Sharing a genuine love for the land.
by Madelynn Pandis
Thanks to her dad, Dan Fiehrer, Melinda Leas has experienced incredible moments elk hunting since her first rite-of-passage hunt at the age of 12. She recalls a time as a teenager when her father bugled in a five-point bull elk.
“It walked 360 degrees around us at 10 yards bugling. You could feel the resonation in your chest. Then the elk caught our wind and moseyed off,” says Melinda. “We both were like ‘oh my gosh that was incredible,’ and we were hugging, laughing and crying because it was just so incredible to experience the wild like that. That’s why my dad supports RMEF.”
In 1966, Dan was drafted into the military and joined the U.S. Public Health Service. He and his wife, Mary Ann, moved from their home in Ohio, to Browning, Montana, for two years. After going back to Ohio to complete orthodontics school, Dan knew he wanted to return to Montana. Mary Ann agreed, and in 1972 they rented the largest UHAUL van and trailer available, packed up their lives, and with their two young daughters made the move.
“We didn’t know one single person when we decided on Helena, Montana. I wanted to live in the West and where we thought there would be good hunting,” says Dan.
Dan first began hunting in elementary school in Ohio with his dad but never hunted big game until he landed in Browning and Blackfeet friends took him to the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Once he started elk hunting, he was hooked. In fact, Dan fell so in love with elk hunting that he still helps his neighbors pack out elk at 86 years old. His love for elk and elk country drove him to become an RMEF Life Member in 1998, in addition to a laundry list of other contributions to RMEF.
“He’s super proud to be a Life Member. He wears his hat all the time,” says Melinda.
Melinda bought a property in the Falls Creek drainage by Augusta, Montana, and when she found out that RMEF was working to buy a neighboring property, she made a contribution. Then Melinda and her husband invited her parents to take a tour of the Falls Creek project. This is where Dan met RMEF Western Development Director Brian Anderson. When Anderson met the Fiehrer family, he was exceedingly impressed.
“They are just very good people that are active in the community and try to do the right thing,” says Anderson. “They are good, long-term supporters who believe wholeheartedly in RMEF and have included us in their estate plan.”
With RMEF’s help, Dan and Mary Ann placed a voluntary conservation agreement (VCA)on one of their properties near Avon, Montana, to protect their land from future development. In addition to their conservation agreement and generous donations, Dan and Mary Ann have set up an endowment fund naming RMEF as a beneficiary in their estate plans, making them members of RMEF’s Trails Society.
The Trails Society recognizes those who have included RMEF as a beneficiary in their estate plans through a will, life insurance policy, retirement account and more. As Trails Society members, Dan and Mary Ann receive exclusive conservation information, invitations to special events and a commemorative gift.
The couple hasn’t always been in a position where giving was easy. While attending college, Dan was awarded an academic scholarship but still had to work to afford basics. He held several jobs including serving food in a cafeteria and later in a sorority house.
“Mary Ann and I have been very blessed, and we believe in sharing our blessings. I became an orthodontist, which is a blessing, and made pretty good money and saved and invested it. And now we’re giving it away,” says Dan.
Dan and Mary Ann also contribute to the C.M. Russell Museum and Intermountain Children’s Home.
They developed a family tradition of giving, not only to be the good they wish to see in the world, but to set an example for their family and to protect landscapes for future generations.
Dan, Mary Ann and their daughter have started seeing a change in Montana over the years. Subdivisions are popping up where there used to be ranches and land for hunting. Melinda says that after seeing this change over time, Dan asked himself, “what can we do about this?”
This is when Dan started looking into VCAs for their properties.
“He’s just really felt a strong responsibility to keep the land free and wild,” says Melinda. In addition to the couple’s voluntary conservation agreement through RMEF, they also have a VCA in partnership with the Montana Land Reliance on a second property near the Missouri River. Mary Ann is proud of what she and Dan have achieved through their conservation philanthropy.
“I don’t think you can leave a better legacy,” Mary Ann says. “We were so in love with the land and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation was there to help us conserve it.”