2026 · Publication
Songs From a Climate Refuge
Rick Bass writes for Mountain Outlaw about the Yaak Valley's old-growth forest as a refuge amid a changing climate.
Read the article
Resources
Research, Field Notes & Stories from the Yaak
BY:
Rick Bass
2026 · Essay
The Black Ram Guitar
Can one tree save a forest? Forest Refuge Alliance believes the answer is an emphatic yes.
Read the Story
2026 · Essay
Grizzlies of the Yaak
Among all the populations of grizzlies, those in the Yaak are unique, and—if they can survive—promise to be ever-more valuable as time goes on.
Read the Story
2025 · Link
Music From the Enchanted Forest
Cowboys & Indians profiles the Black Ram guitar, crafted from an old-growth Yaak Valley spruce and played by celebrated musicians.
Read the article
2025 · PDF
The Yaak River Watershed as a Climate Refuge
An Ecoregional Conservation Assessment for the Northern Rockies Ecoregion and Proposed Climate Refugium in the Yaak River Watershed.
Read the Summary
2025 · Link
Protect This Place: Montana's Untamed Black Ram Forest
A proposed timber sale within the Yaak Valley threatens old-growth trees and habitat.
Read at The Revelator
2025 · Video
Songs of the Ancient Forest (Trailer)
A trailer for RA Beattie's 'Songs of the Ancient Forest,' documenting the old-growth Yaak Valley.
Watch the trailer
2024 · Publication
Old-Growth Forests Know How to Protect Themselves From Fire
People keep trying to help old-growth forests survive fire by cutting trees, even though the forests have done fine on their own for 1,000 years
Read the article
2023 · Video
Climate Change and Grizzly Bears
A film from Save the Yellowstone Grizzly, directed and produced by Maaike Middleton, on threats facing grizzly bears in the region.
Watch the film
2022 · Link
Let Trees Grow, Protect the Climate
The Climate Forests campaign works to protect mature and old-growth trees and forests from logging across America's public lands as a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy.
Visit the campaign
2022 · Publication
From the Oldest Forest in Montana
When a forest gets to be this old and untouched, it becomes something more than a forest.
Read at Orion
2022 · Link
Stop Black Ram: Fact Sheet
Black Ram is the Forest Service commercial logging project currently threatening more than 4,000 acres of the Yaak Valley.
View the fact sheet
2021 · Video
A Celebration of the Yaak's Ancient Black Ram Forest
A recorded celebration of the Yaak's ancient Black Ram forest, hosted by Disability United and available to watch on YouTube.
Watch on YouTube
2021 · Video
Celebrating Old Growth: Kimmerer, Macfarlane & Haskell
A Yale Forest Forum conversation on old-growth forests with Robin Wall Kimmerer, Robert Macfarlane, and David Haskell.
Watch the conversation
2020 · Link
Outside: Unit 72
I live in an inland rainforest in the northwest corner of Montana, the wild Yaak Valley.
Read the article
Kier Atherton
Art & Film
2019 · Video
Black Ram (60-Second)
A 60-second short film by Kier Atherton spotlighting the Black Ram old-growth forest in the Yaak Valley.
Watch on Vimeo
2019 · Video
The Forest Where Time Sleeps (PechaKucha)
Rick Bass presents 'The Forest Where Time Sleeps' as part of a PechaKucha Night in Bozeman, Montana.
Watch on YouTube
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