Date: Thursday, January 18

Time: 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Location: Montana Natural History Center

Deep in some of Montana’s most unique wetlands scurries one of Montana’s rarest and most elusive critters, the northern bog lemming. In response to a 2014 petition to list the species under the Endangered Species Act, FWP biologists began a long-term effort to find and document bog lemmings to track their persistence in the state. This effort has now spanned almost a decade and has included everything from trying to catch the animals alive to simple searching for their poop. Torrey Ritter and Kristi Dubois will present on the hunt for the northern bog lemmings in Montana, sharing their photos and stories from the field as they seek to better understand this mysterious species.

Instructors:

Torrey Ritter is a nongame wildlife biologist with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, based out of Missoula. He went to Montana State University for undergrad, then spent the next 6 years working for various state and federal agencies on a variety of wildlife species including grizzly bears, elk, peregrine falcons, sage grouse, beavers, and small mammals including of course, bog lemmings.

Kristi DuBois spent most of her career working for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks on various game and nongame wildlife species, most recently working in FWP Region 2 from 2002 through 2017. She also worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nature Conservancy. She has been retired since 2018, spending her time as a volunteer for MT FWP and various nonprofits in the Missoula area. Her main passion is documenting our rich biodiversity, especially small species with her camera, and putting observations into iNaturalist and the Montana Natural Heritage Program to help further conservation efforts.