Charlo owl efforts shared

CHARLO — Every day holds a new face, a new place and a new idea for the taking. This Saturday, while families were getting ready for a visit from Peter Cottontail by decorating Easter eggs and cooking ham, biologists at the Owl Research Institute in Charlo were hard at work in the warm Easter weekend sunlight.

As part of a 20-year Snowy Owl study, now in its eighteenth year, biologist Denver Holt and his assistants were breaking down pellets for the long-term breeding ecology study.

“A number of questions are addressed through this research,” Holt said.

As lemmings are the main diet of the snowy owls in the tundra of Alaska, getting numbers on their population helps answer additional questions as they relate to the owl population there and also on climate change.

“It’s a good way to pay attention to the arctic,” the institute’s communication outreach director Carolin Deppe said.

This is one of the few long-term breeding studies conducted in the world, Holt said. The institute’s research looks at nest measurements, and site characteristics of the owl’s breeding ground there, while taking into account numerous variables and data.

The Owl Research Institute may be well known to several individuals in the valley, as president Holt has a strong sense of civic responsibility.

“I make science accessible to the public,” he said. This year marks the institute’s twentieth year of existence.

Holt has donated various “days in the field” to fundraisers across the valley, and frequently gives presentations about the species he is so fascinated with.

Deppe said there’s something about Holt that draws people into what he is saying. She said that his personality, combined with the mystery of owls, intrigues people of all ages.

“There’s something about owls that galvanizes action,” Deppe said, in a room lined with publications about owls — many of which Holt and the institute are the focus and authors.

“Something about the way Denver teaches gets people excited,” she said.

To give justice to the work the institute has contributed to the scientific community would be an exhaustive endeavor. The institute’s findings have been featured in over 85 publications. Holt  has contributed to and written in several scientific journals, such as The Northwestern Naturalist. He co-wrote the “Identification of Montana’s Owls” for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in which some 15 owl species are identified within Montana.

Holt conducts year-round informal internships in which he opens his home to curious learners. Plainly speaking, he is the owl man and is about as passionate about his job as anyone can be.

“He’s constantly hosting, helping and fostering science,” Deppe said. 

Holt and his crews have been studying more than 11 owl species, non-stop, on a rigorous scientific level; the institute has conducted 10 studies in Montana in its 20 years of existence.

“I’m a field researcher year-round,” Holt said. “I’m in the field studying something that interests me.”

As the summer months approach, Holt will increase his educational efforts. He recently launched a children’s book line.

Much of the institute’s research is used in other areas of science, for instance conservation. The long-eared owl research he has conducted is used by the state in conservation efforts, he said.