PBS Nature releases film on western Montana’s wild MPG Ranch

The 15,000-acre ecological research and conservation base located in the heart of the Bitterroot Valley is home mostly to black bears, mountain lions, pocket gophers and other creatures that live in blissful ignorance of masks, testing and other features of the pandemic. It gives researches “plenty of space to socially distance,” according to education director Joshua Lisbon.

While the ranch was forced to scale back on education efforts, including collaborations with students from the University of Montana, the Bitterroot Wildlife Internship and volunteer programs, it was able to share its mission and some researchers’ findings with a wide audience in a PBS Nature short film released this month, “Inside Montana’s Living Laboratory.”

By Audrey Pettit