Well-known CSKT wildlife official Courville dies
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes wildlife official Stacy Courville, shown here working on a trap and transfer project with bighorn sheep, died recently. Those who knew and worked with him are mourning his passing. (CSKT courtesy photo)
Tribal and other wildlife officials in northwest Montana are mourning the recent death of a veteran wildlife biologist and colleague.
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal member Stacy Courville, 53, died at his home in Charlo last week, according to a death notice in the Missoulian. Courville grew up on the Flathead Indian Reservation and was an enrolled member of the CSKT.
The Tribes announced his death on the CSKT Facebook page.
Dozens of comments poured in about Courville from friends and co-workers.
“Stacy will be remembered and greatly missed,” wrote Kim Annis, a grizzly bear specialist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “He was a respected biologist, a great friend, and cared deeply about people and bears. Rest easy Stacy, we’ve got your back.”
“I’m going to miss Stacy,” wrote retired Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Bruce Sterling. “I’m going to miss visiting with him and sharing stories. He was a good biologist and friend. RIP Stacy.”
Lloyd Phillips, a fifth-grade teacher at St. Ignatius Elementary School, wrote “RIP My Friend.
Betting you wrestled Grizzly Bears this morning and played 18 holes this afternoon.”
Courville graduated with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Montana in wildlife biology, then went to work for the U.S. Forest Service on the Beaverhead National Forest. Courville also spent time fighting fires before and during his early career.
In 1995 Courville was able to come home and worked as a wildlife biologist with the CSKT Wildlife Management Program on the Flathead Reservation.
He initially worked on big game management issues and advocated on behalf of wildlife and habitat in inter-departmental forest management planning projects. Courville conducted aerial surveys of big game species on the reservation and developed hunting regulations and hunting permit quotas.
Courville also conducted analyses of a wide variety of forest management projects, including development of biological assessments and mitigation recommendations to minimize project impacts upon threatened and endangered species, including grizzly bears, northern gray wolves and Canada lynx.
As the program grew, he took on new and additional tasks. Courville worked on some of the initial efforts to use automated cameras to survey forest carnivores, such as mountain lions, bobcats and Canada lynx. He also began to work more extensively with grizzly bear and gray wolf management issues, including radio telemetry, wildlife-human conflict management and survey and study designs.
Courville was also an active representative for the tribes in several working committees including the Northern Gray Wolf Working Group, the Forest Carnivore Working Group, the Northern Continental Divide Grizzly Bear Managers’ Subcommittee and the Science Group of that entity, as well as a member of the Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society.
Courville was well known and respected by many members of the local community with whom he worked well due to his nearly lifelong residence on the Flathead Indian Reservation. His years of experience working with carnivores and other wildlife provided him with outstanding knowledge to draw on when it came to educating the public and developing solutions for wildlife/human conflicts. His willingness to listen thoughtfully to the concerns of people and then work directly and closely with them to resolve the conflicts brought praise from many.