Biologists featured at kickoff of Wilderness Walks

On Friday, May 31, the Flathead/Kootenai Chapter of the Montana Wilderness Association will present a Wilderness Walks Kickoff Party at the Split Rock Cafe in Kalispell.  

The event will start with a social hour at 5:30 p.m., followed by a presentation from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists Tim Thier and Chris Hammond telling stories about native species in the Whitefish Range.  

Thier and Hammond will give their presentation at 7 p.m. upstairs from the Split Rock Café in the KM Theater. The presentation will last about one hour.

Thier, based in Trego, specializes in large animals and game species that include the Whitefish Range. He started his career working in the North Fork with Chuck Jonkel and the Border Grizzly Project in 1976 and has since worked for several state and federal agencies, primarily on bears in Northwest Montana.

Hammond, from Whitefish, is a native species nongame biologist. He works on conservation of nongame species with an emphasis on common loons, species of concern, and species likely to be impacted by climate change, plus mitigation for habitat lost from impacts of Hungry Horse and Libby dams.    

Visit wildmontana.org for more information.