Our Mission
People working to conserve and protect the integrity of our environment and community.
Issues We Work On
Living with Wildlife
The livelihoods of many Gardiner Basin residents depend on the wildlife in the area. Whether for tourism, research, or outfitting, the wolves, bison, bears, and other wildlife are a high priority to Bear Creek Council.
Bear Creek Council hosted a series of webinars in the Spring of 2021 on safety tips for living with wolves, cougars and bears.
Support our work!
If you’d like to support our work to protect Montana’s wildlife, consider purchasing a decorative license plate!
Please note that it is not a legal license plate for use on motor vehicles. We encourage you to get this license plate for your vehicle in the state of Montana, and you can do so at any time at your Montana DMV/county treasurer’s office.
Living at the entrance to Yellowstone means living with bears. For decades, BCC volunteers operated Bear Awareness Gardiner to supply bear-resistant trash cans and bear safety education to residents in and around the north entrance to the park. This program has grown from a volunteer effort to a staffed program. To request bearproof containers or to support that work, click here.
History and Accomplishments
- Wolf Quotas – Bear Creek Council has worked diligently to reinstate wolf hunting quotas on land bordering Yellowstone Park. Following a change in rules for hunting near the Park, 20% of the Yellowstone Wolf population was decimated in the 2021-2022 hunting season. BCC helped to organize the Wild Livelihoods business coalition and recruited over 100 businesses to sign on to the coalition. Together with Wild Livelihoods, Bear Creek Council held meetings with Widlife Commissioners, commissioned an economic study and a documentary video, and generated comments into the Wildlife Commission in support of reinstating quotas. Our hard work paid off and in August 2022 the Commission reinstated hunting quotas in the units bordering the Park.
- Community Fun – For nearly 30 years Bear Creek Council has hosted the Jardine Ski Run, a cross country race on Mineral Hill, and now each year they also host an annual Holiday Party, highway clean ups, the Wild and Scenic Film Festival and Earth Day outreach activities.
- Hard rock Mining – Local citizens started Bear Creek Council in 1983 after hard rock mining was revived on nearby Bear Creek and adjacent to Yellowstone National Park’s boundary. Since that time, Bear Creek Council has worked to minimize the mine’s impact on the area, including monitoring its reclamation. Bear Creek Council was instrumental in providing oversight of the Darroch-Eagle Timber Sale above Jardine.
- Greening Gardiner – Bear Creek Council has brought solar energy to the Gardiner Basin by putting 24 solar panels on the Gardiner School, leading solar workshops in the community, and doing a solar assessment of public buildings.
Leadership
Chair
Barbara Ulrich O’Grady
Vice Chair
Scott Brovsky
Secretary
Lisa Trankley
Treasurer
Nathan Varley
Northern Plains Board Representative
Community Organizer
Caroline Canarios
caroline@northernplains.org