Pine Butte Blog

Transitions

2011-10-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

This time of year in Montana, is arguably the most beautiful. While we lack the overwhelming leaf-shows of some parts of the country, the now-gold aspen clones and cottonwoods gracefully strung along the rivers of the Front are really, too lovely for words. The landscape is well into late fall now; hunters are afield chasing elk and deer in that ancient game and most of the other inhabitants are preparing for the onset of winter. There is something about autumn in particular that evokes thoughts of change. The gradual evaporation of energy from the landscape and the final colors the season demands our attention and reminds us of the introspective time to come. And then, things accelerate; you sense that a tipping point has been reached. We are so far into the autumnal bluster presently, high peaks dusted with snow, that one begins to question if spring and summer really ever happened.

It is like that at Pine Butte now. If you visited the ranch today, you’d find a place of long shadows, low angle light and shuttered buildings. Our horses are gone, out to their winter pasture on the Swamp Preserve and the last visitors left at the end of September. Like the seasonal shift we are witnessing all around us, energy has dissipated from the ranch; the human energy that drives the learning, discussions and friendships the place is known for. Its absence is made more pronounced by recurrent rains and wind that howls from the west. It is difficult to imagine the animated, bustling ranch of a few months ago. But there is something satisfying about experiencing this lonely, raw side of the landscape. To really know a place, we have to familiarize ourselves with its many moods and sometimes, the disposition of Nature is harsh and unpleasant. But that is part of what makes it authentic. Much of the year is like this on the Front in Montana.

The bears are still out, packing on the final calories of the season. Hopefully, most have reached that critical mass of stored energy that will allow them to enter their protective dormancy for winter. Some will give birth to the next generation while in the den and others may perish there due to poor berry crops this past summer. At the moment before transition, a point of irretrievability is reached. And it is often a moment of realization for us; this thing we were a part of or that we were watching, or thought we were watching, has irreversibly changed. We find ourselves startled asking, “Where were we when this was happening?”

There is still plenty of color left in the aspens around here, but it won’t last. It will disappear before the first storms of winter.

David Cronenwett

Volunteer Weekend...and Beyond!

2011-05-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

Some of our younger volunteers enjoy a break from felling and bucking firewood!

Volunteer Weekend you may know, is our annual work party at PBGR. Despite a vigorous spring snowstorm that dumped nearly 10 inches on the Front, intrepid volunteers traveled from far and wide to help out with projects like firewood getting, fence repair (and removal), cleaning buildings, setting up the gift shop and many, many other projects. Thank you again for all of the assistance volunteers, and we hope to see you all back next April!

Now that we have prepped El Rancho for the season, the staff is getting ready for our first Workshop of the year: the Path of the Great Bear, led by reknown bear biologist, Chuck Jonkel. We will explore the Rocky Mountain Front's varied habitats looking for Grizzlies throughout the week. Then it's right into the Spring Naturalist's Tour which I have the honor of instructing along with Maggie Carr and Skadi von Reis Crooks. We will focus on a different facet of natural history each day including birds, flora, fire ecology, large mammals and the human presence on the Front.

I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones this summer! Have a safe trip out!

David Cronenwett, Naturalist

March Madness....

2011-03-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

In celebration of the arrival of spring (which you can tell by the hoar frost on the horse hair this morning.....), we are offering some great booking specials. Check out the website http://www.pinebutteguestranch.com/ for more information on the new opportunities!!

Spring has sprung....

2011-03-21T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it is officially spring, as you can tell by the flower growing out of Yvonne's head. So, naturally, we are in the midst of a winter storm warning, with the chance of over a foot of snow falling in the next 24 hours! You gotta love Montana! We had actually had 10 BEAUTIFUL days in a row with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the 40s.

The first bluebirds of the year were spotted last week. David C., who will be returning this summer as our Lead Naturalist (yeah!), told me that former manager Lee Barhaugh told him 4 years ago that bluebirds always return here on March 15th, just like clockwork. True to Lee's prediction, on the 15th we saw our first of the year down by the Ear Mountain Trailhead. The next day I saw my first ground squirrels of the year out running around the Preserve. I am hoping all of those harbingers of spring are not freezing right now!!

Our seasonal staff is fully hired. We had a ton of highly qualified applicants, and are thrilled with the folks we will have here this summer. Returning staff include Nikki (Ms. Lola) and Emily in the kitchen, Brooke and Kate in Guest Services, and David as Naturalist. We also have the return of Gayle Sinclair after a several year absence. However, rather than wrangling ponies as she did in the past, she will wrangling up grub with Lola and Emily in the kitchen.

We are pleased to welcome new faces to Pine Butte as well. Suzanne, Allison, and Heidi will be joining our Guest Services crew. Adam will be taking over the gardening duties. Maggie and Skadi will be down at the barn taking care of the ponies and guiding you all on foot as well as horseback. We are excited to have staff begin to arrive in just over a month!!

Other news to put out there is the fact that I (Jim) have decided to leave my position here effective May 22. Scott Randall will be coming in as ranch manager on April 1. We will overlap for several weeks before I depart for Wyoming. I would like to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of the staff and guests here over the last three and a half years, and I hope that you will keep in touch. It has been a privilege to work in this amazing environment that is Pine Butte.

A little about Scott....He and his wife and 4 kids have been living in Montana for six years now. He started as the Recreation Director at Paws Up outside of Missoula, and left there a short time ago as their Assistant General Manager. Scott got his degree in Management of Recreational Facilities in Utah, and has travelled extensively, spending a fair bit of time in Japan. He and his family enjoy biking, riding, rafting, and generally being outdoors. Please join me in welcoming Scott to Pine Butte and wishing him the best of luck in his new position.

That's it for this week. We'll begin posting more regularly from here on out - promise!

2011-01-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Cold temperatures cause ice layers to form over the top of the South Fork of the Teton River, but no matter what the temperature is outside, the work inside still marches onward. Denny has been pursuing a number of projects on the ranch's Capital Improvements "to do" list. The current work consists of painting the ceilings of the Winter Cabin and Winter Suite. All that looking up can give a guy a crick in his neck so occasionally Denny gets assistance from Jim who is no less busy. The horses take up a good deal of his time since he has to go check in on our "off duty" horses who spending their days of leisure grazing on the Preserve, help an injured horse still residing at the ranch and working with yet another who is still a little skittish around potential riders.
All those horses might have a little reason to be concerned since Jim is heading out soon for a much needed vacation. It will be Denny and Yvonne holding down the ranch as the case is here. "Denny, how much hay was I supposed to feed the two barn horses?" I guess it's a good thing that we are only responsible for feeding the two rather than the 30. We will be looking forward to Jim's return as will the 32!

2011-01-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

No Denny, Christmas is already over... but it sure

would have made a nice tree to have by the fireplace with presents underneath.

One of the neighbors said he recorded a high wind speed of 54 miles per hour while here at the ranch, we registered the biggest gust at 52 miles per hour. I don't know if our lovely grand tree outside Alice's would agree with those recordings as it didn't survive Wednesday night. But with the wind comes "balmy" weather. As I look at the thermometer outside the office, we are currently at 43 degrees. That's all about to change here soon. Saturday night predicts snow at 80% with a high temperature on Sunday forecast for 7 degrees. You have to love Montana winters! It's no wonder why the ranch isn't open all year long but we are looking forward to seeing all of our wonderful guests returning when things are a little more temperate!

Seasons Greetings to All!!

2010-12-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

As the moon rises over the ranch, all we're missing is Santa and his sleigh!

Wishing EVERYONE a great holiday season.....

Happy Holidays

2010-12-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I hope that everyone out there is having a great holiday season thus far. We've gone from a week of sub-zero temps right before Thanksgiving to 40 degrees and rain yesterday. Rain! In December! Craziness.

Things are rolling along here at the ranch. Bookings for 2011 are looking pretty good. However, we still have LOTS of room, so if you haven't booked yet, give us a call!

Yvonne is in southern CA right now visiting family. She returns this weekend after 2 weeks away. Denny is heading on vacation next week. His oldest son graduates from college in a week, and then the whole family is headed for Florida for Christmas. I think he's looking forward to seeing some sunshine!

Renovations are moving forward. Winter Cabin has new carpet and a completely redone bathroom. The gift store has a new floor. And 4 of our lovely pink bathtubs have magically turned white!! We're very excited about that one!

On a sad note, I had to put down one of our new ponies over Thanksgiving. He had developed a tumor in his bladder. Not a fun thing. So we sadly said goodbye to Tricks, one of the new Standardbreds.

Outside of that, we are simply keeping busy and counting down the days to summer and the return of guests! Our holiday cards just arrived, so you all should be getting a card from us in the next month or so (I'm a slow writer). Denny Barlow took the picture, and it's a good 'un!

Happy holidays to all!!

Early Bird Warning!

2010-11-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

Well, October flew by and here we sit in November. Days are still in the 50s and 60s. Unseasonably warm, but we are NOT going to complain! The bears are still out, and the deer and elk are still staying high due to the warm weather. The mountains have gotten SOME snow, and we are keeping our fingers crossed for the opening of the Teton Pass ski area this winter.

Here in the office, Yvonne has been busy trying to get trained on all the TNC financial systems. It is a long and painful process! Denny is getting to work on more cabin renovations. We picked out some carpet to replace the old in Winter Cabin, and picked out some new flooring for the gift shop, which had gotten worn and cracked in places. We'll also be doing some more bathroom upgrades as well.

I've been working with a couple of our new horses, hoping to get them ready for more work next summer. Tonto, Tricks, and Diamond are all finding out that their life of leisure may be over! They're doing well, though, and have been a lot of fun.

Our 2011 schedule is set and ready to go! Go to http://www.pinebutteguestranch.com/ to check out the workshop and summer schedule, and pass it on to your friends! In addition, rates WILL be going up marginally during the heart of the summer (for adults, not kids). HOWEVER, if you sign up by THANKSGIVING WEEKEND, you can still get the 2010 rates. So sign up now!!! :)

Highlights of Fall

2010-09-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, as you can see from the photos, fall has arrived. The bears are eating berries, the colors are changing, and it's STILL nice enough to wear shorts! Hard to believe that this coming weekend is the last of the season. In celebration, we are all taking tomorrow off and heading to Glacier for a hike. One last trip as a staff....

We have already had to say goodbye to Brooke and Kate. They have both left us to return to school. Emily also left today to go live on a sheep farm in Oregon. In a week the place will feel pretty lonely!

Scott Hillis, intrepid volunteer from earlier in the summer, is returning on Friday to help us close up shop. We appreciate Elizabeth giving him the time off. :)

With the bears trying to put on the calories before winter sets in. we've had quite a few sightings. Lots of black bears around the ranch eating berries. We were also fortunate enough to see 5 grizzlies in one shot a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, that was a highlight for the guests (even though they were on a geology workshop).

We'll have updates a little more regularly now that things are slowing down. Get ready for more pictures of fall and winter! In the mean time, check out our website. There's a new video on-line!!!

A Time of Change

2010-08-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

It's still another four weeks to the Autumnal Equinox, yet the summer closes for the guest ranch in about one week's time. Horses will be set out to winter pasture, the pool will soon be drained, members of guest services are leaving to go back to school, and the leaves on the Aspens are showing the slightest hint of transitioning to their Fall colors. Yet all is not over at the guest ranch. Hiking and touring the Rocky Mountain Front as well as studying its geology will occur through September. To close things out, there will be a yoga workshop followed finally by a Montana Getaway Weekend. Staff also find a little bit of time to enjoy the remnants of summer as they go hiking, hula hooping or even hold a staff barbeque. Everyone, however, will need to be prepared for any kind of weather with one afternoon high at 92 degrees only to find themselves facing oncoming thunderstorms with temperatures dropping to 64 degrees the following day and the evenings getting down to a chilly 36 degrees. Days are becoming breezier. The wind carries the smoke from distant fires which at times reveals a red sunrise. We are reminded of the coming fall on our evenings sitting outside when the sun sets in the west and we are forced to put on our fleece jackets. Time is spent starting a fire in the fireplace. We are made to go inside earlier as days are becoming shorter. As with our friends, we get ready to say goodbye but look forward to the return of spring and next season.

From the House of Greens

2010-08-08T07:52:00.000-07:00

The welcomed moisture of spring rains brought a shady situation. Cloud coverage reigned supreme. the seedlings lied low as the temperatures. The last frost was mid-June. The rain June. The rain collection barrel filled faster than it could empty.

Now that same barrel runs dry more often than not. Photosynthesis is an overzealous activity in the gardens. The stalks and vines lean to the South in hormonal shifting, their leaves catching every photon possible. As John Muir called them "plant people" I imagine them in their congregation as Sun worshippers bowing to their god.

An aphid infestation introduced by interspecies interactions set back greenhouse production. Various ant species have been milking the aphids for their delicious honeydew. They could be seen wherever you looked. It was so thick we had to dispose of all of our lettuce left over from the winter, for to wash them off would have taken a millennium. Soap sprays, garlic sprays, peppers sprays, diatomaceous earth, flooding, maple syrup traps, and meticulous hand picking of aphids and ants consumed many hours of valuable gardening time. So we brought in the most ferocious weapon available, ladybeetles, to do the dirty work.

Tomatoes swell upon the vines that ascend out of reach in a game of keep away being played by the beans as well. Peppers are on their way, bedecked with blossoms and miniature bells. Eggplants droop from their stems going ignored by the distraction of their dazzling flowers of purple hexagrams with complimentary yellow pistil and stamen. Basil perfumes the air in head spinning wafts that enter the nostrils, infiltrate the stomach, and send the synapses into a whirl of gourmandizing desire.

Lettuces pock the exterior garden in mats of lime green, emerald green and deep purples. chard, beet greens, romaine, butter crunch bibb, garnish kale, and spinach each take their turn under the fork. Pea vines go unruly along the trellis they take only as a suggestion. Squash and zucchini sit obscured under their palmate leaved canopy in a game of hide and seek to which I peek-a-boo them every morning. Rhubarb keeps coming around with shameless determination. Two hundred pounds of it has officially established a place in the freezer. Half of the patch is now in a compost heap upon the notion that the space shall be better used for other crops. I'd accept wild grasses as a better crop after chopping that much rhubarb!

Every morning the overnight climate is recorded in the greenhouse. Above the log book is a plaque commemorating the donors to the Lee Barhaugh Good Energy fund. I see names that are familiar and some that are strangers to me. to all of those in both parties, I think you for your donations. I would also like to thank Beth Nelson for her work in supplying us with and irrigation system that had been donated by Rainbird. Time shall be saved and spent in other ares that we may have greater bounties of fresh veggies in the future.

"I went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that i had not lived." -Henry David Thoreau

-Paul Tardie, Gardener/Ranch Assistant

Ranch Junior

2010-07-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

It's the age of the young ranchers. It began the week of July 18th

when we had the Guest Ranch's first group of youngsters at ages of 4, 8, 11, 12, 12, and 14. This week beginning July 25th, the visitors ages are 8, 11 (times 3), 13 and a still youthful 21 year old. Next week, beginning August 1st, we could start our own baseball team, the Pine Butte All Stars with the youngest of the nine at 9 years old ranging all the way up to 20! Don't let their ages fool you though; these children don't wear down like some of us more "mature" folks. They hike, swim, ride and generally keep the grownups on their toes. What a great way, though, to get kids to view and explore our environment. Hopefully they will become as passionate about the landscape as their elders and work to preserve this beauty for future generations.

If you think you want to come see the beauty here for yourself along with your juniors, ask about coming the week of August 8th through the 15th. We have some special opportunities going on and we invite you to come explore!

Summer's Here

2010-07-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well, Summer has finally arrived. Temps in the 70s, plenty of sunshine,....After a wet, cool spring, the warmth is welcome. But of course, in the tradition of all good Westerners, I'm already worrying about it being TOO warm and wondering when the next rain will come! Mother Nature can't win....though in reality, I guess she does all the time!

This past week was busy, yet quiet (if THAT makes any sense!). We had a handful of summer guests (the Field Buddies from NY and NJ) interspersed with a couple of smaller TNC events. All went smoothly, and it was a good week for all. At one point we had 3 different TNC state directors on the ranch, and it didn't implode!! :)

Lot's of wildlife was seen. On Thursday, the was a family of 7 weasels spotted by the footbridge over to Alice's. They were all learning how to walk across the bridge, and Denny got some great shots - showing fangs and all! The Wildlife Watch on Friday saw 11 different moose, which must be SOME sort of record.

As we reach the half-way point of the season, we are grateful for a pleasant, uneventful first half of the season, and look forward to the second half and the arrival of more old friends.

El Verano

2010-06-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

While the solstice brings the summer, Pine Butte Guest Ranch's official summer kickoff was June 13th. Workshop season takes a hiatus giving way to the leisure traveler time of year. Guests still view wildlife like the Long Tailed Weasel or the Long Billed Curlew as well as noting the flora such as the Stiped Coral Root Orchid but now we've added a host of other activities to the ranch daily doings.

After arriving to the ranch on Sunday, guests get the opportunity to meet one another at our evening social hour followed by the first of many delicious meals to come. (Lunches and dinners are followed by some of the best desserts around which can be problematic to the staff with an affinity for sweets and a summer season before them!) Starting Monday morning, calories can be burned off through a wide option of activities such as hiking on one of our nearby spectacular mountains, swimming in our solar heated pool, or going for a ride on horseback, though fewer calories might be expended on this last one.

If caloric output is not a concern of visitors, they might very well find themselves rocking in one of our chairs in front of the guest lodge, or indoors listening to a presentation by one of Pine Butte Swamp Preserve's staff on all the work that is being done to take care of our nearby resources.
On a different evening, one might be entertained by either Jim, our ranch manager or David, our staff naturalist, as they strum their guitars, each in a different, yet highly talented way.

The week wouldn't be complete without outdoor meals. Our Wednesday evening cookout offers local Montana beef (or veggie burgers, if that is your pleasure) cooked over an open fire. Friday mornings, you can ride to outdoor breakfast and enjoy some of Annie's blueberry pancakes and a cup of cowboy coffee.

The breaking of bread with our wonderful guests and enjoying the surroundings is one of the great parts of being here at this special location. We are so fortunate that the Nature Conservancy is doing important work in our area but also, around the globe!

Birds of the Rockies & Prairies

2010-06-10T10:07:00.000-07:00

The guest ranch was lucky, once again, to have the pleasure of hosting renowned birder, author and artist David Allen Sibley this past May 30th to June 5th. Guest cabins were full to capacity for this year's birding workshop. Travelers came from coast to coast to participate in a full schedule of activities beginning from their arrival night with a social hour and dinner followed on Monday morning by a naturalist's tour of the Pine Butte Swamp Preserve. In the evening, guests listened to a program delivered by Mr. Sibley himself. Tuesday was a packed day beginning with a bird trip into the Teton River bottomlands, a driving tour of prairie lands in the afternoon and an evening wildlife watch after dinner. Wednesday was another full day touring the Indian Head "2000 Fire" site where the birders, watching birds, found themselves being watched by a black bear. There was then an afternoon presentation by Kate Davis, founder of Raptors of the Rockies. Kate brought with her a Gyr Falcon/Peregrine hybrid, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northern Pygmy-Owl and a Great Horned Owl for guests, as well as staff, to get an upclose look of some exquisite creatures. Freezeout Lake was the bird watching locale for Thursday with a slideshow following dinner presented by the Swamp Preserve's Mark Korte. Rounding out the week on Friday was a tour of the North Fork Teton. A once in a life time opportunity arose when a brood of Northern Hawk Owls was spotted consisting of a breeding pair and 4 - 5 young. This may have been the southern most breeding pair recorded. Needless to say, the final discussion after dinner quite lively!

The Path of the Great Bear

2010-05-27T11:32:00.001-07:00

Dr. Charles Jonkel returned to the Pine Butte Guest Ranch

for the week of May 15th through the 21st to kick off our 2010 workshop season. While the guests who came to our first workshop of the season were not great in number, they were certainly great in quality! Guests were greeted each evening in our Nature Center for a social hour followed by a sumptuous dinner prepared by our very talented kitchen staff under the supervision of Nikki Stapel, who is returning to the ranch for her 6th season. In the guest lodge serving our guests was another one of our return staff, Michael Burkhow, who seems to know every guest by name.

One of the evenings, dinner was followed up with a slide show presented by the Pine Butte Swamp Preserve's Mark Korte. Guests were informed of all the work being undertaken by the folks at the preserve. On another night, an intriguing video of bear activity recorded at Yellowstone National Park was the post dinner entertainment presented by our staff naturalist, David Cronenwett.

During the days, the workshop included hikes on Lonesome Ridge, Pine Butte, Boone and Crockett, Dellwo Ranch and the Blackleaf Area. One exciting moment was the sighting of two bears on the early morning bear and wildlife watch. However, David got a big surprise when he opened a trail register box that was being used as a nest by a Northern Flying Squirrel. No one knew David could move so fast, and everyone got a spectacular view of an elusive, noctural animal.

Our next workshop is just getting underway hosted by David as well, who will be leading our guests on outings to take in the area's wildflowers. There are a couple of great things about Pine Butte Guest Ranch's workshops, though. First, they are all encompassing. Flowers are examined in bear workshops while bears are discussed in flower workshops. Of course, all wildlife is appreciated any time they come out on display. Second, there's still room available in a couple of our workshops in June and September as well as space for some de-stressing at our yoga workshop at the end of our season. In fact, why wait for a workshop to treat yourself? Call us to see when we can fit you in over summer. You'll be glad you did!

Oregonian Observations

2010-05-06T06:38:00.000-07:00

It's a crisp Sunday morning even with the sun shining brightly, rising over Crab Butte. The wind gusts occassionally, bringing that chill. No less than 39 mule deer are grazing and passing behind the ranch greenhouse. Adding to the sound effects of the wind is the bright red headed woodpecker, the Red Naped Sapsucker, pecking away at the power line pole behind Alice's. Also in the chorus is the gentle chirp of ground squirrels and the sporadic bird. Out of the sky flutters, very gently, small flakes, though there's not a cloud overhead. It was only last Sunday that I arrived to this Eden in Montana. There are still a few cabins which can be booked by those who know the secret of the Pine Butte Guest Ranch, but perhaps it is best left a secret only to be discovered by the very lucky.

Yvonne Geisel is Guest Ranch office assistant from Ashland, Oregon

Naturalist Notes: The Names

2010-04-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

Arrowleaf Balsamroot-covered hillside. Photo by Simon Williams

Walking the foothills on the East Slope of the Rockies, I notice early-season wildflowers poking through the snow. At the moment, I enjoy just taking in the beauty of these creatures, letting myself see them unadorned by names and attendant associations. I want only to experience the wash of color and intensity of purpose these plants exhibit in their surge of life. And here, with the last fits of winter beginning to fade, nothing feels more right. This childlike wonder doesn't last long however, as a word quickly comes to mind; Douglasia.

We are probably Earth's only animal that uses a symbolic code, in the form of language, to interpret, understand and convey information of one sort or another. But this is a sterile, mechanistic description of our species' most exceptional achievement; the development of mind and soul. It is difficult to imagine functioning for very long in the world without using language to find our way. Our thoughts, our literature and our experience of life is intimately tied to language. And it all begins, when we are very young, with the act of mimicking intonation patterns and then, naming the world around us.

In previous posts, I've noted that landscapes and their living communities will never be entirely knowable or "nameable". However, we should also recognize the purpose and utility that attaching names to species has for people. Many common and binomial names can convey information useful as a mnemonic (memory) device; helpful to those of us trying to remember the names of hundreds of species. The common name, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, for example, says something obvious about the plant known to science as Balsamifera sagitatta in the same way that an interesting place name might tell us about a town or locale. But naming living things just for the sake of doing so really isn't the point . Naming nature binds us directly to it. We begin human relationships in the same way; by learning another's name. It is the first step in the development of kinship, affection and love, which is ultimately the reason we bother with the business of living at all: to be connected to the world.

Names, while merely human symbols, help to create understanding in our minds, particularly when dealing with infinitely complex natural systems. It is our way of holding on to something profoundly larger than ourselves. This need for order, attachment and meaning, led to the development of Taxonomy; the logical classification system of organisms that we use today. The names can also have a musical quality, such as Eritrichium howardii. And with such lovely sounds, we can honor the object to which we attach a name. At our best, we are both creators and recognizers of beauty. While all things are ephemeral in the end, the naming of other beings seems to be for us a way to acknowledge and honor this beauty. Beauty, often so overwhelming, we stand agape, in awe of it.

David Cronenwett- Naturalist

It's Coming....!!

2010-04-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

Summer, that is. Hard to believe that the time is flying by so fast. We'll have our Volunteer Weekend here in about 3 weeks, and then it's full steam ahead!

The news....The Latin School from Chicago visited 2 weeks ago. As you can see, we put them to work in the shop and took them out to feed the bison on a neighboring ranch. A pretty cool all-around experience for them. They barely survived without their cellphones and laptops, but survive they did! It was fun to have some life around the ranch again, even though it was a lot of work. We all spent a lot of time cooking, driving, and talking. A huge thanks to David for getting the group here again, and to Annie and Denny for providing the logistical support. The only down side was that Annie spent 3 days making Martha Stewart inspired sticky buns, and the student at 3 - TOTAL. She was crushed, but I was grateful and am also now fatter!

Right after the student left, David and I headed for North Carolina to do a little PR. If you ignore the long days of flying to and fro, it was a great trip. We did 2 TNC events in Durham, one of which was attended by about 20 Pine Butte alumni. Some even brought some pictures to look at. We then drove to Asheville and did a couple of events there. We did one right in Asheville, and the second was graciously hosted by the Seilers. We were also aided on this trip by Pine Butte alum Ulla Thompson who volunteers for TNC North Carolina. They were fun events, and will hopefully prove productive! I guess I should also mention that we saw some great live music and were treated to some fantastic cuisine while there. That was a treat, especially since Lola isn't on the premises here in the winter time!!

Upgrades are underway here. There are some NICE new beds in some of the cabins. Denny has been busy painting. And, as I type, the electricians are digging away getting ready to bury some old power lines...It's pretty exciting! And Denny is in Great Falls picking up another bed as well as some reupholstered cushions.

Here at the ranch office, Annie and I are about finished hiring for the summer. Lola, Jeff, Nikki Mann, Paul, and Michael are all returning. We have also hired Natalie, Brooke, and Katelyn in guest services. Natalie is coming from Georgia, while Brooke and Katelyn are local. In the Kitchen, Chris and Emily will be joining Lola. Chris is a retired Navy cook (and a former TNC employee) from Tennessee, and Emily is coming in from Washington state. We have one more guest services person to hire, and we will also be hiring an Office Assistant to help Annie out and allow her to focus more fully on guest services.

Well, I think that's all the news from here. We hope everyone is enjoying spring (as we are), and we can't wait to see folks this summer!

Naturalist Notes: A Land In Between

2010-03-10T10:52:00.000-08:00

On the trail during the busy guest season, it's not uncommon to hear the question, "so, what exactly is the Rocky Mountain Front?" and more often then not, I have to pause and think about how to answer. "Where the Rocky Mountains collide with the Northern Prairies" is the easy way out, but there is so much going on here on multiple scales, that it is not the most complete or honest response.

How we define things is important since it gives us a sense of understanding our world. We are "namers" after all, language being our most important tool for taking in, processing and passing on information. But when it comes to Nature, our words and ideas don't always adequately reflect ecological complexity and nuance. For one thing, this place, with its habitat blending and varied ownership of public and private lands, defies many of our preconceived notions about conservation. Our civilization tends to either protect land with some kind of formal designation (National Park, Wilderness, etc.) or exploit it (industrial logging, oil and gas development, etc.) But on the Front (whatever that is), we have a graceful mixture of uses including ranching, limited-scale tourism, outfitting, hunting, fishing, habitat conservation and other forms of recreation. In Montana, the most important land protection tool from the standpoint of The Nature Conservancy, is the conservation easement. This allows traditional ranching activities to continue on a property as it has for generations, while removing the subdivision threat in perpetuity. As I'm fond of saying, we grow both cows and grizzly bears here, with limited conflict, which is an amazing feat.

The Front blurs ecological, cultural and historical lines, because it is a mixing zone like no other. For example, deciding what "wild" is becomes problematic here. The Bob Marshall Wilderness to the west was designated in 1964, but it is marginal habitat in many ways for creatures like grizzly bears, especially when compared to the lower elevation prairies. Should we then call the lowlands, largely comprised of private ranches, domesticated? Most times of the year, you are more likely to see bears and other big creatures in this grassland habitat, along with its few roads, sprinkling of ranch buildings and many cows than in the high country. While designated Wilderness is one thing, wildness, like the presence of large carnivores in unsuspecting places, is more mysterious and trickier to quantify or define.

In Nature,we are forced to directly question our predication towards bi-modal, "this or that" thinking. And around these parts, in the midst of an enormous ecotone, the gray often seems to outweigh the black or white. There are plant species that freely hybridize (like genera Populus, Salix & Castelleja) making identification notoriously difficult. And often, organisms show up in habitats where they just "aren't supposed to be". Like the Scissor Tailed Flycatcher spotted along the Bellview cutacross road last year or the many grassland plants we observe in the high mountains. Then there are the strange behaviors of mammals; such as the propensity of our beavers here to use rocks in their dam building. What I've discovered during my time on the landscape is that it is more useful to embrace the concept of Tendency when studying living systems, because in ecology (like physics), depending on the context, laws seem to bend and flow more freely than we sometimes like to imagine.

Even defining what a species is has flummoxed taxonomists since the beginning of science. But this doesn't mean Nature is totally chaotic or incomprehensible either. Creatures, ecosystems and natural processes tend to follow predictable patterns, but with many surprising exceptions. On the Rocky Mountain Front, an elemental place of wind, forest, mountains and grass, there is a lovely ambiguity in how life expresses itself; changing subtly with each twist and turn of topography or elevation. Here then is the physical expression of Paradox, where understanding and unknowing is a living poetry.

David Cronenwett- Naturalist

Dude Ranch News and Hotdogs....mmmmm....

2010-02-26T13:22:00.000-08:00

And now you know what I look like while I write these things. I'm thinking of calling my entries 'Blog Lite' after reading David's last one...It's sort of like going from a great big, juicy ribeye steak, range fed and fresh off the grill, to a hotdog off of the warmer at the corner 24-hour converience store. Welcome to the hotdog part of the blog!

In early February I went to the annual Dude Rancher's Association meeting in Billings. There were probably 200+ people there. I saw a couple of old friends and learned a lot. They had a number of different folks speaking about electronic marketing. They also had a number of vendors attending, so we will have a couple of really neat new items available in the book store this year.

We have been diving into the renovation of a couple of cabins. Denny and I have been putting up new fixtures and will be doing some painting next week. The cabins look great, and we're really pleased with the improvements. Plus it was fun to do a group shopping trip to Great Falls to pick things out.

Our spring Volunteer Weekend is fast approaching. We have 50 folks signed up so far, and figure we'll have close to 100 by the time all's said and done. We have some good projects lined up for those folks - another roof to finish, firewood to cut, trails to clear, gardens and greenhouses to get started, grounds to clean up, etc. And we'll be hosting a TNC Montana staff meeting just before that, which should be a lot of fun. Many of the more recently hired employees haven't seen the place yet, so that will be really beneficial for them.

The Latin School of Chicago arrives here in 1 week for their annual trip to MT. We're excited to show them our part of the world. They will be visiting a bunch of different places here in the community, as well as learning a little winter ecology, helping out here on the ranch, and having the opportunity to visit the Blackfoot Reservation and Glacier NP for a day.

Following that, David and I head to N. Carolina to do a little ranch and TNC PR while seeing some good friends of the ranch. Robert and Barbara Seiler are going to host a ranch event during this trip, and Ulla Thompson is helping TNC North Carolina put some events together for us. It will be great to see them!

We JUST posted a video on our webpage (http://www.pinebutteguestranch.com/) courtesy of Joan Lever and David Manhart. Joan and David were guests on our Wildflower workshop last summer. So check it out! And send the link to your friends so they can all see what a great place this is! :)

Other than that, we're just gearing up for summer. It is hard to believe how fast it's coming. The weather is helping to remind us as it's been in the mid-50s all week. Oh, yes. I can't forget bowling. The TNC staff based in the grand metropolis of Choteau are meeting at the Alley Kat tomorrow after work for some bowling, pizza, and an adult beverage. I am looking forward to seeing everyone before we all get lost for the summer, and to watching Denny's superior bowling form!

That's about all the hotdog worthy news we have to write at this point. Stay tuned for some more steak....

Naturalist Notes: Deep Time

2010-02-16T09:03:00.000-08:00

Aspen clones; considered by some to be the longest-lived single organism on earth.

Last summer while leading a workshop on traditional plant uses, the group & I stopped at a rock which had been flipped on end by a bear. This is classic sign of these beasts; evidence of "grubbing" which bears spend much of their time doing. This particular rock had probably been upended last spring. I crouched down to talk about bear behavior when Annette, a guest and participant in the workshop, bent over and picked up a 2.5 centimeter long, perfectly preserved chert arrowhead immediately next to the rock I'd stopped by a hundred times.

Our jaws collectively dropped as the synchronous nature of the moment sunk in. We'd been spending the week learning about Native people and their subsistence life way by gathering wild foods and crafting with local plant species. Now here we stood, beneath Indian Head Rock, with a nearly 1000-year old, Blackfeet projectile point staring us in the face. The intactness of the piece was truly remarkable; a tiny bit had broken off at its base, but it was otherwise as sharp and usable as the day it was created.

I tried to imagine a scenario to explain how this beautiful artifact might have come to rest atop Alice Ridge so long ago. Perhaps a Blackfeet hunter was trailing Bighorn Sheep or buffalo, sat down to lunch on jerky and the point fell out of a buckskin bag of spares. Or perhaps he nocked an arrow, preparing for a shot at a large animal bedded down behind a limber pine, that turned out to be a grizzly. Tables turned, he drops his equipment and runs. However it happened, I've been thinking about that arrowhead a lot lately, because it represents a different timescale; the Blackfeet have existed as a cultural group in Montana for approximately 5000 years; much longer than our current civilization has been around. And the brief tenure of Pine Butte Guest Ranch along the South Fork Teton, is likewise trivial by comparison. That long-ago hunter lived in a wild landscape teaming with large numbers of animals like bison. But, it was also a place that had radically changed, biologically speaking, thousands of years before he ever set foot on Alice Ridge.

The idea of Deep Time can be useful for us to understand the "big picture", but it can be confusing and frequently disconcerting. Imagine a Montana landscape not with the massive bison herds of 200 years ago, but rather 15,000 years back with its camels, mammoths, mastodons, sloths, dire wolves, American lions, hyenas, llamas, horses and many, many others. Most of the species present here today coexisted with the 35 or so genera of mammals that disappeared around the time when significant pulses of human migration into North America occurred. New research, while not decisively proving that bipeds were solely responsible, has ruled out some long-held beliefs about the great Megafaunal extinctions in North America. A legitimate question might now be raised; which landscape is more Natural? Pre-mass-extinction, or post?

And there were other great die-offs around these parts. A drive down the Bellview Road east toward Choteau, will bring one to Egg Mountain, an important paleontological site in the Willow Creek Anticline. It's a short walk up to the exposed nesting sites of the Maiasaura, which are still visible. These duck-billed dinosaurs shared the Late Cretaceous landscape 75 million years ago with a pantheon of long-gone beasts such as Gorgosaurus and Euoplocephalus to name only two. An inland seaway lapped at the feet of the Rocky Mountains then, which would have appeared significantly taller had any human been around to notice. The flora and fauna at this time would have been completely alien to us today. It puts an interesting spin on the idea of land conservation, which tries to conserve ecosystems and populations over time. But on what scale? Why do we engage in this work, knowing the ultimate fate of species? Looking west from Egg Mountain, the peaks and reefs of the Front stare back. And their genesis began at still another timescale; about 500 million years ago on the bottom of an ancient ocean. There are Proterozoic rocks in Glacier Park to the north which are about 1.4 billion years old.

Human symbols, like language and mathematical systems are useful tools for understanding the cosmos, but are inherently limited and flawed. Since we cannot truly grasp a sense of time beyond our own lives, you have to ask yourself what knowing that some geologic formation is over a billion years old really means. In truth, we have no way to comprehend a Deep Time perspective. Some folks have even attempted to use this argument to dismiss conservation work by suggesting that the Earth itself will continue to exist in some form, with or without us, and that we should find solace in this fact. But in reality, the planet in addition to our solar system and Universe, has a cataclysmic fate in store. The question now becomes, what do we do with this understanding? Do we take from it a depressing, Ultimate Meaninglessness?

Turning back to the human timescale, I'm reminded of the Blackfeet hunter, who was also confronted by these fundamental questions of being. We'll never know what he was thinking the day he wandered Alice Ridge. But like him, we cannot live in the deep past or future for very long before being pulled back to the present. Yet the question remains; how are we to live, knowing our time here is finite? Though life can be cruel and appear futile at times, our mortal task seems to involve finding meaning and creating a compassionate world while we're here. And for many of us, an affection for and kinship with Nature is a big part of that equation. The hunter would have understood and accepted the harsh realities of life and the often heartbreaking beauty of this world as two sides of the same coin. And we should do likewise.

Our work today is to hang on to the living systems of the Front (and elsewhere) for as long as we can, while realizing they will inevitably change over time. When I walk that country again, I'll be thinking about chert arrowheads and the infinite number of hidden stories this place mostly keeps to itself. Swallowed whole, by a landscape of memory.

David Cronenwett- Naturalist

Ranch News

2010-01-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, spring is rolling in FAST! We have our nose to the grindstone trying to keep up. I just returned from working a short course for NOLS in California, which I hear can be sunny. We, of course, got 8 - 13 inches of rain in the 5 days we were out. Some campers were NOT very happy! Annie just returned from a convention in Denver on buffalo. It sounds like she got to eat a ton of really good food - mostly buffalo prepared in different ways. David is in Minnesota as I write doing some PR for the ranch. He is visiting various schools to talk about our education program and he is giving 2 presentations to TNC members there, one called 'Grizzlies and Pie' and the other being Grizzlies and Donuts'. I talked to him this AM, and it sounds like the trip is going well. Denny has been busy holding down the fort as we all deserted him. And of course, our phone system got fried by some power surges while I was gone and Denny has been trying to figure out how to replace the system.

We have had a number of meetings in Helena to look at capital improvements for the ranch. It's a very exciting time. There are some larger, much needed projects to undertake (ie. burying power lines) as well as smaller face-lists for cabins that we will begin to pursue. Hopefully you all will see some noticable changes when you arrive this summer. We are also looking at our Nature Center and plan to remodel it to a degree so that it becomes more 'user friendly.' We'll be putting some fireplace inserts in it, cleaning out some of the clutter, moving more of our library there, and holding some of our social hours over there. It's a great space that we'd like to utilize more. Annie's hoping to put in a bar, but I'm not sure we'll go that far!!

In addition to these things, we will be purchasing some new horses this spring. We have retired4 so far. Chesapeake, Gideon, Bacon, and Whiskey are all off enjoying the easy life and being spoiled rotten by some kids in the mid-west. I will also be heading out to North Carlina and possibly New York to visit some past guests and do some PR work for the ranch and TNC Montana. I'll actually be a jet-setter for a little while! Hard to imagine....

Keep your eyes open down the road! We should be getting our Spring Newsletter out in the next month. And David will be returning soon from his travels and will grace our blog with another thoughtful entry about this marvelous place that we a re lucky to call home...

Jim Culver- Ranch Manger

Naturalist Notes: The Bear

2010-01-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Maximus: the second-largest grizzly known to exist south of Canada.
Photo by Mike Madel.

In the northern hemisphere, there is one wild creature which has been at the fore of the human mind for so long, it has worked its way deep into our culture, languages and cosmology. While there are three species of bear in the North, one in particular has continued to have special significance for the human animal.

The creature I am speaking of is the Grizzly bear. In Montana and historically across the West, there have been two bruins on the landscape; Ursus americanus, the Black or "American Bear" and the larger Grizzly, Ursus arctos, or the "Bear-Bear". Interestingly, the Blackfeet names for these two beasts reflect some kind of significant difference. Their word for the Black is Kyaio, which essentially means "bear". The Grizzly, or Nitakyaio translates as "Real Bear". I do not accept as coincidence that the binomial (scientific name) for the Grizzly just so happens to mean the same thing as the Blackfeet name. I believe they both reflect a recognition by two empirical traditions that the Griz is something unique, which is what I want to explore a bit here.

In Montana during the 19th century, essentially all large animals were killed in tremendous numbers as a result of westward American expansion. In many cases, deer, elk, bear, bison, pronghorn, you name it, were killed either to destroy the Indian Nations or just for something to do. The Grizzly survived in Northern Montana and in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem because of the existence of remote Federally protected landscapes, good habitat, relatively few people and the uncanny adaptability of the species itself.

While all North American bears are listed in the Order Carnivora, you may be surprised to learn that most of what a Grizzly eats in my part of the world by far, is plant and insect matter. In fact, many biologists consider blacks and Grizzlies to be rather mediocre predators; they are better adapted to omnivory and scavenging. While some bears do become "specialized hunters", they will generally conserve their energy and hit the more reliable plant harvests and insect resources for the vast bulk of their diet. It is estimated that on the Rocky Mountain Front, up to 90% of most Grizzly Bear's diets are bugs and veg. The rest is usually scavenged meat. The G-bears that live along the Front are consistently the largest south of Canada. None of this is to say that Grizzlies aren't dangerous to people; in some situations they can be very aggressive. But as renown bear biologist Chuck Jonkel likes to say, "more people are killed by vending machines every year than by bears." Right on Chuck!

Omnivory is reflected in the Bear's dentition; if you look at a bear skull, the first thing that jumps out at you are the large canine teeth, but next you notice the pre-molars and large rear molars. It is the presence of these combined piercing/slashing/grinding teeth that tell us this beast is an opportunistic-predatory omnivore. Looking to our deep past, long before we mastered hunting on two feet, humans were certainly a foraging-scavenging animal, not unlike the bear.

The Grizzly and black bear have plantigrade rear feet; this means the heel tends to hit the ground first, just like people, and if you've ever seen a good rear-foot print of one of these guys, it can be eerily similar to our own track. The bear possesses "hunter's eyes"; oriented in front of the skull, like ours, for binocular vision. This also creates the unmistakable impression of a true face. The mother Grizzly will maintain a very close relationship with her cubs for two or more years, which is highly unusual for any animal in our neck of the woods. It is a huge investment of energy. She actively teaches her young about food sources, travel routes and perils like especially dangerous male bears, as well as the "upright bear", homo sapiens.

Bears are also individualistic and display a wide range of emotions; anger, playfulness, aggression, tenderness and more. And bears, especially the Grizzly demonstrate both culture and thought. We know from historical record that bears which inhabited central Montana in the past were likely more aggressive and bold. After the "Great Cleansing" of the 19th century settlement era, Grizzlies simply had to become more reclusive, shy and careful to survive. The culture of our bears on the Front reflects this; to see one in broad daylight, particularly near any settlement or road, is unusual. It is not by accident. In the collective memory of this animal is a time not too long ago when they were shot on sight, no questions asked. They know they must be more secretive and cautious to live here and pass this onto their cubs.

Another interesting bit of Grizzly natural history is that most of their evolutionary time was spent in treeless environments such as grasslands and Arctic tundra. This translates in to an animal which, when threatened will generally be more assertive, since it is unable to retreat from danger up a tree. Also, these beasts are supreme diggers; that big shoulder hump and the very long claws are not for ripping prey to pieces, its for excavation. I have seen large areas torn up by Grizzly bears harvesting glacier lilly, cow parsnip, etc. While black bears can dig, they lack the proper instruments with which to do so; their claws are strongly curved, for climbing trees.

Here on the Front, the two bruins are somewhat segregated by habitats. Blacks are more strongly associated with the woods. Grizzlies more so with the prairies, but they are happy to use all ecotypes, from grasslands, forest to alpine. Ursus arctos is a cirumboreal animal. That is, they occur throughout the northern hemisphere within a smattering of sub-species. As interesting as the ecology of the animal is, the way humans have viewed Real Bear is quite profound.

Human Ecologist Paul Shepard has written extensively about how human beings learned physical survival knowledge and developed culture and language by observing-mimicking animals, particularly the Bear. There are approximately 40 linguistic links in English with the word bear. To "bear" is a term that is frequently associated with birth and is in fact, directly related.

Imagine a time 40,000 years ago in Eurasia; hunting societies observed and knew all animals intimately. We saw this bear, a predator-omnivore that physically resembles us, locating and gathering plants for food & medicine. It is obviously intelligent, sometimes ferocious, moody and individualistic. After gorging for much of the summer, the animal disappears into the womb of earth and "dies" for the winter. In spring, it is "reborn" and sometimes emerges with little ones that will remain with the mother for a few years.

To me, the parallels with much later stories of resurrected, furry prophets such as Christ are not coincidental. In the north, it was the bear, specifically the brown (or grizzly) bear that was the physical manifestation of the Great Round of life for humans (and Neanderthals) for tens of thousands of years. The animal has been embedded in myth, religion, folk tales, art and language of all Northern cultures, though sometimes you must look closely to find him. In the film Cree Hunters of the Mistassini, there is a scene where a hunter talks about suspending (black) bear skulls from harvested animals in trees for "some reason". "Its something we've always done" he says. Even though these particular Cree had been converted to Catholicism, the special treatment of bears and their significance remained present in the culture, albeit in remnant form. Or, it could have been something the hunter felt was so sacred, that he did not feel appropriate sharing on film.

In modern culture, it is easy to point out Teddy Bear, Yogi and of course, Smokey. But these are superficial representations of what was for most of our deep history, both a physical and metaphysical relationship with the Bear. In Montana, there are relatively few sites where bears are represented in Native rock art. As far as I know, nearly all bear-art is located east of the Continental Divide, that is, mostly on the prairies.

In the spring of 2007, on our Grizzly Workshop at Pine Butte Guest Ranch, we had an intimate encounter. There was rumor that a grizzly had been seen emerging from what could be a den site, about 20 miles east of the mountains. This is significant because while Grizzlies were known to have denned on the prairies in pre-settlement Montana, they now, according to the biology books, go to the high-country to hibernate. Our group obtained permission to drive on to the ranch where the bear had been sighted and pulled up to a big hole that had been dug on a north-facing slope.

We were awestruck when a large Grizzly appeared at the entrance, not thirty yards from our vehicle. She gave a characteristic "woof" and "stiff-arm" (aggressive displays: this should be interpreted as "get the hell out of here, now...") and ran up the hillside, followed by her two cubs. I do not exaggerate when I say that this had probably not been seen in living memory. That is, if these critters actually denned on the prairie, it is historically significant; it means that the bears are now more comfortable living year-round on grasslands, as they had for so long in the past. It will also mean that the growing population of bears will inevitably come into conflict with people more frequently in the future. The summer of 2009 was a banner year for grizzly bears reclaiming their eastern prairie habitats. It may not be long until we have a small population in the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument.

One of the more profound things I have come to see in the Real Bear, is that they seem to represent a lost part of ourselves. They live in the wilderness, free and unencumbered by the existential problems associated with being human. They are both kindred and "Other"; we can easily see in them our Fall from Grace.

The fact that there are viable populations of Grizzly Bears in the West today is a miracle. These animals require huge, wild areas to exist. It is a testament to exceptional land management, tolerance and I think, the inherent wonder the Bear illuminates within us. Among the many biological, ethical and spiritual reasons for maintaining these bears in Montana, we should recognize our deep relationship with the beast and how much we owe to it. A trip into Grizzly country keeps you humble and in your place. We would simply be lost without them.

David Cronenwett- Naturalist

Winter Solstice

2009-12-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

Today is a quiet day at the guest ranch, as everyone is gearing up for the holidays. The wind is calm and all I’ve heard is the occasional raven off in the distance. We still have several inches of snow on the ground and the forecasters are calling for more this week. This has been a nice reprieve from the blasting snow and cold.

I have been working on updating the main bathroom in Alice’s cabin. I laid new linoleum and re-caulked the tub and shower. The seasonal staff should be excited to see and experience the new bathroom.

The greenhouse is fairing the storm of the cold and little sunshine! Hopefully, with milder weather we will be harvesting spinach, lettuce and beets greens soon. Currently the temperature outside is 34 and the greenhouse has been reaching 70 + degrees.

Please enjoy the photos of winter near the guest ranch.

Denny Barlow-Ranch Caretaker/Steward

"Oh, the Weather Outside is Frightful..."

2009-12-08T12:17:00.000-08:00

27 below this morning, with a wind-chill of 50 below! Gotta love the Front! It actually hasn't been that bad, outside the fact it's just plain cold. The sun has been shining, and the days have been beautiful. And the cold snap is supposed to end in a day or so. We're holding our breath on the greenhouse crop surviving. It did just fine for the first 2 nights, but the 3rd night in a row was a little harder on it. We have spinach, leaf lettuce, beet greens, and carrots still going strong. Before the cold set in, we'd actually had both eggplant and bell peppers still blooming and producing. Those plants are definitely done now, though.

Yesterday, a small herd of Mule deer spent the day browsing by the window in the office. There was a beautiful 5 point buck out there with them. (For those of you in the East, that's a 10 point buck the way you all count them back there!) :)

David and I have been busy harvesting wood for next season. We have cut and hauled a little over half of what we think we'll need. Both Tony and LA are doing very well skidding the logs. It seems to be a little harder for LA - Tony never seems to even break a sweat.

We're about to start our hiring process for the summer. We are excited to already know that Lola will be returning to run the kitchen, and Michael has expressed an interest in coming back to help out in guest services. We are keeping our fingers crossed...

In terms of staff happenings over the winter - Lola (kitchen) is headed to Uganda shortly to volunteer at an orphanage there for about 4 months. Mary (kitchen) is working in Great Falls and getting her GED. Michael (guest services) is working at the Home Market back in Iowa, where he's even filling in a little cooking. Julia (guest services) is working at a museum back in Delaware over the holidays. Christa (guest services) finally bought her ticket to Argentina. Lucretia (guest services) and Helena (intern) are settled in back at Dartmouth. Paul (gardener) is working down in Austin, and playing me in Scrabble over the internet. I am winning. Just have to point that out.... Jeff and Nikki (wrangler/naturalists) are caretaking and cooking at a ranch down in Wyoming, where Jeff is also ski coaching. We haven't heard directly from Larissa (kitchen), but hear through the grapevine that she is doing well. We're thinking of them all here this holiday season as they were a truly outstanding staff and just a real pleasure to work with and to be around all season long. We miss them!

A short amusing story - I spent a bit of time this morning trying to track down an odd, high-pitched humming that seemed to permeate the whole office. I couldn't find it for anything. I went outside and could hear it out there, especially in the greenhouse and the solar shack. And I never seemed to be able to track it down. It was always the same pitch and level. I was pretty sure it was coming from all the electrical wiring in the building and running outside. Annie could hear it as well, so I knew I wasn't hallucinating. After my second trip outside, I came in and Annie told me that the noise had stopped when I went outside, but it started again when I came back inside. 'Could it be you?' she asked. Well, as it turned out, it could be and was. A watch buried deep in my layers of warm cloths had gone bizerk and was just buzzing incessantly...I think that's what they mean by chasing your tail....

Well, that's all the news from here for now. Stay tuned for another great natural history post from David, and we wish you all a happy and blessed holiday season!

Jim Culver- Ranch Manger

And More WIND!

2009-11-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

We knew fall was officially here when we watched the windows flex during the 80 m.p.h. winds in late October. The migrating geese and swans were hunkered down and weathering the blow.

Weather like this is perfect for preparing the early Bird mailing. We are mighty appreciative of our friendly neighbors who showed up to lick over 600 envelopes in trade for coffee and lunch. Everyone should be expecting the newsletter via snail mail or email. Please take a look at the 2010 schedule as we are excited about the workshop offerings and summer schedule.

With a freezer full of meat and the pantry stocked with canned goods, we are looking forward to winter and the holidays. We hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Annie Bardwell - Office Manager

The Glories of Fall

2009-11-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well, as you can see, we are at work! David and I knocked down a beetle-killed Doug fir last week, bucked it up, and let LA skid it out of the woods and down to the wood pit. He did GREAT, and after a little work, Tony joined him. It should provide hours of entertainment for David, Denny, and I this winter. I must say that there is a lot of satisfaction in gathering firewood and reducing potential wild land fire fuel in this manner. Granted, we are using chain saws, but using real horse power instead of Dodge Ram horsepower takes us just a little closer to the basics and the simple things in life. And it ties us a little closer to the history of this place where Kenny Gleason, and the Métis before him, gathered timber for firewood and cabin building in much the same way.

Despite what the top picture shows in terms of snow, the weather here recently has been glorious. The sun has been shining and the temperature has been pretty temperate. I spent Saturday up behind the ranch, tracking a small herd of bighorn sheep back into a bowl underneath Ear Mountain. Five ewes with their babies. On the way home, I crossed the tracks of a small black bear, fresh in the overnight snow. Judging from where I found his tracks and where I'd been travelling, I am guessing that at one point we were pretty close to each other. At least I'd like to think so. We are incredibly blessed to live in an area where we can have such experiences, living on the edge of all that is wild - and that was all seen before noon!

In other ranch news, Denny got the wind generator back up and running. It is working even better than it was when I arrived 2 years ago! We can actually see the DC meter move with each gust of wind! Annie is on vacation, catching up with family back in Illinois after a long summer here. And David is off hunting this week, taking a short break from his preparations to travel to the Mid-West this January.

That's all the news fit to print from here this week. Thanks to all who contribute to the conservation of this place and the Front. Without you, we couldn't continue to have the experiences like the ones I had here this past weekend...I hope we see you all here soon to share in them!

Jim Culver- Ranch Manager

Fall...finally!

2009-10-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well, after a brief turn at winter, fall seems to have arrived. After a week where overnight temperatures fell to 5 below, we seem to have stabilized and come back to my favorite season of fall! This week temperatures are hovering in the mid-40s and the sun is shining. Yeah!

The ponies have been moved out to winter pasture on the Swamp Preserve. Nikki, Jeff, and Jim (with vehicle support from Denny and Nathan) spent a beautiful morning taking the herd cross-country from the ranch to the Preserve. Only the 2 big drafts remained here at the ranch as we are hoping to begin our harvest of firewood soon. Denny and Jim actually took the drafts out for a drive yesterday. After a month off, the boys (Tony and LA, not Denny and Jim) were a little out of shape! They had worked up a pretty good sweat by the time the drive was over!

In other horse news, we are in the midst of retiring some of our older wards. We have had a lot of help from Barbara Cozzens finding good homes for them in therapeutic programs. Gideon headed to Texas last week to his new home. Bacon, Whiskey, Smokey, and Chesapeake will be following soon. Bacon is headed to the home of a 9-year-old cancer patient where he can live out his days getting lots of love and attention while providing the kind of comfort and peace that only comes from animals.

In other ranch news, Annie is busy becoming our 'web-master,' David and Jim are planning various trips around the country to visit folks and do some PR, and Denny is fighting aphids in the greenhouse while working on other building maintenance projects. The 'off-season' is officially under way!

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With very little fanfare, old man winter has arrived at Pine Butte Guest Ranch. After a blistering hot week in September, we awoke to 2 inches of cold, wet snow. The mountains are covered with snow and we are bracing ourselves for the storm at the end of this week with sub-zero temperatures forecasted.

With the onset of cooler weather, we have transitioned the greenhouse to winter greens. Now the process of trying to reserve the remaining summer produce begins. 50 pounds of tomatoes, dozens of zucchini and peppers galore are being transformed into salsa, pepper jelly, pickled peppers, spaghetti sauce, marinara and frozen zucchini ready for the spring.

Come Visit Pine Butte Guest Ranch in 2010!

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The Pine Butte Guest Ranch is located in one of the most spectacular places in Montana-which is saying a lot since Montana is one of the most spectacular places in the world! And we have plenty of ways for you to enjoy it.
We offer daily guided horseback rides and hikes. Or, set off on your own along miles of hiking trails. Summit nearby Ear Mountain. Watch the wildlife – from grizzlies to songbirds – on neighboring Pine Butte Swamp Preserve. Or if you want a break from hiking boots and saddles, enjoy the sun and a book by our heated pool. End the day around the campfire or snuggled up by the fireplace after a sumptuous gourmet dinner.

LODGING
You’ll stay in one of our ten cozy cabins set among the trees along the South Fork of the Teton River. Each cabin is complete with fireplace, full bath and handmade furniture.
Our Main Lodge, with its inviting fireplace and cushy seating, is the social center for guests. Family style meals are served in the lodge dining room.

DINING
Our meals are a delightful experience in healthful food presented with simple grace – from our garden fresh produce to unrivaled homemade bread and pastries. And we’re happy to accommodate special dietary requests.

COOKOUTS
Every Wednesday evening we have our outdoor steak fry. Guests travel on foot, horseback or by van to a beautiful open air dining spot where we grill local grass-fed beef steaks, sausages and veggie burgers over an open fire.
Friday morning you’ll return for a hearty outdoor breakfast accompanied by our special “Cowboy Coffee.”

MORE THAN COWBOYS & CAMPFIRES
Because we’re owned by The Nature Conservancy, we want you to take home more than snapshots. We want you to leave with a greater appreciation of the natural community that shares our backyard. So along with our top notch wranglers, we have a full-time naturalist on staff to help you explore. And for those who really want to dig into the story, we offer a slate of extended-season Natural History Workshops.

WALKING THE WALK
Our commitment to conservation means making sure that the ranch treads lightly on the land. We have on-site wind and solar power generation – which heats our pool and guest showers. Much of the food you’ll enjoy is grown in our own greenhouse or purchased from local producers.

SEASON
Our SUMMER GUEST SEASON runs from mid-June until mid-September.

Or, enjoy our Extended-Season NATURAL HISTORY WORKSHOPS.

Find more information, dates and rates on our website: www.pinebutteguestranch.com