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Greg Munther ~ 2025 Inductee
Greg Munther
1943 –
Raised in Idaho Falls, Greg Munther chose to pursue his passion for the outdoors by studying forestry and fisheries biology at the University of Idaho.
For his master’s thesis, he camped in Hell’s Canyon of the Snake River for two years starting in 1965, studying the habitats of smallmouth bass in a free-flowing river. But, upstream, Hell’s Canyon Dam construction was nearly complete. The High Mountain Sheep Dam was next and would have forever doomed fish migration on the entire Salmon River. Conservationists successfully stopped that. Seeing the threat to the river planted the seeds of conservation in the young Munther. As a result, he believes strongly in preservation of wildlife and fisheries habitat for future generations, as well as providing and protecting opportunities for ethical participation in consumptive and nonconsumptive outdoor pursuits by all, regardless of economic status.
After college, Munther signed on with the U.S. Forest Service. He worked in Utah and Idaho, restoring salmon habitat before moving to Montana in 1976 to work on the Bitterroot, Deerlodge, Helena, and Lolo national forests as a fisheries biologist. In 1999, he finished up his 32-year career as the Ninemile district ranger on the Lolo National Forest. He received the Missoula Conservation Roundtable’s Arnold Bolle Award for lifetime achievement in conservation and natural resource management.
Munther helped author the 1985 Lolo National Forest Plan, which is only now being revised. Thanks in part to Munther, the plan included many forward-thinking components, such as standards for road densities that allow motorized access but maintain nonmotorized opportunities and safeguard critical wildlife habitat.
As district ranger, Munther had to negotiate access and natural resource issues, including the development of a mining claim within the proposed Great Burn Wilderness. Resisting internal and external politics, he was able to protect the proposed wilderness by requiring the miners to carry their equipment rather than allowing them to punch a road up the North Fork of Fish Creek.
In 1983, Munther joined many others in objecting when a pulp mill wanted to pump more treated wastewater into the Clark Fork River. At a public hearing, he described the detrimental effects of the existing discharge, including a fish kill he’d observed downstream. His testimony and expertise helped convince the Department of Environmental Quality to reconsider. Greg also served on the Rock Creek Advisory Council, which secured conservation easements on several properties in Rock Creek.
A fan of the traditional long bow, Munther helped create Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ bowhunter education programs and worked to strengthen bowhunter ethics. He’s also worked to create and improve Montana’s anti-poaching laws and game-farm prohibitions. Additionally, he helped launch several state-based hunting conservation organizations, including the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Montana Bowhunters Association, and Traditional Bowhunters of Montana.