The Wild American Prairie

Today, when the word “wild” comes to mind you probably don't think of the prairie. You might think of, “Little House on the Prairie,” or “The Grapes of Wrath” but not wild lands and wilderness.  

Montana’s prairie lands are often forgotten.

People have called this region, the “middle-of-nowhere.”  Dismissed it as too sparse, too dry, windy, and remote.  The Brakes of the Missouri River and the dryer, higher prairie lands in southeast Montana are often overlooked  by travelers as wastelands, and thought of by many locals as, “just BLM lands,” or “grazing lands.”  Today, these landscapes are prized for their possible Wilderness Characteristics.  

Who’s ever been to a prairie wilderness area?  Likely, no one - because there are none.

One summer, my partner and I set out to explore and inventory these prairie areas for their wilderness characteristics. We hiked them, photograph and video them, map them and report back our discoveries. What we discovered was not wasteland, not dry, parched, loneliness, but a landscape full of life, water, and solitude.