“Ted Turner & Friends” Features Stars Of Nature-Friendly Ranching In West

by Yellowstonian

Back by popular demand, Gallatin Valley Earth Day and co-host Yellowstonian is returning in 2026 with a provocative line-up of live-streamed public events revolving around issues in Greater Yellowstone, the future of the wild West and ways each of us can be more impactful, sustainable citizens.

Inaugurating the series, which crescendos with the arrival of Earth Month in April 2026, is a special event on January 14 in Bozeman, Montana titled “Ted Turner & Friends: Stories from the Wild Edge of Co-existence.”

The evening highlights the pioneering private land conservation efforts of Ted Turner with special attention paid to his 113,000-acre Flying D bison ranch outside of Bozeman and how it continues to inspire other generations of leaders. 

Yellowstonian founder Todd Wilkinson will lead the discussion with Liz Fairbank, Road Scholar with the Center for Large Landscape Conservation. Unfortunately, Ted himself cannot be present. However, in his stead, is this all-star cast:

Mike Phillips of Bozeman, co-founder of the Turner Endangered Species Fund with Ted, will speak to ongoing Turner efforts, how Turner has affected others and had profound positive ripple effects in protecting biological diversity.

Mike will be joined by Madison Valley rancher and conservationist Jeff Lazslo, who like Ted Turner, put his Granger Ranches, under conservation easements and carried out a high profile restoration of O’Dell Creek, a tributary to the Madison River.

Appearing with Phillps and Laszlo is Matt Skoglund, owner of North Bridger Bison, with his wife Sarah. The Skoglunds represent the new generation of ecologically-minded land stewards in America. Joining Wilkinson in the discussion and fielding audience questions is Road Ecologist Liz Fairbank of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation.

The evening event begins at the Emerson Cultural Center’s Tim & Kathy Crawford Theater at 7 pm sharp (get there early as seating is limited). A reception will be held beforehand with information tables from leading conservation organizations in the Northern Rockies, free food and drink and a chance to mix with the headlining speakers.

Once again, we at Yellowstonian are proud to be a primary co-sponsor with Gallatin Valley Earth Day, the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, and a list of other notable partners: Gallatin Valley Land Trust, Turner Endangered Species Fund, Turner Biodiversity, Preserve Raynolds Pass, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Jack Creek Preserve, Western Landowners Alliance, Madison River Foundation, Sacajawea Audubon Society, Madison Gallatin Trout Unlimited, Gallatin Watershed Council, and Ted’s Montana Grill that will have bison chili on hand. Each group is doing important laudatory work worthy of your support. It’s gonna be a great evening!

Enjoy out our short interview with Anne Ready, chief coordinator of the 2026 Gallatin Valley Earth Day lecture series. Lastly, if you have a moment, watch this CBS Sunday Morning profile on Ted that has generated more than 1.3 million views.

Following this and as part of the series lasting through the rest of winter, other equally-engaging events, all tiered tot sustainable living and co-existence between nature and humans will also be free, open to the public and live-streamed. More info coming soon and make sure you check out the Gallatin Valley Earth Day site.

A Chat With The Amazing Anne Ready of Gallatin Valley Earth Day

YELLOWSTONIAN: Gallatin Valley Earth Day’s 2025 lecture series was an overwhelming success. It generated excitement and provided opportunities for thousands of people to learn more about environmental issues in Bozeman, Greater Yellowstone and beyond. Yellowstonian was proud to be a collaborator and so, too, are we excited to partner with you again. Please share with us what people can look forward to with the theme for 2026 and the line up.

Anne Ready: Gallatin Valley Earth Day’s theme is Sustainable Living with the tagline, “Healthy Earth, Healthy You.” This overarching theme will include talks and workshops covering these topics: preserving and conserving habitat for wildlife, how Montana ranchers are turning more to renewable energy, zero waste living, composting, and how climate change is affecting our health.    

Yellowstonian: Elaborate on the genesis of this year’s theme?

Anne Ready: Our themes are usually suggested by community members.  Our tagline is decided by our GVED planning committee, based on the theme for that year.

Yellowstonian: Who are some of the other main sponsors and how can organizations contact you if they’re interested in helping to support the series?

Anne Ready: We are just beginning to round up our sponsors for 2026.  Our major sponsors in 2025 included the City of Bozeman, Volkswagen of Bozeman, Gallatin Subaru, Bozeman Green Build, American Prairie, and Gallatin Wildlife Association.  If an organization is interested in helping support our series, please email Anne Ready at gallatinvalleyearthday@gmail.com. It’s an opportunity to elevate the good work groups are doing as thousands will tune in from around the world.

Yellowstonian: It takes a lot of work and money to put these free events on. While they are best enjoyed live because they bring with them an opportunity to mix with the speakers and meet other people with shared interests, many of the events will be livestreamed. Share with us a bit about how far and wide the audience in 2025 was.

Anne Ready: All of our talks leading up to the festival are live streamed and recorded (you can find the recordings on the Gallatin Valley Earth Day Youtube Channel).  We have a wide range of followers from not only all over the state of Montana but from all over the United States, including states from the Northeast (New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut) to the Midwest (Michigan, Ohio, and Iowa) to the South (Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma) to the west (Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, California, Washington).  Our international audience includes attendees from New Zealand, Australia, and Mexico!

Yellowstonian: What prompted you to step forward a few years ago to help coordinate this popular effort and for people reading this who have a yearning to get involved in conservation efforts wherever they live, what gives you the most personal satisfaction with being an advocate yourself? 

Anne Ready: My great love for the wildlife and wild places prompted me to celebrate them and protect them.  I feel very much like any mother animal who will go to all lengths to protect her precious young!  When I first moved to Bozeman I noticed that although we have a large number of individuals and organizations in our area devoted to protecting wildlife and wild places, our community did not have an annual Earth Day festival. 

So I gathered a few acquaintances together and launched the Earth Day festival in 2019.  I would encourage anyone with the desire to be involved with conservation to volunteer with and support financially local conservation groups and – if you see a niche that is not being filled – do what you can to make something happen.  I find great personal satisfaction in bringing joy to our community by sharing the fantastic work of some many wonderful organizations in our community who are working diligently to educate the public and protect what is so precious to so many Montanans and—based on our far ranging audience—to many members of our national and world community.