By Michael Howell
Priscilla Antrim was born on June 25, 1932 and grew up on the family sheep ranch northeast of Stevensville. She left home after attending high school in Missoula and went off to college in Iowa. She graduated from Grinnell College in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy/Religion.
She worked for five years in Kansas City before returning to the family ranch. Then she moved to Missoula and worked at the Missoula Public Library. From there she was off to Seattle where she eventually got to the University of Washington School of Librarianship. She achieved a master’s degree in library sciences and went on to work for five years as a professional librarian in a small library in Seattle. Then she worked briefly at the King County Assessor’s office, before once again returning to the family ranch in Stevensville when her parents passed away.
Back on the home place Priscilla immersed herself in raising sheep and turning out some beautiful wool. She also got heavily into gardening.
She always strove to be a good steward of the land and had a love for wild animals.
She had some of the land logged in 2003 in a very innovative and environmentally-friendly fashion by Cky-Ber Enterprises, owned and operated by her near neighbor Craig Thomas. An innovative component incorporated into the project called “snag creation” was funded by a Conservation Innovation Grant from the Natural Resource Conservation Service. It was part of a nationwide effort by the American Bird Conservancy, a non-profit organization, the mission of which is to conserve native birds and their habitat throughout the Americas. At the time they were working with another non-profit, the Forest Restoration Partnership, designing and implementing cutting-edge habitat restoration projects on private lands across the Pacific Northwest.
Antrim not only cared for her place, she cared about her community as well. She was an iconic presence at the Stevensville Community Garden and attended almost every major community event until her death in August 2015. It’s that kind of community spirit, no doubt, that led her to bequeath the family ranch upon her death to the state to become a part of the Three Mile Wildlife Management Area.
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks plans to hold a public hearing on Thursday, February 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the Teller Wildlife Refuge’s Slack Barn at 1180 Chaffin Lane, north of Corvallis, to consider accepting the donation of the land. Officials say the 214.8-acre bequest will add elk winter range to the Three Mile Wildlife Management Area, and enhance public access to the management area and nearby national forest land.
A draft environmental assessment (EA) has been prepared for this proposal. The EA may be viewed on FWP’s Internet website http://fwp.mt.gov (“Submit Public Comments,” or it may be obtained by mail from Region 2 FWP, 3201 Spurgin Rd., Missoula MT 59804; by phoning 406-542-5540; or by emailing shrose@mt.gov. Comments may also be directed to Sharon Rose by mail, phone or email at these contacts. Comments must be received by FWP no later than 5:00 p.m. on March 8, 2016.