The protection of Montana’s wildest places owes much to the work of longtime advocates like Daphne Herling. For nearly 30 years, she used her skills in relational organizing, social work and building community to face legislative threats to Montana’s backcountry wilderness and to help strengthen the nonprofits she has volunteered with. To quote her Wild Montana constituents, “her understanding of development is deep, and her ability and desire to follow through on anything she suggests, recommends or even asks someone else to do, are notable.”

Most of Daphne’s work was through her 20-year involvement with Wild Montana, formerly the Montana Wilderness Association. She and her partner quickly fell in love with the backcountry of western Montana when they arrived in 1995, and her volunteer commitment to conservation soon blossomed. She served as Wild Montana’s state president from 2009 to 2011 and also as president of the Shining Mountains chapter, a Missoula-based chapter resurrected through her efforts from 2015 to 2018. Under her leadership and expertise, Wild Montana fought to designate more wilderness acreage and prevent legislation that would strip protection for existing wilderness study areas. All of this she did while working in the Development Department at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and then as Director of Montana Kids Count and a Senior Research Analyst with the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

Daphne’s work with Wild Montana is just part of her conservation legacy. She feels her greatest accomplishment has been working with others to build the long-term stability of the Great Burn Conservation Alliance (GBCA) –a Missoula-based nonprofit founded by Dale Harris and dedicated to protecting and stewarding the Great Burn proposed wilderness in Montana and Idaho. She currently sits as president of the GBCA board.

Daphne was also a founding member of Friends of Lolo Peak, a community group that, in 2004-2005, fought against the construction of a ski area on Lolo peak’s slopes and advocated for maintaining its wild, backcountry feel.

In all her work as a volunteer or a professional, Daphne believes that building and nurturing relationships is a major key to success. Partnerships have been a focus in all her conservation efforts; partnerships with such conservation-based nonprofits as the Backcountry Horsemen and the Idaho Conservation League.

Daphne’s passions go well beyond wilderness– prior to moving out West, she pursued a career riding horses before a riding crash in her mid-30’s altered her trajectory. She then earned her master’s degree in social work and, prior to moving to Montana, worked in organizations addressing hunger and poverty. She’s written articles for the Montana Business Quarterly focusing on issues such as youth homelessness and teen suicide by firearms in the state.

Daphne’s contributions and passion earned her Wild Montana’s Founders Award in 2013 and Missoula Conservation Roundtable’s Don Aldrich Award in 2019.

By Kalle Fox and Vicki Watson