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Vince Yannone ~ 2020 Inductee
Vince Yannone – 2020 Inductee
Vince Yanonne
1940 –
For 30 years, Vince Yannone, born near Philadelphia, was Montana’s most popular personality. A lifelong outdoorsman, Vince worked for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and became a conservation celebrity.
He hosted television programs and conservation, service, and garden club events. There he’d exhibit one of his recuperating wild creatures—along with the uncommon wit, charisma, and empathetic humor that made Vince a legend.
Vince earned degrees from Adams State College and the University of Montana. He studied grizzly bears and elk with the late John Craighead, one of the leading scientists in American conservation.
Vince began his career in Montana as a scientist and educator in the 1970s. He helped develop Project Wild, a national conservation-education program. As FWP’s representative, Vince partnered with the Montana Office of Public Instruction to establish Project Wild in Montana’s schools.
Vince wanted children to bond with nature and think things through on their own, decades before the idea of a “nature deficit disorder” began to circulate in popular culture.
In 1995, Vince’s FWP retirement was opined upon in state newspapers and by Montana politicians. Sen. Max Baucus lauded Vince for the Congressional Record. “I rise today to honor a man who has made a lifework in preserving one of Montana’s hallmarks, one of the things that have earned renown as ‘the Last Best Place’ – our wildlife,” Baucus said.
“I had a job that I loved, and it wasn’t a job for me,” Vince recalled. “I had two things that made it special – I love people, and I love wildlife. It was a perfect fit.”
The vision for FWP’s Montana WILD Education Center in Helena—and its wildlife rehabilitation facility – is traced directly to Vince’s humane appreciation for wildlife conservation and education.
Montana WILD opened in 2010 and now hosts more than 5,000 elementary and high school students annually in the “Vince Yannone Auditorium.”
Vince was named “Mr. Wildlife” by the Great Falls Tribune and a “Local Hero” by the Helena Independent Record. He was the first president of The Last Chance Chapter of the Audubon Society. Numerous awards include the Bob Watts Communications Award from the Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society, Montana Audubon’s Environmental Educator of the Year, and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s Wallace Fennell Pate Wildlife Conservation Award, its highest honor.
“All animals need clean air, food, water, and a place to live. Those things are called habitat, and habitat is what wildlife needs to survive!” With these words, Vince reached thousands of people and made an indelible impression on wildlife conservation in Montana.
Vince and his wife, Sue, live in Clancy, where they raised their two daughters, Christine and Jenny. His love for wildlife and education is in his blood. He can’t help but tell a story about wildlife to his children and grandchildren ensuring that his love for wildlife will endure for generations.
