Robert Yellowtail  1889-1988

A Native American political activist and leader of the Crow Tribe, Robert Summers Yellowtail was separated from his mother at the age of 4, and culturally assimilated into a reservation boarding school in Montana.  He went on to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School, and defended the Crow Indian Reservation against illegal encroachments by white ranchers and homesteaders.  He was instrumental in drafting the legislation that obtained voting rights for Native Americans in 1924.  

Chestnut-collared Longspur populations declined by an estimated 4.2% per year between 1966 and 2015, indicating a cumulative decline of 87%. If current rates of decline continue, Chestnut Collared Longspurs will lose another half of their population by the year 2037.