Somewhere in Montana, it will happen. Many places, actually — maybe in your town. And it’ll happen this summer. But nobody knows exactly when, where or how bad. 

Wildfire is an inherent part of life in the American West. In recent years, a warming climate has increasingly led to larger and more destructive wildfires becoming more common. But that’s an average trend over time. 

So, what about this fire season? Will blazing infernos turn Montana into ash? Or will the state escape widespread devastation? 

With me today is Joshua Murdock, the Missoulian’s outdoor recreation and natural resources reporter. Joshua has reported on wildfires around Montana and the West for the Missoulian and other papers.

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The Beartooth Pass climbs between Wyoming and Montana at an elevation close to 11,000 feet.

The route through the Beartooth Mountains, Highway 212 between Cooke City and Red Lodge, contains the highest mountains in the state. Because of its elevation, the high landscape is a fragile tundra ecosystem where roads not driven in 50 years are still visible on the landscape.

The highway opens on Friday morning, prior to the Memorial Day weekend. And because so much snow is piled atop the pass, skiers and snowboarders come from around the West to carve a few final turns before summer.

Lately, however, snowmobile use atop the pass has increased. The machines are used to tow skiers back up the mountains, as well as just to ride. As a result, there’s a crowding issue and fears of damage to the fragile environment.

Brett French, Outdoors editor at the Billings Gazette, talks about the situation on this episode.

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Brad Orsted wanted to get better.

Facing the unimaginable loss of his infant daughter Marley while in his mother’s care, and the extreme guilt of unanswered questions surrounding her death, Orsted spent years meeting with doctors and therapists. They prescribed medications and therapy sessions as he self-medicated with alcohol, haunted by memories of Marley and spiraling downward into suicide scenarios.

But what Orsted could not find in the bottom of a bottle of pills or vodka, he finally found in the wilds of Yellowstone National Park. The wildlife advocate, photographer and filmmaker chronicles his story in the new book “Through the Wilderness: My Journey of Redemption and Healing in the American Wild,” laying bare in the land of bears his path to recovery.

If you are in crisis and want help, call the Montana Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Crisis Lifeline, 24/7, at 988 or by texting “MT” to 741741.

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As we plan and plant our gardens this spring, consider the mountain lion.

The stealthy predators are strictly meat eaters, but what and where they kill provides nutrients for the soil and promotes plant growth. It’s an odd concept examined in a recent study by the big cat conservation group Panthera. From 2014 to 2018, the group collared 50 mountain lions and tracked them to identify kill sites. Once identified, the researchers collected soil and plant samples, comparing them from the kill site to nearby areas.

The results proved what most gardeners already know, adding nutrients to the soil can boost plant growth. Billings Gazette Outdoor editor Brett French recently wrote about the study and talks about its findings.

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The 68th legislative session adjourned in a whirlwind Tuesday evening, with lawmakers making their final votes on spending and social bills.

While unprecedented events over the last two week including protests and arrests grabbed national headlines, in other areas of the Capitol lawmakers debated some of the final bills dealing with hunting, fishing and access. Wildlife legislation often brings some of the biggest debates of the session, and while we did see plenty of strong opinions, this session came in with a bit of a different tone and that seemed to carry through.

I’m joined today by Tom Kuglin with the Montana State News Bureau. You’ve been following wildlife and access bills for the last few sessions, so what stood out to you.

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Bighorn sheep are an iconic species in Montana and the West.

Rams, which can grow large curving horns, are prized by trophy hunters who will pay thousands of dollars at annual auctions to secure a permit to hunt. Yet the species has been plagued by small populations in many herds, die-offs due to disease and limited success when animals from healthy herds are transplanted to create new populations.

Recently, Billings Gazette Outdoor editor Brett French wrote an article about Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks launching new studies to help guide their bighorn sheep management. 

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The image went around the country in days: A man clinging to a broken chairlift 20 feet above the ground, one ski off, moments before he had no choice but to jump. What the image didn’t show was that moments before, the man’s 4-year-old son had fallen off the chair when it broke. 

It happened at Montana Snowbowl ski area just north of Missoula, back in March. The incident sparked an outcry from the community and prompted the U.S. Forest Service to investigate the safety and operations of Snowbowl. And it’s spurred questions about why Montana deregulated chairlift safety in the late ‘90s. 

With me today is Joshua Murdock. He’s a reporter at the Missoulian who covers outdoor recreation, natural resources and land management agencies like the Forest Service. He’s been following the situation at Snowbowl and investigated chairlift safety there and more broadly in Montana. He’s also an avid skier, including at Snowbowl and other small ski areas around the West. 

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Freight train derailments in the U.S. have come under increasing scrutiny since a train carrying hazardous materials derailed and burned in East Palestine, Ohio, in early February. 

Montana is no stranger to freight train derailments. In 1996, a train derailed near Alberton and released chlorine. Some residents still live with health problems from chemical exposure. And, just this past Sunday, April 2, a freight train derailed near Paradise, spilling thousands of beers into the Clark Fork River. 

With me today is Joshua Murdock, a reporter at the Missoulian. He reports on outdoor recreation, natural resources and the environment. He was at the site of Sunday’s derailment and is reporting on the incident. 

He’s also spent hours interviewing Missoula author Ron Scholl, a leading expert on chemical spills from train derailments who says that Alberton holds lessons for East Palestine. 

Josh has also reported on how hazardous materials transported by train are largely kept secret from the public, including from the communities they pass through. 

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With large ear tufts and feet built for hunting snowshoe hares in deep powder, the Canada lynx is an elusive species prowling parts of Montana.

Lynx range from Canada and Alaska south into a few states in the lower 48. While no large scale population estimates are available, scientists believe that northwest Montana and northern Idaho likely have the strongest populations, and that is important when considering factors that may put stress on the cats in the future.

A recent study completed by Washington State University and published in the Journal of Wildlife Management gives us our first population estimate for Glacier National Park. 

On this episode Tom Kuglin of the Montana States News Bureau talks about his reporting on the study.

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Montana’s only wild horse herd is found in south-central Montana’s Pryor Mountains. This is an area of extremes. The lowlands are desert-like, while the mountain tops rise to more than 8,700 feet. Across about 42,000 acres of this rugged land a herd of about 205 are spread across lands managed mostly by the Bureau of Land Management, but also the Custer Gallatin National Forest and the National Park Service.

The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is one of only four designated wild horse and burro ranges in the country, which means the area is managed principally, but not exclusively, for wild horses.

These horses were made famous by documentary filmmaker Ginger Kathrens. Her films following the stallion known as Cloud from birth his birth in 1995 to adulthood have drawn visitors to the region from around the world. 

Recently, the BLM released a proposed management plan that would reduce the herd, an always controversial topic among wild horse advocates. The federal agency would prefer to see the herd cut to no more than about 120 horses. To do that, the BLM is proposing “gathers” that would trap horses that could then be adopted out.

To learn more about this unique horse population, I talked with Brett French, outdoor editor of the Billings Gazette.

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