Donor Support
Keep these wildlands and all their wildlife forever intact
Earle Layser, ‘65 forestry alumnus, and his late wife Pattie established a professorship earlier this year with a generous bequest of $1.5 million. The Earle and Pattie Layser Endowed Distinguished Professorship in Conservation Biology and Policy will support a professor in conservation biology, ecosystems restoration, threatened and endangered species and wildland conservation.
Earle and Pattie - writers, naturalists and conservationists - loved the Greater Yellowstone area and its rich natural resources. “We were exceptionally fortunate to visit and write about some of Earth’s beautiful, wild and biologically unique places,” says Layser. “But in the process, we also witnessed firsthand humankind’s sobering worldwide assault on natural places and wildlife.”
With this gift the Laysers ensured that the College of Forestry and Conservation will continue working to preserve the land and wildlife they love.
“We already have a strong foundation of scholarship and research in natural resource policy and land conservation,” Dean of the college Jim Burchfield said. “This generous gift will help future students better understand the connections between people, wildlife and landscapes in the West.” Read more in the UM Foundation newsletter.
In recognition of this gift, we placed a plaque on the south side of the Forestry building inscribed with this quote from Earle and Pattie Layser:
"We have cherished the Northern Rockies. Now it is your life's landscape. Keep these wildlands and all their wildlife forever intact."
Continuing Bud Moore's Conservation Legacy
The family of legendary conservationist William “Bud” Moore is continuing Bud’s passion for protecting wild places. They’ve established the William R. (Bud) and Jane Buckhouse Moore Graduate Research Endowment to support research projects by graduate or post-graduate students studying the Northern Rocky Mountain Crown of the Continent Bioregion. Read more about Bud and the scholarship in the UM Foundation newsletter or donate to this graduate research fund.
This past summer Stephen and Jane Baldock (‘72, ‘72) committed a gift from their estate to the UM College of Forestry and Conservation. The gift creates the University of Montana Native American Natural Resources Program Fund and will focus on the greatest needs facing Native American students enrolled in the College of Forestry and Conservation. We're excited to continue offering support, academic advising, internship and job placement and other services for the college's native students.
Undergrad Aspen Ward working on a snow acumulation study at Lubrecht with PhD student Eryn Schneider. Aspen is the recipient of a CFC scholarship and Eryn's doctoral fellowship is funded by the Plum Creek Company. Read more from the UM Foundation newsletter.
Plum Creek made a gift to the college in 1994 to support the Plum Creek Distinguished Lecture Series and a Plum Creek fellow. This year's Plum Creek Distinguished
Lecture will take place in October, 2015, during Montana Forest Products Week. Check out the Plum Creek web site this spring for details.
