Distinctly Montana Magazine

"Bees, birds, butterfies, and gardens figure prominentlyin the Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sacred texts. To build native gardens and create habitat for species that insure our food sources is a perfect fit for faiths." The Tributary Fund (TTF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering connections between religious, scientific, and local leaders around the world in the interest of wildlife habitat protection and sustain- able community development. The work that TTF undertakes may vary according the faiths, species, and regions involved, but between those borders there is fertile common ground. Conserva- tion is a recurrent theme in almost every sacred text on Earth. In light of this enduring message, TTF supports their ground-level efforts with an eye to the enduring relevance of faith—in alignment with science—in crafting meaningful conservation work. Though TTF operates on a global scale, with currently active projects in Mongolia and Bhutan, the group has its roots firmly set in Bozeman, Montana. There are many potent opportunities to catalyze the crossroads of conserva- tion and community within this state. For example, the Pollinator Partnership, a partner organization of TTF that is devoted to sup- 28 CASEY M. DELPHIA porting pollinator health through the avenues of research, conservation, and education, has worked with the Gallatin Valley Land Trust to create the Gallagator Trail pollinator garden. They have also supported numerous research and outreach efforts to assess the state of pollinator health and public awareness within Montana and many other ecoregions. Betsy Gaines Quammen, founder and president of TTF, is currently working in collaboration with the Pollinator Partnership as a national co-chair for the Faith Outreach Task Force. The Task Force is a new group charged with creating and distributing outreach information to educate and empower faith leaders on pollinator protection ef- forts. Says Gaines Quammen of the relevance of this work: "Bees, birds, butterflies, and gardens figure prominently in the Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sacred texts. To build native gardens and create habitat for species that insure our food sources is a perfect fit for faiths." As Gaines Quammen notes, pollinators represent a powerful synthesis of conservation and faith traditions. Bees appear multiple DISTINCTLY MONTANA • SPRING 2012

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