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 mo...
Oct 27, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 20
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 l...
Oct 20, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 19
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 ed...
Oct 13, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 18
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...
Oct 06, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 17
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’...
Sep 29, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 16
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 road...
Sep 22, 2022•18 min•Season 1Ep. 15
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 ...
Sep 15, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 14
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 toda...
Sep 08, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 13
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 mor...
Sep 01, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 12
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 mult...
Aug 25, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 11
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 Mar...
Aug 18, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 10
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 M...
Aug 11, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 9
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 cou...
Aug 04, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 8
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 ca...
Jul 28, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 7
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 tha...
Jul 21, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 6
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 ...
Jul 14, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 5
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 expert...
Jul 07, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 4
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, ha...
Jun 30, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 3
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 non...
Jun 23, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 2
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 ...
Jun 16, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1
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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 14, 2022•2 min
