Since 2005, the following work has been accomplished:

• 142 trumpeter swans released in the Blackfoot Valley.
• Three breeding pairs have established territories in the Blackfoot Valley as of 2010, out of a goal of seven.

Swans in the Blackfoot Valley provide a unique wildlife viewing opportunity and fill an ecological niche that has been empty for decades. [Learn more]

Thousands of miles of Montana’s prairie streams were considered fishless until 2001 when State Wildlife Grant funds made it possible to challenge that assumption. Stream surveys revealed:

• 48 different fish species in these “fishless” prairie streams,
• 30 of the fish species were native,
• 5 different amphibian species, and
• 10 different reptile species.

Few experts suspected these streams would be so biologically rich. With this new knowledge the state can make better, more cost-effective decisions to conserve this ecological system of diverse species for future generations.

Surveys of abundant but secretive species such as bats, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals are the only way to establish the diversity of species making use of different types of habitat. SWG dollars funded survey crews in 2008-2010. In 2008 alone accomplishments of the crew included:

• amphibian surveys at 74 sites,
• 76 sites surveyed for reptiles,
• small mammal surveys at 29 sites, and
• bat recordings made at 93 sites for identification of bat species.

Critical information is being gathered on species of concern and even threatened and endangered species. [Learn more]