Do you have floating the Wild and Scenic Middle Fork of the Flathead on your bucket list? @wildernessriver has generously offered to help support our trail and habitat projects through their spectacular river trips this summer! The Middle Fork Flathead is a beautiful 35-mile river journey through the Great Bear Wilderness. You'll start with a breathtaking flight into Schafer Meadows, the last remaining backcountry airstrip in the Bob. The five day trip will allow plenty of time for hiking, fishing, looking for wildlife, floating casually, running rapids, and sitting around the campfire. The first two people to mention the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation when reserving a 2025 Middle Fork of the Flathead trip will donate $1,000 of their trip fee straight to our stewardship work in the Bob 🔥 🔥 Open dates are June 17th-21st, and June 24th-28th. Learn much more at wildernessriver.com/trip/middle-fork-of-the-flathead/ 🚣🌊

✨Reminder✨ Our spring training session for the Great Bear Trail Posse is this Friday, June 13th! This is a chance to get registered as an official Forest Service volunteer so that you can knock out some trail work on your own time. After attending the training, you'll have access to our tool box to borrow equipment whenever you'd like. You can also submit trail scouting or solitude monitoring reports if you're hitting the trail without tools. Learn more and register for the training at bmwf.org/gbtp #lovethebob #greatbearwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex

Check it out! After 22 years of hanging on our office wall, we finally got the original artwork for our license plates framed 😍 Whitefish artist Andrea Brew (@artdrea.mt) created this watercolor design in 2003 with a silhouetted pack string passing beneath one of the towering limestone reefs that the Bob is known for. ✨You✨ can show your love for this wild place by choosing the BMWF license plate when you renew your vehicle registration! A portion of your registration fee supports the Foundation’s wilderness stewardship and conservation work in the Bob. Learn more at mvdmt.gov 🏔🚙💨 Shoutout to Matt with Owl Cave Woodworks (owlcavewoodworks.com) for doing an absolutely gorgeous job on this custom frame! #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex

This Thursday! We're so excited to be a part of this FREE evening featuring outdoor fun, live music, local brews, and all things wild and wonderful at the Trails, Rivers & Forests Expo, co-hosted by @wildmontana and @americanrivers. 🗓️ Thursday, June 5th 🕔 5–9 PM 📍 @highlanderbeer Outdoor Pavilion Come hang with your favorite local outdoor organizations and businesses doing incredible work to protect and maintain access to Missoula’s trails, rivers, and forests. Stop by our booth to learn more about exploring the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex this summer. Enjoy hands-on activities like river safety games, wildlife tracking, and more! 🎶 Live music with @thepackstrings 🍕 Highlander wood fired pizza 🌭 @thewildweeniegmail.com4 food truck 🎁 Raffle prizes 🍻 Cold drinks 👣 Family-friendly fun Curious about what’s happening outside your back door this summer? This event is for YOU. Bring your friends, bring your family. Let’s celebrate the wild places that make Montana special. Learn more: wildmontana.org/event/trails-rivers-forests-expo/

That's a wrap on training and orientation! Our Crew Leaders, Trail Technicians and Wilderness Interns finished up three weeks of intensive classroom and field training last Friday. We've covered quite the range of topics to help prepare for their season in the Bob. From leadership training and risk management, to trail maintenance. From nutrition and meal planning, to the history and significance of this landscape. Now it's time for them to put it all to use. Starting tomorrow they disperse across the Complex to spend their summer caring for this special place. We can't wait to see what they accomplish. Thanks so much to @loonlake4hcamp for providing a beautiful home base, and to everyone who joined along the way to share knowledge with this crew. Flathead National Forest staff, @davidpowdersteele, @peopleandcarnivores, @indigikitchen, @flatheadriversalliance, @montanafwp, @ahshanannigan, Frank Vitale, @natechutefoundation, Missoula Fire Sciences Lab, Tim Ryan and @skcollege, plus many other friends and volunteers. Thank you for helping foster the next generation of conservation leaders! 🌱 #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #greatbearwilderness #scapegoatwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex

THANK YOU to all of you who turned out in force to support our 2025 field season. With the generous support of 78 donors plus timely grant awards from @nationalforests, @whitefishcommunityfoundation and Cinnabar Foundation, we’re excited to kick off our full slate of stewardship projects in the Bob starting next week! We’re so grateful to everyone who has helped us reach this point. Thank you, thank you, thank you — and we hope to see you out there this summer! #lovethebob

Hey you! Are you going to @oldsaltfestival this year? By using our code when you grab your tickets, you can support active wilderness stewardship AND attend this awesome outdoor festival just south of the Bob – win, win! Just enter code Bob10 when you buy your tickets, and Old Salt will donate 10% of your ticket purchase to BMWF. We'll put your donation to work on the trail while you enjoy awesome eats and dance the night away at the festival. Old Salt Festival is an unforgettable celebration of community, land stewardship, and connection to land happening June 20-22, 2025 at the Mannix Ranch in Helmville, Montana. Learn more and grab your tickets 👉👉 www.oldsaltco-op.com #lovethebob #Festival #oldsaltfestival #SupportLocal #NonprofitPartner #landstewardship #landiskin #montanafest #montanafestival

Calling retired trail dawgs, avid hikers, or those who just want to do something extra for their public lands this summer – you're invited to join the Great Bear Trail Posse! Our Spring training date is coming up on ✨Friday, June 13th✨ Now in its second summer, the Great Bear Trail Posse was formed to help address trail maintenance needs along the Great Bear Panhandle. Just off of Hwy 2, these trails offer fantastic day hikes from the Flathead Valley, but are notorious for getting extremely brushy as summer rolls on. This is a chance to help care for these trails on your own time. If traveling with a group on our Volunteer Adventures isn't a great fit for you, the Posse might be more up your alley. To join the Posse, attend our spring training on June 13th. You'll then be covered as an official Forest Service volunteer all summer. Check out our tool box anytime you like, and spend some time clearing trails when it works for your schedule. There are also trail scouting or solitude monitoring opportunities if you're hiking without tools. Learn much more and sign up for the training day at bmwf.org/gbtp 🐻 #lovethebob #greatbearwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex

We're thrilled to announce the artists chosen for our Artist Wilderness Connection residencies this summer! With almost 50 applicants for just three spots, this year's selection process was more competitive than ever before. These four won us over with their incredible talent, dedication to their craft and passion for wilderness. We can't wait to see what they create from their time spent in the Bob! 🎶 Musician Elana James @elana_james (Austin, TX) ☕ Potter and ecologist Adi Rex @magpie.pottery (Missoula) 🖼 Visual artist collaborators Tarek Penser @tareksprints (Whitefish) and Sydney Boveng @huckleberry.syd (Kalispell) Learn more and read their full bios at bmwf.org/awc Artist Wilderness Connection is a collaboration between Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, @glacierartmuseum_mt, Flathead National Forest, and Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. This unique artist-in-residence program places artists in remote backcountry cabins in the Bob Marshall or Great Bear Wilderness areas to create art inspired by these wild places. After completing their residency, artists will share their backcountry experience with a free community outreach program or exhibition. #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #greatbearwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex #artistresidency

Today was one of our favorite days of Crew Leader and Intern orientation – Pack Stock training! Master Packer Frank Vitale welcomed us at his barn outside of Columbia Falls along with his trusty team of mules. Our Crew Leaders and Interns work closely with pack animals to get tools and supplies into the backcountry all summer, so it’s super important that they know how to assist their packer and safely handle the critters. Remember, if you encounter horses or mules on the trail, they have the right of way! Talking to the rider will put the animals at ease, and you can decide together where’s the best place for you to step off of the trail to let them pass. 🫏🫶 #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #scapegoatwilderness #greatbearwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex

✨Call for volunteers: June✨ Our field season kicks off in just a few short weeks, and we have some projects in June that need more help! Join us for an early season adventure for a unique, rewarding way to experience the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. 🫏 BMWF #01: Spruce Park Corral - 6/17-6/22 (4 spots open) - Construction project! 🪚 BMWF #06: Devil Creek - 6/18-6/19 (4 spots open) - Day trips! 🪏 BMWF #10: Route Creek - 6/28-7/2 (4 spots open) - Tread work! 🐴 BMWF #12: Spruce Park Corral #2 - 6/30-7/4 (4 spots open) - Construction project! Learn more and sign up at bmwf.org/volunteer #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #greatbearwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex #montana #volunteervacations

Crew Leaders and Interns are HERE!!! 🥳🙌 This rad crew will spend the next three weeks soaking up a whole lotta knowledge before they spread out across the Bob for the summer. We’re SO excited to see what they accomplish this season! Learn more about these fine folks at bmwf.org/staff-board, and help us give them a warm welcome in the comments! #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms out there — especially these two incredible mamas on our team! Rebecca and Allison are experts at multitasking, keeping track of endless details, patiently explaining basic tasks, and herding so many cats. We’re lucky to have ‘em! Cheers to all of the hardworking, badass moms in our lives! 🌷🩷

After months of preparations, planning, hiring, and coordination, we are finally on the eve of another summer field season. Our Crew Leaders and Interns arrive on Monday to begin training and orientation, and we cannot wait to get them into the Bob! We want to pause a moment and extend our immense appreciation to everyone who has gotten us here. To our donors and volunteers who have stepped up when we needed you the most. To our enthusiastic audiences along Mountainfilm on Tour, and those who gave during Great Helena Gives and Missoula Gives. To our grantors. To our Forest Service partners. It's been an extra wild spring, and we're grateful and THRILLED to have our ducks (mostly) in a row for a full summer of work in the Bob. THANK YOU to everyone who has made it happen! 🦆🦆🦆 We're still fundraising for our summer season through May 31st, and we still have a number of projects that need more volunteers. If you haven't gotten the chance yet, you can still support active wilderness stewardship in the Bob this summer! Donate and/or volunteer at 👉 bmwf.org THANK YOU for loving the Bob!! #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #scapegoatwilderness #greatbearwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex

Coming up on Sunday, May 18th – join us at the 3rd Annual @flatheadtrails Trails Fest! This is a super fun family-friendly day with games, raffles, food trucks, bike tune ups and free(!!!) beer. Stop by our Bob Booth to learn about joining us in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex this summer, and pick up maps, merch and stickers to get ready to hit the trail this summer. Hope to see you there! 🥳🥾

We were so honored to receive the 2025 Doris Schumm Community Spirit Award from Whitefish Community Foundation last week. This award, accompanied by an extremely timely and generous $5,000, speaks to the impact we have when we come together for a common goal – to preserve this wild place we love. The real winners of this award are our hardworking volunteers who dedicate their time and talents towards making their community better. These folks – more than 400 of you every summer – help countless others enjoy clear, safe trails, reduce user impacts on the landscape, and protect some of the best wildlife habitat in the lower-48. If you want to join them and make a difference this summer, sign up for a Volunteer Adventure today!! We still have a number of projects that need more volunteers. Learn more at bmwf.org/volunteer #lovethebob

Polly is ready to join us on the trail! 🐝🐝🐝 #MissoulaGives is happening NOW through 7 pm tonight, Friday May 2nd. Missoula, help us fund our full schedule of stewardship projects in the Bob this summer! Your donations will be put straight into our on-the-ground projects that open trails, restore native habitat, reduce user impacts on the landscape, and provide free, low-barrier ways for people of all walks of life to experience the big, beautiful Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. Our projects connect people with wilderness, and with each other, toward the common goal of preserving our country’s wildest places. Learn more and give now at missoulagives.org 🐝💛 #lovethebob #missoulagives2025 #missoula #missoulamontana @missoulacommunityfoundation

✨Spring fundraising update✨ WOW!! In just one week, you’ve helped us raise over 70% of the funding we need to get our full schedule of 50+ projects in the Bob this summer. Big big thanks to 36 generous donors (including our $10,000 match donor!), @nationalforests, and @whitefishcommunityfoundation for getting us here. Today and tomorrow, we hope our Helena and Missoula friends will come out in force to give back to the Bob through #GreaterHelenaGives and #MissoulaGives. We still have about $18,000 to raise to meet our goal. Your donations will open trails, mitigate user impacts, restore native habitat, share wilderness education, and help people from all walks of life connect face to face across a campfire. 🔥 THANK YOU for loving the Bob!!! #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #greatbearwilderness #scapegoatwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex

☀️Greater Helena Gives is happening NOW!☀️ Thanks so much to all of our Helena friends who are giving back to the Bob during this 24-hour giving campaign. Your gifts will go directly to our on-the-ground work in the Bob this summer: over 50 projects that open trails, mitigate user impacts, restore native habitat, share wilderness education, and just help people from all walks of life connect face to face across a campfire. A major benefit of these community campaigns is that you can amplify your impact to the causes you care about by giving to multiple non-profits with a single gift. We hope you'll check out the range of conservation and recreation groups participating who provide our communities with access to a clean environment and healthy lifestyle: @mtwatersheds_mwcc, @wildmontana, @lastchancecurlingclub, @pricklypearlandtrust,@montanadiscoveryfoundation, @mtassocofconservationdistricts ☀️ Learn more and donate now at greaterhelenagives.org @helenaareacommunityfoundation #greaterhelenagives #greaterhelenagives2025 #lovethebob

We're so excited to be part of Greater Helena Gives and Missoula Gives for the first time! We know so many folks in these communities love the Bob, and we would be honored to be added to your list of worthy non-profits to support as part of these giving days. 💚 Greater Helena Gives 24-hour campaign kicks off TONIGHT, April 30th at 8 PM. Learn more at www.greaterhelenagives.org 💙 Missoula Gives 26-hour campaign starts TOMORROW, May 1st at 7 PM. Learn more at www.missoulagives.org A major benefit of these community campaigns is that you can amplify your impact to the causes you care about by giving to multiple non-profits with a single gift. Please check out the full list of participating organizations and consider supporting multiple groups who are doing work you love. 🔥 All donations through Greater Helena Gives and Missoula Gives will be put towards our goal of raising $65,000 by May 31st to fully fund 50+ trail and habitat projects for our 2025 field season. 🔥 #lovethebob #bobmarshallwilderness #scapegoatwilderness #greatbearwilderness #bobmarshallwildernesscomplex #GreaterHelenaGives #MissoulaGives