Home Ground

2014 marks the hundredth anniversary of women’s suffrage in Montana. How did Montana's non-native women win the right to vote from an all-male legislature, six years before equal suffrage was achieved nationwide?  Martha Kohl, historical specialist with the Montana Historical Society, details the strategies, struggles, and unexpected outcomes (think women bootleggers) of suffrage.

You can read much more about women's history in Martha's online project, Women’s History Matters.

Wildlife biologist Doug Chadwick, author of numerous books and articles about natural history and conservation, and longtime resident of grizzly bear habitat in Montana, describes himself as a "bear groupie."  Ursos arctos gobiensis, a Gobi Desert sub-species of grizzly bear,

Dan Wenk, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, walks in the footsteps of 142 years of leadership in the world's oldest national park. His decisions affect not only the park, but its neighboring landowners and businesses. "You don't answer the questions in national parks by building facilities. Oftentimes, it's (best) to leave the area alone. Try to give people a great, broad experience of what's in a national park, but don't commercialize that experience."

The settlers who came to Montana relied on livestock for their livelihoods and the lives. More than 150 years later, technology has removed most of us from the ranching life. But not Jim Hagenbarth. Far more than most, he understands the needs, complexities and rewards of ranching.

(Broadcast: Home Ground Radio, 8/19/14)

Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson signed the Wilderness Protection Act, and ever since, the Wilderness Society has worked to protect wild landscapes and to inspire Americans to care about wild places. Former Montanan Jamie Williams is The Wilderness Society's new president, and some of his thinking might surprise you.

(Broadcast: Home Ground Radio, 8/5/14)

What is the connection between 16th century European history, writing, editing, and translating, and Waldorf education? Meet writer, historian and teacher, Jann Gates.

(Broadcast: Home Ground Radio, 7/29/14)

Dr. Jonah Western, chairman of the African Conservation Centre, Nairobi, Kenya Western is a scientist studying conflict and co-existence between wildlife and humans. In community-based conservation, Western has discovered a model that could be useful not just in Kenya, but in Montana.

In our Clip of the Week he explains how two different  elephant encounters heavily influenced his view of wildlife and wildlife-human conflict.

The natural world ignores many of the artificial barriers that humans designate, including the political one created by the U.S.'s embargo of Cuba. Daniel Whittle, of the Environmental Defense Fund, knows well that birds, fish and even oil spills connect the two countries. Whittle directs the EDF's marine and coastal conservation projects in Cuba, working on fisheries, coral reef conservation, and sustainable coastal development in Cuba and the region.

7/15/14: This week on Home Ground Radio: Dr. Jonah Western grew up in the 1950s on the "elephant trail" of southern Tanzania, where elephants, their habitat, their hunters - and their protectors - enjoyed a last bastion. Western became a scientist, studying conflict and co-existence between wildlife and humans.

7/8/14: This week on "Home Ground Radio:" Montana's largest stage agency employs 3,100 people, overseeing 2,500 contracts and 150 programs. What it is?  Who runs it? Meet Richard Opper, Director of Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services.