By Nick Gevock - 12/15/2005
Courtesy photo Sportsmen transplanting elk from Gardiner to the Mount Fleecer area southwest of Butte in 1910.
Butte sportsmen and professional biologists were at the forefront of the efforts to restore depleted wildlife in Montana.
In fact, Butte’s Skyline Sportsmen’s Association was the first club to transplant elk in 1910, when it paid to move 20 animals from the upper Gallatin River country to Mount Fleecer, said Terry Lonner, a Butte native and retired Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks chief of wildlife research.
“They would take $5 out of their pocket, which was about two days wages at the time,” Lonner said of Butte’s miners and workers. “They wanted to bring them back for future generations.” Lonner spent four years researching the history of wildlife’s demise and renewal for a new film titled “Back from the Brink, Montana’s Wildlife Legacy.” The transplant to the Mount Fleecer area was a resounding success, and today the game range there has a thriving elk herd.
But the 1910 transplant was a landmark because it paved the way for hundreds more wildlife restoration projects that restored abundant wildlife to a state that had nearly been wiped out. It led to a populist movement from rod and gun clubs statewide that also wanted to pitch in to restore wildlife, said Harold Picton, a retired FWP biologist and former Montana State University wildlife professor.
“By 1912 they had so many requests for elk, they couldn’t fill them all and this was strictly sportsmen initiated,” Picton said. “It was basically a public movement that led to this.” The history of funding wildlife transplants is something that the older generation of club members used to wax about, said Tony Schoonen, 75, a former Skyline president. They spoke with pride about what they’d accomplished and how it helped spur other sportsmen’s clubs statewide to begin putting up dollars to replenish wildlife.
“That’s why the movement was so successful — every town in the state was working toward the same goal,” he said.
Butte also played in role by contributing many of the professionals who spent their careers to restoring wildlife.
One of the most important biologists when it came to transplanting wildlife was Butte native Jim McLucas.
Lonner said McLucas moved an estimated 16,000 animals throughout his career, including mountain goats, bighorn sheep and elk.
When Picton interviewed McLucas six years ago, he was dying from prostate cancer. But he was determined to get his story out about the move to restore wildlife, Picton said.
“During the interview he got a phone call from his doctor telling him that he was late for his appointment, and he said I want to cancel because I want to do this interview,” Picton said. “He died within two months of that.” Reporter Nick Gevock may be reached via e-mail at nick.gevock@mtstandard.com.
Courtesy photo Sportsmen transplanting elk from Gardiner to the Mount Fleecer area southwest of Butte in 1910.
