A Powerful New Tool to Protect the Badger-Two Medicine

In the 1980s, the Department of Interior under Secretary James Watt leased the Badger-Two Medicine at $1 an acre for oil and gas development. Last March, the department began righting that wrong, cancelling one of these illegal oil and gas leases and recognizing the Blackfeet people’s historic and sacred birthright to this area.

Now, with the clock ticking on the last days of the Obama administration and the pressure mounting on the U.S. government to cancel the remaining 17 oil and gas leases in the Badger, Blackfeet and conservation partners have a powerful new tool to share this incredible landscape and inspire people to take action to protect it.

“Our Last Refuge,” a 24-minute documentary film, tells the story of the Badger-Two Medicine and the decades-long struggle to protect it from oil and gas exploration. The new film features voices from all sides of the struggle – Blackfeet elders, local conservationists, and even the law firm pushing for oil exploration. All together, they chronicle the epic saga of this unique landscape and describe the current legal challenge, the outcome of which could determine the fate of sensitive and sacred lands nationwide.

Produced by MWA and directed by Bozeman-based filmmaker Daniel Glick of Kings Road Media, the film will appear in a number of venues across the state. Here's the schedule:

Great Falls
Wednesday, October 12, 6:30-8 p.m.
Great Falls College – MSU
Heritage Hall

Helena
Thursday, October 13, 6:30-8 p.m.
Myrna Loy

Billings
Monday, October 17, 6:30-8 p.m.
Art House Cinema & Pub

Missoula
Tuesday, October 18
modified event w/ Native American Studies Program

Kalispell
Thursday, October 20, 6:30-8 p.m.
Flathead Valley Community College – Arts & Technology Building, Room 139

Bozeman
Sunday, October 23, 6-8:30 p.m.
Emerson Center for Arts & Culture
Hosted by Bozeman Doc Series & screened with a feature film
Sponsored by Earthjustice

Harlem – Ft. Belknap Agency
Friday, October 28, time TBD
Aaniiih Nakoda College
Hosted by the Environmental Science Program

Please join us in urging Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to prioritize canceling the leases in the Badger-Two Medicine.

For other questions about the Badger or to inquire about the film, please contact me at cperkins@wildmontana.org or at 406-544-1093.

– Casey Perkins, Rocky Mountain Front field director