Episodes
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 the Lower 48.
The issue is a tangled bureaucratic web ensnaring two national forests, two states, one Forest Service regional office, a variety of user groups and a history of conflicting management on one shared landscape full of animals who can’t see boundary lines on maps.
With me today is Joshua Murdock, the outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, to help explain the issue.
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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 over $500 mil. In non-resident spending in 2021 alone according to data from Montana’s office of tourism.
A lifelong outdoorsman, Minard is here to talk about his career and provide his wisdom on the past, present and future of hunting and outfitting in Montana.
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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 retired about his studies in the park.
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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 Coccoli, Director of Conservation Programs for the Boone and Crockett Club.
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AI has come for the animals.
When the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks unveiled its 43rd annual photo issue of Montana Outdoors on Jan. 1, the magazine carried an explanation on page 1: Magazine staff, editor Tom Dickson wrote the magazine had gone to great lengths to verify that photos submitted for the issue were, in fact, photos.
Dickson's concern was that images produced by generative artificial intelligence — AI programs that create new material in response to a prompt — now often appear as realistic as actual photographs and could be submitted to the magazine for publication.
On today's episode, Joshua Murdock, natural resources reporter for the Missoulian newspaper, discusses his reporting on AI-generated wildlife imagery.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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According to Dr. Matt Rinella, The grass-roots traditions that have defined hunting in America are being displaced by a hyper-commercialized pay-to-play model.
In response, he has created an organization called Hunt Quietly, and what he calls a movement to combat this tainting of the principles of hunting.
Through his writing and podcast he has stirred controversy and prompted plenty of debate in the hunting community.
Rinella, a research ecologist by day and lifelong hunter joins me on today's episode to explain his stance.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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As the year comes to a close I thought it would be a good time to gather our team of outdoors writers and put a bow on it.
I asked the reporters to send me some of their most important stories from 2023 so we could re-hash them for folks as the last episode of the year.
So with me today is Rob Chaney and Joshua Murdock, from the Missoulian, Brett French from the Billings Gazette, and Duncan Adams from the Montana Standard. All familiar voices if you’ve listened to the show in the past.
Some of these stories will also be familiar to habitual listeners. Topics we’ll discuss today will be E-Bikes in National Parks, Snowbowl ski area, tribal Bison hunting outside Yellowstone, and Anaconda’s urban mule deer.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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As the federally-protected grizzly bear continues to make its life outside of the wilderness enclaves of its recovery zones it is met with human civilization and the problems that arise as a result.
The folks whose lives and livelihood are on the line in these situations are the farmers and ranchers who work the land where civilization and wilderness meet.
In 2017, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks created the prairie grizzly bear team in response to the expanding grizzly bear population of the NCDE making its way from the mountains to the prairie.
What follows is a conversation I had earlier this year with Wesley Sarmento, the head of that prairie bear team.
This episode was recorded as we bumped along dirt roads outside Conrad, Montana. Sound quality may vary.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Endangered Species Act turns 50 this December. Often called “the pit-bull of environmental statutes,” the ESA has given federal protection to more than 2,000 animals and plants.
It has also drawn critics who claim it takes away property rights and hurts economic development.
After half a century of recovery efforts, only a few hundred species have got delisted. On the other hand, the whole world faces a biodiversity crisis, with more than 44,000 species threatened with extinction. And the ESA has been the international model law for how to save what the world has left.
Some of the ESA’s biggest struggles have happened in Montana, including fights over gray wolves, grizzly bears, bull trout and sage grouse. As the law reaches its 50-year anniversary, a group of reporters scanned the state to see how it’s working and what its future holds.
With me today is Rob Chaney, leader of the project, to give us a primer on 50 years of the law and what readers can expect from the reporting,
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Last April, Scott Snelson was quietly transferred from his post at the Spotted Bear District to a desk job at the Flathead National Forest headquarters at the behest of then Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele. Snelson finished his career as a staff officer of recreation, engineering, heritage and land. He retired a few weeks ago.
Snelson had a long career with the Forest Service before being named district ranger in 2017,
He expected to spend his final years of his career managing one of the most coveted ranger districts in the U.S. The Spotted Bear is more than 1 million acres, with 850,000 of those acres part of the 1.6 million-acre Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.
But instead of being a dream job, it became increasingly difficult under Steele’s leadership, Snelson told the Hungry Horse News in an interview last week.
That’s an excerpt from a piece written by Chris Peterson, editor of the Hungry Horse News, and he’s with me today to discuss his reporting.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Thirty-one years ago, 1,321 mule deer were shot by hunters in Hunting District 502 — a record high.
In 2021, the total mule deer harvest in HD 502 was 477.
There are a number of hunting regulations being proposed for big game species in Montana that the Fish and Wildlife Commission has on its Dec. 14 meeting agenda.
Anyone interested in their hunting district or region should check out the online information to be informed about what is going on. Ideally, most hunters have already taken part in one of the many meetings offered around the state.
In looking at the proposals before the commission, Billings Gazette outdoor editor Brett French noted one common theme popping up across the state, declining mule deer numbers.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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In late October, what appears to be an adult male grizzly bear was captured on a game camera in the Missouri Breaks.
Although tracks of grizzlies have been found farther east, in the Winifred area, this was the first photographic evidence of a grizzly so far from the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
The photo is both surprising, in that a bear made it so far without getting into trouble with humans, and not surprising, because grizzlies have been pushing east for more than a decade.
What may help this bear survive is that it has reached a large swath of public land, including the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
Here to talk about his reporting on the subject is Billings Gazette outdoor editor Brett French.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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