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Eastern Plains Economic Development Corporation (EPEDC) recently announced a community grant award. By collaborating closely with Makoshika State Park, Friends of Makoshika, and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF), EPEDC successfully facilitated a grant from RMEF to support Makoshika State Park’s youth archery program. The Friends of Makoshika, in partnership with Makoshika State Park, have been awarded a generous $9,852 grant from RMEF. This crucial funding will be used to purchase essential equipment, including t...
Montana's two-day, youth-only deer hunt is coming up Oct. 17 and 18, and general deer season opens Oct. 26. Now is a good time to consider signing up for the Apprentice Hunter Program and the application is available on Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' website at fwp.mt.gov/hunt/education/apprentice-hunter. The apprentice hunter program allows people ages 10 and older to hunt as apprentices with a mentor for two seasons without completing a Hunter Education course. People...
MILES CITY – The good news is that a very popular dinosaur fossil that was a fixture alongside one of Makoshika State Park's hiking trails has not been stolen, vandalized or damaged; rather, it has been excavated by Museum of the Rockies. It's a bit of a shock to visitors who have become accustomed to seeing the hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur, vertebrae along the Diane Gabriel Trail. But its connection to the park will live on. The plan is for Museum of the Rockies to t...
The Montana Stockgrowers Foundation (MSF) is now accepting donations for its Wildfire Relief Fund which benefits Montana livestock producers affected by fires. Currently donations are focused on the Remington Fire in southeastern Montana, which as of Tuesday morning has grown to over 196,000 acres. In addition to financial support, which is the most immediate need, the Wildfire Relief Fund page also offers a form that can be filled out for in-kind donations like hay, feed, pasture, fencing supplies, etc. In-kind donation...
Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative, Inc., recently released a payment of capital credits to the cooperative’s members and patrons, with a capital credit retirement totaling $1,134,545.95. The 2024 retirement includes a portion of the 1996 patronage allocation and portion of the 2023 patronage allocation. Retirement and payment of capital credits is made only if the financial condition of the cooperative permits, as determined by the board of trustees. For the first time, Mid-Rivers was able to apply the retirement amounts as c...
As chair of the Montana Land Board, Governor Greg Gianforte recently led the state's purchase of more than 50,000 acres of habitat conservation leases (HCL) to increase public access, keep agricultural land in production, and conserve prairie habitats. With the support of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP), conservation groups, and farmers and ranchers, the governor and members of the land board celebrated the approval to purchase eight private properties to enroll as HCLs....
For the second time in as many months, a state district court judge has sided with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and hunting groups in a lawsuit over elk management. The dispute relates to a 2003 law directing Fish, Wildlife and Parks to manage elk "at or below" the sustainable populations established in the state's elk management plan. Two years ago, the United Property Owners of Montana, a membership-based nonprofit that promotes its members' business interests, sued FWP,...
Last week, hunters were notified if they successfully drew an antelope license for the upcoming season. The number of licenses drawn in each hunting district were based on recommendations Fish, Wildlife & Parks' biologists made after they completed aerial surveys of antelope herds during the last few weeks. Surveys showed that antelope populations are stable in most regions, with some increases in particular hunting districts. FWP determines the number of licenses issued for...
HELENA – The Montana Department of Revenue (DOR) will soon be distributing its second round of property tax rebates to eligible Montana taxpayers as part of a property tax relief package signed into law by Governor Greg Gianforte in 2023. The property tax rebate is a rebate of up to $675 of property taxes paid on a principal residence. To qualify, you must have owned and lived in a Montana residence for at least seven months of 2023 and paid the property taxes on that residence. Properties owned by an entity and i...
As of Aug. 1, the Office of Public Instruction's employment portal listed 853 active job postings for licensed public school positions in Montana. The postings include openings for teachers, counselors, administrators and paraprofessionals in school districts across Montana, and may capture some redundant listings or positions that have recently been filled. With the start of the 2024-25 school year approaching, Montana schools of all sizes are once again contending with the...
Montana will receive $700 million to advance the nation's first transmission project bridging the eastern and western grids, a step described as critical to U.S. energy reliability. The U.S. Department of Energy grant, announced Tuesday by Gov. Greg Gianforte in a press release, will advance the North Plains Connector, a 415-mile, high voltage, direct-current line between Montana's Colstrip substation and Center, North Dakota. The 525-kilovolt line could be the first...
Governor Greg Gianforte recently announced that Montana's unemployment rate remained at 3.1% in June. The national unemployment rate rose to 4.1%. "With more Montanans working now than ever before, we saw another month of steady employment increases across industries," Gov. Gianforte said. "Thanks to our pro-business, pro-jobs policies, we're creating an environment where businesses can thrive, create more good-paying jobs, and increase opportunities for all Montanans." Total...
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is seeking public input as it overhauls mule deer management and works to understand what's driving down mule deer populations in eastern Montana. In a news release last week, FWP began soliciting public input on 11 guiding principles that the Mule Deer Citizen Advisory Council has developed to form the foundation of a new mule deer management plan. The principles include increasing mule deer populations, using the best available science to...
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is looking for public feedback on work from a citizen advisory council tasked with developing guiding principles for developing a new Mule Deer Management Plan. "We know how concerned people are with mule deer numbers across the state," said FWP Director Dustin Temple. "Our focus is developing a new plan that will guide our efforts to manage herds well into the future. The council's work is a critical first step for our planning process." In...
Mid-Rivers accepted a new Universal Service Funding (USF) offer and a new associated build-out obligation in late 2023, providing revenue certainty for the next fifteen years and allowing the cooperative to cut the timeline nearly in half for the remaining rural fiber build-out. The new Enhanced A-CAM support program includes an historic 100 percent build-out obligation in traditional rural service areas, with an aggressive deadline of December 31, 2028. This presents a...
The Bureau of Land Management is approving seven herbicide active ingredients to control noxious weeds and invasive species on public lands. The decision published recently in the Federal Register, and BLM field and district offices can now begin considering the use of these tools in efforts to control and eradicate noxious weeds and invasive plant species on the public lands they manage. "One of BLM's highest priorities is to promote ecosystem health, and one of the greatest...
Mountain lion hunters who are applying for a Limited Mountain Lion License need to apply online no later than 11:45 p.m. MDT on July 22, or at an FWP office no later than 5 p.m. on July 22. For those hunters who apply for a Limited Mountain Lion License and are not successful in drawing that license, they are not eligible to purchase an Unlimited Mountain Lion License. Unsuccessful Limited Mountain Lion License applicants are eligible to purchase an over-the-counter Restricted Mountain Lion License, which is valid during the...
The 2024 paddlefish season for the yellow tag area of the Yellowstone and lower Missouri rivers ended June 30, short of the harvest cap of 1,000 fish. The overall harvest estimate was 782 paddlefish, and female paddlefish represented 43 percent of the total harvest. Harvest estimates for the past two seasons were 776 in 2023 and 769 fish in 2022, continuing the trend toward a more dispersed fishery since open river passage began with the new Intake Bypass Channel near Glendive. It was also an average year for tag sales, with...
Montana State University Extension’s Local Government Center will provide support to the 43 municipalities and 12 counties in Montana that are participating in the decennial local government review. The MSU Extension Local Government Center will provide training for study commissioners, including a July 24 online training, and support municipalities and counties through the process, according to MSU Extension Local Government Center Director Dan Clark. Clark said Local Government Center staff want to “take the mystery” out o...
Visit Southeast Montana announces the new Executive Board of Directors for fiscal year 2024-25. Jessica Malone, chair, represents Powder River County; Sabre Moore, past chair, represents Carter County; Morgan Belveal, vice-chair, represents Musselshell County; and Ali Baue, secretary/treasurer represents Treasure County. Michelle Williams, executive director of The Depot in Billings, joins the Board of Directors as representative for Yellowstone County. Other members of the...
Eastern Plains Economic Development Corporation (EPEDC) is pleased to announce the receipt of $200,000 from the Montana Department of Commerce under the Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund Grant Program. This significant grant award will bring crucial support to businesses across the Eastern Plains region The funding will play a pivotal role in driving economic growth and sustainability within the 5 county region. By providing essential resources for local businesses, the...
In recent months, three local boys have caught national attention after discovering a juvenile tyrannosaurus rex while on a fossil hunting hike in the badlands near Marmarth, ND. Brothers Liam and Jessin Fisher, along with their cousin Kaiden Madsen made what they would soon learn to be a remarkable find in the summer of 2022. With the help of family friend, paleontologist, and curator of paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Tyler Lyson, the work towards...
A pair of federal court injunctions have frozen elements of a student loan repayment plan scheduled to roll out next week, with one of the rulings arising from a lawsuit filed by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Republican attorneys general in 10 other states. The injunctions, issued Monday evening by federal judges in Kansas and Missouri, temporarily block the final phase of President Joe Biden’s Saving on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan set to go into effect July 1. That final phase included lowering the cap on m...
If you type the search word "legacy" into a search engine, you'll see it defined as "the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person's life". If you type the search words "Juvenile t-rex North Dakota" into a search engine, you'll be greeted with 6 pages of news stories covering the remarkable discovery made by Marmarth's own Fisher family. In the summer of 2022 while out on a hike, the Fisher brothers, Liam and Jessin, al...
Monday, alongside Wildlife Manager Brett Dorak, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Director Dustin Temple held a press conference to address the status of eastern Montana's mule deer. "Our job at FWP is to manage Montana's wildlife resources by providing full contextual, transparent, accurate data with full context," Director Temple said. "Across the state, we are making the effort to ensure our management of mule deer is based on the best science and data." FWP biologists have...
