RIC-Rack Food Bank to merge with The Place of Forsyth County
Non-profit leaders say that RIC-Rack Food Bank in Dawson County is set to merge with The Place of Forsyth County to allow for both nonprofit organizations to expand their reach and services in the coming months.
According to a press release by RIC-Rack, the growth that Dawson County has experienced has led the local food bank to look for a way to grow with it. Merging with The Place will allow the organization a greater reach throughout the county, the release said.
“Over the past four years, we have been looking at ways to expand the services of RIC-Rack within Dawson County; as the county has grown, so have the needs of our area residents,” RIC-Rack Chairman Bob Inman said in the release. “This merger removes the geographic barrier for The Place to serve in Dawson County, and will help bring additional resources to meet the increasing needs in this community.”
FWP launches project to restore marten to the Little Belt Mountains
MT FWP
By: Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks
Posted at 11:29 AM, Jan 14, 2021
and last updated 2021-01-14 13:29:39-05
GREAT FALLS â Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and partners have begun an effort to restore marten to the Little Belt Mountains.
Marten, which are a member of the weasel family, were historically present in relatively isolated mountain ranges of central Montana, including the Little Belts, until they were extirpated within the last 100 years.
Because marten are generally unable to disperse naturally across large expanses non-forested habitat, FWP and partners developed a project to restore marten to the Little Belts. This involves capturing marten in parts of southwest Montana and relocating them to the Little Belts. However, the effort takes the help of many partners and FWP is collaborating with members of the Montana Trappers Association, Furbearers Unlimited, Fur Taker
Billings Gazette
Volunteer trappers working in concert with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks have captured 18 marten since early December for relocation to the Little Belt Mountains. They are the cutest little things, but they are really feisty, said Claire Gower, an FWP wildlife biologist based in Bozeman.
They are in super good condition, she added, except for one older male that had lost an eye, had a ripped ear and a grizzled face. He was a real bruiser.
Marten, a cat-sized member of the weasel family, were historically present in central Montanaâs mountain ranges, including the Little Belts. However, at some point within the last 100 years â possibly due to poisoning or unregulated trapping â the animals disappeared from the region.
If successful, the project will restore a genetically diverse and self-sustaining marten population to one of the species' native ranges in central Montana.
The Associated Press
This undated photo provided by Defenders Of Wildlife shows a wolverine that had been tagged for research purposes in Glacier National Park, Mont. T
he Western States Wolverine Conservation Project, launched in 2015, saw researchers in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington trek deep into the backcountry on skis and snowshoes to install state-of-the-art monitoring cameras and locate dens.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESs
(Chris Stermer/California Department of Fish and Wildlife via AP, File)