Film documents the depletion, restoration of wildlife throughout Montana
By Nick Gevock - 12/15/2005
Transporting mountain goats via horse from traps west of Choteau in the 1940s.
When Lewis and Clark paddled into Montana in 1805, they entered North America’s Serengeti.
Wildlife teemed in the plains surrounding the Missouri River in staggering numbers. Lewis described a herd of at least 10,000 buffalo in one view, as well as throngs of elk and antelope. The explorers also encountered grizzly bears, bighorn sheep in the bluffs above the river and plentiful deer.
Within a century, however, market hunters and settlers had almost exterminated big game from the Treasure State.
“They couldn’t come up with more than 3,000 antelope in the entire state by 1900,” said Terry Lonner, a Butte native and retired chief of wildlife research for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “Subsistence hunting and habitat desecration took these species down.” But thanks to a broad effort that brought together sportsmen, landowners and government officials to restore habitat and transplant animals, Montana today has an abundance of wildlife.
Lonner, with the help from the FWP Foundation, has chronicled the demise and rebirth of wildlife in Montana over the past two centuries in a new film titled “Back from the Brink, Montana’s Wildlife Legacy.” It’s a story that few young people are aware of, said Harold Picton, a retired FWP biologist and former professor of wildlife science at Montana State University. Picton began researching the history of wildlife restoration in Montana eight years ago and is writing a companion book for the film that he hopes to complete within the next year.
His goal is to educate young people about how far Montana has come in replenishing wildlife.
“Most students think that the wildlife populations in Montana today are lower than they ever have been,” he said. “That’s one of the things that really bothered me and motivated us to continue this program.” Wide open In the 19th Century, market hunters killed hundreds of animals, sometimes taking only the hides. Bison were the hardest hit, with thousands slaughtered by passengers from trains who would shoot them for sport, or take only the tongues.
Struggling settlers whose crops were failing also killed game animals, although they were doing so to survive.
“In the 1800s, there were no regulations,” Lonner said. “It was wide open.” And wildlife was taking a hit from severe habitat desecration caused by over-cutting timber, poisoning of insects and a severe drought, among other things.
It wasn’t until the late 1800s that a movement began to reestablish wildlife populations.
Sportsmen in local rod and gun clubs began a push to establish bag limits and seasons, and charging for licenses to pay for game wardens. And sportsmen throughout the state began paying for transplants of game animals and birds to suitable habitat.
Eventually, the federal government got on board, with new legislation taxing guns and sporting goods to provide funding for habitat restoration and protection. After decades of hard work, wildlife has been restored to the point where FWP today often is charged with how to manage overpopulated herds.
“It’s just really difficult to fathom that things could get that bad and then bounce back to what we have now,” said Tony Schoonen, former president of the Skyline Sportsmen’s Association in Butte. “There had to be a lot of really super dedicated people to bring it back.” Documentaries The film project began when Picton started videotaping stories from some of the key players in the restoration effort, many of whom were in their late 70s and older.
“There were a lot of people in the department and in the wildlife business who thought there are these old guys around who must have some great stories that we ought to talk to,” Picton, 73, said recently.
So Picton set out with an 8 millimeter video camera and went to people’s houses throughout the state to record their tales. He recorded nearly 50 interviews.
“Once people got to thinking about it, they wanted to tell their story,” he said.
At the same time, FWP biologist Jim Williams in Kalispell began collecting historic photographs of wildlife transplants and other things. Williams saved some photographs from being thrown out.
“He literally pulled them out of the Dumpster,” Picton said.
They collected hundreds of photographs from people involved in the restoration effort and had them stored away in boxes tucked in their attic or basement.
When Picton realized the project’s scope, he enlisted Lonner, who owns Media Works in Bozeman, to produce a film. They secured some funding from the FWP Foundation and the film project was off the ground.
The historical research was daunting.
Lonner poured through whatever records he could find, and meticulously cross referenced facts to ensure accuracy. He spent many days at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, gathering old film clips to match the script of the movie.
“Sometimes he’d have a good day and get maybe 30 seconds done,” Terry’s wife Martha Lonner said.
As men who spent their careers in wildlife, both Lonner and Picton were aware of how wildlife had been depleted and restored. But both said they learned a great deal by making the film, and that they hope younger generations will learn from it as well.
“You hear so many negative things about how wildlife is going extinct, we thought it would be nice to tell a success story,” Picton said. “That’s certainly what Montana has had.”
Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached via e-mail at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com.
