Dillon hosts Youth Conservation Day

Story by Kelly Bockting, Wildlife Biologist, Dillon Field Office
Photos by Lauri Blinn, GIS Specialists, Dillon Field Office

The fourth annual Youth Conservation Day in southwest Montana went off without a hitch, but not without a little rain.

Each year, the Bureau of Land Management’s Dillon Field Office invites local students to join them at a field location to learn more about how the federal agency works, what its mission is, and what its employees enjoy about their jobs.

This year, 80 seventh graders from the Dillon Middle School, six from the Lima School District and two from surrounding rural schools had their field day May 1 at the Historic Henneberry Homestead along the Beaverhead River south of Dillon.

The morning started out a little soggy and damp as the students and scientists were hit with sporadic rain showers, but after lunch, the sun popped through the clouds and provided for a very enjoyable afternoon.

Dillon BLM Field Office specialists presented information about the resources they manage and the importance of local public lands for recreational uses, as well as how the resources are managed in order to generate revenue and job opportunities.

This year, BLM employees gave demonstrations on a variety of topics, including forestry, geo-morphology and stream morphology, wildlife resources, cultural resources, rangelands, fuels and wildfire management, and noxious/invasive species. 

“Working with the schools’ science teachers, the objective of Youth Conservation Day is to tie our information into what the students learned during the school year,” said Kelly Bockting, wildlife biologist with the Dillon Field Office.

“The kids get a lot of hands on experience such as looking at fossils, using primitive hunting tools, watching an erosion demonstration and playing invasive species games, with the hope of giving them practical experience that helps them discern what they learned in the classroom.”

This year, students learned about local Native American tribes, how they hunted, lived and moved across the landscape; volcanic and fossil formations in the area; stream dynamics and how river systems were formed; the importance of local rangelands to wildlife populations and local ranches; the vital role fire plays in the local ecosystem; and the importance to control and eradicate non-native invasive species and the detrimental effect they can have on wildlife habitat.

Bockting added his appreciation for local merchants who helped sponsor the event, including the Beaverhead Conservation District, Van’s IGA and Smith 6-S Livestock. Lunch was donated by the sponsors and Conservation District volunteers grilled burgers donated by Smith 6-S Livestock.