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Landmark is ASC's groundbreaking project to provide "boots on the ground" support for the American Prairie Reserve management team. Wildlife survey crews consist of skilled outdoors men and women who live and work on Montana's northern Great Plains, collecting data that informs APR's conservation management decisions.  The American Prairie Reserve may well be the gumbo capital of the world – gumbo mud that is. It pervades eastern Montana and has become part of daily life for our Landmark volunteers. Often made of bentonite clay, this stuff turns slicker than goose poop after a rainstorm. "Some Eastern Montanans use the term gumbo and bentonite interchangeably," according to the Billings Gazette. "But bentonite is a specific slick, sticky form of clay with its own unique chemical makeup... Bentonite comes from volcanic ash that dates back 100 million years or more. The ash settled in a vast inland sea and underwent specific chemical changes." Teri Ness, of the June crew, recently sent in the following poems about life this season on the Reserve. A Prairie Afternoon Crouching in a coulee rain pouring down hail mingling in water trickling under your gators filling up your socks Lightning flashes splitting the sky You should be afraid even crouching you’re still tall But each flash of light and beat of thunder courses through your veins Making you feel alive  Gumbo Man. Photo by Rachel Herring Gumbo days!
Gumbo = rain + clay + bentonite Gumbo = 20 extra pounds on your feet Gumbo = slipping and sliding and fright Gumbo = no driving Gooey Unpredictable Mucky Backseat Oh, God!
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