Since the historic Held v. State of Montana trial began on June 12, 2023, in the Lewis and Clark County District Court in Helena, MT, Judge Kathy Seeley presiding, we recorded and archived the audio to preserve the record to inform and allow listeners to hear for themselves what transpired.

In this edition we share the unedited recording of the testimony of Dr. Jack Stanford, Professor Emeritus at the Flathead Lake Biological Station of The University of Montana, where he began working in 1971 and served as Director from 1980 until he retired in 2015. Professor Stanford has served on many national and international science review panels and editorial boards concerning issues such as climate warming, endangered species and water quantity and quality. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science in 2000.

He testified to the impacts of climate change on Montana’s freshwater ecosystems; the interconnectivity of climate, hydrology, geomorphology and ecology of river landscapes, and how climate change disrupts biophysical connectivity, causing degradation and depletion of Montana’s freshwater ecosystems. He reported that surface temperatures are already too high in Flathead Lake for bull and cutthroat trout.

He further asserted that anthropogenic climate change is unambiguously occurring and impacting Montana; that variation in river networks is now routinely exceeding the variation that has existed for the past 500 years; and that rivers and fisheries that the youth Plaintiffs depend on for their health, safety and well-being are already experiencing significant degradation as a result of warming temperatures.

For the first time in the United States, youth plaintiffs were able to present their case in a court of law, that their inalienable constitutional rights under Article II Section 3 of the Montana State Constitution “to a clean and healthful environment and the rights of pursuing life’s basic necessities, enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and seeking their safety, health and happiness in all lawful ways.” ….. were being denied and violated by the policies and actions of their government. Further, that The State was in violation of their responsibilities as required under Article IX, Environment and Natural Resources, Section 1. Protection and Improvement that “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations. Section 2. The legislature shall provide for the administration and enforcement of this duty. and Section 3. The legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.”