Page 7 - Winter 2014 magazine

Photo by Bob Wick — BLM

Think of “Montana” and what comes to mind? Mountains? Fly-fishing for trout? Grizzly bears?

You’d be right, but did you know that mountains and This is the Upper Missouri River Breaks National

griz and fly-fisherfolk make up just one-third of this Monument. We call it Montana’s Best-Kept Secret.
huge state? The other two-thirds of Montana are prai- This is where the Friends of the Missouri Breaks
ries. And badlands. This is where trees and plants have worked since the Monument was designated in
don’t seem to know where they should grow – Pon- 2001.
derosa pines tower above desert yucca, pincushion
cacti and the iconic, fragrant Western sagebrush. Our volun-
teers con-
This is where you can witness geology in action, as
tributed
the rain and the wind erode gray badlands into hoo-
doos and other weird, wonderful formations. This is more than
where bighorn sheep roam, where golden eagles and $11,000 to
our public
red-tailed hawks ride the clear air of Montana’s Big
lands this
Sky. And through it all rolls 149 miles of the wide,
Wild and Scenic Missouri River. year, plant-
ing cotton- Arlo Skari (left, of Chester), Jim Brenna (middle, of Ha-
woods, vre) and Chad Krause (right, of Lewistown) finish plant-
ing a sapling.
cleaning up Photo Friends
the iconic
White Cliffs section of the Wild and Scenic Mis-

souri and tidying campgrounds.

Our members and supporters in
rural north-central Montana
supported conserving Mon-
tana’s wild prairies this year
when the Bureau of Land Man-

agement asked for public com-
Friends volunteer Kirby Hoon (below) and BLM river ment on a 20-year management
ranger Sean Reynolds snatch tires from the banks of the plan for this area.
Missouri River.
Photo Friends (Continued on page 13)
Page 7