Montana Untamed: Recent Episodes
Montana Untamed
Montana Untamed, hosted by Thom Bridge, covers the state's rugged landscape from hook and bullet to policy and science.
Snow-dusted peaks towered in the background, cows lowed in the expansive rangeland and cowboys on horseback moved heifers and steers off trailers.
There wasn’t a film camera in sight, but it sure looked, sounded and felt like a scene straight out of the hit television show "Yellowstone.”
And Wes Seward certainly looked the part donning his black cowboy hat and worn-in cowboy boots, with a gun holstered on his hip.
But Seward isn’t an actor pretending he’s an agent of the show’s fictional Montana Livestock Association. He is a district livestock investigator for the very real Montana Department of Livestock, a state agency with a history that reaches back to before the state’s formation and a mandate to ensure law and order within the state’s expansive ranching industry.
"Yellowstone" hasn’t just borrowed from Seward’s reality, though.
It has changed it, bringing in more people, more animals, more money and more pressure on livestock producers who already face long days and long odds to make a living and to keep Montana’s ranching tradition alive.
With me today is Ted McDermott a reporter with Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism who recently reported on the world of livestock police and the effects of the TV show on life in Montana.
It’s the limestone cathedral of the Smith, the caddis hatch on the Madison, the rushing emerald water of the Flathead that draw more and more people to the arterial waterways of Montana’s wild country. That’s just to name a few.
Anyone who’s spent time on a river in Montana in the past decade probably saw a variety of people using the waterways.
Especially since the pandemic, use of the state’s streams has escalated as more people have sought ways to recreate outdoors.
The Montana River Recreation Advisory Council was recently created by Fish, Wildlife & Parks to look into river recreation and all of the issues that come with it. These may include garbage, crowding and sometimes fistfights as tempers escalate.
The council recently met over three days to come up with some suggestions for FWP. Here to talk about the group is Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette.
The series starts with five billboards outside Livingston, Montana and from there it winds through the half-century saga of the Endangered Species Act.
The Wide Open, podcast and radio series from Montana Public Radio and the Montana Media Lab tells the story of our changing relationship with the landmark environmental legislation and how it reveals as much about living with each other as it does about living with endangered species.
With me on this episode is Nick Mott, an audio journalist who created and produced the show.
Two years after the public learned of a controversial plan to drastically expand Holland Lake Lodge in western Montana’s Swan Valley, a new suitor is trying to purchase the historic lakeside lodge in far northern Missoula County.
A wealthy businessman originally from Great Falls and a partner teamed up to make the purchase. But after overwhelming public opposition to the previous prospective buyers over the past two years, the public is largely skeptical of the new potential future owners.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, who has covered this issue from the beginning alongside Dave Erickson the business and real estate reporter.
We discussed the backstory of Holland Lake Lodge and the previous proposal on a past Untamed episode.
The 16th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem held at Big Sky recently covered a wealth of topics about the region, which includes southwestern Montana.
Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, attended one day of the three-day event.
From that, he’s written stories regarding the pressures facing the region that national park and forest officials are seeing, as well as talks about grizzly bear management.
For at least a decade, a pair of great gray owls have made their nest each spring in the top of a broken cottonwood tree trunk on the Blackfoot-Clearwater Game Range northeast of Missoula. They fledge chicks almost every year, and they’ve become increasingly popular with wildlife photographers — including professionals — who appreciate the nest’s easy access and visibility from the ground.
So it made sense that some photographers were upset this spring when they learned that the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks planned to remove the nest.
Why would FWP do that?
Mainly because of the photographers themselves. And because the nest wasn’t actually natural.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian. He visited the nest with an FWP biologist and met with photographers.
Next year, for the first time in more than 100 years, farmers and ranchers across Montana’s Hi-Line region will face a summer without irrigation water.
Normally, water from the St. Mary River is diverted into the Milk River, which runs through north-central Montana towns like Havre and Malta.
But the infrastructure that moved the water failed in June, and it won’t be repaired until the 2025 irrigating season is over. Agricultural producers say they face devastation.
By mid-August this year, the Milk River above Havre had run completely dry. That could be the norm for all of next summer.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, reporter for the Missoulian, who visited the St. Mary Canal to inspect damage, and who traveled the entire length of the Milk River affected by the loss of water.
Pronghorns, also called antelope, are one of the coolest animals in Montana.
They have lived in North America since the last ice age when woolly mammoths and cheetahs roamed the region. Those animals are gone, but the pronghorns remain.
For four years Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks scientists, aided by graduate students, conducted a study of eight pronghorn populations across the state.
Here to tell us more about what the study revealed is Billings Gazette outdoor editor Brett French.
On July 18, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reported a member of its staff had killed a male grizzly bear that had been raiding homes, businesses and garbage cans in the Gardiner area for weeks.
Repeated attempts to trap the 15-year-old bear were unsuccessful. The bear was shot while in the Yellowstone River, about 4 miles north of Gardiner and the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
One of the raids the bear made was at Chester Evitt’s house. Here to tell us more about that encounter and the situation in Gardiner is Brett French, outdoor editor for the Billings Gazette.
On July 10, the Montana Supreme Court heard why state leaders think a climate change legal victory by a group of young people should be overturned.
Held vs. Montana found that the legislature violated the state constitution when it blocked environmental agencies from analyzing greenhouse gas emissions in fossil fuel projects.
In their appeal, state attorneys argued the case should be thrown out because the youths weren’t pointing to any specific project that was hurting them. The state also claimed Montana didn’t produce enough greenhouse gas to have an impact on global warming, so a court victory wouldn’t fix anything the youths were asking for.
The youths drew on a long list of scientists to show how state policies encouraged fossil fuel development, which was ruining the climate they depend for health, business and recreation. A district court judge ruled that violated their right to a “clean and healthful environment” as specifically listed in the Constitution. That meant the state greenhouse gas limitation was unconstitutional.
But this case is about a lot more than legality of one environmental law. Let’s check out what the rest of this iceberg of a lawsuit looks like.
Just as Montana, Idaho and Wyoming politicians prepared to sign a three-state agreement on grizzly bear management, grizzly protection advocates sent a warning they plan to sue over a crucial part of the states’ plan.
They don’t like the idea of trucking grizzlies from one recovery area to another as a solution to the bears’ genetic diversity.
Grizzly bears remain a threatened species under federal Endangered Species Act protection. State wildlife officials say the bears are recovered and should be turned over to local state management.
Grizzly defenders counter that will open the door for trophy hunting and unsustainable predator shooting. It would also put grizzlies in conflict with a different kind of advocate – black bear hunters.
On this episode, Rob Chaney, Lee Montana's statewide enterprise editor and author of 'Grizzly in the Driveway' makes sense of recent grizzly bear related headlines.
The fifth night was the coldest, and Thomas Gray worried he might freeze to death if he stopped moving.
The 73-year-old boater from North Fork, Idaho, was huddled inside a pitch-black trailer just outside the remote Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness on May 21. He was near an empty campground and silent airstrip; the only road there was snowed in and the highway was miles away and over a mountain pass.
Gray’s story is harrowing and improbable, not only because of his own feat of backcountry survival, but because his brother died two years earlier, almost to the day, in almost the same place, when they attempted the same float that year.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian. He extensively interviewed Thomas Gray, his wife Lori, the people who found him and the people involved in searching for his brother two years ago.
Scot Bealer loves to tell stories. And it turns out his love of fishing works well for this. Because a life spent fishing results in many adventures and misadventure that become fodder for good stories.
That’s all wrapped up in his new book “Most Trout Don’t Read” published earlier this year by Farcountry Press in Helena.
Bealer has always been drawn to teaching the ways of fishing. A bulk of that knowledge came from the L.L. Bean Fly Fishing Schools and casting into trout waters across the west.
When he’s not on the water fishing, Scot works as an instructor for the Hooked on Fishing Program through Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
He’s here with me to share the lessons he has learned from his time pursuing trout on the fly.
Since Intake Diversion Dam was completed on the Yellowstone River in 1905, pallid sturgeon have faced a blockade during their annual upstream spring spawning runs.
The dam is located between Glendive and Sidney and became a popular place for paddlefish snagging since the fish stacked up below the dam in spring.
In the spring of 2022, after three years of construction, a 2-mile long bypass channel was opened. This short waterway allows pallid sturgeon, paddlefish and other native species to swim around a dam that has long blocked their passage. The bypass channel was a $44 million investment to see if pallid sturgeon, which were listed as an endangered species in the river in 1990, will now have enough room to migrate upstream and successfully spawn.
To learn more about pallid sturgeon and efforts to save the fish, Brett French, outdoor editor of the Billings Gazette, is here to talk with me today.
It’s one of the most obvious and dramatic signs of wildland firefighting, a bright red slurry raining down from the bellies of large planes that roar through the mountains like fighter jets. Fire retardant.
For years, the U.S. Forest Service used the same ammonium phosphate retardant on wildfires large and small across the country. Last year it authorized a new formula, pioneered by a company that was partially based in Montana, that was supposed to be more environmentally friendly. But while the new retardant may be kinder to waterways it sometimes gets dropped into, it seems to be dangerous to the planes that carry it.
The result is grounded planes, a federal investigation, and questions around how the Forest Service determines what’s safe to use on fires.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, who regularly covers wildfires and the Forest Service.
At least seven grizzly bears died in Montana in 2023 after being shot by hunters. Another grizzly was wounded by a bird hunter’s shotgun but not found.
All were judged to be self-defense.
Official accounts from the investigating agencies mention close encounters, but the phrase “close range” is never defined.
The investigative criteria used in fatal grizzly encounter is elusive to the public.
So Duncan Adams asked FWP, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Justice what criteria are used to determine whether a grizzly shooting occurs in self-defense.
He’s with me today to discuss his findings.
When it comes to accessing public lands, the Bullwhacker Road dispute south of Havre has been one of the longest simmering and most contorted in Eastern Montana.
For 18 years the public, agencies and landowners have jousted over motorized access into a section of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument via the road.
It provides vehicle access to between 35,500 and 50,000 acres of public land, depending on how it’s counted. The rugged coulees peppered with pine trees is located north of the Missouri River, west of Cow Creek and south of the Bears Paw Mountains.
Driving the Bullwhacker Road to reach the land, overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, requires traveling across almost 4 miles of private property. That’s where the dispute started.
On this episode, Brett French, outdoors and natural resources reporter for the Billings Gazette newspaper, untangles the back and forth of public access into the Bullwhacker area.
Montanans of all stripes seem to agree on at least two things: They care deeply about conservation and public lands, and life here is getting worse.
Those were some of the key findings from a recent statewide poll conducted by the University of Montana. The results were released last Tuesday morning.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian. He reported on the poll results and has covered results of similar polls across the West.
After more than 40 years and 1,200 holes, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has dug its last pit latrine on the Smith River.
Starting this year, floaters are now required to carry with them something they have always been able to leave behind - their excrement.
According to FWP, the Smith River corridor was the only permitted river in the lower 48 that did not require people to pack out human waste.
In early April, I joined personnel from the U.S Forest Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and volunteers from the Montana Vet Program on a five-day trip down the river to remove and raft out the latrines, officially ushering in the new era of recreational management on the river.
On this episode I sit down with Colin Maas, manager of Smith River State Park, to talk about the past present and future of managing the river.
The Smith River is a crown jewel of Montana’s natural splendor, but a proposed copper mine at its headwaters in central Montana has many people worried about negative impacts to the river’s pristine waters.
After years of litigation, the state Supreme Court approved a mine permit for the operation in February.
But, environmental groups also took the state to court over the mine company’s water permit — a key regulatory hurdle for mine construction and operation to commence.
On March 29, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Missoula over the mine as part of the court’s annual visit to the law school at University of Montana.
There’s no decision yet but a decision either way will set precedent in Montana and could have wide-ranging effects.
Billings Gazette Reporter Brett French has covered the mine extensively for years. But with me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, who reported in person on the oral arguments before the Supreme Court.
Missoula County is reeling from the announcements recently of two huge wood products industry businesses closing and laying off all employees.
Pyramid Mountain Lumber, the largest employer in Seeley Lake for 75 years, announced on March 14 it is permanently shutting down this spring. Less than a week later, Roseburg Forest Product’s Missoula particleboard plant announced it is permanently closing in May.
Combined, the two companies are eliminating 250 jobs. They are the last two remaining large wood products businesses in the county, and the closures mark the end of a 150-year-era of wood products as an economic driver in the county.
With me today is David Erickson, a reporter at the Missoulian newspaper who’s been covering the news.
When the big game season ends in November, there is a guaranteed influx of goose hunters along the Yellowstone River east of Billings.
Since 1958, a portion of the river has been closed to waterfowl hunting. From the junction of the Yellowstone and Bighorn rivers, downstream to the Rosebud-Custer county line, the river has been off-limits to waterfowl hunting.
The closure was initiated when goose and duck numbers were low in the region. A survey in 1961 found only 500-some geese. By 2013 the same section held almost 40,000 geese. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has proposed reopening the river section to hunting.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission will consider the idea at its April 17 meeting.
Brett French, Billings Gazette outdoor editor, recently wrote about the issue and is here to discuss what he found out.
Moose hunting in southeastern Montana?
That may sound like the punch line for a off-beat joke, but Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is offering its first moose hunting permit for Region 7 this spring. The lone tag is being offered as the population of the largest member of the deer family has steadily grown in the region.
This seems at odds with what’s happening with the long-legged creatures in what is considered their native habitat, where populations have declined.
To learn more about the story, Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, is here to talk about the story he recently wrote.
The mission of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers is to “ensure North America's outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands, waters, and wildlife.”
The national hook and bullet conservation organization has state based chapters in all but two states nationwide.
In Montana, the group advocates for protecting large parcels of backcountry fish and wildlife habitat, as well as the opportunity for traditional non-motorized hunting and fishing experiences.
With me today is Kevin Farron, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers regional policy manager for Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota to discuss how the organization work to shape policy.
Last week the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission debated what’s become a hot-button issue – restrictions on nonresident upland game bird hunters.
The debate arose after Fish, Wildlife & Parks Director Dustin Temple asked Commissioner Lesley Robinson to carry two amendments to the group. One would push back the nonresident bird dog training season by two weeks, the other would delay the nonresident bird hunting season by two weeks.
Here to discuss what led up to the discussion and the resolution is Brett French, Billings Gazette outdoor editor.
The Great Burn is referred to as “one of the last best places” by wilderness and wildlife advocates, snowmobilers and mountain bikers. All of them revere the quarter million-acre jumble of peaks along the Montana-Idaho border.
But wilderness and wildlife advocates — who have long pushed for bikes and snowmobiles to be banned from the area — now worry that new U.S. Forest Service plans could chip away at what they believe is the would-be crown jewel connecting the largest chain of wilderness in the Lower 48.
The issue is a tangled bureaucratic web ensnaring two national forests, two states, one Forest Service regional office, a variety of user groups and a history of conflicting management on one shared landscape full of animals who can’t see boundary lines on maps.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, the outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, to help explain the issue.
It’s been twenty years since Mac Minard took the reins of the Montana Outfitters and Guides association. And today he hangs up that hat as he officially retires from the organization.
Before his tenure at MOGA, which it is commonly referred to, Minard spent over twenty years as a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
MOGA represents over 250 of Montana’s professionally licensed outfitter and guides who operate throughout the entire state of Montana. The industry accounted for over $500 mil. In non-resident spending in 2021 alone according to data from Montana’s office of tourism.
A lifelong outdoorsman, Minard is here to talk about his career and provide his wisdom on the past, present and future of hunting and outfitting in Montana.
In the bird world eagles are majestic, swans are elegant and ravens are … amazing.
At least, that might be your conclusion after talking to scientist John Marzluff, who has studied the king of corvids in Yellowstone National Park for decades.
His recent research where Yellowstone National Park ravens were fitted with tiny GPS backpacks is revealing astonishing facts about the birds.
With me today is Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, who recently talked to Marzluff who’s now retired about his studies in the park.
It’s hard to imagine a better classroom on conservation than in the shadow of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front.
The Boone and Crockett Conservation Education Program does just that from its headquarters on the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch along Dupuyer Creek.
In the classroom students learn about ecosystems, wildlife conservation and land ethics.
In the field students try their hand at shooting sports, fishing, backpacking, packrafting and other hands-on outdoor skills.
With me today is Luke Coccoli, Director of Conservation Programs for the Boone and Crockett Club.
AI has come for the animals.
When the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks unveiled its 43rd annual photo issue of Montana Outdoors on Jan. 1, the magazine carried an explanation on page 1: Magazine staff, editor Tom Dickson wrote the magazine had gone to great lengths to verify that photos submitted for the issue were, in fact, photos.
Dickson's concern was that images produced by generative artificial intelligence — AI programs that create new material in response to a prompt — now often appear as realistic as actual photographs and could be submitted to the magazine for publication.
On today's episode, Joshua Murdock, natural resources reporter for the Missoulian newspaper, discusses his reporting on AI-generated wildlife imagery.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
According to Dr. Matt Rinella, The grass-roots traditions that have defined hunting in America are being displaced by a hyper-commercialized pay-to-play model.
In response, he has created an organization called Hunt Quietly, and what he calls a movement to combat this tainting of the principles of hunting.
Through his writing and podcast he has stirred controversy and prompted plenty of debate in the hunting community.
Rinella, a research ecologist by day and lifelong hunter joins me on today's episode to explain his stance.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As the year comes to a close I thought it would be a good time to gather our team of outdoors writers and put a bow on it.
I asked the reporters to send me some of their most important stories from 2023 so we could re-hash them for folks as the last episode of the year.
So with me today is Rob Chaney and Joshua Murdock, from the Missoulian, Brett French from the Billings Gazette, and Duncan Adams from the Montana Standard. All familiar voices if you’ve listened to the show in the past.
Some of these stories will also be familiar to habitual listeners. Topics we’ll discuss today will be E-Bikes in National Parks, Snowbowl ski area, tribal Bison hunting outside Yellowstone, and Anaconda’s urban mule deer.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As the federally-protected grizzly bear continues to make its life outside of the wilderness enclaves of its recovery zones it is met with human civilization and the problems that arise as a result.
The folks whose lives and livelihood are on the line in these situations are the farmers and ranchers who work the land where civilization and wilderness meet.
In 2017, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks created the prairie grizzly bear team in response to the expanding grizzly bear population of the NCDE making its way from the mountains to the prairie.
What follows is a conversation I had earlier this year with Wesley Sarmento, the head of that prairie bear team.
This episode was recorded as we bumped along dirt roads outside Conrad, Montana. Sound quality may vary.
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The Endangered Species Act turns 50 this December. Often called “the pit-bull of environmental statutes,” the ESA has given federal protection to more than 2,000 animals and plants.
It has also drawn critics who claim it takes away property rights and hurts economic development.
After half a century of recovery efforts, only a few hundred species have got delisted. On the other hand, the whole world faces a biodiversity crisis, with more than 44,000 species threatened with extinction. And the ESA has been the international model law for how to save what the world has left.
Some of the ESA’s biggest struggles have happened in Montana, including fights over gray wolves, grizzly bears, bull trout and sage grouse. As the law reaches its 50-year anniversary, a group of reporters scanned the state to see how it’s working and what its future holds.
With me today is Rob Chaney, leader of the project, to give us a primer on 50 years of the law and what readers can expect from the reporting,
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Last April, Scott Snelson was quietly transferred from his post at the Spotted Bear District to a desk job at the Flathead National Forest headquarters at the behest of then Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele. Snelson finished his career as a staff officer of recreation, engineering, heritage and land. He retired a few weeks ago.
Snelson had a long career with the Forest Service before being named district ranger in 2017,
He expected to spend his final years of his career managing one of the most coveted ranger districts in the U.S. The Spotted Bear is more than 1 million acres, with 850,000 of those acres part of the 1.6 million-acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
But instead of being a dream job, it became increasingly difficult under Steele’s leadership, Snelson told the Hungry Horse News in an interview last week.
That’s an excerpt from a piece written by Chris Peterson, editor of the Hungry Horse News, and he’s with me today to discuss his reporting.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Thirty-one years ago, 1,321 mule deer were shot by hunters in Hunting District 502 — a record high.
In 2021, the total mule deer harvest in HD 502 was 477.
There are a number of hunting regulations being proposed for big game species in Montana that the Fish and Wildlife Commission has on its Dec. 14 meeting agenda.
Anyone interested in their hunting district or region should check out the online information to be informed about what is going on. Ideally, most hunters have already taken part in one of the many meetings offered around the state.
In looking at the proposals before the commission, Billings Gazette outdoor editor Brett French noted one common theme popping up across the state, declining mule deer numbers.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In late October, what appears to be an adult male grizzly bear was captured on a game camera in the Missouri Breaks.
Although tracks of grizzlies have been found farther east, in the Winifred area, this was the first photographic evidence of a grizzly so far from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
The photo is both surprising, in that a bear made it so far without getting into trouble with humans, and not surprising, because grizzlies have been pushing east for more than a decade.
What may help this bear survive is that it has reached a large swath of public land, including the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Here to talk about his reporting on the subject is Billings Gazette outdoor editor Brett French.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It's no secret that glaciers in Montana and the world over are disappearing. But now a new study puts a number to the losses, at least for the Western U.S.
Of the West's 612 officially named glaciers, 52 no longer qualify as glaciers. That's according to a study released last month by Portland State University.
The research, published in the journal Earth System Science Data, delineates a glacier as a slowly moving mass of ice with an area of at least 25 acres, and a snowfield a stationary area of snow and ice that persists all year. The study found 52 glaciers have been demoted to snowfields.
Six of those 52 demoted glaciers are in Montana.
With me today to talk again about receding ice is Joshua Murdock, natural resources reporter and Rob Chaney, managing editor of the Missoulian newspaper.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Interagency Bison Management Program partners met at Chico Hot Springs Resort in early November. The partners include tribal representatives, state and federal officials.
When the Park Service attempted to change some language in the group’s adaptive management plan, the executive officer of the Montana Department of Livestock protested.
But, there’s a lot more to this story than this one meeting. At play are simmering tensions between the State of Montana and the Park Service over managing the migratory bison that call Yellowstone National Park home for most of the year.
With me today is Brett French, outdoors editor at the Billings Gazette, who attended the gathering and has reported on Yellowstone bison for years.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For decades, the freight trains trundling over Marias Pass toward Glacier National Park and the Great Bear Wilderness along a 206-mile stretch of tracks between Shelby and Trego have posed a threat to the grizzlies living in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly bear recovery zone, particularly when a derailment causes a grain spill, or a train-killed deer or livestock carcass draws the bears onto the busy tracks.
And for decades, a host of state, federal and tribal wildlife management agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations and conservation groups, have worked with the railroad to mitigate the hazards to threatened and endangered species like grizzlies, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
Three years ago, BNSF Railway Company proposed the most comprehensive solution yet when it applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an Incidental Take Permit (ITP) and formally submitted a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) outlining measures it would take to reduce train-caused grizzly mortalities in the region.
But that hasn't happened yet.
With me today is Tristan Scott, the managing editor of the Flathead Beacon newspaper, who’s recently reported on the situation.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition recently announced it had raised $6.25 million to buy out Crevice Mining Group’s 1,368 acres, claims and water rights just north of Yellowstone National Park’s border.
Crevice came onto the scene in 2015 when it proposed mining on a mountainside above Gardiner. The proposal led to more than 400 local businesses and groups fighting to protect the area. The opposition was also focused on a proposal to mine just outside of Chico Hot Springs, in Emigrant Gulch.
This eventually led to the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act, signed into law in 2019, removing 30,000 acres of public lands from mining in the region. However Crevice was not halted by the act, since it already owned private claims.
The GYC decided the best solution to halt any mining was to buy the Crevice owners out.
Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, recently reported on the buyout.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On Oct. 13, news broke that the owner of Holland Lake Lodge has decided to cancel his controversial expansion and upgrade plans at the resort.
He’s ending his partnership with a large Utah-based resort company called POWDR and is trying to sell the lodge. It’s huge news in Montana, as for the past year there’s been quite a bit of an uproar as people protested the plan.
You can’t drive anywhere in western Montana without seeing billboards for “Save Holland Lake,” a group that’s been criticizing the expansion plans. The whole saga involved threats of lawsuits and lots of heated public meetings.
Exactly a year ago Dave Erickson of the Missoulian newspaper joined me as news broke on the expansion proposal and he’s on this episode to cover all that's happened since last year.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It was a chance encounter with a northern pintail drake that made Chuck Black’s lifelong dream come true.
That dream: to win the Federal Duck Stamp art contest and have his painting in the pocket of every waterfowl hunter in the country.
Chuck’s interest in the Federal Duck Stamp started as a youth growing up in Minnesota, where water-fowling is a religion and many of the legends of the contest call home.
After nine failed tries to win the contest, on Sept. 16 a lifelong dream came true when he finally won the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Duck Stamp art contest.
On this episode, we hear from Chuck about his quest to get his painting on the stamp and life as an artist in Montana.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In late September the Legislative Audit Division released a report investigating Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Enforcement Division. The audit documented a division riddled with morale problems and distrust in management.
What’s more, the report found FWP’s Human Resources Division – which is responsible for all FWP employees – was opening the agency up to the risk of litigation because of its practices.
Prior to the audit’s publication, the Enforcement Division chief retired with an additional $150,000 in compensation, two top administrators were reassigned and FWP’s director has stepped down and been replaced.
Here to talk about the audit today is Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A little over a month ago, the world watched in horror as fast-moving flames leveled the idyllic oceanside town of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The fire had started just that day but winds from a distant hurricane swept the flames into a firestorm that killed more than 100 people, making it the deadliest American wildfire in more than a century.
Similar things happened around Montana this summer, thankfully with no deaths reported. But there were other similarities between them: A new fire grows rapidly, fanned by hot and dry winds, to quickly threaten a town. And that happened as Montana has seen a remarkably quiet season for wildfires by some measures.
On this episode Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian talks about the River Road East Fire outside of Paradise, Montana.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On September 1, the U.S. Interior Department announced that the last energy lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area had been relinquished.
This piece of ground surrounded by the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness, was considered sacred to the Blackfeet.
It was also considered so valuable by the Louisiana-based Solenex LLC energy company, they held onto the lease through seven presidential administrations, two federal court fights and 40 years of negotiations.
When we last talked about the Badger Two-Medicine a year ago, it was on its way to a second round before the Washington, D.C. Court of Appeals.
On this episode, Rob Chaney, managing editor of the Missoulian, fills us in on what has changed.
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If you were a grizzly on the move, where would you go and how would you get there?
As the federally protected bears roam farther each year beyond their recovery zones, more Montana communities are seeing grizzlies for the first time in decades.
Eventually, wildlife managers hope that two separate populations centered around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks could connect. And the species’ recovery plans target the bears expanding to other places, too.
Now, a new study from the University of Montana shows how the animals might do that. With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian.
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The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks recently released the results of two hunter surveys.
One was sent to 5,000 residents and another to 800 nonresidents. The surveys asked questions about the state’s management of elk and mule deer, two iconic species in the state. Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, recently wrote about the results of the survey.
Since the story on the FWP survey came out, Montana Backcountry Hunters and Anglers examined the methodology the agency used. The group contends that counting neutral responses to the survey as those satisfied with the state’s elk management sways the calculation to FWP’s favor.
On this episode French, talks about the survey and subsequent blowback to the results.
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Ailments like brucellosis and chronic wasting disease have become well-known in hunting circles over the past few decades. Both are known to infect elk and be spread by close contact between infected animals.
That’s why it seems ill-advised that Wyoming operates winter feedgrounds for elk. Spread across the western third of the state, the sites congregate elk allowing brucellosis and CWD to spread. Right now.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is taking public comments on its newly unveiled feedground management plan.
To learn more about the issue, we’re talking with Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette.
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Last June south-central Montana suffered a historic 500-year flood. High water wiped out bridges and roads in Yellowstone National Park and the Custer Gallatin National Forest, as well as destroyed private homes and bridges.
On August 4th, more than 400 days later, the Forest Service has restored access to one of the most popular areas in the Beartooth Mountains – East Rosebud Lake.
Here to talk with us today about the recovery efforts is Brett French, outdoor editor for the Billings Gazette.
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The summer of 2003 pushed Glacier National Park’s fire response to new frontiers.
There had been many fires before, including some catastrophic events. But rarely did so many parts of the park get so threatened by so many different kinds of challenges. And rarely did firefighters attempt some tactics that proved essential then, but might not be possible now.
Twenty years later, we look back at the fires of 2003 and what has changed.
On this episode, Rob Chaney, managing editor of the Missoulian, re-visits the fire season and talks about what has changed since.
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It’s like school for elk hunting and the classroom is the Snowcrest Mountains. The bonus is it all happens on a backpacking expedition.
I am referring to a new course offered by Montana Wilderness school called backpacking skills for aspiring hunters.
The Bozeman-based school has been taking students on expeditions for ten years with a mission of providing “empowering expeditionary wilderness courses to youth that foster personal growth and cultivate a conservation ethic through connecting with remote landscapes and wild places”
In the last couple of years they have offered this course that takes a fundamental approach to backpacking skills but adds the technical skills pursuing large game in the backcountry.
On this episode, Ryan Peters, wilderness program manager for Montana Wilderness School talks about the course.
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From trains and horses to snowmobiles and jet-skis, national parks have had to deal with disruptive technology in wild places.
The latest controversy circles around the popularity of e-bikes. These battery-assisted bicycles make it possible for new crowds of tourists to attempt adventures they might have been too old, young, infirm or inexperienced to try before.
That puts new pressures on the National Park Service, which has to evaluate e-bike impacts on wildlife and wild places, as well as what kind of resources and amenities the e-bikers need.
With me today is Rob Chaney, managing editor of the Missoulian newspaper, who’s traversed Glacier National Park via e-bike and pedal powered bicycles before.
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The Last Best Place has been discovered.
Across the state, tourists and second-homeowners pull up alongside trucks with stickers of Montana’s outline and the words: “WE’RE FULL.” They stroll through shops with coffee mugs, t-shirts and hats displaying similar sentiments. But the same tourists and transplants inject money into local economies, facilitating jobs and businesses.
The tension, however, comes from the flip-side of growing visitation to the Treasure State: strain on emergency response, crowded recreation facilities, traffic and other overburdened infrastructure. And often, locals are left with the bill after visitors go home.
That double-edge sword of being a desirable outdoor recreation destination is known as the “amenity trap,” according to a new report from Bozeman-based Headwaters Economics. The report looks at the benefits and burdens faced by towns whose riches in outdoor recreation have brought a wealth of visitors too.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter for the Missoulian and a former reporter at the Idaho Mountain Express in Ketchum-Sun Valley, Idaho, who recently wrote about the report.
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After historically low counts of brown and rainbow trout were found in three popular stretches of the Big Hole River, people have begun rallying around the 153-mile freestone river in southwest Montana.
There’s still pessimism for what the future holds, but the response has been positive.
People genuinely want to find a solution and do what they can to pump life back into the famous Blue Ribbon trout stream.
Nationwide fly fishing brands have joined the rallying cries, and there appears to be momentum building within the state, whether it be state funded or privately funded groups.
The energy is good and necessary to carry out this all-hands-on-deck effort.
But where will we be two months from now when the heat really takes a toll on the Big Hole and its trout?
What happens in two years when the Big Hole no longer dominates the fly fishing news cycle? Will the state keep funding projects to their completion?
There are still a lot of unknowns, and concrete answers are still years away.
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Earlier this year a freight train derailed near Paradise, spilling thousands of beers into the Clark Fork River. For some it was comical, for others it was a close call.
And now three months later another train derailment. This time, on the other side of the state, into the Yellowstone River. But this wasn’t a close call and not comical by any standards.
Early Saturday morning about 5 miles east of Reed Point, tanker cars from a Montana Rail Link train plunged into the river along with twisted railroad tracks, steel beams and concrete from the trestle. The tankers were each carrying hazardous materials in varying level of toxicity.
With me today is Chirs Jorgensen, managing editor of the Billings Gazette newspaper, who was first to report the situation.
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A recent federal court ruling in Wyoming has once again sparked discussions about the legality of corner crossing.
I want you to visualize a checkerboard. A grid of black and white squares.
Now imagine that layout on a map, where the black squares are public land and the white ones are private. This land ownership layout is common in the west, a relic of past when the government was divvying out land to railroads pushing lines west.
Corner crossing refers to the act of traveling from one piece of that public checkerboard to another, by crossing where they meet in the corners.
In the recent Wyoming case, a judge found that four Missouri men did not trespass onto adjoining private land as they stepped from public to public land at a corner designated by a survey marker and using a ladder.
Brett French, Outdoors editor at the Billings Gazette, is here to untangle the issue and give a bit of context as to what this mean for Montana
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The American food system is broken and intact ecosystems can help fix it.
That's according to Cole Mannix, the founder of Old Salt Co-Op, a vertically integrated meat company that's mission is to feed people meat from producers who steward the landscape.
Raised on his family's ranch in the Blackfoot Valley, Mannix takes his father's mantra with him in everything he does - "the land owns us."
On this episode I talk with Mannix about agriculture's role in land conservation and how eating meat doesn't have to be odds odds with a healthy natural world.
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On the heels of a long, wet Montana winter, runoff season is mostly done and anglers are itching to hit the river and ready to target some hungry springtime trout.
Flows are robust and above average for this time of year in some areas. The Big Hole River is no exception. Aesthetically, it appears healthy and full of life. The breathtaking landscape of the Big Hole Valley can inspire optimism, especially in an overly-eager fly angler.
But he Big Hole River’s trout population is still in decline and Conditions appear dire as ever. the worst seems yet to come.
Experts around southwest Montana say that, among the many factors at play, we should be looking at disease and bureaucratic failures as to why the Big Hole is in its continued state of peril.
Like any conflict, there’s plenty blame to go around. And there’s more than just two sides of the story. The 153-mile freestone river is a complex ecosystem and with that, comes complex issues.
On this episode is Matt Keiwet, managing editor of the Montana Standard and Independent Record newspapers who recently reported on the imperiled Big Hole River.
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Somewhere in Montana, it will happen. Many places, actually — maybe in your town. And it’ll happen this summer. But nobody knows exactly when, where or how bad.
Wildfire is an inherent part of life in the American West. In recent years, a warming climate has increasingly led to larger and more destructive wildfires becoming more common. But that’s an average trend over time.
So, what about this fire season? Will blazing infernos turn Montana into ash? Or will the state escape widespread devastation?
With me today is Joshua Murdock, the Missoulian’s outdoor recreation and natural resources reporter. Joshua has reported on wildfires around Montana and the West for the Missoulian and other papers.
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The Beartooth Pass climbs between Wyoming and Montana at an elevation close to 11,000 feet.
The route through the Beartooth Mountains, Highway 212 between Cooke City and Red Lodge, contains the highest mountains in the state. Because of its elevation, the high landscape is a fragile tundra ecosystem where roads not driven in 50 years are still visible on the landscape.
The highway opens on Friday morning, prior to the Memorial Day weekend. And because so much snow is piled atop the pass, skiers and snowboarders come from around the West to carve a few final turns before summer.
Lately, however, snowmobile use atop the pass has increased. The machines are used to tow skiers back up the mountains, as well as just to ride. As a result, there’s a crowding issue and fears of damage to the fragile environment.
Brett French, Outdoors editor at the Billings Gazette, talks about the situation on this episode.
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Brad Orsted wanted to get better.
Facing the unimaginable loss of his infant daughter Marley while in his mother’s care, and the extreme guilt of unanswered questions surrounding her death, Orsted spent years meeting with doctors and therapists. They prescribed medications and therapy sessions as he self-medicated with alcohol, haunted by memories of Marley and spiraling downward into suicide scenarios.
But what Orsted could not find in the bottom of a bottle of pills or vodka, he finally found in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. The wildlife advocate, photographer and filmmaker chronicles his story in the new book “Through the Wilderness: My Journey of Redemption and Healing in the American Wild,” laying bare in the land of bears his path to recovery.
If you are in crisis and want help, call the Montana Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Lifeline, 24/7, at 988 or by texting “MT” to 741741.
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As we plan and plant our gardens this spring, consider the mountain lion.
The stealthy predators are strictly meat eaters, but what and where they kill provides nutrients for the soil and promotes plant growth. It’s an odd concept examined in a recent study by the big cat conservation group Panthera. From 2014 to 2018, the group collared 50 mountain lions and tracked them to identify kill sites. Once identified, the researchers collected soil and plant samples, comparing them from the kill site to nearby areas.
The results proved what most gardeners already know, adding nutrients to the soil can boost plant growth. Billings Gazette Outdoor editor Brett French recently wrote about the study and talks about its findings.
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The 68th legislative session adjourned in a whirlwind Tuesday evening, with lawmakers making their final votes on spending and social bills.
While unprecedented events over the last two week including protests and arrests grabbed national headlines, in other areas of the Capitol lawmakers debated some of the final bills dealing with hunting, fishing and access. Wildlife legislation often brings some of the biggest debates of the session, and while we did see plenty of strong opinions, this session came in with a bit of a different tone and that seemed to carry through.
I’m joined today by Tom Kuglin with the Montana State News Bureau. You’ve been following wildlife and access bills for the last few sessions, so what stood out to you.
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Bighorn sheep are an iconic species in Montana and the West.
Rams, which can grow large curving horns, are prized by trophy hunters who will pay thousands of dollars at annual auctions to secure a permit to hunt. Yet the species has been plagued by small populations in many herds, die-offs due to disease and limited success when animals from healthy herds are transplanted to create new populations.
Recently, Billings Gazette Outdoor editor Brett French wrote an article about Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks launching new studies to help guide their bighorn sheep management.
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The image went around the country in days: A man clinging to a broken chairlift 20 feet above the ground, one ski off, moments before he had no choice but to jump. What the image didn’t show was that moments before, the man’s 4-year-old son had fallen off the chair when it broke.
It happened at Montana Snowbowl ski area just north of Missoula, back in March. The incident sparked an outcry from the community and prompted the U.S. Forest Service to investigate the safety and operations of Snowbowl. And it’s spurred questions about why Montana deregulated chairlift safety in the late ‘90s.
With me today is Joshua Murdock. He’s a reporter at the Missoulian who covers outdoor recreation, natural resources and land management agencies like the Forest Service. He’s been following the situation at Snowbowl and investigated chairlift safety there and more broadly in Montana. He’s also an avid skier, including at Snowbowl and other small ski areas around the West.
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Freight train derailments in the U.S. have come under increasing scrutiny since a train carrying hazardous materials derailed and burned in East Palestine, Ohio, in early February.
Montana is no stranger to freight train derailments. In 1996, a train derailed near Alberton and released chlorine. Some residents still live with health problems from chemical exposure. And, just this past Sunday, April 2, a freight train derailed near Paradise, spilling thousands of beers into the Clark Fork River.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, a reporter at the Missoulian. He reports on outdoor recreation, natural resources and the environment. He was at the site of Sunday’s derailment and is reporting on the incident.
He’s also spent hours interviewing Missoula author Ron Scholl, a leading expert on chemical spills from train derailments who says that Alberton holds lessons for East Palestine.
Josh has also reported on how hazardous materials transported by train are largely kept secret from the public, including from the communities they pass through.
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With large ear tufts and feet built for hunting snowshoe hares in deep powder, the Canada lynx is an elusive species prowling parts of Montana.
Lynx range from Canada and Alaska south into a few states in the lower 48. While no large scale population estimates are available, scientists believe that northwest Montana and northern Idaho likely have the strongest populations, and that is important when considering factors that may put stress on the cats in the future.
A recent study completed by Washington State University and published in the Journal of Wildlife Management gives us our first population estimate for Glacier National Park.
On this episode Tom Kuglin of the Montana States News Bureau talks about his reporting on the study.
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Montana’s only wild horse herd is found in south-central Montana’s Pryor Mountains. This is an area of extremes. The lowlands are desert-like, while the mountain tops rise to more than 8,700 feet. Across about 42,000 acres of this rugged land a herd of about 205 are spread across lands managed mostly by the Bureau of Land Management, but also the Custer Gallatin National Forest and the National Park Service.
The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is one of only four designated wild horse and burro ranges in the country, which means the area is managed principally, but not exclusively, for wild horses.
These horses were made famous by documentary filmmaker Ginger Kathrens. Her films following the stallion known as Cloud from birth his birth in 1995 to adulthood have drawn visitors to the region from around the world.
Recently, the BLM released a proposed management plan that would reduce the herd, an always controversial topic among wild horse advocates. The federal agency would prefer to see the herd cut to no more than about 120 horses. To do that, the BLM is proposing “gathers” that would trap horses that could then be adopted out.
To learn more about this unique horse population, I talked with Brett French, outdoor editor of the Billings Gazette.
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It’s a hallmark trait of bears, a characteristic known even by small children: bruins hibernate through winter.
Except, this year around Missoula, many of them aren’t.
From neighborhood “trash bears” to near-city grizzlies feeding on frozen roadkill all season — plus, rural grizzly tracks spotted amid a frigid and snowy February — bears in west-central Montana are active in greater number and frequency than normal for this time of year.
On this episode is Joshua Murdock, the Missoulian’s outdoors and natural resources reporter. He’s been reporting on all sorts of unusual bear activity in recent months, including this.
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In 2022 a male wolf that was captured and fitted with a GPS collar south of Dillon decided to take a long hike through some of Montana’s most spectacular wild country.
If the wolf had hitchhiked a ride in an automobile, the distance covered is close to 300 miles. But those miles don’t reflect the elevation gains and losses of climbing up and over the mountain ranges. They also don’t tally the rivers that course through the landscape, including the Madison, Gallatin, Yellowstone and Clarks Fork Yellowstone.
Unfortunately, we only know all of this because the wolf made a decision that proved fatal.
With me today is Brett French, Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette, to tell the story of this lone wolf’s trek.
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The Blackfeet Nation, tucked along the north end of the Rocky Mountain Front, has played host to a tribally managed buffalo herd for decades.
Now in the past, the tribe has sold occasional bison hunts to individuals, but last month marked the first time a tribe in Montanan opened a raffle bison hunt to the public. In partnership with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, the Blackfeet Nation invited members of the public to enter two trophy bison hunt raffles. People could buy 20 tickets maximum at $10 apiece and the winner had to pay $2,500 to secure the spot.
Jeff Larson out of Victor was the first winner, and reporter Nora Mabie and I headed out to the Blackfeet Reservation in February to see what the hunt was all about. Nora, who covers Indigenous communities for the Lee Montana newspapers, joins me today.
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Christopher Preston went wandering with buffalo and running after barred owls in the dark to explore the fate of wild animals in a human world.
In Tenacious Beasts, the University of Montana environmental philosophy professor examines what choices we make as we try to restore and rewild creatures that we’ve nearly wiped off the face of the planet. The effort took him many unexpected places, from Norwegian fjords full of humpback whales to Italian mountains with apple-munching grizzly bears and English countrysides with transplanted bison. It also features many animals dear to Montanan landscapes, such as migratory salmon, gray wolves and beavers.
Tenacious Beasts hit the bookshelves this February, and Preston spoke with Missoulian Managing Editor Rob Chaney about its findings.
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Montana has one of the most unique wildlife situations in the world. Yellowstone National Park bison almost annually migrate into Montana during the winter. Since the bison are carriers of the disease brucellosis, which can cause pregnant female cattle to abort, the park animals are not allowed to freely roam like other wildlife. Instead, they are confined to designated zones outside the park’s north and west entrances, near the communities of Gardiner and West Yellowstone.
Incremental progress has been made in addressing the conflicts between those who believe the bison should be allowed to roam like other wildlife and state and federal officials in charge of managing the big mammals. With the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considering a petition to list bison as an endangered species, and Yellowstone officials writing a new bison management plan, the iconic species that is now the national mammal stands at the cusp of more management changes. In addition, a bison advocacy group has publicly plotted a plan to argue that bison should be allowed to roam freely so tribes can hunt them, bringing treaty rights into the mix.
On this episode is Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, who recently wrote a story on the ins and outs and disagreements over bison management.
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It’s the suit-and-tie version of a grizzly bear hunting season, with the federal government announcing it will consider petitions from Montana and Wyoming to remove the grizzly from Endangered Species Act protection and state legislators scrambling to make new laws and policies to exert local control of the big bears.
But a lot of fine print stands between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service review and a future grizzly trophy hunt. The apex predator has made big gains since the ESA gave it threatened status in 1975. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the act itself.
Ranchers and hunting outfitters report increasing encounters with big bears in the woods, and they fear for their livestock and lives. So do hikers and tourists, who thrill to the chance of seeing a grizzly in the wild. Wildlife managers must envision how to handle an animal that doesn’t pay attention to boundaries, jurisdictions or laws.
On this episode is Rob Chaney, managing editor of the Missoulian newspaper, and Tom Kuglin with the Montana State News Bureau.
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For almost three-quarters of a century, the start of ski and snowboard season was marked by the Warren Miller Film Tour that fall.
The narrated films, shown around the country and world, have documented the evolution of skiing and the rise of snowboarding across multiple generations. But for the first time, a new Warren Miller Film won’t actually be filmed this year.
On this episode, Missoulian newspaper reporter Joshua Murdock, who writes about outdoor recreation and is himself an avid backcountry and resort skier shares the down low on this news.
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It’s a fish of many names: burbot, ling, eel pout, lawyer, mud shark and poor man’s lobster, just to name a few.
Montana’s major rivers and reservoirs are home to a fish that may not be the first to come to mind like trout or walleyes for anglers, but ling have a certain following when it comes to a unique fishing experience and great eating.
Today I’m with Tom Kuglin with the Montana State News Bureau and we’re going to talk a bit about this species and a story we did taking to some dedicated ling fishermen and our local biologist.
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Across the West, federal and state land management agencies are strategically logging, thinning and burning forests with the goal of making them more resilient to uncontrolled wildfire, as well as diseases. But conservationists and wildlife advocates worry the work will harm grizzly bears and other federally-protected species that call those habitats home.
In Western Montana, three projects from different agencies have drawn criticism and lawsuits from stakeholders that say the work will damage grizzly bear habitat.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, the outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, to talk about the projects and people’s concerns.
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In Montana’s backcountry, as well as along some well-traveled highways and railroads, avalanches are a cause for concern.
Scientists have been working for decades to better understand these natural phenomena for a number of reasons – the biggest being to save lives. At the same time, national forests have created avalanche forecasting services to provide daily information to backcountry snowmobilers, snowshoers, skiers and snowboard about weather and avalanche conditions. Combined with newer cellphone apps, beacons, airbag backpacks and avalanche safety courses, backcountry users can be better prepared than ever for winter outings.
Despite all of this work, avalanche fatalities continue to capture headlines. The most recent in Montana was the death of a Washington man snowmobiling outside Cooke City.
To learn more, I am talking today with Billings Gazette Outdoors editor Brett French.
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What does it take to become leader of the pack? For wolves in Yellowstone National Park, research shows it might be exposure to a cat-centric parasite.
A recent study by University of Montana and Yellowstone biologists found a remarkable thing about toxoplasma gondii– a single-celled parasite that can survive in almost any warm-blooded animal but only reproduces in felines. It turns out that wolves infected with toxo, as the biologists nickname it, appears to turn wolves into risk-takers. That means they’re more likely to disperse to other packs, and WAY more likely to become leaders of new packs than uninfected wolves.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that some parasites may have a real ability to change minds – including human minds.
On this episode, Rob Chaney, editor of the Missoulian newspaper discusses these
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Tony Bynum operates at the intersection of conservation, wildlife, beauty and truth.
The photographer and conservationist has stamped out a career capturing images of western big game, documented oil and gas development along the Rocky Mountain Front, wilderness values across Montana and a host of projects internationally. But while many find inspiration in beautiful landscapes and wildlife, few have seen them so up close and personal.
Once a high ranking federal employee at the Environmental Protection Agency, Bynum has put passion over paychecks as he pursues a message of conservation with every photo he takes.
From his home in Great Falls, Bynum recently sat down with Thom Bridge and Tom Kuglin to talk about his life and some of his most iconic work.
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Each fall as winter nears and cold temperatures descend on Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman, water that weeps from the cliff bands lining the canyon walls freezes into bulging layers of ice with translucent hues of white, yellow and blue. And each year, that frozen water allows human to defy the gravity that pulled the water out of the rock in the first place.
If, of course, they're willing to climb it. Many are. And fear is sometimes the best motivator to keep climbing, but there are a lot of things about ice climbing that go well beyond the simple act of climbing up a vertical frozen waterfall.
On this episode is Joshua Murdock, the outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, and a rock and ice climber himself. He spent four days at the Bozeman Ice Festival, climbing a bit but mostly reporting and photographing different aspects of the event.
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Glacier National Park’s namesake ice fields attract millions of visitors a year. Many wonder if they’re making a funeral visit. Predictions that all the glaciers in the park will melt by 2030 or sooner have been floating around for a couple decades. That deadline now looms less than a decade away.
What would happen if Glacier Park’s glaciers disappeared? And what are some people thinking about as ways to save polar and glacial ice through the emerging field of geoengineering?
On this episode, Rob Chaney, editor of the Missoulian newspaper, talks about work being done to keep glaciers around the world from shrinking.
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Thirty years ago a young German outdoorsman crossed the big ocean and landed in Montana. He quickly became fascinated with the freedom of opportunity to hunt and fish in the West. Since then he’s dedicated his career to answering why and how North American conservation works.
Thomas Baumeister has dedicated his adult life to conservation both professionally and personally.
Baumeister recently retired from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and now runs Access WILD, a llama outfitting business. He has also taught at both Carroll College in Helena and Arizona State University, and is involved with numerous conservation and hunting organizations.
On this episode, we run the gamut of conservation topics from access to ethics, from pheasants to elk and everything in between.
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The imperiled status of the river-dwelling population of Arctic grayling in Montana continues to roil the waters of public debate about the fate of the species’ survivors in the Big Hole River.
The latest wrangle focuses on the utility or futility of stocking grayling in a Big Hole watershed creek and tributaries during a time of low flows and warm water.
This fall, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks released Arctic grayling fingerlings into a section of French Creek previously treated to remove non-native fish.
On this epsiode Duncan Adams, outdoor and natural resource reporter at the Montana Standard, fills us in on the debate over the fate of this striking fish with a sail-like dorsal fin.
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Montana’s wolf hunting season is in full swing with trapping season set to begin soon, but a recent state judge’s order has put a temporary halt to some regulations and an upcoming hearing could have major implications on the remainder of the season.
Republicans in the 2021 the Montana Legislature passed a number of laws aimed at reducing Montana’s wolf population, which pushed the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission to adopt some of the most aggressive regulations since delisting. Contentious hearings, intense media attention and lawsuits have largely defined the conversation since.
On this episode, Tom Kuglin with the Montana State News Bureau talks about a debate over wolves in the state that has remained at a fever pitch for nearly two years now.
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The Badger-Two Medicine region nestles between the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, Glacier National Park and the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. It also lies in legal limbo after the latest court decision re-opened a fight over energy drilling rights that’s been going on for three decades.
On September 9, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ordered the Department of Interior to re-instate a federal lease and drilling permit to Solenex LLC. That lease covers about 10 square miles of the Badger Two Medicine, and the permit potentially opens it to road-building for drilling rigs to explore for oil.
Last week, the coalition of environmental groups and Blackfeet cultural organizations returned to court seeking to overturn Leon’s latest order. It’s a back-and-forth routine that’s gone on since the 1980s. And while many thought the matter settled at the end of the Obama – and then Trump – administrations, it now appears to live on through the Biden administration.
On this episode, Missoulian reporter Josh Murdock and Managing Editor Rob Chaney recount the history of the Badger-Two Medicine legal fight and why this place is important.
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Part teacher and part guide, Whitney Gould is one of the finest casters in the world and fresh off competing in the World Fly Casting Championships in Norway where she took home a trove of medals, including a gold. Her first world championships was both exciting, she said, and a learning experience for what to expect and how to train for the next championships in two years.
Gould is a spey specialist, referring to the two-handed casting technique common in big salmon and steelhead rivers, but with a dedicated following across the West. She's also a trout guide on the Missouri River where she guides for Headhunters Fly Shop in Craig and for organizations such as Warriors for Quiet Waters. She enjoys the challenge of fishing, and it rarely feels like a job – she particularly loves to teach.
On this episode, we share a drift boat with Gould for a day of fishing, casting lessons and conversation about a life around water.
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GPS collars attached to wildlife like deer, bears, moose, elk and pronghorns have opened biologist’s eyes to how far these species may move across the landscape as the seasons change.
Epic feats of travel have been recorded in Wyoming showing elk swimming streams in spring runoff to reach ideal grazing areas. A mule deer doe has trekked 500 miles each year from the Red Desert of southwestern Wyoming to Grand Teton National Park. Pronghorns, although prairie animals, have been photographed moving through mountainous areas to reach good food.
Likewise, in Montana pronghorns have been recorded crossing a frozen Fort Peck Reservoir and running down Highway 2 on the Hi-Line for six hours during a blizzard. Grizzlies have been tracked moving across Interstate 90. Mountain lions have been monitored swimming the Missouri River and traveling as far as the Dakotas from the Missouri Breaks.
Brett French, outdoors editor at the Billings Gazette, talks about this accumulation of migration information, as well as to help us understand how this data is being used.
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Bears have been in the news a lot lately, because they’ve been getting into a lot of things lately.
As drought continues its grip on western Montana, berry crop failures are sending desperately hungry black bears into human environs with unusual frequency and boldness.
This means that conflict-prevention measures are more important than ever, especially in places that may not be accustomed to the hungry bruins.
And grizzlies as always are making front page news as fall sets in when we see the most human-bear conflicts annually.
On today's episode, Joshua Murdock, the outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, talks about why this summer and fall have been especially tough for bears.
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Montana’s fishing industry is an economic juggernaut, now accounting for one in five tourism dollars spent in the state and an estimated at $750 million annually.
Fishing is important both economically and culturally, with communities built up near popular rivers to cater to locals and visitors. We also know that during low water and high temperatures, fishing can stress trout. To protect the resource, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will restrict or even prohibit fishing. Some closures may last weeks or even months, and climate scientists predict that such conditions will only become more common in the future.
On this episode, Tom Kuglin talks about a new study that looks at the economic consequences of climate change on Montana’s fishing industry. Who did the study and how have anglers adapted to these closures.
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In early September news broke of a plan to re-develop Holland Lake Lodge. The proposal seeks to remove 10 aging structures and add 32 new buildings, including a new 28-room lodge, a new restaurant and 26 new cabins near the lake.
Originally built in 1924 and last updated in 1947, Holland Lake Lodge Inc. owns the buildings but leases about 15 acres of land from the U.S. Forest Service to operate under a special permit.
The proposal has drawn the ire of many and lead to countless letters to the editor and online campaigns against it.
On this episode Dave Erickson of the Missoulian newspaper helps make sense of what the future may hold for the north side of Holland Lake.
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With pheasant season fast approaching, on this episode we are talking about a new program here in Montana that has stirred plenty of debate for the last year and a half.
Housed at Montana State Prison, inmates there are now raising pheasants for release on wildlife management areas. We attended the release of some of the first prison-reared pheasants at Lake Helena recently for the special youth season, but thousands were released across the state.
This week, Tom Kuglin of the Montana State News Bureau talks about the history of pheasants in Montana and why these releases are significant.
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If you have a problem with your neighbor, you’d try to work with them to sort it out, right? Or what if your neighbor’s friend was causing you issues? You’d probably ask your neighbor to talk to their friend about it, right? Well, that’s happening right now with British Columbia and Montana.
Contaminated water from coal mines in British Columbia is flowing into Montana, and it’s harming wildlife in both places that’s sacred to indigenous populations. But Canada, and the coal mining company, don’t seem to want to work with Montana and the U.S. to find a diplomatic solution.
On this episode Joshua Murdock, the outdoors and natural resources reporter with the Missoulian, discusses his coverage of the issue throughout the summer.
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In mid-June historic floods ripped through Yellowstone National Park. Thousands of visitors were evacuated and the park was temporarily closed as officials assessed the damage.
Eventually, all but two entrances to the park were reopened. The North Entrance, near Gardiner, and the Northeast Entrance, near Cooke City, have been closed to the public all summer due to road damage caused by the flooding. Since then the Park Service has launched a heroic effort with federal partners to reopen the roadways.
On this episode, Brett French, outdoor editor for the Billings Gazette, talks about how those efforts are going and what the impacts of the park’s closing of the two entrances has had on the gateway communities of Cooke City, Silver Gate and Gardiner.
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What’s Montana’s most loved river? The Smith? The Yellowstone? The Bitterroot?
Well, if you measure love by usage it’s most likely the Madison.
Given angling pressure on the river, with rafts as prolific some days as caddis flies and with trout being hooked and released multiple times, many people believe something has to change.
For years now, both commercial outfitters and recreational anglers floating the river have expressed concerns that the Madison is being loved to death. There are fears that familiarity breeds descent in angler experience.
On this episode Duncan Adams, outdoor reporter for the Montana Standard newspaper, talks about the tensions between user groups and the river stuck in the middle.
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This year the Scapegoat Wilderness marks its 50th anniversary. The 240,000-acre wilderness makes up the southern portion of 1.6-million acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and includes some great backcountry hiking and backpacking. Some of the most well-known locations include Scapegoat Mountain, Webb and Heart lakes and Red Mountain.
But beyond the beauty of the landscape, the Scapegoat has a fascinating and important history that continues to have reverberations in land management policy today.
This week, Tom Kuglin shares his reporting behind a three-part series on the past, present and future of the Scapegoat wilderness.
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It might surprise some to learn that Montana’s largest National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t contain a single mountain. Instead all 1.1 million acres of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, or CMR, consists of sweeping prairie encompassing the massive Fort Peck Reservoir and rugged, impassable badlands that spin the land into a labyrinth of gumbo hills and plummeting draws.
But for all its rugged wildness, the refuge has not always stood as a pristine example of prairie grasslands and more than a century of western expansion, homesteading and ranching has left behind barbed-wire remnants of when the refuge was parceled out as ranchland years ago. But one conservation group, known as Keep It Public, alongside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field offices that oversee the refuge are hoping to remove those fence lines in a decade’s long effort to restore the refuge’s prairie to its untamed glory.
On this episode, A.J Etherington, city editor of the Billings Gazette newspaper, talks about his time spent in the CMR reporting on work done by conservationists.
This podcast is created in partnership across five newsrooms – the Billings Gazette, the Helena Independent Record, the Missoulian, the Montana Standard and the Ravalli-Republic. You can support this podcast and our efforts by subscribing. Visit any of these newspapers’ websites, and click on the Become a Member button at the top of the home page. We appreciate your support of local journalism.
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Inside a trench the length of a football field, against the mesmerizing backdrop of the Rocky Mountain Front lay a scattering of granite-hued bone fragments, each exposed for the first time after some 75-80 million years preserved in the Two Medicine Formation’s alkali powder.
David Trexler, a lifelong resident of nearby Bynum, Montana, and paleontologist for a half-century calls it the most spectacular and complete bone bed he’s ever worked on.
What Trexler knows so far is that many of the multi-species bones unearthed are from a new breed of duck-billed dinosaur.
Trexler sees more than the Earth’s distant past in dig sites like that along the Front He also connects the dots to an ominous outcome for humans humans don’t view what he describes as a “ticking time bomb” through a more holistic and urgent lens.
This week Jeff Welsch, editor of Lee Enteprises' Montana newspapers talks about discoveries of creatures of the past and Trexler’s theory about the future.
This podcast is created in partnership across five newsrooms – the Billings Gazette, the Helena Independent Record, the Missoulian, the Montana Standard and the Ravalli-Republic. You can support this podcast and our efforts by subscribing. Visit any of these newspapers’ websites, and click on the Become a Member button at the top of the home page. We appreciate your support of local journalism.
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When we talk about wildlife data, age is one of the first things biologists look to for
understanding the health of animal populations and how management actions may
affect trends. Age is also often the subject of debate among hunters, who look at
things like body size, antler growth or teeth wear to estimate how many winters a
harvested animal has been on the mountain.
This week, we’re going to do things a little differently and talk about a story Tom Kuglin worked on back in the spring. In March we went down to Manhattan and spent some time at Mattson’s Laboratory. Not only did we learn some new science, but
with hunting season around the corner those heading to the field might be
interested in what the lab has to offer.
This podcast is created in partnership across five newsrooms – the Billings Gazette, the Helena Independent Record, the Missoulian, the Montana Standard and the Ravalli-Republic. You can support this podcast and our efforts by subscribing. Visit any of these newspapers’ websites, and click on the Become a Member button at the top of the home page. We appreciate your support of local journalism.
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In 2001, American Prairie made an appearance in Montana with the goal to stitch together private and public lands in Eastern Montana to create a large grassland reserve. By buying ranches from willing sellers, the group – once known as the Prairie Foundation, American Prairie Foundation, and American Prairie Reserve – has become a lightning rod for criticism, legislation and political divisiveness. This is in part because it has stocked some of its land with bison. Recently, the Bureau of Land Management gave final approval to the group to alter grazing plans on federal lands to accommodate bison, reigniting the long simmering feud.
On this week's episode Brett French, outdoors and natural resources reporter the Billings Gazette discusses the contentious history of American Prairie's attempt to create a native grassland prairie inhabited by bison.
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This summer, in an urban state park on the westside of Helena, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has been conducting a very visible research project. One that includes colorful birds, excited biologists and the public is welcome to join in.
The station is part of the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship program, which captures birds for banding and data collection. Banding allows tracking of population trends, including survival, reproductive rates and movement patterns across the country.
This work has become important as a number of bird species are experiencing population declines, according to the Western Ecological Resource Center. The MAPS program provides crucial information to help biologists monitor and help species recover before it's too late.
There are up to 1,200 MAPS bird banding stations nationwide. The MAPS program has operated since 1989 and collected more than 2.5 million records.
But, the banding station at Spring Meadow is unique, said Allison Begley, an avian conservation biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The program is open for the public to observe the work and then assist with the release of birds.
This podcast is created in partnership across five newsrooms – the Billings Gazette, the Helena Independent Record, the Missoulian, the Montana Standard and the Ravalli-Republic. You can support this podcast and our efforts by subscribing. Visit any of these newspapers’ websites, and click on the Become a Member button at the top of the home page. We appreciate your support of local journalism.
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Roughly one year ago, Leah Davis Lokan was mauled to death in her tent by a 4-year-old male grizzly. The tragedy made international headlines and sparked conversations about how humans and bears can coexist.
Two hundred years ago, grizzly bears dominated the Montana landscape. But today, people have taken that throne and relegated the animal to a fraction of its former range. But the bears - backed by legal protection and decades of recovery effort - have begun reasserting themselves, in some cases wandering through areas they haven’t been spotted in for decades. The slow expansion has led to an increase in bear conflicts that run the gamut in severity - trash can rummages, chicken coop break-ins, attacks on large livestock, fatal human maulings. And as both human and bear populations continue to swell, experts say the number of conflicts will grow as well.
On this episode, Missoulian Reporter Josh Murdock and Missoulian Editor Rob Chaney, discuss a recently-released report that focuses on the fatal mauling of Leah Lokan, and what the incident means for our relationship with grizzly bears in the West.
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Editor's note: This episode was recorded in early spring, before we had indications of this year's wet season. Although, as you will hear in the episode, the Big Hole needs more than a wet season to offset the effects of climate change.
Author Pat Munday once referred to the Big Hole River as “Montana’s Last Best River.” The multitudes who cherish the Big Hole, be they ranchers, anglers, photographers or outfitters, would likely agree with Munday’s assessment.
They would probably concur also that the river is in peril - facing threats from climate change, prolonged drought, irrigation withdrawals, pollution from nutrients, being loved to death by recreationists, development and more. The summer of 2021 posed grim challenges. Current conditions suggest 2022 might buckle the knees of anyone who cares about the Big Hole River.
On this episode, Duncan Adams, natural resources and outdoors reporter for the Montana Standard, and David McCumber, former Montana Standard editor and Lee Enterprise Local News Director for the West, talk about a four part series from the Butte newsroom on the Big Hole River.
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Elk hunting in Montana has been under the microscope over the last year following a contentious season-setting process and widespread debate about how one of the state's most iconic species, and the lands they roam, are being managed.
New regulations, advisory committees, a new management plan, access agreements and a lawsuit have grabbed headlines as Montana’s hunting community, landowners, lawmakers and state wildlife managers grapple with change and the potential for more changes.
One of the latest debates was sparked by work from an elk management advisory committee that recommends Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks consider what would be a major shakeup for a lot of elk hunters: choosing a weapon and season.
On this week's episode, Tom Kuglin of the Montana State New Bureau discusses a story about this recommendation and others, which has Montana’s hunting world talking.
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Wolverines are a species that often seems part animal and part myth.
With a weasel’s mentality, it’s known for punching well above its weight, thriving in areas where few animals survive and captivating popular fascination. Wolverines are also a species of scientific intrigue, living at very low densities in wild and intact ecosystems that make them a challenge to study.
Several wolverine sightings across Montana captured headlines last winter as rare appearances became an opportunity for experts to share the ecology of this largest member of the weasel family.
On this episode Tom Kuglin, talks about his long-held interest in wolverines, the states management approach to the animal, an unprecedented multi-state study and why wolverines continue to pique our curiosity.
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Each year in late May and early June, trout feast and anglers flock to waterways for the giant salmonfly hatch, when the ecologically vital bugs emerge from streams as nymphs and hatch out of the water into winged adults before reproducing and dying, leaving behind only the "shucks" they emerged from clinging to brush on the shoreline.
Growing up to 3 inches long, adult giant salmonflies are the largest of the stonefly family. They are so substantial that osprey, which generally consume fish, have been observed snatching up airborne salmonflies.
On this week’s episode, Joshua Murdock, outdoors reporter for the Missoulian talks about giant salmonfly populations declining in some streams across the West and how researchers at University of Montana are trying to understand what factors affect a bug that is essential to trout and the economies of fishing towns.
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Montana attracts hunters from all over the world that apply for licenses to hunt deer and elk. Like many states, Montana limits nonresident opportunities via a lottery system, with 17,000 deer-elk combination licenses and 4,600 deer licenses. Now there are more nonresident hunters applying for tags than there are licenses available.
When it comes to which state produces the most nonresident hunters, none come close to the state of Washington.
The Evergreen State accounts for about 17% of all nonresident hunters awarded Montana deer and elk hunting licenses over the last four years, according to data provided by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks through a public information request. That equates to nearly 17,000 of the more than 101,000 licenses distributed from 2019-2022.
The Montana State News Bureau requested zip codes for all nonresidents who received deer-elk combination, elk-combination and deer-combination licenses awarded through the annual lottery.
On this week's episode, Tom Kuglin of the Montana State News Bureau, discusses what he found from looking into Montana's nonresident hunting data.
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In the last few days rivers in south-central and southwest Montana have risen to unprecedented levels, wreaking havoc on the communities along their banks. Images and videos of houses and bridges being washed away in rising floodwaters have populated social media sites. Whole communities in the area are isolated without any road access to them. Law enforcement and government agencies are still conducting search and rescue operations in the region.
Runoff from the Beartooth mountains turned Rock Creek into a raging torrent almost overnight Monday.
Flood damage at the headwaters of the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone national park caused road washouts, bridge failures, rockslides and mudslides.
The Yellowstone River crested at just over 49,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at Corwin Springs in the upper Paradise Valley on Monday, shattering its previous records of 32,200 set in June 1996. Wiping out all roads to Gardiner leaving huge crowds of travelers and residents trapped in the mountain town.
Downstream, floodwaters reached Livingston where the hospital was evacuated and Billings, forcing the city to shut down its water treatment plant.
While many questions remain, on this episode Brett French, outdoors editor for the Billings Gazette discusses what we do know about Montana’s current high water crisis.
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Montana Untamed, hosted by Thom Bridge, covers the state's rugged landscape from hook and bullet to policy and science. Learn more about the new podcast presented by the newsrooms of Lee Enterprises' Montana news organizations.
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