Supporters, opponents of Black Butte Copper Mine agree the river’s magnificent In the thousands of comments on the proposed Black Butte Copper Mine near the headwaters of the Smith River, two sides were clear: those who wanted the Smith to...
A controversial plan for a water bottling plant in the Flathead Valley has received a key approval for water rights from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The Montana Artesian Water Company’s bottling plant near Creston could ultimately...
In a state with fast horses and fast skiers, linking the two and racing around a track seems only natural. Skijoring season is in full swing in the West. At Lincoln, Montana, on Jan. 22, the skiers caught air and...
Looking for something fun and different in Central Montana this weekend? Why not come out to Lincoln for a two-day extravaganza of skijoring, which is a lot like skiing except the skiers can’t just slow themselves down when the horse...
There’s Many Fish in the Sea, But There’s Only One Big Spring Creek Lewistown, Montana has some of the most pristine water in the entire country. Big Spring Creek -- the main source of their water supply -- originates seven...
Small Towns Left Paying the Tab for Local School Funding Shift Last November, some lawmakers emerged from Montana’s Special Legislative Session crowing that they had solved the state’s budget crisis without raising taxes. But Montanans across the state will see...
125 Montana Statehouse Seats at Stake In the Montana Legislature, all 100 House seats and 25 of the 50 Senate seats are on the ballot in November. Folks who want to run, or want to convince their friends or neighbors...
Senator Connell and Legislative Water Panel Probe the Future Montana’s disastrous flash drought of 2017 and the million-acre fire season have left many asking: What will the new year bring? And what about all this snow? Weather may be getting...
Cowboy Hats and Ski Boots, Together Downhill skis and fast-galloping horses: It’s amazing that skijoring -- this marriage of Montana transports -- didn’t happen sooner. “Watching a skijoring race is like watching a tornado,” said Ebbie Hansen, a rider and...
Montanans can fight wildfires with land use planning Wildfires make all of us feel useless. After this past summer, and this past decade of increasing frequency of fires, a lot of Montanans are left asking, what can we even do?...
Ruby Valley Produced Upset Winner; Bets Taken Now on Bolt D’Oro Before tractors, hydraulic combines, dirt bikes, and trucks, we Montanans relied on horses for every aspect of life: combining wheat in the fall, tilling the land in the...
There’s Many Fish in the Sea, But There’s Only One Big Spring Creek Lewistown, Montana has some of the most pristine water in the entire country. Big Spring Creek -- the main source of their water supply -- originates seven...
The Value of Agriculture: Welcome to the Ruby Valley Story and Photos by August Schield In Montana, people are bound together by a common landscape. It is the single most underlying substance that all life shares. Air and animals. People...
Lawmaker questions whether violence against nurses is really a problem after hearing directly from nurses The recent violent arrest of a nurse in a Salt Lake City hospital, caught on police video, reminded the world what a dangerous job it...
Feature photo courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management These days, you can easily drive from Billings to Glendive without stopping. At 80 miles per hour, the plains are a blur. But should you choose to slow down, you may...
Written by Laura Nowlin. Feature photo by Reba Ahlgren I have read several stories recently that make life in rural America seem pretty dismal – the population is aging and decreasing, everyone is poorly educated and addicted to drugs, and the land is either not...
Hard Work, Ambition, and Community I’ve lived in Montana my entire life, and the first thing from Montana I ever heard mentioned on TV was Butte. It was mispronounced (as “Butt, Montana”), but it still was on television. I was...
RANCHERS : THE LOCAL CONSERVATIONISTS Story and Photos by August Schield Ranchers are the local conservationists in the Ruby Valley. Here, conservation isn’t only a part of the culture, but also a part of the community. Meet Rick Sandru and...
Load more posts