Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument
| Contacts: | Elinor Marboe (406) 622-4000 |
BLM's Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center Hosts "Dogs and People Through Time"
FORT BENTON – The Bureau of Land Management’s Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center and Sunrise Bluffs Estates will host the Humanities Montana Speakers Bureau program, “Dogs and People through Time,” with Sid Gustafson at 1 p.m., on Friday, March1. The program will be held in the dining room of Sunrise Bluffs, 711 21st Street, in Fort Benton. The presentation is free and open to the public. Partial funding for the Speakers Bureau program is provided by a legislative grant from Montana’s Cultural Trust and from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The theme of Gustafson’s talk is how man and dog came together, and why. During his visit to Fort Benton, Gustafson will discuss Shep's faithfulness and how that behavior relates to domestication at large, as well as the difference between dogs and wolves. He’ll talk about the role of dogs on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and dogs during the steamboat era. Gustafson believes that dogs benefit humankind in a great variety of ways, and they benefit people most when their needs are understood and fulfilled.
Gustafson is a Montana veterinarian and veterinary behaviorist. In addition to practicing veterinary medicine and promoting the health and welfare of animals, he teaches equine behavior at the University of Guelph (online Open Learning, EquineGuelph) and with Montana State University's Extended University (The Evolution and Domestication of the Wolf). Gustafson is also a dog and horse trainer, and an animal behavior educator and journalist.
Fort Benton is the gateway community to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, which is managed under the BLM’s National Landscape Conservation System. Encompassing about 375,000 acres, these lands hold a spectacular array of plant life, wildlife, unique geological features, endless recreational opportunities, and significant historical and cultural values. The rugged landscape and 149-mile Upper Missouri National Wild and Scenic River have retained much of the unspoiled character that Lewis and Clark experienced more than 200 years ago. The BLM partners with the city of Fort Benton and the River and Plains Society to promote and preserve the area’s rich heritage.
For more information, please call the Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center at (406) 622-4000. For directions to Sunrise Bluffs, please call (406) 622-5443. For the latest BLM news and updates visit us on the web at: www.blm.gov/mt and on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/BLMMontana.
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.