Mission

Educate and collect media to strengthen Madison Valley's carcass composting program and reduce wildlife risks.

Our flights from Ennis took us through the Madison and Gravelly Ranges, which rise up on either side of the Madison River. This landscape is home to critical wildlife habitat, as well as multi-generational ranches that feed the West and preserve undeveloped land. Our goal with these flights is to reduce the conflict between wildlife, specifically grizzly bears, and ranchers. From above, the interconnectedness between wildlife corridors and ranch land is clear, highlighting the necessity to implement practices that enable wildlife and ranchers to best co-exist.

Madison Valley Ranchlands Group is implementing a carcass composting project in which livestock that die naturally are brought off of ranch lands, onto higher elevation plots in hopes that wildlife will not associate the low elevation ranch lands with an easy food source. This program helps strengthen the barrier between wild lands and working lands, keeping wildlife out of harms way, and protecting livestock from predation. This is just one of their programs designed to reduce conflict between wildlife and ranchers.

Click for photos, aerial footage from the flight, or geo-referenced photos from the flight.