Saving the Big Sky: A Chronicle of Land Conservation in Montana

“The essential purpose of Saving the Big Sky is to inspire the reader to help conserve even more of Montana,” write Bruce Bugbee, Robert Kiesling, and John Wright in this compelling study of how six million acres of biodiverse land were conserved in Montana over the past fifty years. Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge about land stewardship has evolved and since the 1970s tribes, nonprofit organizations, land trusts, and government agencies have conserved land in many creative ways. Beautifully illustrated with more than ninety color photographs and thirty detailed maps, Saving the Big Sky showcases land conservation achievements across eight regions of the state: the Rocky Mountain Front, the Blackfoot Valley, the Greater Yellowstone, the Missoula Region, the Helena Region, Northwest Montana, the Flathead Indian Reservation, and the American Prairie. Land protection is shown to work best when large, intact, connected landscapes can be conserved, rather than small, fragmented, isolated parcels. Conservationists have found that landowners in Montana more widely accept conservation easements and other voluntary, financially compensating tools that respect private property rights. The brilliant images and striking before-and-after maps featured here celebrate the ranches, farms, wildlife habitats, and scenic open spaces that are forever safeguarded. In documenting conservation accomplishments and suggesting what more can be done, Saving the Big Sky invites readers to participate in conserving Montana—or whatever cherished landscape they call home.

About the Author :
Bruce A. Bugbee is a land conservation consultant and founder of American Public Land Exchange. Robert J. Kiesling is a real estate broker, conservation consultant, and former executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center and the Big Sky (Montana/Wyoming) office of The Nature Conservancy. John B. Wright has completed over one hundred conservation easements in Montana and the Rocky Mountain West and is professor emeritus of geography and environmental studies at New Mexico State University.

Review :
"This is an extraordinarily well researched, in-depth history of what led to the creation of the many conservation easements now in place around the state of Montana, and I know it will be referred to for many decades. I found it to be an absolutely fascinating read." --Land M. Lindbergh, rancher and conservationist "Conjured from afar, the name Montana rings in the mind like a bell, romantic apotheosis of all that's wild and fresh about the American West. But those of us who know the state personally understand the enormous effort required to keep Montana the inspirational place it's been for so long. In Saving the Big Sky, readers from the far away to the nearby now have a superb volume in hand to teach us all just how to keep Montana magical." --Dan Flores, New York Times bestselling author of Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History and Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America "The maps! They light you right up with hope. In each chapter focused on a key Montana region, you'll discover a pair of maps contrasting the acreage safeguarded as of 1970 with the total in 2021. This is what a half-century of galloping conservation success looks like: Protected areas proliferate in number and size. More link to others. Whole countrysides--whole ecosystems--become connected through preserved public lands, tribal lands, and impressive arrays of private lands where owners have arranged conservation easements on their property. What's driving all this? The book offers plenty of case histories and compelling perspectives to help answer the question. Beyond that, well. . . . I reckon most everybody around here just knows that a big sky looks best over unspoiled landscapes." --Douglas H. Chadwick, author of The Wolverine Way "Saving the Big Sky is a fine blend of history, culture, and land conservation success stories. The beautiful illustrations complement the authors' inspiring accounts of how a mix of private landowners, tribes, land trusts, and funders have conserved more than six million acres of Montana's landscapes." --Tom Daniels, author of The Environmental Planning Handbook: For Sustainable Communities and Regions "Montana is robust and precious. Hereabouts we treasure what's natural and wild. At a time when so many Americans get their notions of the state from a cheesy horse opera titled Yellowstone, it couldn't be more important to present certain realities--about what's worth conserving, and how best to conserve that--in a tapestry made vivid not by fantasy but by fact. Bugbee, Kiesling, and Wright do that superbly (with a bit of crucial help from Shane Doyle) in this deeply informed, loving book." --David Quammen, New York Times bestselling author of The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions "There are no secrets to conservation, no complex methods or hidden formulas. It is, as our Native American forefathers and mothers taught us, a simple matter of will and human determination to preserve the forces and sacred lands that keep living things alive. This powerful and inspiring book is about retaining and protecting those forces and landscapes for generations of life to come." --Mark Dowie, author of Conservation Refugees: The Hundred-Year Conflict between Global Conservation and Native Peoples