Today we’re visiting with Blackfeet rancher and tribal elder Joe Kipp and rancher Trina Jo Bradley to hear what it takes to raise livestock, raise families, and make a living on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, where grizzly bear numbers are on the rise.

From Blackfeet traditions of living with grizzlies to the economic and personal costs of living with large predators, their stories reveal the challenges of sharing a landscape with recovering grizzly populations – and the difficult questions of where to draw the line.

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Topics discussed

Rocky Mountain Front, Blackfeet Nation, Indigenous perspectives on grizzly bears, human safety, livestock depredation, economic and emotional costs of living with grizzlies, drought and wildlife conflict, livestock loss compensation, tribal land ownership and funding challenges, conflict reduction and wildlife management

Featuring

Joe Kipp (Blackfeet rancher, tribal elder and former chair of the Blackfeet Nation Stockgrowers Association), Trina Jo Bradley (rancher, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Front Ranchlands Group and chair of the Montana Conflict Reduction Consortium)

Credits

Working Wild University is a production of Western Landowners Alliance and Dr. Jared Beaver of Montana State University Extension, and a proud part of Natural Resources University podcast network. 

Hosted by Hallie Mahowald and Jared Beaver; Produced by Zach Altman; Editing by Kathleen Shannon and Zach Altman; Executive producers: Louis Wertz, Jared Beaver, Hallie Mahowald and Erik Kalsta.