You’re invited to a unique opportunity to learn more about the plight of the pollinators, enjoy a fascinating falconry presentation and support the Western Landowners Alliance.
Join us for an afternoon gathering out on the beautiful landscape to hear from falconer Ralph Rogers, wildlife ecologist Cheryl Fimbel, and WLA CEO Lesli Allison. Appetizers and beverages will be served. Explore more about our speakers and our hosts below.
Please RSVP by June 14th by emailing Dani Howlett at dhowlett@westernlandowners.org or calling her at 406-253-3480.
Cheryl Fimbel is a wildlife ecologist with experience in prairie restoration to promote pollinators. Cheryl is currently retired, and devotes her time to volunteering at Montana State University on The Wild Bees of Montana Project, a multi-year effort which seeks to document the occurrence of wild bees throughout the state.
Ralph Rogers and his family traveled north to Montana 50 years ago, looking for wild grouse, beautiful prairie, friendly folks, a good place to raise children, and world-class opportunities to practice the art of falconry. The Rogers found all those things in Winifred, MT., where they taught school and spent summers as biologists studying various bird species, but almost always related to falcons and falconry. This research has contributed to the knowledge of the natural history of falcons and included surveying and banding peregrines from Southern Argentina to Greenland. In Montana, the Rogers were important contributors to the efforts of the falconry community that bred and released peregrines allowing that species to fully recover and be removed from the list of endangered species. Ralph continues his work as a founding board member of the North American Grouse Partnership whose goal it is to help support or recover native grasslands for grouse and other grassland obligate species. Ralph has served for over 40 years as a leader in state and national falconry organizations. The Rogers kids continue their heritage as professional wildlife biologists.
Hollow Top Angus began raising registered Angus in 2012 by purchasing a group of registered cows from our neighbor, Sitz Angus, and bulls from Spruce Mountain Angus in Colorado. In 2017 they bought an additional set of cows from Hinman Angus in Malta, MT. The Sitz and Hinman female purchases kick-started the development of a uniform, strong maternal, and growth-oriented cows.
Porter Bennett and his wife Carolyn Quan live on and operate the ranch. Porter is a Colorado native with a strong affinity and appreciation for the West with its varied ranching traditions. He retired from a successful career developing commodity-focused data and analytics companies and uses the same approach to analyze and improve the performance of our cattle genetics. His wife, Carolyn Quan, a Western artist, shares Porter’s love of the region, and is inspired by the beauty of the landscape, strong sense of community, rural values and a life-long love of horses. See more about the ranch here.
About Western Landowners Alliance
The Western Landowners Alliance advances policies and practices that sustain working lands, connected landscapes, and native species. We envision a future in which private and leased public lands in the West are resilient to stressors, healthy and biologically diverse, and provide for prosperous rural business and critical ecological services.
WLA recognizes that economic vitality and conservation go hand-in-hand. Given that private lands encompass the most productive and biologically diverse landscapes, including the majority of water resources, landowners have a pivotal role to play in shaping the future. WLA provides a collective voice, a peer network and a shared knowledge base for landowners striving to keep the land whole and healthy. See more here.
