Master Naturalist Certification

Ready to interpret the landscape on your own, uncover its secrets and share them with others, and take in the natural world firsthand rather than through a guide? The focus of the Montana Master Naturalist Program is to increase natural history knowledge and promote awareness, understanding, and stewardship of Montana’s natural environment by developing a corps of well-informed citizens dedicated to conservation education and service within their communities. This confidence begins with knowing the details: the names of the local flowers, birds, trees, insects, and more.  

The core focus of this week-long, intensive course will be developing skills to read and interpret landscapes, both past and present. We will use big themes of biogeography, forest succession, and habitat to frame our knowledge of modern landscapes, and geology and deep time to interpret ancient ones . Throughout the experience, participants will cultivate an ability to accurately interpret and understand the plants and animals, both ancient and modern, whose presence tells the story of our landscape.

The Beartooth Mountain foothills lie at the confluence of three of North America’s most magnificent ecosystems: the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the Great Plains, and arid landscapes reminiscent of the desert southwest.  This makes the region not just phenomenally beautiful, but also a perfect natural classroom for students of nature who want to deepen their understanding of landscapes and the diverse plants and animals that inhabit them, both today and long ago.  A unique feature of this Master Naturalist program will be lessons on the region’s ancient life and landscapes, including visits to active dinosaur excavations led by an Elevation Science Institute paleontologist and geologist.

Hosted by the Elevation Science Institute, this event requires advance registration.