The Stars, The Sky, The Wilderness: Author & Environmental Activist Rick Bass

Join us for a reading and conversation with Rick Bass to discuss his work to protect an old growth forest and grizzly habitat in the Yaak Valley of northwestern Montana from the Black Ram Project, a logging plan proposed by the US Forest Service in the Kootenai National Forest in northwest Montana. As a key member of the Yaak Valley Forest Council, he has advocated for old-growth forest conservation, climate refuge designation, and sustainable forest practices.

Rick Bass, born in Fort Worth, Texas, began his career as a petroleum geologist after earning his B.S. from Utah State University, writing his first short stories during lunch breaks while working in Mississippi. In 1987, he moved with his family to the Yaak Valley of the northern Rockies (Montana), where he has since been deeply involved in conservation efforts, serving on the boards of the Yaak Valley Forest Council and Round River Conservation Studies. The author of more than thirty books—including “For a Little While: New and Selected Stories” and “With Every Great Breath: New and Selected Essays,” Bass has received honors such as the Story Prize, the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, a PEN/Nelson Algren Award Special Citation, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His editorial contributions span numerous publications, and he currently serves on the editorial board of Whitefish Review while teaching in the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast MFA low‑residency program.