MISSOULA — Christiane von Reichert, a University of Montana geography professor, spends her summers at high school reunions — and none of them her own.

As she mingles among strangers at the festivities, she asks reunion-goers about where they live. Some chose to remain in their hometowns. Others decided to move away permanently. Others moved back to the rural communities where they grew up.

Von Reichert's current research hones in on "return migration," a nationwide examination of those who return to rural communities with dwindling populations, especially those areas without comfortable climates and natural amenities such as mountains, oceans or lakes. She's interested in why people choose to move back to where they grew up, and she's logged thousands of miles in her car to visit these remote locations and query people about their geographical life choices after high school.

Research shows the departure of younger, better-educated people from remote communities is a persistent problem nationwide. The community loses not only its future parents and the vibrancy of a younger generation, but it also experiences a decline in leadership as many of the risk takers and innovators go elsewhere.

Von Reichert's research sets out to uncover what brings people back and how return migrants replenish their communities and improve the economic health of declining rural places.

The project builds on von Reichert's earlier research on return migration to Montana. The hypothesis promoted by one migration researcher — that people move back to where they come from because they somehow failed where they went — "didn't sit right with me," von Reichert said.

With the support of a $2,500 grant from UM's O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West, she did a study in Montana, which became the pilot study for her current project. She went to more than a dozen high school reunions, visiting communities such as Plains, Colstrip, Glasgow, Three Forks, Chinook, Polson, Fort Benton and Lewistown, as well as Hamilton, Missoula, Billings, Great Falls and Helena.

During the pilot study, attendees told her they returned to their hometowns because they want their children to know their grandparents, attend good schools and live in a small community with a familiar landscape.

Other people von Reichert spoke with said they felt they could make a bigger difference in their smaller towns and cities.

"These people made moves that were very deliberate," she said. "They weren't failures. My observations from that summer were that these return migrants could not only bring bodies back but energies, too."

Along with geography research assistant Ryan Arthun, they've become experts of sorts at high school reunions.

By interviewing people at their 10-, 20- and 30-year high school reunions, the researchers encounter people from the same community who've taken different life paths. The reunion-goers came to see former classmates and reconnect with their childhoods, but they also were willing to take five to 15 minutes to talk about their rationales for where they live.

"We're basically at their party and we're taking their time when they've come to interact with their classmates," said von Reichert. "It is quite remarkable how generous many were with their time."

The most pronounced reason for return migration to these communities has been family.

"The theme we heard consistently was the family ties, and that they know the community," von Reichert said. "A lot of people have given up economic opportunities for the benefit of their children and also their parents. The extent to which people are willing to give up opportunities for their kin is amazing."

She also discovered that some of the people who migrated back home after high school are key players in their communities.

The UM geographers found that momentum is another large factor in return migration. Once four or five families from the same class return, it makes it easier for others to follow because they don't feel isolated.

Next summer, the geographers will travel to more rural towns in Iowa, Texas, New Mexico and other locales. The final year of the research project will be devoted to condensing information based on the transcripts of those who agreed to be interviewed and to summarizing the findings.