Montana State Office
| Contacts: | Ann Boucher | , 406-896-5011 |
New Educational Kit Features Pryor Mountain Wild Horses
The second in a series of five educational kits is now available to area schools.
“History Mystery II: Pryor Mountain Wild Horses” is a king sized board-style game that takes players through a year in the life of a wild horse in the Pryor Mountains. It explores the complex issues surrounding the horses’ environment, behavior, management, and history, and allows players to reach their own conclusions.
The game is the newest kit produced by the Billings Heritage Education Partnership – a five-year collaboration between the Bureau of Land Management and the Western Heritage Center. “History Mystery I: Sacrifice Cliff” was released last year and centers on local legends associated with the well known landmark near Billings. Like the Pryor Mountain kit, it also engages students in an interactive research exercise and allows them to learn through their own investigations.
Both kits have been distributed to middle school teachers for use in their schools. Kits are also available for checkout at the Western Heritage Center and the BLM. For more information, contact David K. Wade at the BLM Curation Center, 406-896-5213; or Joyce Jensen at the Western Heritage Center, 406-256-6809, ext. 130.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Montana State Office 5001 Southgate Drive Billings, MT 59101