Longtime conservationist honored with lifetime achievement award

If you have one takeaway from reading her profile, Kathy Ross wants it to be that she has native plants in her garden. You don’t win a Conservation Lifetime Achievement Award without an airtight rep in the environmental community and a biodiverse garden goes a long way to maintaining that reputation.

“There was a photographer that came by earlier today who wanted to take pictures of me in my garden,” Ross said, “and I was just wondering if you could put a little message at the bottom of the story or something that many of them are native plants.”

It’s hard to believe that Kathy has to provide any more evidence of her commitment to the environment. Along with her most recent award win, Ross boasts an impressive resume that includes over 20 years of experience working with the Flathead Audubon as their resident field trip coordinator as well as 12 years on their board of directors.

On top of her work for the audubon, Ross also volunteers for conservationist agencies such as Wild Wings Recovery Center, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the rescue and rehabilitation of wild Montana raptors, as well as the Bear Aware campaign, a program devoted to keeping Montanans informed about the myriad ways human activity affects wild habitats, especially that of bears.

It’s a lot, but to Ross, it isn’t hard work.

“Conservation keeps me young,” she said. “Getting to show — not just children but adults, too — all of the wonderful things Montana’s wildlife has to offer and giving them their first opportunities to witness some of these animals in the flesh and getting to show them that it’s not just birds out there. Birds need insects and insects need native plants to survive. … It’s all just very exciting stuff.”

ALTHOUGH SHE claims to have never studied biology and does not consider herself to be a professional botanist, Ross says she’s been a conservationist almost her whole life, crediting her grandfather as being one of her first childhood heroes. Trips with him and her siblings to their local woods inspired her to pursue conservation,

“We would wander around the forest with him and he would point out salamanders and frogs and native plants and he would tell us each of their names,” she said.

She also lists such environmentalist heroes such as Jaque Cousteu, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir and Aldo Leopold as early inspirations,

“Because they were early observers of the landscape,” she said. “They saw how the dynamics would change as humans progressed more and more and society became more and more industrialized.”

Although happy to receive a prestigious award, collecting hardware has never been one of Ross’ main priorities.

“I mean, obviously, winning awards hasn’t really been something I think about too often,” Ross said, “but it does feel really great to be recognized, especially by peers that I personally hold in such high esteem and to know they feel the same way about me.”

One of the peers she’s referring to is the current President of the Flathead Audubon Cory Davis. Davis also oversees the bestowing of the Audubon’s Lifetime Achievement Award and says that if there’s anyone who is deserving of recognition for their conservation services in the flathead, it’s Ross.

“The reason we chose Kathy this year is because for many years now she has championed the importance of native plants, especially to our native bird and insect species,” he said.

Davis also cites Ross’s recent assistance of Wayfarers State Park by helping with identifying native plants as well as eradicating invasive weeds.

“Kathy is just fantastic,” said Davis. “She is so dedicated to everything she starts and equally committed to seeing those things through to the end. It’s this kind of lifelong commitment to conservation that’s led us to awarding her in the first place.”

WHEN ASKED about what keeps her optimistic about the future, Ross is quick to answer: “The way you stay positive is by doing something positive. You've gotta focus on what’s happening right here, right now, in your communities and then making the decision to do something about it.”

Ross says one of the many things members of the Flathead can do to improve their local environment right now is by growing local plants and integrating biodiversity into their garden. When asked about how young people interested in the environment can get involved with conservation, Ross says just do it,

“Get out there, get your hands dirty,” she said. “Experience all that’s here while it still is here and then try to give back in some way.”

She paused for a moment to think about a more succinct final message.

“And grow more native plants,” she exclaimed.