Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) co-founders Bob Munson and Charlie Decker returned to their roots in Troy last week, during a trip down memory lane to the old dental office, an abandoned grocery store and a trailer house – all locations that housed the foundation in those first years after it was first established on May 14, 1984.

In the last 30 years the pair have watched the RMEF foundation grow to 200,000-plus members while more than 6.4 million acres have been set aside for elk.

Though it is difficult to forget their humble beginnings.

Munson described himself and the founders as “ne’er-do-wells” who saw and opportunity: “No one was out there championing the elk so we just said ‘Well look, let’s just do it.’”

The group borrowed money from family and friends and came up with $24,000 – an amount that was gone in two months through a marketing campaign that pulled in 233 members around the country.

Because they wanted to stick to their promise to deliver a magazine before the autumn hunting season began, they borrowed another $25,000 from a friend who was looking to invest in a project. With this new surge in funds they put together the first Bugle magazine. It was 52 pages and the new foundation had 32,000 printed.

“We knew that if we didn’t get it out for the fall hunting season we were pretty much dead in the water,” Bob said.

Hiring a U-Haul truck, the group went a road trip to Missoula, dropping off magazines along the way. In Thompson Falls, they unloaded 80 copies at Town Pump and told the manager to call them if any of the magazines sold.

The next day Munson said he was called and told the Town Pump had sold all 80 copies in a 24-hour period.

The next stop for the foundation was to fly to Denver to try and extend the circulation of the Bugle. They left triumphant after a Denver publication bought 3,000 copies of the magazine to be distributed nationally.

That was the turning point, Munson said.

From that point on, the foundation has worked to preserve elk habitat through preservation of existing elk habitats or the purchase of new land.

“Elk are such grand, majestic  animals and they need room to roam,” Munson said. So far there have been more than 9,000 projects the RMEF have negotiated to expand the landscape for elk, scientific studies within those areas, or the reintroduction of elk in U.S. states where elk populations have disappeared or declined.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson stated that whether reestablishing elk herds in historic ranges, improving habitat or permanently protecting the land that elk need to survive and thrive, the “Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation played a vital role in elk conservation.”