Montana Untamed

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.

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 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 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.