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Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 53
At an event last week, NorthWestern Energy outlined its plan to prevent future Hebgen Dam malfunctions like the one that dewatered the Madison River late last year, cutting flow to one of the state's flagship trout streams in half in a matter of minutes. Representatives from the company, which operates the 108-year-old dam under a hydropower license administered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, also presented a plan to monitor the Nov. 30 event's impact on the Madison River's fishery, which is a cornerstone of Madison County's...
Low temperatures and persistent precipitation combined with an unusually high June snowpack to set the stage for historic flooding in southwest and south-central Montana last week. At least five rivers in Park, Carbon and Stillwater counties set all-time records for high flows, wiping out bridges and roads and sending entire buildings downstream in the process. Ed McIntosh, a meteorologist with Billings news station Q2, said a recent cycle of precipitation from the West Coast brought a significant amount of rainfall to southern Montana, where... Full story
The Environmental Protection Agency thwarted Montana lawmakers’ attempt to loosen water quality standards last week, telling the state that it acted out of turn by adopting a new regulatory framework without first obtaining federal approval. In a May 10 letter to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the EPA asserted that a law passed by the Montana Legislature last year runs afoul of the federal Clean Water Act. The agency said it’s concerned that the state’s repeal of numeric standards for nitrogen and phosphorus in water bodie...
Gov. Greg Gianforte asked land managers for their commitment to aggressive initial attack to extinguish all wildfires at a 2022 wildfire briefing in Helena last week. "In Montana, we do not, and will not, have a 'let it burn' policy," Gov. Greg Gianforte told representatives from about a dozen state and federal agencies present at the briefing. "We will respond immediately to fire with one primary goal, and that is to put that fire out as safely and quickly as possible. I appreciate all of your commitment to embrace that strategy along with... Full story
Housing affordability, development and Montana's changing character topped the list of issues Montanans identified as serious problems facing the state in a poll commissioned by University of Montana researchers last month. A striking majority of poll respondents identified "lack of affordable housing" as a problem in Montana, with 77% calling the issue "extremely" or "very" serious. Development sprawling into what were once ranches or open lands was identified as an extremely serious or very serious problem by 55% of respondents. A similar... Full story
BOZEMAN - After six years and tens of thousands of public comments, one of the largest and most popular national forests in the Northern Rockies has a new forest plan to guide its management for the next 15 years. The new forest plan will replace the 1986 and 1987 Custer and Gallatin forest plans. (Custer and Gallatin were combined in 2014. Prior to that they were separate national forests with individual forest plans.) The new plan fleshes out how the U.S. Forest Service will balance... Full story
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission voted last week to close wolf trapping and hunting in southwestern Montana if or when six more wolves are harvested in the region. Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that 20 wolves that roamed out of Yellowstone National Park have been killed this season, the most in any single hunting season since wolf reintroduction in 1995. Park employees have since deemed one pack, the Phantom Lake Pack, "eliminated," according to the story, which re-ignited wildlife advocates' frustration about the... Full story
Road ecologists say wildlife crossings are one of the best ways to reduce wildlife-vehicles collisions and mitigate one of the most significant human impacts on ecosystems. This three-part series examines regional crossing initiatives as the federal government prepares to implement a $350 million pilot project - the largest investment of its kind in U.S. history. This final installment examines the issue on Highway 191, one of Montana's busiest roadways. When wildlife researcher Patricia Cramer... Full story
Road ecologists say wildlife crossings are one of the best ways to reduce wildlife-vehicles collisions and mitigate one of the most significant human impacts on ecosystems. This three-part series examines Montana's approach to crossing initiatives as the federal government prepares to implement a $350 million pilot project - the largest investment of its kind in U.S. history. During a Nov. 17 hearing, Martha Williams answered dozens of questions you'd expect an incoming director of the U.S.... Full story
A federal judge issued an order yesterday blocking the state's top election official from certifying candidates running for the Public Service Commission until the constitutionality of the commission's district map has been evaluated. Read the complaintDownload The Public Service Commission regulates companies that provide energy, garbage and water service to a captive customer base. At issue is whether the map that describes the boundaries of the PSC's five elected district seats should be updated to reflect population growth in the state. In... Full story
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has backpedaled on a controversial elk management strategy after a public response that FWP Director Henry “Hank” Worsech described as a “firestorm.” Even after the department backed away from the most contentious proposal it had planned to present to the Fish and Wildlife Commission, public commenters continued to raise concerns at yesterday’s commission meeting in Helena about a process they said has been rushed and favors large landowners and brings the state closer to privatizing wildlife. In response... Full story
Gov. Greg Gianforte's office announced today that the state is petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove Endangered Species Act protections for grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem, citing robust population counts and touting the state's ability to independently manage Montana's grizzly bears, which have been federally protected since 1975. "We worked on grizzly bear recovery for decades. We were successful and switched to a focus on conflict management... Full story
Near-seasonal flows to the Madison River, one of Montana's most popular fisheries, have been restored following a late-night repair last Thursday to Hebgen Dam's outflow gate. NorthWestern Energy posted on Twitter at 12:33 a.m. Thursday morning that crews repaired Hebgen Dam's outflow gate just before midnight Wednesday and "the water in the river is rising." Early Tuesday morning, flows to the Madison were cut in half when the dam's outflow gate malfunctioned, killing trout that were stranded i... Full story
Like many organizations in Montana, the state's largest food bank has struggled with labor shortages, making it difficult to get a precise count of people using its services, said Billings Food Bank CEO Sheryle Shandy. Anecdotally, though, she said she's noticed the organization's clientele has shifted since the pandemic's start. Before COVID-19, Billings Food Bank's clients were roughly evenly divided into three age groups: 18 and younger, between 19 and 59, and 60 and older. Since the pandemic's start, the food bank has served more people in...
While Montana's outdoor recreation economy wasn't spared the pandemic-spurred losses that swept the globe in 2020, it remained a cornerstone of the state's economy, according to a report released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Outdoor recreation accounted for 4.3% of Montana's GDP last year - a higher percentage than any other state. The next closest was Hawaii, with 3.8%. The report also found that Montana is toward the head of the pack for employment in the outdoor rec sector i... Full story
The drought that has dried out soils, drawn down rivers and reservoirs and challenged agricultural producers, land managers, recreationists and wildlife continues to persist as hydrologists anxiously track the progression of the La Niña weather pattern, hoping for a wet winter to start reversing the worst drought Montana has seen in at least 20 years. During last week's drought and water supply advisory meeting hosted by the Department of Natural Resources, Troy Blandford, water system information officer for the Montana State Library, noted... Full story
Since chronic wasting disease, or CWD, was detected in Montana's wildlife in 2017, the affliction has become increasingly widespread. Though the CWD positivity rate among all deer, elk and moose sampled in the state remains in the single digits, there are parts of the state where enough animals - namely white-tailed deer - have tested positive for CWD that wildlife managers are concerned about population declines like those seen in southeast Wyoming. This CWD primer explains the cause and...
A survey of bear headlines across Montana over the past two months reveals a perilous situation for animals that have become increasingly accustomed to living among humans: "Info sought on grizzly bear death near Seeley Lake"; "Hunters shoot and kill grizzly in self-defense encounter"; "FWP getting multiple calls per day about bear activity in Bozeman"; "UM student reports bear chase"; "Whitefish bear activity underscores need to secure garbage." Based on decades of experience, Missoula-based... Full story
The state's first major winter storm dropped snow on parts of southern Montana early this week, signaling the final act of an active fire season that had prompted Gov. Greg Gianforte to issue a wildfire emergency declaration in July and mobilize hundreds of National Guard troops to assist in suppression efforts. Nearly 940,000 acres have burned across the state this year, the highest tally since the record-setting 2017 season that prompted lawmakers to revisit their budget. Part of the season's...
na's expanded wolf-hunting season earlier this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it has decided to conduct an in-depth status review to determine whether state management plans aiming to aggressively reduce wolf populations threaten the recovery of gray wolves. The agency now has a year to conduct a further review of the species using the best available science to determine whether listing under the Endangered Species Act is warranted. The process was initiated this summer when environmental groups asked the agency to relist the... Full story
The federal government is moving forward with oil and gas leasing on 6,277 acres of Bureau of Land Management property in Montana following a judicial order directing the Department of the Interior to resume lease sales on federal lands. The BLM Montana/Dakotas State Office is asking for public feedback on leases involving 14 parcels in Montana that had been considered for auction before President Joe Biden's pause on new lease sales went into effect. The moratorium was initiated with a Jan. 27 executive order directing the Interior Department...
Nearly 16,000 Montanans who purchased Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance through the marketplace are set to receive partial reimbursement for premiums paid between 2018 and 2020. The Affordable Care Act requires insurers selling plans on the marketplace to spend a certain percentage of the premiums they collect on medical or health-related expenses like doctor visits, drug prescriptions and hospital stays. If an insurance company doesn't meet that requirement, it must issue premium reimbursements to its customers. That threshold, known as a...
On July 12, Florence-based fly-fishing outfitter Jay Dixon took a look at the forecast calling for several days of near triple-digit heat and decided to temporarily close his business during one of the busiest times of the year in what was shaping up to be his busiest season in his 30 years in the business. He'd been watching streamflows plummet, water temperatures rise and angling pressure increase, so he decided to park his drift boat to give the wild trout he's built his business and... Full story
Helena anglers are expressing concern over the loss of surface flow in Beaver Creek, an ecologically important tributary of the Missouri River, following restoration work conducted by the U.S. Forest Service late last year. Buzz Helfert, a 72-year-old East Helena resident, said he spoke with a friend who was unhappy about the stream's loss of flow, so he visited last month to see for himself. He found about a mile of the stream had gone "bone dry," a condition he said he's never seen in his...
As climate change drives up temperatures and creates longer, more expansive droughts, the typically cool, moist high-elevation forests of the central Rockies are burning with greater frequency than any time in the past 2,000 years, according to a study in the upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lead author Philip Higuera, a fire ecologist at the University of Montana, examined paleofire records - data from tree rings and lake sediment - across a broad swath of the central Rockies of Colorado and Wyoming to...
