Montana Untamed

Moose were nearly exterminated in Montana in the early 1900s, with their population estimated to have numbered around 100 animals. Now their populations are estimated at somewhere between 9,800 to 11,700 animals A 10-year study conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks into the state’s moose population has provided greater insight to the animals. The study was conducted in three differ...

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, wit...

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 p...

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...

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 prosp...

The 16 th 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...

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...

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 unt...

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. ...

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. O...

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...

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 sp...

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 ov...

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 w...

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...

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...

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 t...

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...

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....

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 hum...

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 c...

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 permanen...

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...

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 creatu...

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...