An Unlikely Alliance for an Irreplaceable Place

Rick has served on numerous conservation and editorial boards. He's co-founder of The Montana Project and Forest Refuge Alliance, among others, and is the author of more than 35 books of fiction and nonfiction. His books have been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and featured as Best Books of the Year by the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He's been anthologized in Best American Short Stories as well as Best Spiritual Writing, Best American Sports Writing, Best American Science Writing, and Best American Travel Writing. He's the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, has won the Story Prize, and has been published numerous times in the Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Awards anthologies. He has received governors' awards in the arts from the states of Mississippi and Montana, and teaches creative writing in the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine.

David is a retired University of Washington biomedical scientist and lifelong conservationist. He has served on nonprofit wildlife conservation boards in Montana and California, climate science councils — including STAY COOL for Grandkids, which he founded — and National Institutes of Health advisory panels. He has lived in Seattle and Bozeman, and now resides in Del Mar, California.

A conservationist and retired attorney who served as President of the North Cascades Conservation Council and the Alpine Lakes Protection Society. He is known for legal advocacy protecting non-motorized trails. Karl has extensive experience in corporate and environmental law, and served previously on the Board of Directors of Predator Conservation Alliance (now People and Carnivores), a Montana wildlife nonprofit. He lives on Mercer Island, WA.

Melanie is a writer, editor, and shepherd from Vermont. Her work has appeared in Narrative, Whitefish Review, Big Sky Journal, and other publications in the US and UK. She is a graduate of the Stonecoast MFA program and lives with her family on Landskein Farm. More of Mel's writing can be found on her website.

Catherine draws upon historical artifacts and wildlife migration data to create richly textured, map-like paintings. Through an abstract language, her work communicates the dissonance between natural patterns and human infrastructure. A recipient of a Montana Arts Council Artist Innovation Award, she was a TEDx speaker at the University of Montana. Her art is held in several museum collections. She lives and works in Bozeman, Montana.

“Wild migration is to me a quasi-mystical phenomenon that inspires my work above all else. Drawing imagined wildlife trails, I envision how human development and natural forces might coexist in harmonious ecosystems.”