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Bob Ream ~ 2016 Inductee
Bob Ream – 2016 Inductee
Bob Ream
1936 – 2017
Over four decades of teaching and wildlife advocacy Bob Ream emerged as a gentle giant of conservation in Montana.
As an educator, public servant, and advocate for wild places and the wildlife that inhabit them, Bob’s life work will provide benefits far into Montana’s bright future.
As a notable wildlife biology professor at the University of Montana’s College of Forestry and Conservation, he initiated the Wolf Ecology Project in 1973, setting the groundwork for recovery of the gray wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains.
In 1975 he founded both the Wilderness Institute and the remarkable Wilderness and Civilization program, the latter establishing a unique set of educational experiences that takes a cohort of undergraduate students each year into Montana’s wildlands.
Bob served as interim dean of the College of Forestry and Conservation from 1993-1994 where he catalyzed the transition of the school beyond traditional forestry practices to incorporate wildlife biology, wilderness management, and restoration ecology.
Bob served with distinction in the Montana House of Representatives from 1983-1997 as one of the state’s most trusted voices for resource protection.
He was chief sponsor of Montana’s Stream Access Law, Montana Superfund Law, restitution payments for illegally taken wildlife, best management practices in the streamside management zone, and many others.
His commitment earned him the appointment as Chair of the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission from 2009-2013, a period where key debates over Montana’s most iconic wild species were at the forefront.
Bob’s background in science and his determination to bring fair, lasting policies regarding wildlife and wildlands have been decisive in sustaining Montana’s natural heritage.
For Bob, conservation efforts always needed to focus on people and how a deeper understanding of nature could improve lives. For instance, since its inception 40 years ago, more than 1,000 students have been swept into the magic of Montana’s wilderness through Bob’s personal commitment to creating an academic program grounded in personal outdoor experiences.
The Wilderness and Civilization Program at the University of Montana remains one of the premier, transformational educational programs in the nation, and dozens of leaders in Montana’s conservation community identify their initiation into environmental awareness as the “Wilderness and Civ” program.
Bob advocated policies that not only protected wildlands but ones that encouraged research and conservation education that would allow future generations to develop the science-based capacity to address emerging resource management dilemmas.
