by Tom Kuglin, Bugle Hunting & Outdoor Lifestyle Editor
To earn her rank of Eagle Scout, Anna Grimm wanted a project that would meld her love of the outdoors with an organization that helps protect it. She found the perfect match helping the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation improve access to a critical piece of property near her hometown.
While a high school senior in Missoula, Montana, Grimm decided to set her sights on Eagle Scout, the highest rank in all of scouting. The achievement would both continue a family legacy, as well as accomplish a personal goal that would require plenty of planning and hard work.
“I’ve always been interested in going for Eagle Scout because my dad and uncle were Eagle Scouts and I always heard when I was young what a big accomplishment that was,” Grimm, now a freshman at the University of Montana, says. “And then once I was in Troop 1919, I’d already put in so much work so I just said, ‘Why not go for it?’”
Among the requirements for Eagle Scout is completion of a community service project. Grimm, a hunter since age 10, worked with Scout leader and mentor Matt Jolly to search for a project to match her interests. Jolly contacted RMEF. Ryan Chapin, RMEF lands operations manager had an idea that checked all the boxes.
In 2019, RMEF received through a donation, the 3,500-acre Bearmouth Ranch property located about 30 miles from Missoula. While the organization ultimately wants to find a conservation-minded buyer for the property, currently RMEF opens it to students in the University of Montana’s Wild Sustenance class for the first 16 days of the general hunting season. It then opens to the public under the Block Management program—providing a crucial piece of access in western Montana.
The main access point to Bearmouth needed some work, specifically, to allow hunters on foot and horses to enter, but to keep motorized vehicles at the trailhead.
“RMEF wanted to build a pedestrian and horse-friendly gate system and I thought it’d be pretty cool to work with them because it’s such a popular organization,” Grimm says.
An old livestock gate required recreationists to either crawl over or under and made using horses impossible. Grimm worked with Chapin designing the project to include a new metal road gate flanked by a swinging wooden pedestrian/equestrian gate. The design corralled in the access point as well ensuring that motorized vehicles remain at the trailhead.
Grimm got to work recruiting volunteers including fellow scouts and her dad and grandfather. Facing challenges from rocky soil to communicating with the work team, Grimm steered the project over the next two months, completing it early last spring.
“It took a lot of planning to get that many people out there and I think I learned a lot about communication too,” she says. “I’ve sent out so many emails back and forth with people, going to stores to talk about possible discounts, and then being 30 minutes from town, we put in some long hours but thankfully we were able to get it done.”
Jolly was impressed with Grimm’s work ethic as she juggled the many responsibilities for school projects, graduation and her Eagle Scout project.
“That level of commitment is really impressive for sure,” he says. “We had some really amazing people that were able to come out and help and these Eagle Scout projects, they take a long time because we want them to be there for years to come. To be able to work with the Elk Foundation on this is an honor for our troop and an honor for Anna.”
In thanks for her work at Bearmouth and in congratulations for earning Eagle Scout, in early September Chapin surprised Grimm with RMEF’s Elk Country Partnership Award (see photo below).
“A big thanks to Anna and her volunteers for creating a better multi-use public hunter access point on the RMEF owned Bearmouth Ranch Block Management Area,” Chapin says. “This project will benefit sportsmen and women hunting in the Upper Clark Fork Region by helping facilitate access to many thousands of acres of land. Anna’s and Troop 1919’s effort in planning and facilitating this effort is much appreciated by our organization, its members and by the general hunting public.”
(Photo credit: Anna Grimm)
