Groups announce inaugural Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame awards ceremony

Special to the Daily News

HELENA — Montana’s Outdoor Legacy Foundation and several other co-sponsoring conservation and historical organizations are about to announce the first round of inductees into the newly formed Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame.

The first batch of 12 inductees has already been selected by the planning committee and will be honored in an induction ceremony Dec. 6 at the Great Northern Hotel in Helena. Going forward, the committee will consider nominations from the public.

The Hall of Fame was created to honor individuals, both living and dead, who made significant and lasting contributions to the restoration and conservation of Montana’s wildlife and wild places.

The focus of the awards is not only to recognize Montana’s historical and contemporary conservation leaders, but also to capture the stories of these individuals in an effort to contribute to public awareness and education.

Jim Posewitz, the planning committee chair, has been the force behind the creation of the Montana Hall of Fame, and had the idea after attending the seventh annual Wyoming Outdoor Hall of Fame banquet as a guest speaker. When he returned to Montana, he approached various nonprofit organizations, nongovernmental organizations, The Montana Historical Society and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to create an Outdoor Hall of Fame for Montana. He met with a good response, including organizing members and funding.

The first batch of inductees to the Hall of Fame will cover a wide range of figures, some public historical figures and some who worked quietly for conservation in Montana, “from territorial legislators, to activists in the 1930s and ’40s, all the way to the present date,” Posewitz said.

Besides the Outdoor Legacy Foundation and FWP, other partners involved in the Hall of Fame include Montana Historical Society, Montana Wildlife Federation, Montana Wilderness Association, Montana Trout Unlimited, and the Cinnabar Foundation.

Hall of Fame inductees will be archived at the Montana Historical Society.

Individual reservations can be purchased for $50 online at https://www.mtoutdoorlegacy.org or by calling Montana’s Outdoor Legacy Foundation at 406-444-6759. Groups can also reserve tables at the event for $800.