From Minnesota to Montana with Love (Round 2)
Last year, Mike Schmillen and members of his River City Tile & Stone crew drove a couple skid steers all the way from their home near the Twin Cities to southwestern Montana. Why? To help remove miles of old fencing that were blocking wildlife migration routes in a part of the country where they had enjoyed taking recreational trips in the past.
The dedication and effort given were mirrored by a few other 2%’ers that also traveled from across the country to help with the project.
It was cool, but no one expected a repeat.
Earlier this month, that’s exactly what Mike and his team did.Mike and his team once again set off from Minnesota to drive the nearly 1000 miles to the “Big Hole” region in southwest Montana. Montana’s “Big Hole” region, loosely defined, is between I-15 to its east, and the Big Hole Valley on the west. We said “loosely”, and locals might feel strongly about that broad definition. Apologies. :)
The area is most known for its blue-ribbon trout streams and ranching community, but also has an incredible
“In the Big Hole, the Elk and Pronghorn specifically have a difficult time crossing some of the old domestic sheep fences that are still in place near the riparian areas.
We need to get those old fences down and provide these ungulates better access between the low and high country. It’s essential for them in this area. We’ve seen a lot of injured and dead animals due to these old fences.”
Once again, the crew helped Simon Buzzard of the National Wildlife Federation open up critical habitat that has long been criss-crossed with fences that are not “wildlife friendly.”
Most fences that cross the American West do only one job: Keep livestock in or out of certain areas. What they don’t do is allow migrating wildlife to pass through, leading to bottlenecks and plugging up of wildlife movement. This can create an immense burden not only on the wildlife but on the people trying to use the land where the wildlife get stuck. Wildlife that can’t move to new grazing areas get stuck on crops and livestock feed, creating conflict and possibly huge crop losses.
And for the wildlife, sometimes getting “stuck” means literally being tangled in barbed wire and eaten by scavengers.
Both economically and ecologically, wildlife-friendly fences just make sense. As defined by biologists, wildlife-friendly fences have a smooth bottom wire for pronghorn and small animals to cross under, a top height of 40”-42”, and drop rail elk jump points in areas known to be used by elk.
Before wildlife-friendly fence can be installed, the old bad fence must be removed. This can be as “simple” as unclipping wire from fence posts… or as rough as digging and cutting out wire that has been buried by rock or overgrown by trees and sage brush. This can be extremely laborious work! In dry years, you really need to watch out for creating sparks with both hand and power tools, as the fire risk is also quite high.
For this reason, many landowners just leave the large spools on the landscape. This is understandable if you don’t have the means to remove it, but that just passes the buck down the line for the next person to handle. However, if you are truly trying to improve the landscape for wildlife, those bundles gotta go! That’s where the wire-winding and carrying capabilities of the skid steer come in. In ten minutes, two people with a single skid steer can spool and haul more wire than ten linebackers can in an afternoon. What we’ve described so far is pretty much just mundane ranch work.
This is a wildlife-friendly fence installed by Stosich, Inc of Lima, Montana. Note the smooth bottom wire for pronghorn and other wildlife young.
Making quick work of the old barbed wire. One of the most challenging parts of a fence pull is winding up hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds of old wire.
Mike Schmillen coiling old wire with the skid steer.
What makes it special is that Mike has made these cross-country excursions a part of his company culture.
“My business is 2% certified, which I take great pride in. I bring some of my employees out to this particular project every year. We look at it as a reward for their hard work throughout the year” – Mike Schmillen
In looking at our membership within 2%, the businesses that include opportunities to give back as part of the company culture see a substantially higher employee retention rate.
That is a scarce thing for a business to have in the present economic climate.
So what do his employees think about the experience?“Bryan and I got the opportunity to do something very few people get to be a part of. And even though it’s a ton of hard labor, it’s great to see the end results, and of course the views are spectacular” – Staci Christopherson – River City Tile & Stone.
Employees that get to do more than push the bottom line are more than employees. They’re team members. And when you pair memory making with legitimately making the world a better place, it’s not just your team that feels the difference — your community and customers do as well.
It’s the difference between just working or having an actual legacy.
Think about it: What residential/commercial contractors do you know that take a week with their employees on volunteer trips like this on the company dime?
Probably none. Mike is in rare air.
To put it another way: How many skid steer-owning hunters did they drive past who were completely capable, but don’t put the same value on conservation and teamwork as these folks do?
Rare air indeed.