to us for perpetual stewardship, benefitting our community by keeping it in local ownership. It is located on MT Highway 83, across from the Swan Valley Community Hall. We have placed the acreage under conservation easement with the Montana Land Reliance, with reserved building sites for educational and administrative facilities in the future. This year, we’ll be doing a site assessment of the property and creating a management plan as we look toward the future of our operations and assess our needs and capacity. This land will always be used for conservation and educational purposes.

"Believe you can and you are halfway there." - Theodore Roosevelt

All of us at Swan Valley Connections believe deeply in the work we do. We are passionate about collaborative coexistence of people, plants, and animals in the Swan Valley and throughout the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. We work with a diverse array of partners including private landowners, state and federal agencies, our local counties and conservation districts, and numerous nonprofits. We provide visitor service information, sell maps and permits, collect and share scientific information that directly impacts management decisions, provide technical and financial assistance to do projects on public and private lands, and provide cost share assistance for forest health, fire resiliency, water quality

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Barbara Hill Raible, Chair Juanita Vero, Vice-Chair/Secretary Alex Metcalf, Treasurer Larry Garlick Pam Hamilton Helene Michael Kathleen Richardson Casey Ryan Mark Schiltz Mary Shaw Rich Thomason Scott Tomson

Emeritus Russ Abolt Anne Dahl Steve Ellis Neil Meyer

Advisory Board Kvande Anderson Jim Burchfield Andrea Stephens Mark Vander Meer

Staff Rebecca Ramsey, Executive Director Jonathan Bowler Laura Cannon Andrea DiNino Leanna Grubaugh Kirsten Holland Luke Lamar Mike Mayernik Rob Rich Uwe Schaefer Lindsay Wancour The Confluence is published by Swan Valley Connections, a non-profit organization situated in Montana’s scenic Swan Valley.

Our mission is to conserve the intact ecosystems within and surrounding the Swan Valley and to strengthen the connection between people and the natural world through collaboration and experiential learning. Images by Swan Valley Connections’ staff, students, or volunteers unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved to Swan Valley Connections.

Change service requested.

SwanValleyConnections.org Cover Image: Laura with Bear Skull

by Andrea DiNino

improvement, weed management, and prevent conflict with wildlife. We also provide experiential educational opportunities to people of all ages. We can't do all of this without you; we need your investment in our organization in order to continue this work.

Now more than ever, we need your support. Federal and state grant funding opportunities become more scarce every day, philanthropic giving by donors who do not itemize their taxes continues to decline, and the quest for foundation funding is fiercely competitive. Yet, now more than ever, we need to do our part to conserve the intact ecosystems within and surrounding the Swan Valley, and strengthen the connection between people and the natural world through true collaboration and experiential learning. The Swan Watershed must remain an intact ecosystem, one of the last in the lower 48 states, that supports our resilient community and serves as a model for enduring stewardship.

In 2019 we are offering more educational programs, including monthly potlucks, Swan Valley Bear Resources educational events, monthly outdoor classrooms with the Swan Valley Elementary School, adult tracking classes, a Master Naturalist program, and field ecology classes. We continue our scientific monitoring programs for water quality, native fish, and rare forest carnivores. We continue our cost share programs for eliminating weeds, fire risk, and wildlife conflict.

We are offering more opportunities for you to support our programs. Join us for our first annual Summer SoirĂŠe in the Swan, give monthly to increase your gift with less effort, visit our gift shop online or in Condon, and make donations online, by mail, or in person. Every dollar you give helps us help the Swan Valley be the magical place we all love.

Thank you for all you do to be a partner and a friend of conservation and education, as well as a friend to all of us on the staff and Board of Swan Valley Connections.

Warmly,

Rebecca Ramsey, Executive Director

Welcome!

Mary Shaw

We would like to welcome Mary Shaw as the newest member of our Board of Directors! Mary first came to the Swan in 2009 with her husband Mark Benedict in search of the perfect place to spend Act III of their lives. They bought property in Salmon Prairie that fall and moved here from Ellensburg, Washington in August of 2017. Mary has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Washington and worked for the City of Seattle and United Way of King County in planning and managing human services programs, grant making processes and public policy efforts. She also acted as a field instructor for several universities and taught program evaluation classes at the UW. Teaching, facilitating and data analysis are her favorite professional activities. She has served on a number of non-profit boards and enjoys being engaged in the community through volunteering. She now works from her home in Salmon Prairie as a systems analyst, supporting homeless management information systems software. Mary has a lifelong passion for the natural environment and enjoys most outdoor activities, especially cross-country skiing, hiking and kayaking.

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Call of the Curious: Becoming a Master Naturalist with Swan Valley Connections

By Rob Rich

Orange is a rare color in the Swan Valley forests. On certain slopes in fall, the leaves of mountain ash will sometimes cast this tint. But it wasn’t fall. It was winter, and the color that caught Laura’s eye was a tawny feather, bright against the snow. As she got closer and confirmed what it was, she was seized by the sudden curiosity to know who had left it there, and why.

Have you ever been out walking, and found yourself consumed by questions like this? It doesn’t have to be a feather – it could be a hole in a streambank, a bone on the roadside, or spring’s first flower – any old curiosity will do. Curiosity is the key word, that hallmark of being a naturalist. If you feel intimidated by a name ending with an -ism or an -ist, that’s understandable. But Swan Valley Connections (SVC) is here to say that a naturalist is an honorable role that anybody can aspire to, and one that is filled with learning, inspiration, and fun. In a new effort for place-based, inquiry-driven conservation education, SVC is proud to offer a Master Naturalist certification program that will set you down this path.

Being a naturalist is not new. From today’s Montana Naturalist magazine to the journal of the Lewis and Clark expedition (over 200 years ago) to the ten-volume tome Naturalis Historia (from nearly 2,000 years ago), the practice of observing, describing, and interpreting nature is deeply etched in our written record. And it’s far older than anything a pen could record, for nature is wrapped in our nature, wired in our DNA. The first Salish people who followed the last glaciers (10,000 years ago) to this place we now call the Swan Valley, who learned that the best berries follow fire? They were naturalists. The Neolithic seed savers (12,000 years ago) who learned to propagate lentils? Naturalists. The Paleolithic hunters (2.6 million years ago) who learned to hunt mammoths with knapped stone spearpoints? You guessed it. They were naturalists, too.

And naturalists are alive and well today. Look no further than Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California…and Montana!

We are among the 45 great states where master naturalist programs have emerged across the country, each unique in approach to funding and curricula, but united by goals to build knowledge, skills, and habits that forge closer relationships between people and the natural world. The Montana Natural History Center in Missoula initiated programming in our state, and the course has since spread through certified partnerships with the Glacier Institute, Montana Audubon Center, Montana Discovery Center, and Swan Valley Connections.

Modeled after the master gardener programs that sprouted in 1973, SVC’s master naturalist course is meant for adults seeking greater awareness, understanding, and stewardship of the Swan Valley. You will come out of this class with the ability to identify diverse species and the connections between them, and you will have hands-on skills to make informed decisions to protect our shared environment. While this course will be rooted in the Swan Valley’s ecosystems,

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Photo by Rebekah Rafferty you can maintain your certification through volunteer service wherever you live, making you part of an inspired corps that applies and grows your naturalist skills to conserve the place you call home. Our curriculum doesn’t aim to churn out experts who can instantly see answers to everything, and you certainly won’t graduate with a PhD. But we do hope to cultivate headscratchers, jaw-droppers, and question-askers – people unafraid to say “huh?” and “wow!” and learn how to see nature with an open mind and sharpened senses.

Take Laura’s feather, for example. Diverse resources were available to help her explore the possibilities of its origin and function – like print and online field guides, the iNaturalist app, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Feather Atlas. Our master naturalist training shares these and many more tools, each which can help you interpret and appreciate the complexity of your natural curiosities. But, like many naturalists, Laura learned a lot about her feather simply by drawing it, which gave her an intimate sense of its color, size, texture, and symmetry.

By the end of her observations, she not only had a personalized understanding of this feather, but she could also appreciate why it was a contour feather, the base of which provides downy

Illustration by Laura Cannon

warmth close to the breast of a bird. The barred pattern and the color led her to believe she was holding what had once been attached to a ruffed grouse, an offering that might have been shed as the bird exploded from hiding under the snow.

So please, heed the call of the curious and join us from July 11-16, for the chance to be part of SVC’s first class of certified master naturalists. Our Field Program Coordinator, Lindsay, is ready to sign you up (406-754-3137, lindsay@svconnections. org). Whether you’re into flowers, skulls, feathers, tracks, or something else entirely, you’ll belong here, and you’ll befriend other naturalists with new ways of seeing the world. And more than ever, the world needs you to see it. We can’t conserve what we don’t know exists, but together we can see that a feather is more than a feather. It’s part of a bird that flies.

On the right: Ruffed grouse are snow birds. They survive snow by diving into it, and burrowing out an insulated, igloo-like roost that keeps them much warmer than above the surface. Image Credits: Top – Weather Underground; Middle – Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory; Bottom – Cephas / Wikimedia Commons

Lake County Conservation District (LCCD) 2019 Spring Pollinator Initiative

The top three threats to native and non-native pollinators in Montana have been identified as habitat loss resulting in a lack of high quality food resources, pests and disease, and improper management of insecticide use, but you can help to conserve healthy bee populations! The LCCD Spring Pollinator Initiative promotes local pollinator conservation through education, outreach and free flower seeds. In the past two years LCCD has provided over 10 acres of seed to Lake County residents and will continue to provide FREE seed this spring (for sites up to 2500 ft2, with smaller options available).

This year SVC and LCCD are partnering to make seed more readily available for Swan Valley residents; there are five

different seed mixes to choose from, including a mix specific for forest sites, and they are all currently available at the Condon Work Center.

When planting pollinator habitat, existing site condition is very important to think about. If the site has a lot of competition (i.e. a patch of yard with grass), more site preparation is required than in a site with a lot of bare ground.

Additionally, site preparation could take longer than just one season depending on the existing conditions. When planting you will notice that the seeds are very small, so adding an inert material, like rice hulls or sand, can help spread the seed more evenly across the site. LCCD staff is available for technical assistance and on-site preparation. Planting guides with more information are available at both the SVC and the LCCD offices.

To truly see which plants are working LCCD staff and AmeriCorps volunteers monitor existing sites yearly to determine which plant species do best. Due to limited staff and time, LCCD hasn’t been able to visit as many sites as they would like, so they are hoping to expand monitoring efforts by making the Lake County Pollinator Initiative into a Citizen Science Project! Easy-to- use, do-it-yourself monitoring sheets are available if you are interested in joining the initiative.

If you have questions about which mix is right for your site, stop by our office or the Lake County Conservation District Office in Ronan or call them at 406-676-2411 ex.102.

More information on species lists, past plantings, and monitoring can also be found on the LCCD website - https:// lakecountyconservationdistrict.org/

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What’s in a Name?

By Jonathan Bowler

As a geographer, place and space become interesting ideas that build to form a story or history of a landscape. Taken literally, geo (earth) and graph (to write), the geographer is a writer of earth. In this story, places become characters on the landscape who provide context and meaning across generations of human and non-human communities. Like any good character, places have backstories, current significance, and directions into the future. It is because of this depth of character that we can acknowledge personal connections to an individual place. In some ways these personal connections give way to new place names, ones that might only be used by a single person, a family, a community, a region, and so on.

As a modern conservationist working with a broad community across the state and country, I send a lot of emails.

My email signature includes a quote from a man who many of us look to for innovative guidance regarding today’s biggest conservation challenges, even though his latest work was published 70 years ago in 1949. The quote from Aldo Leopold reads “When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” In geography, space is understood to be abstract, existing without meaning or connection to the observer. Place, on the other hand is a space that has been given meaning and a relationship has been formed. When these relationships to place become familiar and positive, we may begin to feel a part of the greater land community.

Through time, place names have often been given based on things that may have happened or been seen there, physical descriptions of the landscape, or in honor of individuals who may have achieved something in the vicinity. Examples of these can be found when looking at maps of Wolverine Peak, Turquoise Lake, Holland Peak, and many others. The personal connection to a place that comes from these relationships means that a place may have many names to a person. This example may be familiar to anyone who spends time in the outdoors: I enjoy walking in an area that is legally described as S35, T21 N, R17 W. I know it through an organizational history as Elk Creek Conservation Area (ECCA). The ECCA is familiar to me through a story of partnership, collaboration, and forward thinking that was shared by local citizens, tribal government, state decision makers, and federal agencies, among others.

There are places within this area that have names known by a few through shared experiences – the tree that was carved by beavers and filled with waxwings; the coming together of water where bull trout wait; the place where the mink climbed the frozen log jam. Then there are places known to even fewer, possibly only to me (and maybe a few spying chickadees) – like the place where I fell off the log and into the river while fly fishing.

What we call a place may depend on what quality we are discussing or with whom we are discussing it. In and around the Swan Valley exists a biogeographic region holding so many unique values that it requires a unique description. The Crown of the Continent (Crown), or the Northern Continental Divide

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Photo by Andrea DiNino Ecosystem (NCDE) within the United States extends south from the border of the U.S. and Canada to roughly the Blackfoot River, and east from the Salish Mountains to the plains along the Rocky Mountain Front. Encompassing over 10 million acres, this region includes tribal reservations, national parks, wilderness areas, multiple national forests, BLM lands, state, and private lands. It is an experimental classroom of sorts where scholars, researchers, managers, conservationists, resource professionals, recreationalists, hunters, anglers, packers, day hikers, trappers, campers, loggers, vacationers, and ranchers, from all walks of life, come to form a relationship with a place that has few, and steadily decreasing, number of counterparts.

The place stands out regionally as an area that still supports rural, natural resource- dependent communities. The place stands out nationally as home to so many of our threatened and endangered species like bull trout, grizzly bears, Canada lynx, and others that might draw attention through our curiosity and

awe, like the illusive wolverine. These two recognitions do not always exist side by side and the qualities that make this area the last refuge for so many of our wildlife species also makes it a challenge for human communities, one that has always meant that trust and community is a necessary way of life. It is because of the continued partnerships and collaboratives built between various communities in the region that this place also stands out globally. Global Intact Forest Landscape1 maps show the area as one of a handful of places in the U.S that is large enough to maintain native biodiversity. Another study of wilderness recently published in Nature shows that the Crown/NCDE may be the only place left in the U.S. that is significantly free of human impacts at the landscape scale2. These distinctions show the immense environmental, cultural, and economic value of the area; values that change with time, as does our relationships to the land.

readings or conversations. As names for places, they will likely be used in reference to the relationship that is being discussed, but in truth, both are referring to the same area covering over 10 million acres in Northwest Montana where wilderness remains and humans continue to exist in a community of native biodiversity. In the end it’s not important what we call it so long as the relationship brings love and respect, just like Leopold advised.

We at Swan Valley Connections encourage you to form your own relationship with the lands that make up this region.

Come up with your own names for places that describe your relationship to the land: The Place where Huckleberries Grow, Family Campout Creek, or The Secret Fishing Hole. As you grow this relationship, whatever you choose to call a place will be understood by those with whom you shared the experience, a continuation of growing community and trust that sustains the landscape.

(To find out how you can learn more about the plant and animal communities of the Swan Valley visit www. swanvalleyconnections.org) 1 http://www.intactforests.org/ 2 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07183-6 3 http://igbconline.org/

Map courtesy of the Wildlife Conservation Society (Note the small blue dot in North America. That's us!)

“Crown of the Continent” was first coined by George Bird Grinnell, a naturalist and explorer who was instrumental in establishing Glacier National Park. In 1901, Grinnell penned “far away in northwestern Montana, hidden from view by clustering mountain peaks, lies an unmapped corner— the Crown of the Continent.” He goes on to describe the watersheds created by the mountainous region, feeding three major oceans. He used the word “Crown” to describe a high point rather that the more subjective regal definition; the top of the watershed or Crown of the Continent. It became a term shared by a community that led the initial efforts for protection in the region.

The Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem was developed later in relationship to new understandings of wildlife dynamics and management. The term NCDE arose amidst concern for the remnant grizzly bear populations in the U.S. and the creation of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC)3 in the 1980s. Consisting of multiple federal and state agencies focused on a coordinated approach to grizzly bear recovery, the IGBC identified five ecosystems where grizzly bears still existed: the Bitterroot Ecosystem, the Yellowstone Ecosystem, the North Cascades Ecosystem, the Selkirk Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. The NCDE is one of five management areas that make up the Demographic Management Area (DMA) for grizzly bear recovery. It became a term shared by a community that led and continues to lead the efforts to maintain native biodiversity in the region.

The terms “Crown of the Continent” and “Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem” might both arise in your

Photo by Steven Gnam

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Coming Together as a Community

By Lindsay Wancour

In January of 2018 Swan Valley Connections kicked off a monthly potluck series with the intention of sharing two of our favorite things - food and knowledge. The first Wednesday of each month SVC invites a conservation expert to give an informative presentation after a community-wide potluck.

This event has proven to be a roaring success with an average of 40 folks attending each month. (For perspective, the yearround population of Condon is recorded at 343.) At the end of the presentation, the community demonstrates their spirit of inquiry and engagement with plenty of thoughtful questions.

Participants are guaranteed to leave with full bellies and activated minds. As a community we have learned about a breadth of topics from a diversity of presenters, all about conservation in Western Montana. Together we learned how to protect our homes from wildland fires and our trees from bark beetles. We learned about amphibians and reptiles, and bears and berries. We learned about the work of SVC’s carnivore monitoring crew (100 folks in attendance!), and the Daughters of the Sun trail crew. We wrapped up the year with a celebration of the success of the program with live music from local musician, Chance Cole, who entertained us with Irish folk music. Rebecca Ramsey and Jeff Graham energized the crowd further with their lively dancing! It was a hugely successful year and we are thrilled the fun has continued into 2019!

Our first potluck of 2019 shattered previous attendance records with a presentation by Wolf Biologist, Diane Boyd. She filled every seat in the Community Hall and had full-grown adults sitting on the ground like kids during story time, necks craned, leaning in with intrigue at every word. In February and March we covered the elements of fire and water, learning about fire history in our valley and snowpack trends over time. We are looking forward to upcoming presentations on bull trout, migratory birds, the history of indigenous peoples in the valley, and so much more!

In addition to learning about conservation in Western Montana and breaking bread with friends and neighbors, these potlucks provide opportunities to learn more about the work Swan Valley Connections is doing such as our bubble cap program, bear fence cost-share partnership, and upcoming community courses.

Bring your own reusable dishes or cutlery to get entered in a raffle to win a prize! If you don’t win, you can still leave with SVC swag that we have for sale including hats, water bottles, and maps. If you don’t want any more stuff, but want to support SVC, we welcome and encourage donations! We hope you can join us for future potlucks. Thank you for making these events successful. We couldn’t do it without you, our community.

2019 Community Potluck Schedule April 3: Riparian Health and Songbird Populations May 1: Carnivore Monitoring Update June 5: Bull Trout July 3: Trail Camera Footage August 7: Swan Lands Coordinating Network September 4: Historical Timeline of the CSKT October 2: Ungulates November 6: Beavers December 4: Live Music & Year End Celebration

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Stewardship with You:

SVC Improves Forest Health and Fire Safety in the Wildland Urban Interface

By Rob Rich

Near the turn of the twentieth century, H.B. (Horace Beemer) Ayres set off to survey what he could of the Lewis and Clarke Forest Reserve. If you haven’t heard of this 4,572 square mile swath of land, you may be familiar with the part of it we now call the Flathead National Forest. Passing between what was then named the “Mission Ridge” and the western front of the Rockies, Ayres wrote that “probably 90 percent of the valley has been burned over within the past 100 years.”

In the previous 40 years, he claimed, over 240 square miles in this valley had been “recently and severely burned.” The Swan Valley was and is flammable, and all of us who reside here live in the potential path of fire.

Ayres was seeing the legacy of generations of indigenous burning that cleared the land for berries and game, where fire was not only allowed to move as a natural, restorative process, but encouraged to do so. In the century since, wildfires have been suppressed, leading to dense undergrowth that Ayres would’ve found unfathomable today. Combine a century of fire suppression with longer, hotter summers, less snowpack, periodic drought, intensified bark beetle invasions common in our changing climate, and we have quite the recipe for forests to ignite and burn with higher intensity, longer duration, and over larger areas.

It will take time, effort, collaboration, and patience to shift paradigms and restore fire to its natural place in the Swan Valley. Meanwhile, there’s been another change since Ayres’ day: the inception of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI, pronounced WOO-eey). As a transition zone where the unsettled lands meet human development, the WUI was conceived to help foresters and fire managers balance the needs of the people living in firedependent landscapes.

Swan Valley Connections (SVC) sees the WUI as an important zone of opportunity to help private landowners improve wildfire safety and forest health. By decreasing forest fuels surrounding developed land, SVC’s Conservation & Stewardship Associate Mike Mayernik can help reduce

SVC’s Mike Mayernik is ready to work with you to improve forest health and reduce fire risk on your land. He is an experienced forester and wildlife biologist who can help you determine appropriate timber treatments, manage bark beetles, and much more.

wildfire risk to homes by applying defensible space principles where they’re most effective. He has the experience to help landowners create a treatment plan that interprets the complexity of a forest’s species, structure, and topography, all of which interact and contribute to a site’s ability to burn.

SVC’s approach to thinning has localized impacts that, with continued maintenance, can have positive long-term outcomes for resilient, firewise communities.

SVC’s forest stewardship program offers cost-share assistance with the help of grant funds from the US Forest Service and Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation, which can help landowners reduce the cost of fuels reductions projects. At the same time, landowners can employ local contractors who are skilled in executing these treatments, providing valuable jobs and wood products to local mills in Seeley Lake, Bonner, and Columbia Falls.

Local contractor Nathan Richardson, of Euchre Mountain Logging, loads logs with a forwarder for transport from an SVC project site on a golden, fall day. By lifting logs into the air – instead of dragging them – forwarders minimize disturbance of the soil.

In 2018, SVC’s forest stewardship program completed 23 projects on 276 acres, which together resulted in $221,213 of wood products revenue taken to local mills in about 166 log truck loads. Wildfires will continue to affect the landscape, and strategic, localized, firewise protections will help us see a new version of what Ayres’ saw.

SVC helps landowners integrate these guidelines in treatment plans for their property. Image Credit: FireSafe Montana

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Expanding Opportunities and Horizons

By Lindsay Wancour

When temperatures drop and the snow starts to fall, many animals flee to the warmer temperatures of the south or hunker down and spend their time in the warmth of their homes. Of course, humans are prone to this behavior as well. At Swan Valley Connections, we provide opportunities to combat this trend and keep folks outdoors and engaging with the landscape during the long winter months.

While some may let the extra work of winter put a hindrance on their happiness, we see it as opportunity. Snow is easily the best substrate for studying tracks, so, we host several tracking courses. These courses are taught by Conservation Director and Condon native, Luke Lamar. Participants start their day off at the historic Beck Homestead learning the basics of tracking, then before plunging into the cold, they enjoy a hot lunch provided by SVC. After fueling up, the class spends the rest of the day in the field exploring and interpreting tracks, turning theoretical knowledge into an applied practice.

Snow also provides a unique insight to the amazing adaptations of the animals in the valley, and an opportunity to study the truth behind the adage “no two snowflakes are alike.” Our Winter Field Ecology course provides a trifecta of opportunity – participants spend the first day tracking with Luke and a second day developing a naturalist’s understanding of winter adaptations and digging into the exciting realm of snow science. Aquatics Program Coordinator and naturalist extraordinaire, Rob Rich, takes the reins on winter adaptations, while Field Program Coordinator, Lindsay Wancour, tackles snow science.

Our dedication to providing community educational opportunities does not end when the snow melts. This summer we are hosting our first Master Naturalist program. Master Naturalist programs seek to establish a corps of well-informed citizens dedicated to conservation education and service within their community – can you see why this program was such a natural next step for Swan Valley Connections? In this six-day course, participants will spend their time exploring, observing, and engaging with nature, all within the Swan Valley. Participants will develop the skill set needed to interpret Montana’s flora, fauna, and landscape. It’s the perfect program for SVC staff to share what we’ve learned with folks who are fueled by curiosity about the landscape and the many species that exist here.

As Rebecca always says, each of us at SVC is a conservationist and an educator. It’s what we do best, and it’s what makes this organization thrive. These programs all work towards our mission “To strengthen the connection between people and the natural world through collaboration and experiential learning” in hopes of helping us achieve our vision that “The Swan Watershed remains an intact ecosystem, supports a resilient community that values its natural resources, and serves as a model for enduring stewardship.”

We hope you will explore and learn with us as we work towards our organizational goals!

Illustration by Emily McCall

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Luke Lamar showing rodent bounding tracks.

Winter Wildlife Tracking Class.

Summer soirée in the Swan A fundraising Gala

Save the date for our first annual Summer Soiree in the Swan! Celebrate the change of season with live music, great food, local brews and spirits, and live and silent auctions!

Beautiful Location - Falls Creek Ranch - nestled in the trees at the end of Kauffman Road here in Condon, with a sweeping view of the Swan Range, enjoy the inaugural opening of the Falls Creek Lodge and spend the night in one of their six cabins surrounding a pond fed by Falls Creek! Reservations will be held for this event only until May 1! You may call Barb Smith at (406) 7543255 or email her at fallscreekmontana@gmail.com to reserve your spot today!

Live Music - Cocinando Latin Jazz Orchestra - Cocinando translates to "cooking," and if you haven't heard them yet, these folks are cooking up a whole pot of HOT Latin Jazz! Great fun for dancing, and featuring musicians from all over the Kalispell/ Whitefish/Columbia Falls area, they'll be sure to please!

Delicious Food - Earth Angel Organics from Hungry Horse - Meg has been in Hungry Horse catering and creating for more than 20 years. She specializes in creative menus, and local food.

Local Area Brew & Spirit Tastings - Glacier Distilling from Coram and Great Northern Brewing Company from Whitefish will be providing tastings of various spirits and brews, including the two whiskeys/beers they are partnered together on: Wheatfish Whiskey and Wheatfish Beer and Two Med Whiskey and Good Medicine Strong Red Ale. A full, no-host bar will be available to enjoy cocktails and brews from our partners in fun!

Live, Silent & Dessert Auctions - We are gathering some amazing auction items – don’t miss out! From a private flight over the Swan Valley, to original and limited edition artwork, to a stay at the historic Sacajawea Hotel in Three Forks, Montana, we’ll have something for everyone! And, don’t miss out on the chance to bid on a fabulous dessert for your table made by local bakers and businesses from around the Crown of the Continent!

You’ll have the choice of joining us for tastings, appetizers, dinner, auctions and dancing into the long summer night for $50, or for $25 you can come for the tastings, auctions and music. Tickets go on sale April 15th! You may send a check or head to our website to make a purchase. This is a celebration of the Swan Valley and the work we do at Swan Valley Connections, and it's a way to help fund that work. We hope you’ll join us in celebration and support! Want to learn more or make a donation to our auction? Give Rebecca a call at (406)754-3137 or e-mail her at rebecca@svconnections.org.

The beautiful view of the Swans at Falls Creek Ranch.

Spring Bear Wake-Up Social April 25th, 6pm-8pm Swan River Community Hall 115 Swan River Rd. Bigfork, MT 59911

Presentations by: Doug Chadwick, biologist & author gobi desert grizzlies and Tim Manley, MT Fish, wildlife & parks on Grizzly bear conflict management on

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Annual Report swan valley connections summary balance sheet as of december 31, 2018

ASSETS Current Assets Cash Accounts Receivable Inventory Prepaid Expenses Total Current Assets

Summary Profit & Loss 2018

Dec-18

300,340 24,027 4,424 3,948 332,739

Fixed Assets Vehicle Land Accumulated Depreciation Total Fixed Assets

88,213 282,000 (18,960) 351,253

Investments

175,848

TOTAL ASSETS LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS Liabilities Current Liabilities Accounts Payable Payroll Liabilities Tuition Deposits Total Current Liabilities Long Term Liabilities Citizens Alliance Auto Loan Total Long Term Liabilities Total Liabilities Net Assets Unrestricted Net Assets Restricted Net Assets Board Designated Net Assets Total Net Assets TOTAL LIABILITIES & NET ASSETS

859,840

48,145 62,423 3,200 113,768 41,745 41,745 155,513 512,466 16,471 175,390 704,327 859,840

Revenue: Government Agency Grants & Contracts Tuition & Course Fees Private Foundation & NGO Grants Donations Program Services, Events & Other Investment Income/(Loss) & Interest Total Revenue

2018 271,279 112,100 175,215 306,404 41,837 (9,709) 897,126

Expenses: Stewardship & Restoration Education Wildlife & Aquatics Recreational Trails Conservation Public Info & Visitor Services Outreach & Communications Elk Creek Conservation Area Total Program Expenses Facilities Administration & Fundraising Depreciation Total Expenses

207,886 242,419 93,728 37,991 11,745 21,378 37,001 3,991 656,139 9,713 236,420 13,338 915,610

Net Surplus/(Deficit)

(18,484)

Other Income: Donated Land

250,000

Total Change In Net Assets

231,516

Swan Valley Connections Executive Committee oversees the fiscal management of assets, balancing long term financial stability with current operational needs. The executive committee provides oversight for investment (through a professional investment manager) of fiscal assets to provide long term growth as well as current income within a balanced and appropriately conservative investment portfolio. In addition, the executive committee recommends for approval by the entire board of directors an annual operating budget and the strategic allocation of unrestricted and board designated net assets to support the continuing mission of Swan Valley Connections.

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2018 WETLAND/STREAM RESTORATION 1 project

4 acres

BEETLE REPELLENT

104 landowners

5500 packets

40 acres

FUELS REDUCTION

23 projects

276 acres NOXIOUS WEEDS

8 projects

137 acres BEAR PROGRAM

27 containers

4 fences

LAND STEWARDSHIP

65 landowners

1371 acres

t o ta l 228

landowners & projects

1832

acres managed

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Thank you to all of our 2018 Supporters!

Donors John Addis · James Ash & Erin McDonough · George & Emily Beck · Bill & Katharine Beers · Mark Benedict & Mary Shaw · John & Mary Blair · Nancy Braun · Jeffrey & Michelle Brodie · Charles Brown & Anne-Marie Thomas · Dan & Sheri Burden · Patricia & Arthur Busby · Thomas Camp · Charlotte Martin Foundation · Mike Childs & Diann Ericson · Cinnabar Foundation · Clearwater Montana Properties · Dave & Petra Coover · Don & Toy Lynn Cross · Bob & Sue Cushman · Cygnet Lake POA · Anne Dahl · Kathy DeMaster · Gary & Carolyn Dietrich · Bob & Linda DiNino · Janet Downey · Scott & Jill Doyle · James & Wendy Drasdo · Dale Dufour · Stephen & Betsey Ellis · Rueben Fink · Tom & Mary Fitzsimon · Susan Ford & Ivan Cordray · Evelyn H. Fuldner Foundation · Lawrence & Pamela Garlick · Henry & Catherine Goetz · Jeff Graham · James & Janet Gregg · Sharon Gressle · Rip & Leanna Grubaugh · Joanne Guyer · Dan & Pam Hamilton · Doug & Carol Harwood · George & Teresa Hashisaki · Leo & Dottie Heath · David & Ginger Holmes · Charles & Gloria Horejsi · JoAnn Hostetler · David Hulac · Martin & Kirsten Jacobvitz · Chris & Bud Jewett · Dave & Penny Johnson · Ron & Sharon Johnston · Jeff & Maureen Kemp · Kathy Kinzfogl & Brian Parks · Pete Klein & Anne Ashbaugh · Kathy Koors & Rick Birdwell · Steven & Sandra Kratville · Julia Kotschevar & Ken Hunzicker · Allison Labossiere · Sharon & Steve Lamar · Barbara Lancaster · Bill & Jean Langlas · Bill Jr & Jamie Langlas · Keith Lanier · Don Lassila & Jee Wong · Land Lindbergh · Janet Linderman · Jonathan & Nancy Lippincott · Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation · Donald & Joni Lodmell · Gary MacFadden & Reva Clarys · Maria Mantas · Gerald & Sharon Marks · John & Joan McMahon · Carol McQuade · Alex Metcalf · Neil & Dixie Meyer · Helene & Tom Michael · Wayne & Rhudi Miller · Michael Milochik · Montana State Employees Charitable Giving Campaign · Jerye Motschman · Jenny & Rick Murney · Alan & Susan Newell · Daniel Nowiszewski · Christian & Julie Nygren John & Judi O’Steen · David & Kay Owen · Stephen & Judith Page · Grant Parker · Bill Peabody · Leo & Deb Perkins · Denise Poole · Dick & Neva Porte · Joe Potter & Patricia Ann Stout · Stephanie & Brian Praschak · Joseph & Leslie Preston Day · James & Terry Quinn · Floyd Quiram · Barbara & Joe Raible · Paul Rana · Robert Rasmussen · Margaret & Richard Reeve · Bruce & Kathleen Richardson · Lary & Patty Rogers · William & Ihlene Rossing · Eric Roth & Anne Peters · Jane Roth · Casey Ryan · Mark Schiltz · L.E. Scovel · Sabrina Shattles · Steven Sheriff · Ken Siderius · Wayne Simoneau · James & Barbara Snyder · Roger & Elizabeth Stafford Smith · Brad & Alex Stokman · Loren & Joni Stormo · Susan Talkington · John & Marcia Tapp · Alan & Susan Taylor · Clark & Karen Taylor · Richmond & Sarah Thomason · Gene Tingle · Scott Tomson · Bill Tucker · Sheldon & Suzanne Vernon · Joel & Barbara Vignere · Roger Wade & Debra Grahl · Rebecca White · Susan & Warren Wilkison · Jed Winer · Rita & Gary Wolfe · Dodie Wood & Jon Wittrich · Duane & Sue Wright

In Memoriam Vernon Guyer · Dr. George Stevenson · Patty Tingle

Volunteers Payton Adams · Alissa Anderson · Leita Anderson · Craig Barfoot · Jona Barta · Chuck Bartlebaugh · Emily Beck · George Beck · Bill Beers · Matt Bell · Amber Berentsen · Tony Berentsen · Gail Bishop · John Blair · Alec Bolthouse · Noah Booth · Bill Borchers · Karmen Borchers · Kaydee Borchers · Keliegh Borchers · Jonathan Bowler · Diane Boyd · Mark Boydson · Allen Branine · Grace Brewer · Jim Burchfield · Bob Burke · Devannie Burke · Laura Cannon · Sawyer Connelly · Cecily Costello · Stacy Courville · Danelle Crary · Dusty Crary · Trey Curtis · Matt Cvitkovich · Anne Dahl · Jacob Damaskos · Chantel DeLay · Deborah Dhue · Andrea DiNino · Ella Dohrmann · Ken Donovan · Addison Doporto · Chris Dowling · John Paul Edge · Betsey Ellis · Steve Ellis · Diann Ericson · Deb Fassnecht · Gwen Feese · Sarah Fisher · Mary Fitzsimon · Meredith Fraser · Amy Gannon · Beth Gardner · Larry Garlick · Paul Gereg · Kathie Gereg · Anna Gibson · Katie Gleason · Jack Goldman · Rick Graetz · Jeff Graham · Ryan Graham · Tabitha Graves · Ellie Greenough · Leanna Grubaugh · Rip Grubaugh · Dana Gunderson · Kari Gunderson · Nick Hall-Skank · Sara Halm · Barry Hansen · Dan Hamilton · Pam Hamilton · Charlotte Heldstab · Tris Hoffman · Kristy Howrey · Zach Howrey · Dane Huyser · Dave Johnson · Jamie Jonkel · Henry Jordan · Bridget Kennedy ·Annie Kilgour · John Kilgour · August Kramer · Brooklyn Laabs · John Laabs · Hayden Laabs · Pat Laabs · Tanner Laabs · Tom Laabs · Luke Lamar · Sharon Lamar · Steve Lamar · Lily Lang · Josephine Lange · Beau Larkin · Donn Lassila · Jesse Leibrech · Tim Lenzmeier · Carly Lewis · Dave Littlefield · Michael Lowry · Shayne Ludwick · Drew Lyons · Mike Madel · Angela Malliaras · Maria Mantas · Tim Manley · Glenn Marangelo · Abigail Marshall · Christian Mascho · Izzy Mason · Jamie Matthew · Tori Matthew · Michael Mayernik · Todd McNutt · Alex Metcalf · Peter Metcalf · Dixie Meyer · John Meyer · Neil Meyer · Helene Michael · Caitlin Mitchell · Natalie Mongeau · Mike Mueller · Alex Noble · Nathan Noble · Anna Noson · Dave Owen · Heidi Owen · Kay Owen · Tom Parker · Madison Perry · Richard Peterson · Lili Pongracz · Barbara Raible · Joe Raible · Rebecca Ramsey · Lauren Ramundo · Ben Reoux · Rob Rich · Bruce Richardson · Kathleen Richardson · Nathan Richardson · Lori Roberts · Leo Rosenthal · Sue Rowlands · Mark Ruby · Casey Ryan · Mark Schiltz · Allycia Schmitt · Colby Schmitt · Kathy Schoendoerfer · Jennifer Schoonen · Harrison Schult · Jon Schumaker · Amy Seaman · Barbara Smith · Emma Smith · Silas Smith · Lisa Spang · Erin Spitler · Rob Spitler · Claire Steffe · Rusty Sydnor · Rich Thomason · Sally Thomason · Scott Tomson · Ali Ulwelling · Haley VanGoedert · Apryll Verboven · Joost Verboven · Juanita Vero · Lindsay Wancour · Randy Williams · Marion Willmus · Morgan Wilson · Colby Wolford · Jee Wong · Jessica Wu · Rick Yates · Victor Yvellez · Maria Zepeda

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Collaborative partners

American Rivers · Be Bear Aware · Blackfoot Challenge · Big Blackfoot Chapter Trout Unlimited · Bigfork Chamber of Commerce · Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation · Cinnabar Foundation Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation · Clearwater Resource Council · Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes · Conserve Montana · Crown Managers Partnership · Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative · Defenders of Wildlife · Flathead National Forest · Friends of the Wild Swan · Evelyn H. Fuldner Foundation · Hockaday Museum · Lake County · Lolo National Forest · Charlotte Y. Martin Foundation · Montana Conservation Corps · Missoula County · Montana Department of Environmental Quality · Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks · Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation · Montana Environmental Education Association Montana Forest Collaboration Network · Montana Land Reliance · Montana Livestock Loss Board · Montana Natural History Center · Montana Watershed Coordination Council · Montana Wilderness Association · Montana Wild Wings Recovery Center · The Nature Conservancy · Pyramid Mountain Lumber Inc · Roundtable on the Crown of the Continent · Seeley Lake Chamber of Commerce · Seeley Lake Elementary School · Southwest Crown of the Continent Collaborative · Swan Lake Chamber · Swan Lakers · Swan View Coalition · Swan Valley Community Council · Swan Valley Regional Planning Committee · Swan Valley School · University of Montana College of Forestry and Conservation · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service · Upper Swan Valley Historical Society · Vital Ground Foundation · Watershed Education Network · The Wilderness Society

Montana Wild Wings Director Beth Watne and Igor, the barn owl at raptor ecology day at Swan Valley School.

Mike Mayernik out for our carnivore monitoring project near the Rice Ridge Fire in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Forest Service.

Ways to Support "SVC is proud to be a part of the 1% for the Planet network, which connects businesses and nonprofits to protect the planet. If you own a business, consider joining 1% for the Planet and naming SVC as your beneficiary. Everyone wins! For more information please visit www.onepercentfortheplanet.org.

Represent the Swan Valley on your ride purchase a Swan Valley license plate at your county's DMV!

Wish List • • • • • • • • • •

Enclosed Snowmobile Trailer Children’s Waders Children’s PFDs Reliable 4WD vehicle DJI Phantom 4 Drone Flight over the Swan Valley iPad, for front desk credit card transactions Gas cards Visa gift cards Cloth table cloths

If you have one of these items and would like to donate, contact Rebecca at (406) 754-3137 or rebecca@svconnections.org.

Help sustain conservation and stewardship in the Swan at

www.swanvalleyconnections.org/giving 15

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID CONDON, MT PERMIT #16

6887 MT Hwy 83 Condon, MT 59826-9005 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Photo by Andrea DiNino

Coming Up APR 3 Community Potluck Dinner Riparian Health & Songbird Populations APR 13 Wildlife Tracking Class APR 25 Spring Bear Wake-Up Social Swan River Community Hall

May 1 Community Potluck Dinner Carnivore Monitoring Update

June 22 Summer Soirée in the Swan Fundraising Gala

May 20-June 29 Wildlife in the West

July 3 Community Potluck Dinner Trail Camera Footage

June 6 Community Potluck Dinner Bull Trout

July 11-16 Master Naturalist Program