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 different areas – the Cabinet-Salish mountains, along the Rocky Mountain Front and in the Big Hole Valley. Last ...
Dec 06, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 109
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...
Nov 14, 2024•30 min•Season 1Ep. 108
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 Recreati...
Oct 31, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 107
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 ...
Oct 17, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 106
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 ...
Oct 03, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 105
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.
Sep 19, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 104
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 Departme...
Sep 05, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 103
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 ...
Aug 22, 2024•28 min•Season 1Ep. 103
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....
Aug 08, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 102
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 encounte...
Jul 25, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 101
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 clai...
Jul 18, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 100
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...
Jun 25, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 99
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 backcoun...
Jun 19, 2024•38 min•Season 1Ep. 98
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...
Jun 12, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 97
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 ...
May 28, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 95
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 th...
May 21, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 94
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 criteri...
May 14, 2024•18 min•Season 1Ep. 93
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...
May 07, 2024•20 min•Season 1Ep. 92
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....
Apr 30, 2024•23 min•Season 1Ep. 91
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 & Par...
Apr 25, 2024•24 min•Season 1Ep. 90
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 Supr...
Apr 09, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 89
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 ...
Apr 02, 2024•19 min•Season 1Ep. 88
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 sam...
Mar 26, 2024•15 min•Season 1Ep. 87
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 s...
Mar 12, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 86
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 hunti...
Feb 29, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 85
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 resol...
Feb 20, 2024•22 min•Season 1Ep. 84
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 t...
Feb 13, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 83
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 ov...
Feb 08, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 82
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 r...
Jan 30, 2024•17 min•Season 1Ep. 81
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 ...
Jan 24, 2024•41 min•Season 1Ep. 79
