Research & Restoration on the Bitterroot’s MPG Ranch

with Kate Stone

November 11, 2024 

7 p.m., Hope Lutheran Church, 2152 West Graf

The MPG Ranch encompasses 17,000 private acres in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana. The landscape stretches from the meandering channels of the Bitterroot River through grasslands and shrublands up into conifer forest. These plant communities have experienced a variety of anthropogenic change from heavy grazing to complete conversion to non-native plant systems. Weed invasion and drought present challenges for the future. How do you go about restoring ecological function in such diverse and degraded systems? Once you take action, how do you know if it worked? These questions are central to the mission of the MPG Ranch. 

About Our Speaker

Kate Stone is a research ecologist at the MPG Ranch and oversees all aspects of their bird research program. In this presentation, Kate will share some of the ways MPG Ranch uses bird activity to evaluate the success of restoration treatments. She will also share how long-term observations of basic natural history reveal marvels about species like the Common Poorwill and Lewis’s Woodpecker. Finally, she’ll discuss MPG’s efforts to develop research networks that address conservation at larger scales, largely through the use of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. 

Common Poorwill by Kate Stone.

Kate earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Conservation Biology at Middlebury College, and M.S. in Forestry from the University of Montana. Kate’s research focuses on a variety of topics that range from scavenger ecology to nocturnal insectivores to migratory songbirds. She is on the boards of both Bitterroot Bird Alliance and the Ravalli County Open Lands Program and serves on the Montana Bird Records Committee. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, wild foraging, and artistic pursuits.

The in-person meeting will be held Monday,  November 11  at Hope Lutheran Church, 2152 West Graf (off S. 19th)  A social begins at 6:30 PM; the program begins at 7:00 PM. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own reusable cups.  

For virtual attendance, please register at  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1909266100510660704

Attendees—whether in person or virtual—are encouraged to share their bird sightings at this and every monthly program. 

SAS monthly programs are free and open to the public, featuring a special guest speaker the 2nd Monday of each month, September through May.  For more information, contact Ken Sinay at programs@sacajaweaaudubon.org.

You can only tell between male & female Lewis’ Woodpeckers by vocalization. Kate Stone photo.