You are cordially invited to join the new organization “Friends of the Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum”. The Museum is a unit of the Division of Biological Sciences at The University of Montana and is a valuable and irreplaceable resource for education and research. The Friends is being organized to act as a support and advocacy group for the Museum.

The P.L. Wright Museum is by far the largest zoological collection in the state of Montana. It is also a significant collection representing the Northern Rockies, and is the largest such collection between Minneapolis and Washington State. The Museum is fully accredited by the American Society of Mammalogists.

The Museum houses over 25,000 specimens of vertebrates including:

*14,500 Mammals (24 of 26 Orders)
*  7,000 Birds  (over 100 Families)
*  3,200 Fish
*  320 Reptiles and Amphibians

The Museum serves a large and diverse audience: from students in University courses to school and community groups on behind-the-scenes tours; from U.M. researchers and graduate students to researchers across North America through our specimen loan and data exchange programs; from student interns studying museology and zooarchaeology to law enforcement agencies; and from state and federal agencies to wildlife artists.

Funds generated by the Friends of the Museum will be used, with the guidance of the Board, to enhance the museum’s collections, facilities, and programs.

Projects could include:
*upgrading the museum storage cabinets.
*creation of more public exhibits.
*support the preparation of new specimens.
*seeking out future museum storage space.
*creation of a museum endowment.
*expanding the tour and education program.