With the knowledge that art can change the world, The Montana Project (www.montanaproject.org) took one wind-felled tree from the Yaak Valley’s ancient Black Ram forest – a 315-year-old spruce – and from that tree, Jeff Bridges and Breedlove Guitars (www.breedlovemusic.com) have crafted an exquisite guitar as part of their “All In This Together” campaign. This rare guitar has become the voice of the threatened Black Ram forest and will advocate for the protection of her forest, and all old and mature forests.

On September 28 in Missoula, Montana, TMP will host a transcendent weekend in celebration of the Breedlove Black Ram Guitar (www.blackramguitarfest.org) and in solidarity for creating the first Climate Refuge (www.yaakvalley.org) in northwest Montana’s Black Ram forest. On Saturday afternoon at the Longstaff House, acclaimed Missoula musician John Floridis will host a classic picking circle for guitarists from across the state as an introduction to Montana’s most ambitious guitar. That night at 7:30 pm, and in association with the Maclean Festival at the Wilma, The Montana Project Presents: An Evening with the Breedlove Black Ram Guitar. Come hear rock, folk, Americana legend James McMurtry; writers Rick Bass and Bill McKibben; violinist Pico Alt; singer songwriter Jeffrey Foucault; award-winning singer-songwriter Siri Sæteren; poet Beth Ann Fennelly; Native leaders, and representatives from Our Children’s Trust as we celebrate the Breedlove Black Ram Guitar and the forest that made her. Breedlove will be filming the event for a documentary on the campaign to save the Black Ram forest from a timber sale that would annihilate it, along with all of the life it supports.

Together, and with music, Missoula can defend this forest and help provide a Montana-made solution to slowing the rate of climate change at a global scale.