Don't Fence Me In...or OUT!

In addition to Navigator, I am the official Fence Opener of this project.  We have run into every make and size of fence tighteners.  After about a month of getting out, opening the fence, waiting for Tony to drive through, closing the fence, walking up to the truck, getting in (90% of the time Tony driving off on me laughing), I decided to take a few photos of the different contraptions out there.

This was the one that actually spurred the idea.

It's a work of art!

 Old school...with a present from a bird left on top.

You can't see it very well but that is a earped-up dragonfly sitting on top of the post...ick!

 My favorite kind...in red.

 Jerry-rigged style...actually holding up the fence!

 Awesome!  How cool is this spinning one?

 Same rancher as the first photo.

I think he is an artist.

 Not fooling around with the fence posts around here!

This thing was taller than me.

 If this gate got any tighter the stick would bust!

I needed help on this one.

 Genius!

 Pretty standard BLM tightener.

 Well at least the Pronghorn can go under here.

Headed into an existing Wilderness Study Area bordering one of our inventory units.

The road is on the WSA side...huh? 

 The pin lock threw me off for a bit.

I about threw a hissy fit thinking we were locked out and had to turn around.

As a result, I have not only run across a multitude of fence tighteners, I have become aware of the issue of access to public lands.  I don't yet understand it all, even after Tony's explanations of how it all works.  In short, I just don't think its "fair" that I can't access public land because private land owners lock the roads.  In most cases it's private landowners running hunting outfitting businesses who lock up the public lands for their own personal game preserve.  I can't get on lands on which my tax dollars go to support?  What?? 

So it's like this, if a public road crosses public land you can access the land at that point.  This includes State, BLM, National Forest, Monuments, etc.  If a piece of public land is surrounded by private property, that land owner can close access to the public land.  Period.  You are hooped if you want to go there even if it's just to photograph "their" game animals.

I suppose I should call and apologize to the people I left a nasty voice mail.  They own the access road into the Bullwacker area of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.  Here is a link to the court settlement about access.  No mention of campers or hikers...

I need to learn more...whining "its not fair" doesn't make any difference at the end of the day.  For now, thank you to anyone who shares access to the pubic lands through their private property to the minority of people like me who just want to experience the untouched corners of our amazing state.

Beautiful Bentonite

Open doors to let the wind blow through.

We have spent the last week south of Glasgow, Montana looking at several BLM areas.  We have covered over 1000 miles this week already.  Miles that were mainly on paved “roads,” “ways,” and “two-tracks.”  I’ve learned those designations are very important in determining the use, intent, and management of an area as well as how to judge the difference.  At the moment we are sitting in a truck, parked on a ridge, getting wind-blown by the blast-furnace of Mother Nature, watching a storm build. 

I have such an appreciation for the people who live and work in this land.  It is wild and dry, with hard bentonite soil that is as unforgiving when wet as it is when dry.  The farmers and ranchers are challenged with knowing when to drive on which roads, when that perfect time is to harvest and work the land, and how to move the cattle through the numerous drainages.

Sunset at our camp on Fort Peck Reservoir 

Much of this area borders the Charles M Russell Nature Preserve.  Its landscape makes up the Missouri River Breaks along the Fort Peck Reservoir.  This area is prime hunting ground for elk, big-horn sheep, mule deer, and antelope.  However, the antelope and white-tail deer suffered almost a 95% reduction in their populations during the winter of 2010-11.  The highline saw record amounts of snow that year.  So much snow that the only way the animals could move around was to use the rail-road tracks which were maintained.  Hundreds of pronghorn (antelope) were killed at a time when the trains came through.  The next spring the white-tail deer suffered a disease called blue-tongue which truly devastated their herds in this area.  The loss is evident as we have seen a handful of pronghorn or deer when we should be seeing hundreds a day.   

Bentonite hill sides

Bentonite….bentonite is the dark, hard, cracking, dry soil that comprises much of this landscape.  As I look over landscape much of it is bentonite bad-lands.  We passed an abandoned bentonite mine that we were told hauled one load before closing down.  This soil is tough when dry, and clay-like when wet.  It can absorb as much as several times its dry mass in water and makes a perfect seal when wet.  It is used in products such as kitty-litter as well as for the lining of bore holes for mining.  My grandma said they used it to line a reservoir on “the farm” in Chester.  We experienced firsthand the power of this substance when we sunk to the axel of Tony’s truck while trying to cross a creek crossing we thought was dry.  It took us upwards of 2 hours of literally digging the clay by hand out from under the axel to get us out.  As we were working there was a perfect sunset and full moon rising that we missed…of course.  I also can’t believe we didn’t get a photo of the whole ordeal.  All we have left is the clay caked on my Keens, clumps that will forever be stuck to the underside of the rig, and the lesson I’m sure many hunters and ranchers have learned in this area…always test the solidity of the ground when driving across bentonite! 

These rock "bubbles" are whats left after the bentonite erodes away.  Beautiful tubular formations!

Ti-pi rings looking over the wild prairie.

We are finding some cultural artifacts but wish we had more time to explore the hillsides.  Tony found a bi-face and we did run across this fairly large establishment of "ti-pi rings."  The sad thing is that there is a bladed road right through the middle of this encampment and I'm sure it's been looted thousands of times.  

We are now home for a few days trying to catch up and start working on our reports and maps.  Anyone know ArcMap?  Ugh!  My brain is being flexed with this darn program for sure!  Next stop…the Musselshell River area.  I can’t wait!

Is a Prairie Wild?

So?  What do you think?  When you stand in the middle of a vast prairie landscape do you feel like you are in a wild place?  I believe that those of you that have spent time in the prairie country of Montana you would feel like it is in fact a wild place.  I know for certain my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother who grew up along Montana's Highline thought they were pretty isolated at times!  But what makes a place a wilderness to you?  Is it trees?  Wildlife?  The feeling of isolation?  Lack of man-made objects?  

This summer I am fortunate enough to be working with Tony Bynum on a project backed by the Montana Wilderness Association and the PEW Trust where we are "inventorying" some BLM land that is up for review as a wilderness study area.  My role in this project is the navigator!  I get to use all the available maps and technologies to find where we are, find how to get where we want to go, and put all the data we gather together in a map to be submitted with a final report.  

We just went out to our first area to get our feet wet before our official training.  We learned many things...mainly that this is a big, big, big job!  It's exciting, fun, humbling, and did I mention BIG?  

I think that if you spent some time in the wide open spaces of Montana you would be hard pressed to say that it is NOT a wild place.  Every square foot of ground holds it's own ecosystem.  It was certainly not the ecosystem I anticipated seeing in the Eastern part of my state.  It was almost a wetland, if you can believe that!  

The antelope and deer populations have been hard-hit in the last two years by snow and disease but they are there and we did see other wild creatures.

There is much evidence of wild game in this area.  Perhaps it's their winter range or perhaps they are use to hunters in their territory and caught wind of us before we spotted them.

The evenings at camp are prime times to go for a nice hike and listen to the frogs, birds, and mosquitoes buzzing in your ears.  

This view stretched for miles across Montana and into Canada as well.  It butts up to Canada's Grasslands National Park which is now new on my "bucket list."

Incredibly enough we found shell fossils on the tip tops of these peaks.  They were just over 2800 feet in elevation and were the tallest spots around.

Moss, lichen, wild flowers, and cactus all grow in abundance in this area.  We were just shy of the prickly pear cacti blooming...it would have been a sight to see!

 There are also some cultural artifacts we ran across.  We aren't sure of the time period or meaning of these rock piles but they were on almost every high-point we explored.  It will be interesting to research the meaning of them.

This marks the end of Chapter One of my summer adventure.  I feel like I hit the lottery with this project. I can't believe my luck in getting to explore my favorite state, spend time with Tony, and learning more about GIS/GPS that I can use in my new job as a science teacher!  Stay tuned for more...we will also be posting a different version of our adventure on Tony's website under Prairie Project.