The folks who came together a decade ago to build an event designed to expose young people to the possibilities of the outdoors hoped they might make a difference in someone’s life.
They had no idea just how big the annual Youth Expo at the Teller Wildlife Refuge would become.
“We’ve had kids who are too old for the expo come back and serve as camp counselors,” said Fred Upchurch, one of the event’s organizers. “They know how to wrangle up the kids and talk their language.”
“We’re seeing them join other outdoor organizations and they’re already making a difference,” he said. “The seed has taken hold. I’m really proud of that.”
After a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic, the free event is set to return to the refuge’s Red Slack Barn just north of Corvallis on Saturday, May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Most of the 40 or so organizations that have been opening up a new appreciation for the outdoors for youth aged 9 to 17 have said they’ll be there.
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At its beginning, Tom Powers was working with the Wild Sheep Foundation when he reached out to Lauren Rennaker of Teller and John Miller of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to get the ball rolling.
Ducks Unlimited already had a youth program called Greenwing that served as the Youth Expo’s roots.
“We built off that program to bring together all the wildlife groups and agencies in hopes of building something bigger,” Powers said. “We just figured if we could coordinate this and the groups would stay involved and supportive, the sky was the limit.”
The one-day program now draws crowds of more than 300 young people from as far away as Missoula and Helena. Powers said 90% come from the Bitterroot Valley.
The kids have opportunities to participate in a multitude of hands-on demonstrations that run the gamut from learning to use bear spray on a charging grizzly and learning to shoot a bow to receiving a fly-fishing lesson and scaling a climbing wall.
And that’s just the beginning of the experience.
If the young attendees participate in 10 events, they have the opportunity to put in for a drawing for one the many all-expense-paid summer camps offered through the expo.
The Youth Expo also created camps at the Magruder Ranger Station and the Scripps Ranch in the upper reaches of the West Fork of the Bitterroot. Other organizations offer spots in their summer camps in locations like Glacier, Ennis and the Lincoln Scapegoat Wilderness.
“The camps are all funded by donations,” Powers said. “Many of the organizations that participate in the Youth Expo help out. We also have some private donations and sometimes get a grant. All of these summer camp opportunities are a tribute to the fact we have support from all these organizations.”
Teller Refuge’s education director, Nicole Ballard, said the event fits the refuge’s mission like a glove.
“Our mission is to inspire, educate and demonstrate conservation in action,” Ballard said. “Having all these conservation organizations come in from all over the state of Montana and share their conservation mission with the youth falls completely into our mission of spreading conservation messages and encouraging the next generation of our youth to get out and be a part of this really important bigger idea of conservation.”
This year’s event will be held in memory of conservation and outdoor champion, Dale Burk, of Stevensville. Burk died in 2020.
For years, Burk and well-known Missoula packer Smoke Elser spent a night around the campfire at the Magruder Ranger Station and the Scripps Ranch offering their insights to the young campers on the importance of all places wild. Burk was inducted into the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2018.
“Dale Burk is a conservation champion,” Upchurch said. “He’s been with us from the start helping to make this program a success.”
“We want to honor his memory and all he’s done for conservation, especially all the work he’s done in the Bitterroot Valley,” Powers said. “We plan on hanging a banner with Dale’s photo on the west hall of the Red Slack Barn. It will be there for everyone to see when we play the national anthem at 10 a.m.”
Upchurch is looking forward to seeing that next group of young people ready for adventure.
“You wouldn’t believe that some of these kids who live in Montana have never caught a fish in their lives,” Upchurch said. “Once you get a kid to catch that first fish, they’re hooked. And it’s nice to be able to get them hooked on other stuff too.”
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