Live on Trail 1033: Lisa Ronald, American Rivers + Carmen Murrill, Wild Montana | Trails, Rivers & Forests Expo

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"This event is an example of how our public lands and waters truly are intimately tied together. It’s not just our organization. It’s many, many others — organizations that work for public lands and public waters and steward a lot of our public natural resources."

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Missoula runs on trails, rivers, forests, public lands, good people, and good excuses to get outside.

Mike Smith welcomed Lisa from American Rivers and Carmen from Wild Montana into the Trail 103.3 studio to talk about the 2026 Trails, Rivers & Forests Expo, happening today, Wednesday, June 3, from 5–9 p.m. at Trail Head River Sports.

The free event is co-hosted by American Rivers and Wild Montana and brings together local outdoor organizations, businesses, conservation groups, and community partners who work to protect, maintain, and connect people with the wild places around Missoula.

The conversation covers the connection between public lands and public waters, the work American Rivers is doing around river protection, and Wild Montana’s long history of protecting public lands across the state. Carmen also talks about Wild Montana’s group hikes, volunteer trail projects, and the Trail of the Week partnership with Trail 103.3.

The Expo is built to be both useful and fun. More than 40 partner organizations are expected to be part of the event, with hands-on activities, river safety information, wildlife and outdoor education, volunteer opportunities, and plenty of ways to learn what is happening outside your back door this summer.

There will also be live music from The Pack Strings, food from El Cazador, cold drinks from Big Sky Brewing, raffle prizes, and family-friendly activities throughout the evening.

Mike, Lisa, and Carmen also talk about the bigger picture: why Missoula’s trails, rivers, forests, and public lands matter, and why so many local groups are working together to keep these places accessible, healthy, and protected.

The 2026 Trails, Rivers & Forests Expo is free and open to the public today from 5–9 p.m. at Trail Head River Sports, 2505 S. Garfield Street in Missoula.

Bring your friends, bring your family, meet the people doing the work, and celebrate the wild places that make Montana special.

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Mike Smith:And breathe. I’m Mike Smith. Two guests in the Trail studio: Lisa and Carmen from American Rivers and Wild Montana. Welcome.

Lisa:Hello.

Carmen:Thanks.

Mike:All right, so you’re in to talk about an event that’s coming up. Our friends over at Trail Head River Sports — the boat shop — have the Expo happening. The Trails, Rivers & Forests Expo.

Lisa and Carmen, who wants to start with what you’re all about and what your organizations do?

Lisa:I can start. Sorry, Carmen.

So I’m Lisa with American Rivers, and we are a river protection group. I’ve been a paddler here in Montana a long time, so I actually care a lot about rivers. I think that’s one of the reasons we are one of the sponsors co-hosting with Wild Montana for the Trails, Rivers & Forests Expo this year.

Mike:Kind of got the river on the mind this morning, just due to the fact that the Clark Fork is heading toward flood stage. What, seven and a half feet or something?

Lisa:So true. We live in a world where sometimes we have too much water, sometimes we have not enough water. We want to find that sweet spot.

I think we’re going to have a sweet spot on Wednesday, though. It looks like it will be great weather, and we are getting a parting of the rain clouds just in time for this event. So if folks are wanting to get out, spend a little time in the sunlight, come spend it with us.

Mike:A lot of folks say, “We need the moisture,” and that certainly is true. But again, one more shoutout to be safe out there, especially if you’re in and around the Clark Fork River above Missoula and then over on Tower Street and whatnot.

Carmen, what’s your whole story? How did you arrive here at American Rivers?

Carmen:Well, I work for Wild Montana.

Mike:Wild Montana, correct.

Carmen:We’re the co-host for this Expo with American Rivers. This is our second annual Expo, and we’re super excited to be involved.

American Rivers highlights the water advocacy side of our work, and Wild Montana focuses more on protecting landscapes around the state. So the trails and the forest side are very important to us, along with the rivers.

Wild Montana is the oldest conservation nonprofit in the state. We’ve been around since 1958, and we work really hard to unify and galvanize communities across Montana for public lands.

Mike:And you do a really great job with what you do behind the scenes, and then also on the radio with the — we call it the Trail of the Week.

Carmen:Yeah, you call it the Trail of the Week.

Mike:And that is really outstanding. Even for somebody who’s been in Montana all their life, it’s remarkable how many cool hikes we have. It’s a good weekly reminder, and we appreciate our partnership with Wild Montana. It used to be Hike Wild Montana.

Carmen:Yeah, we still love to do Trail of the Week. We have tons of hikes coming up this summer and lots of volunteer trail projects.

I’m actually heading out Thursday, right after the Expo, to lead one in the Cabinets. But yeah, throughout the summer, keep an eye out for the many group hikes, as well as opportunities to get outdoors and volunteer with us, American Rivers, and the many other organizations featured at the Expo. That’s the whole point of this event.

Mike:Land and water tied together, and certainly tied together when we’re talking about public lands and public waterways. Who wants to talk about what’s currently happening in that realm?

Lisa:Absolutely. I think we can both speak to that.

This event is an example of how our public lands and waters truly are intimately tied together. It’s not just our organization. It’s many, many others — organizations that work for public lands and public waters and steward a lot of our public natural resources.

It takes all of us together to make this community the natural resource-based community that it really is.

I think it’s that cohesive, collaborative aspect that this event is really pulling out, which is why we have more than 40 partner organizations featured this year. So a lot of different folks are participating.

Mike:Everybody pulling together, walking together, rowing together. We are better as a group talking about the importance of our public lands and rivers and whatnot.

How do you measure success with your organization, Carmen? How do you measure success over the years? What have been some highlights?

Carmen:I think partnership is one of the biggest successes I can point to, both with American Rivers and with the many different collaboratives and coalitions that Wild Montana is a part of.

Like I said, we’ve been around since 1958. In that time, we’ve gone from being a very small organization focused just on getting wilderness — capital-W Wilderness — designated and signed into effect by Congress, to focusing much more broadly on public lands and making sure our public lands are accessible for all and are kept in the public trust and in public hands.

I think we’ve done that because of the ability and willingness to collaborate, not just in Missoula, although it’s an incredible community for that, both because of the hunger from the public and the willingness to partner.

Across the state, we’ve seen a ton of just keeping our public lands because of that desire. I think it’s one thing that, in such a divided time, a lot of Montana can kind of come together and say, “Yes, we need these public lands.”

We need them for all the recreation that we do, for keeping the waters clean and the forests healthy, and keeping them in public hands is really one thing that we can all agree on.

Mike:You see those stats out there, and it’s a high percentage of Montanans and people around the West that believe in that.

Lisa:Absolutely. I think public lands and waters — in our political times, there are a lot of things that divide us. Particularly here in Montana, public lands and waters are something that we are unified around, not just as a state, but as a community.

Mike:It seems like it’s so easy to give up these days, but I commend both of you and your organizations, and all the organizations that will be at the Expo, for doing good science and then working collaboratively and moving forward for everyone and working within the system.

I think it’s great, everything that’s going on.

Let’s talk about fun, because that’s what it’s about as well. We’re going to get educated. We’re going to meet some new folks and organizations. But we’re also talking about fun at the Expo. Who wants to run that down?

Lisa:Yeah, we have so many activities planned. Very excited that a bunch of our partners want to host interactive activities.

There will be packing demonstrations with the Back Country Horsemen of Missoula. There is going to be origami fish creation with the Clark Fork Coalition, navigating a maze with Griz Orienteering, river safety, backcountry wound care — just a lot of different things.

I think this is really family friendly. Obviously, it’s for adults too, and you can learn a lot about volunteer opportunities and environmental issues you may want to get engaged in. But there are also some really great interactive, skill-based activities that are not just relevant for adults, but for families as well.

Mike:That’s great. It’s the Trails, Rivers & Forests Expo, Wednesday, 5 to 9 p.m. at Trail Head River Sports.

We will put that up on the Trail’s social media as well.

Lisa from American Rivers and Carmen from Wild Montana, how about a parting thought from each of you? Start with you, Lisa.

Lisa:Great. I guess my parting thought is: to love rivers, you’ve got to get out on the rivers. You can’t love what you don’t know.

So let’s get out there. Let’s be safe. But let’s make sure that we maintain our connections with our natural spaces.

Mike:Perfect. Carmen, your final parting thought?

Carmen:There are an abundance of organizations, businesses, and agencies in this community who care really deeply about helping connect us to our wild spaces. This is a great opportunity to learn what they’re doing and how to get involved. So definitely come out.

Mike:All right. Thank you so much, Lisa and Carmen. Have a great event. We’ll see you there. And we also appreciate everything that you are doing. You’re certainly a couple of environmental and public heroes in our book. Thanks for coming in.

🌲 Trail Community Interviews are part of the Trail Listening Post podcast series and can be heard LIVE on 103.3 FM most weekdays at 10AM