BOZEMAN, MT — PRESERVED, a documentary chronicling nearly 30 years of conservation work at Ted Turner’s 558,000-acre Vermejo Park Ranch in northern New Mexico, will make its Bozeman premiere Friday, August 28 at 7:00 PM at The Ellen Theatre in downtown Bozeman.
The evening will feature a live panel discussion following the film with local author Todd Wilkinson moderating a conversation among PRESERVED director Ben Clark, Mike Phillips of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, and Sophie Gilbert, a wildlife ecologist and PERC senior researcher featured in the film.
General admission tickets are $25. A limited VIP experience ($40/ticket) includes a pre-screening reception with food and drinks at Stockman’s Bar and the opportunity to meet the panelists and other key contributors.
PRESERVED documents how Turner’s Vermejo Ranch became one of the most consequential conservation experiments in the American West, driving North America’s largest native trout restoration and the return of beaver, elk, and bison to a landscape once scarred by mining. The Bozeman screening is presented by PERC (the Property and Environment Research Center), with proceeds supporting the organization’s working lands conservation programs.
“PRESERVED showcases proof that with time, patience, and the right people on the ground, you can protect and restore wild places,” said the film’s director Ben Clark. “We’re thrilled to share this film with the Bozeman community, given how much of this same conservation ethic can be found here.”
“Montana was home to Ted Turner for decades, and few people have shaped the modern conservation movement here and across the West the way he did,” said Brian Yablonski, CEO of PERC. “With his passing earlier this year, it feels especially important to spotlight what he built at places like Vermejo and his ranches here in Montana. Ted essentially invented the concept of conservation ranching, and PRESERVED captures that legacy in a way that will resonate with anyone who cares about these landscapes.”
Tickets are on sale now through The Ellen Theatre.
About PERC
The Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) is the national leader in market solutions for conservation, with over 40 years of research and a network of respected scholars and practitioners. Through research, law and policy, and innovative applied conservation programs, PERC explores how aligning incentives for environmental stewardship produces sustainable outcomes for land, water, and wildlife. Founded in 1980, PERC is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and proudly based in Bozeman, Montana.
