Bozeman resident Joe Gutkowski has been selected as the recipient of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ prestigious Aldo Leopold Award, which will be presented on Thursday, April 9, during a ceremony in downtown Bozeman.
 
The Aldo Leopold Award is bestowed annually to an individual who demonstrates exceptional work and dedication to conservation and backcountry values, especially the conservation of wildlife habitat. An early day smokejumper, Gutkowski spent a career with the Forest Service while serving as the backbone of multiple conservation organizations and numerous campaigns.
 
Gutkowski, a longtime BHA member, embodies the values of backcountry conservation and the spirit of Leopold, said BHA Executive Director Land Tawney.
 
“Field & Stream magazine once called Gutkowski ‘the toughest man in the West,’” said Tawney. “He has been known to stick a peanut butter sandwich in his pocket and keep on a big bull elk until he has it down, regardless of where the elk takes him. And he has inspired generations of us who grew up in the outdoors and feel the responsibility of being good stewards.”
 
Gutkowski and the other recipients of BHA’s top honors were announced at the BHA annual rendezvous, which took place last month in Spokane, Washington. Founded in 2004 around an Oregon campfire, BHA is a membership-based organization that seeks to ensure North America’s outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting.
 
“Joe epitomizes the true backcountry hunter,” said Greg Munther, co-chair of BHA’s Montana chapter. “He is well known as an extremely self-sufficient outdoorsman in the backcountry. Most importantly, he has dedicated much of his life to protecting what he loves by leading lasting conservation efforts for wildlife, wild lands and waters in Montana.”

When: Thursday, April 9, at 6 p.m.
Where: 406 Brewing Company, 101 E. Oak St., #D, Bozeman, MT 59715
RSVP to Katie McKalip at 406-240-9262 or mckalip@backcountryhunters.org.
 
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the sportsmen’s voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.

Exactly one year after the Wankel T. rex left Montana for Washington, D.C., the Museum of the Rockies will open a new permanent exhibit featuring a towering dinosaur from northern Montana and six T. rex skulls.

“The Tyrant Kings” exhibit will open Saturday, April 11, in the Siebel Dinosaur Complex of this Montana State University museum in Bozeman.

Visitors will see a real fossilized T. rex skeleton that’s approximately 12 feet tall and 38 feet long. Called “Montana’s T. rex,” the skeleton is about 60 percent real bone and one of the most complete specimens ever discovered. It is the only T. rex skeleton to have been found with floating ribs in its abdominal cavity. It would have weighed nearly seven tons when it lived 65 million years ago.

Visitors will also see time-lapse video of how museum staff assembled Montana’s T. rex. They will see a series of T. rex skulls, all from Montana, that show how T. rexes grew. The skulls range from one of the smallest T. rex skulls ever found to the largest T. rex skull in the world. “Chomper” is 13.5 inches long, while the Custer T. rex skull is 60 inches long.

With the opening of the exhibit, administrators said the Museum of the Rockies joins an elite group of museums around the world that display actual T. rex skeletons instead of replicas or casts.

“The science and research behind this exhibit is remarkable, MOR Executive Director Shelley McKamey said in an MOR press release. “It’s every bit as impressive as the exhibit itself.”

Montana’s T. rex was discovered in 1997 by Louis Tremblay near the town of Fort Peck, thus its original name of “Peck’s Rex.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture transferred ownership to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which then named the Museum of the Rockies as the repository. Montana’s T. rex entered the museum’s paleontology collection in 1998. It is the first mounted real bone skeleton to be displayed from America’s Public Trust. It is owned by the people of the United States.

“The people of Montana, as well as the entire country, now have a T. rex specimen that is owned by them and displayed for them,” McKamey said. “The exhibit not only fulfills a promise made by MOR to all of Montana, but also the mission of MOR to inspire life-long learning and advance knowledge through collections, research and discovery.”

The Wankel T. rex, which left the MOR on April 11, 2014, is on loan to the Smithsonian Institution for 50 years. It will be the centerpiece of a new paleontology exhibit that’s scheduled to open in 2019 in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. It’s predicted that at least 7 million people a year will view the Wankel T. rex.

Kathy Wankel of Angela discovered her namesake dinosaur in 1988 on federal land near the Fort Peck Reservoir in northeast Montana. Twenty-six years later, the 65-million-year-old T. rex headed for Washington, D.C. in a customized FedEx truck.

The Museum of the Rockies is currently open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Summer hours – 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily -- will begin on Memorial Day.

There are a few rock star writers in America, and Sherman Alexie is one of them. If you were fortunate to be in the standing-room only audience March 28 when Alexie performed – there’s no better word for it than that – for two hours for the MSU President’s Fine Arts Series Creative Nations lecture, you have insights into his popularity. Alexie is brilliant, searing in his observations of contemporary life and what it means to be an American Indian today, and downright hilarious.
 
Alexie is the winner of: The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction, a PEN/Hemingway Citation for Best First Fiction, and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for his runaway best seller, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.” He appears widely in the media, including several appearances on the Colbert Report. A poet, novelist, short-story writer, Hollywood script doctor and performer, he currently has seven book projects under contract, including his next book, a children’s book, “Thunder Boy, Jr.” While signing books for the event, he shared a few additional observations about his life, work and the current state of Native affairs.
 
1)      You’re a new member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. If you weren’t a storyteller, what would you be doing?

A high school English teacher and basketball coach.
 
2)      You know what it is to leave a reservation as a young person. Any advice to Native students who are first-time college students at MSU, hailing directly from Montana’s reservations?
 
You have to stop thinking about isolation, thinking about you as The Only. You have to think of isolation and yourself as being the Original One.
 
3)      What can a university do to attract Indian students and help them achieve?
 
Simple. Buy a house and make it a Native House. Make it a mini-reservation on campus. Intensely tribal people need an intensely tribal place to be.
 
4)      What still surprises you about the way the general public and mainstream media view American Indians?
 
That racially stereotyped mascots are still accepted. That racially stereotyped mascots are still celebrated. That the racially stereotyped mascots are accepted by Natives.
 
5)      What has surprised you most about your writing success?
 
International publication. I do well in South Korea. I'm published in Japan and Israel.  Every country has oppressed indigenous people. Every country has people getting their ass kicked.
 
6)      What keeps you up at night?
 
Netflix. Right now I'm watching "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Apparently one of the characters is a blonde Native, which is causing a stir, although I haven't gotten to those episodes yet, so I can't comment about that. Love what I’ve seen so far.
 
7)      We are speaking at Bozeman’s Country Bookshelf, a terrific independent bookseller. You are famous for appearing on the Colbert Report to criticize Amazon’s monopoly, giving a big boost to Edan Lepucki’s book, California. Five months later Amazon reached a deal with your publisher, Hachette. Do you have anything further to say about the current state of bookselling in America?

Amazon is still a monopoly and, like Google, they are seeking world domination. Books are just part of the problem. We liberals have allowed the Libertarian media moguls to dominate our life. We have subverted our political ideas for free shipping.
 
8)      What piece of advice would you give the 20-year-old Sherman Alexie?
 
Wow. That would be my sophomore year in college. I'd tell him "Sober up ….”, I didn't sober up for another five years.
 
9)      What can education do to assure there are more voices like Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich?
 
Books, books, books, books, books. And education.
I talked to a social worker once who said that if enough bad things happen to a kid by the time they are the age of 5, it doesn’t matter what comes after.
Each person in the U.S. can be helped by an extensive preschool system.
 
10)  Time magazine recently honored your “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” as one of the 100 best Young Adult Books of All Time, yet a few school districts, including some in Montana, tried to ban it. When you were writing the book did you think it would be controversial?

Not as controversial as it is. Not historically controversial. But, I love the controversy. Nothing guarantees that a book will be bought and read than having people tell others they can't read it. Percival Everett, the writer, said that if you’re getting banned, then you’re offending the right monsters. I feel good so as long as I am offending the right monsters. People who are looking to ban my books want this to be a Christian version of Saudi Arabia, a total theocracy.
Besides, it's quaint to ban books now that kids have access to the Internet, and all that can be read there.
 
11)  What book would you recommend that everyone at MSU read?
 
The Koran. Then they would know that it is essentially the same as the Bible. All great religious books are pretty much the same book. They have all the joy and agony, hope and loss, morality and venality and magic and violence.
The book that I have read recently that most impacted me the most was “Levels of Life” by Julian Barnes, which is a biography, novella, memoire about ballooning and grief. It's a book about grief.
 
12)  What is your favorite road trip music??
 
We have this new car that has satellite and I like the Coffee House station, which is nothing but covers. Nothing makes me happier than listening to a good cover. I'm making a mix tape of these covers. My current is Patti Smith doing “When Doves Fly.”
 
To learn more about Sherman Alexie go to his website, fallsapart.com

A simple step to sustainability, because Montanans care.

Thank you for supporting the efforts of the Valley of the Flowers Project, a new non-profit with a mission to help communities become sustainable. Please purchase a $5.00 50/50 Raffle ticket , and have a chance to win a $2,500 if 1000 tickets are sold. Drawing 4/22 at the MSU Earth day event.

Rosauer’s. Heebs, and half dozen other local stores give customers a $.05 (or .$.10) refund when they use a reusable bag, and, now with BYO Bag for Change,you can donate your bag refund to local sustainability efforts. Ask your cashier to add your nickel to the BYO Bag grant recipient.

The grantees are: Story Mill Parks food forest by Broken Ground Permaculture and TransitionTowns Bozeman; Montana Outdoor Science School’s programs in local schools; Big Sky Youth Empowerment’s Summer of Service programs and permanent recycling bins in Bogert park by the Valley of the Flowers Project and Bogert Farmer’s Market.

Montanans are setting the example of how to be better stewards of our planet without a tax or ban, because we care. The educational kiosks will help customers learn about negative environmental effects of single-use plastics : from the deaths of millions of animals, to 5 large gyres in our world’s oceans, to plastic bits called “nurdles" on every beach in the world, to biomagnification up the food chain into our own bodies.

The motivation to raise funds for community building programs, plus doing the right thing for the sake of future generations is a win-win. Using a reusable bag just once saves enough energy to light an LED lightbulb for a week. Just like the bees making honey, every tiny contribution is important. When lots of people take the time and effort to take the best care possible of our last best place, it really will add up to make a big difference.

Visit valleyoftheflowersproject.org (a 501c3 sponsored by CORA), or find us on Facebook.

The Emerson is currently enrolling for  Spring & Summer sessions of Art Education classes. We have an extremely diverse schedule of classes for both children and adults. A sample of adult classes includes Pottery for Beginners - Advanced students, Acrylic Painting, Casting Basics and Figure & Portrait Drawing. A sample of kid’s classes includes PIR DAYS April 9 & 10, Kids Printmaking, Creating with Clay, Clay N Play and ArtXplore.

The Red Ants Pants Foundation announced today the legendary Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham will be taking the stage at the Fifth Annual Red Ants Pants Music Festival. A host of yet-to-be-named music legends, including two additional Grammy award-winning artists, and several buzzworthy rising newcomers will round out this year’s lineup and are scheduled to be announced on Saturday April 4th, 2015 at a Lineup Release Party in White Sulphur Springs. Details about the event and live streaming of the lineup announcement will be available on the music festival's Facebook page. A limited release of 500 early bird tickets will go on sale online and at the Red Ants Pants Store at a discounted price of $110 at 7pm MST April 4th, 2015. Held in a cow pasture on the Jackson Ranches, and surrounded by the Big Belt, Little Belt, and Castle Mountain ranges, the festival will bring in more than two dozen different artists performing on separate stages. The weekend-long, grassroots, honky-tonkin' music festival brings in millions of dollars to the rural economy and is now in its 5th year. “The momentum keeps growing every year as the festival has become a bucket list item for musicians and fans around the world. It’s all about bringing good hard-working folks together to enjoy some incredible music in one of the most beautiful places around,” said Sarah Calhoun, Red Ants Pants Music Festival founder and producer. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band remains a country music icon known for multiple top ten hits such as “Fishin’ in the Dark,” a string of multi-platinum and gold records along with having their recording of “Mr. Bojangles” inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010.

Ryan Bingham has been featured in Rolling Stone, Esquire and the Washington Post. In 2010 Bingham’s song “The Weary Kind” for the Crazy Heart Soundtrack earned him a Grammy, Oscar, Golden Globe and Americana Artist of the Year Award. (High-resolution photos available below) This is the fifth year of the music festival which benefits the Red Ants Pants Foundation, a nonprofit organization in support of women's leadership, working farms and ranches, and rural communities. The Foundation also announced today it is now accepting applications for its Community Grant Cycle funded by the Red Ants Pants Music Festival. Grant applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for projects throughout the region that further the Foundation's mission of developing and expanding leadership roles for women, preserving and supporting working family farms and ranches, and enriching and promoting rural communities. Last summer, 13 grants were awarded. The application cycle is open now and will continue until April 30th. Applications and the list of the 2014 grant recipients are available on the Red Ants Pants Foundation website. The Foundation would like to thank everyone for the continued support of these projects and the Red Ants Pants Music Festival, which provides the funding for the grant cycle.

MORE INFORMATION 500 early bird tickets will go on sale online and at the Red Ants Pants store in White Sulphur Springs on Saturday April 4th, 2015 at 7pm at the discounted price of $110. Early bird tickets will be sold first come first serve. A three-day weekend pass is $125 in advance and $140 at the gate. One day passes are $50 in advance and $55 at the gate. Camping is $20 per person for the weekend. Camping passes are available only at the gate, but there will be plenty of room for everyone. Kids 12 and under are free for festival and camping when accompanied by an adult.

One of the objectives of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War is to thank and honor veterans of the Vietnam War, including personnel who were held as prisoners of war (POW), or listed as missing in action (MIA), for their service and sacrifice on behalf of the United States and to thank and honor the families of these veterans.

Speaking on behalf of the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 788, and for the men and women who served during that conflict, I want to express our gratitude to members of this community for thanking us again and again for our service and supporting this generation of veterans.

There was a time when soldiers returning from Vietnam were advised to change into civilian clothes on their flights home so that they would not  be confronted at airports by protesters carrying signs with anti-war slogans and called baby killers, psychos, drug addicts, and war mongers.

That was then.

Today, our soldiers are welcomed home at airports across the country and most recently at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport to show thanks to the men and women of the Montana National Guard 143rd Military Police Company returning home from a tour in Afghanistan.

In 1978, the Vietnam Veterans of America was congressionally chartered and exclusively dedicated to Vietnam-era veterans and their families.

Our Special Programs include seeking full access to quality health care for veterans, identifying the full range of disabling injuries and illnesses incurred during military service, supporting the next generation of America’s war veterans, and serving our communities.

During the next few weeks, the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 788 will be planning the 6th Annual Veteran Stand Down that will be held at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds on June 13, 2015.

The Stand Down is a one day event that provides services to homeless Veterans such as food, shelter, clothing, health screenings, VA and Social Security benefits and counseling, and referrals to a variety of other necessary services, such as housing, employment and substance abuse treatment.

In the months ahead, the Vietnam Veterans of America in partnership with the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, will continue promoting a Veterans Cemetery at Sunset Hills Cemetery that has become a focal point for special events like Wreaths Across America and Memorial Day that honor those who have served.

The motto of the Vietnam Veterans of America reads:  “Never again shall one generation of Americans abandon another.”


Rick Gale, USMC, is in the center of the photo.  Photo was taken in 1968 during the Tet Offensive.  I was 18 at the time.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Kids in Montana will stand up to Big Tobacco on March 18 as they join thousands of young people nationwide for the 20th annual Kick Butts Day. More than 1,000 events are planned nationwide for this day of youth activism, sponsored by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. (See below for a list of local events.)
 
On Kick Butts Day, kids encourage their peers to stay tobacco-free, demand that tobacco companies stop marketing deadly, addictive products to them and encourage elected officials to do more to reduce youth tobacco use.
                                                                                                                         
This year, Kick Butts Day is focusing attention on how the tobacco industry still spends huge sums on marketing and is adopting new strategies to reach young customers. Nationwide, tobacco companies spend $8.8 billion a year – one million dollars every hour – to market tobacco products. In Montana, tobacco companies spend $27.1 million annually on marketing efforts. The industry’s tactics that entice kids include:

·         Splashy ads in magazines with large youth readership, such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine and Rolling Stone.

·         Widespread advertising and price discounts in stores, which make tobacco products appealing and affordable to kids.

·         New, sweet-flavored tobacco products such as small cigars and electronic cigarettes. The latest surveys show that youth use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed.

 
In addition to organizing events, kids are standing up to the tobacco industry on social media through the #NotAReplacement selfie campaign. The tobacco industry’s own documents reveal that they have long targeted kids as “replacement smokers” for the more than 480,000 people their products kill each year in the United States. Kids are taking selfies to say they’re not a replacement and sharing the photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the #NotAReplacement hashtag. (view the #NotAReplacement selfie gallery)
 

“On Kick Butts Day, kids stand up and reject Big Tobacco’s manipulative marketing,” said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “We can make the next generation tobacco-free and end the tobacco epidemic for good. Elected officials can help reach that goal by standing with kids and supporting proven strategies to prevent youth tobacco use, including higher tobacco taxes, strong smoke-free laws and prevention programs.”
 
In Montana, tobacco use claims 1,600 lives and costs $440 million in health care bills each year. Currently, a disturbing 15.2 percent of Montana’s high school students smoke.
 
On Kick Butts Day, kids engage in creative events that range from small classroom activities about the harmful ingredients in cigarettes to large rallies at state capitols.
 
In Montana, activities include:
 
The Dawson County Health Department and students from the Washington Middle School Teens in Partnership (TIP) will encourage those driving to work to honk and wave for tobacco prevention at the Badlands Federal Credit Union. Mascots “Mo the Moose” and “Ciggy Butts” will wave at cars as students hold signs explaining the dangers of tobacco use. Time: 7:30 AM. Location: 302 W. Towne Street, Glendive. Contact: Laureen Murphree (406) 377-5213.
 
Students from the Students Taking Action Not Drugs (STAND) chapters at Glacier High School and Flathead High School will spread the word about the dangers of tobacco to students at Kalispell Middle School by posting #NotAReplacement selfie statements to Instagram. Time: 8 AM. Location: 205 Northwest Lane, Kalispell. Contact: Genia Tartaglino (406) 250-0054.
 
Healthy Gallatin and students from the Monforton Middle School Leadership Class/reACT will celebrate the conclusion of a month-long online scavenger hunt aimed at youth throughout Gallatin County. The scavenger hunt features point-of-sale tobacco marketing uploaded to Instagram for the chance to win an iTunes gift card. Time: 12 PM. Location: 215 W. Mendenhall Street, Bozeman. Contact: Jennifer MacFarlane (406) 582-3189.
 
On March 19, students from the Malta High School reACT! Team will host a Kick Butts Day kickball tournament at the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line in Malta. Following the tournament, the students will conduct an educational presentation on the ingredients in cigarettes and e-cigarettes. Time: 3:30 PM. Location: 101 South 7th Street W., Malta. Contact: Sonia Young (406) 654-2378.
 
On March 20, Dixon School District students will host an educational carnival about the dangers of tobacco use, featuring educational booths Mr. Grossmouth, tar jar and blackened breathing lungs. The students will also host a poster contest and commit to staying tobacco-free. Time: 12:55 PM. Location: 411 B Street, Dixon. Contact: Marie Michaels (406) 246-3566.
 
Events are on March 18 unless otherwise indicated. For a full list of Kick Butts Day activities in Montana, visit www.kickbuttsday.org/map. Additional information about tobacco, including state-by-state statistics, can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org.

Pinky and the Floyd is pleased to present their 5th annual theater performance;

a much anticipated concert-turned-‘Bozeman Tradition’ by what has been called “...the Reigning Pink Floyd Tribute Band of the Northwest...” This year’s production will feature in its entirety Pink Floyd’s 1994 studio release, The Division Bell, a certified gold, platinum, double platinum and triple platinum album celebrating and exploring themes of communication, and featuring such No.1 hits as “What Do You Want From Me?” and “Keep Talking.”

 

Often described as the definitive line between the old and new school fans, The Division Bell was instrumental in ushering in a new and fiercely loyal generation of Pink Floyd fans. With surreptitious references to previous albums (The Wall), bringing back to the table a continued discussion of political unease and/or celebration (the fall of the Berlin

Wall) helped solidify the band’s continued relevance in this arena. However The Division Bell’s running theme of communication (even the album artwork “speaks” to this) while it’s refrain may be idealistic (“talking can solve any problem”), it also not-so-subtly cuts- to-the-quick regarding long-standing hostility between Rogers and Gilmore, creating contrast with tension in an otherwise beautifully-orchestrated musical landscape for which The Division Bell is famously known.

If you’ve seen any of Pinky’s previous four theater productions you know that this is an experience not replicated by anyone else in the region; each year’s production topping the previous and gathering scores of fans every time. What started as a 5- piece band has steadily grown in size and audience to a 9-piece ensemble, culling from some of the best musical and technical talent in Montana, and reaching crowds of 5,000 plus. As usual Pinky has some tricks up their sleeve this year including special guests, live video- mixing, laser light show, and other on-stage antics and set designs that you’ll just have to

be there to witness! And for all of you “old school” fans—don’t worry—the 2nd set will quell your fix for all those songs you just have to hear.

And while we’re on the subject, the new Willson Auditorium is something to be celebrated all on its own! After years of planning and design, eight months of construction and an impressive community-based capital campaign, The Willson Auditorium cut the ribbon last month on a beautiful, state-of-the-art $3.5-million renovation that will serve the arts & culture in the greater Gallatin Valley and beyond for

years to come. Pinky and the Floyd are honored to be the 1st official “amplified” show in this newly renovated venue which includes much improved acoustics, refurbished seating, handicap accessibility, an enclosed sound booth and improvements to the lobby including concessions and a ticket booth. You can be sure that the new lighting

capabilities will get a proper chance to stretch out at Pinky’s performance on April 18th.

Whether or not you’re a Pink Floyd fan, maybe you just love live music, maybe you just want to see the new Willson Auditorium, and even if you already have plans that night— cancel them. This is a performance you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!

_______

Tickets $20 advance, $25 at the door. Available for purchase 18 March 2015 only at Cactus Records, downtown Bozeman (406-587-0245) or online at: https:// cactusrecords.net/tickets/

Doors open at 7:00pm. Showtime at 8:00pm. The Willson Auditorium, 414 W. Main St., Bozeman, MT 59715. ALL AGES.

PINKY Pre-Party. 6pm-10:30pm. Bar provided by Sidecar Bar Service (exact location TBA). No cover charge, no-host bar. 21+ only (I.D. required).

OUTSIDE, America’s leading active lifestyle brand, has selected American Prairie Reserve as an honoree of its annual Best of Travel awards. From newly- revealed travel territories to the best deals, OUTSIDE’s Best of Travel 2015 celebrates the destinations and travel providers that inspire people to participate in an active lifestyle. American Prairie Reserve was honored as Best of the Wild West. The entire list of winners appears in OUTSIDE’s April issue (on newsstands March 17), and currently online at http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure- travel/travel-awards/30-Trips-to-Take-This-Year.html.

This year, OUTSIDE’s adventure travel veterans scoured the globe to identify the coolest mountains to climb, food to eat, rivers to float, guides to hire, beaches to lounge on, and lodges to luxuriate in. The result is 30 breathtaking options — from the guides to show you around, to the cameras to capture it all, to the places to stay, to the best place to grab a snack at a food truck along the way.

“Since 2001, the nonprofit American Prairie Reserve has been working to restore the northern great plains to the pristine condition Lewis and Clark found them in more than 200 years ago,” the article states. “The resulting reserve, in northeast Montana, is now 305,000 acres. The aim is to reach 3.5 million by 2030, creating a U.S. Serengeti and the largest wildlife park in the lower 48, where herds of elk, mule deer, and bison thrive. But don’t wait to go. You can sleep under the stars now at the 11-
site Buffalo Camp ($10), four miles north of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, and take a DIY mountain-biking safari on old ranch roads, passing grazing bison and scanning the skies for American kestrels, Sprague’s pipits, and Swainson’s hawks. Or paddle the Missouri River past pioneer homesteads and historic tepees to Kestrel Camp, a set of five luxurious yurts, each with AC, a hot shower, and a veranda for sundowners (from $4,800 for six days).”

The complete list of Best of Travel winners will be featured in the April issue of OUTSIDE, available March 17, and already is listed online at http://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/travel- awards/30-Trips-to-Take-This-Year.html. Continue the conversation with #OutsideTravel2015.

About American Prairie Reserve:
Founded in 2001, American Prairie Reserve aims to create and manage a prairie-based wildlife reserve that, when combined with public lands already devoted to wildlife, will protect a unique natural habitat, provide lasting economic benefits, and improve public access to and enjoyment of the prairie landscape. The Reserve, located in northeastern Montana, currently spans 305,000 acres of public and private land that is open to modern day explorers for camping and recreation, providing tangible economic benefits to the surrounding areas. The landscape is one of the most intact prairies left in North America and is home to hundreds of species, including elk, pronghorn, sage grouse, prairie dogs, and a growing bison herd. For more information and to request a visitor map, please visit americanprairie.org.

About OUTSIDE:

OUTSIDE is America’s leading active lifestyle brand. Since 1977, OUTSIDE has covered travel, sports, adventure, health, and fitness, as well as the personalities, the environment, and the style and culture of the world Outside. The OUTSIDE family includes OUTSIDE magazine, the only magazine to win three consecutive National Magazine Awards for General Excellence, The Outside Buyer’s Guides, Outside Online, Outside Television, Outside Events, Outside+ tablet edition, Outside Books, and now Outside GO, a revolutionary, 21st-century adventure-travel company.