Montana Wildfire News

Talking about Montana's environment, our public lands and waterways, is one of the fastest ways for politicians to gain credibility here. After all, about a third of the land in this state belongs to you and me. Big, sprawling swaths of natural beauty are a defining feature of Montana. So much so, the preamble to the Constitution goes on at length about the state's landscape. The quiet beauty of our state. The grandeur of our mountains. The vastness of our rolling plains. But when politicians

The deadly wildfires scorching the west coast have produced smoke that has reached the east coast and Europe. The smoke started seeping into Montana last weekend. Health care professionals say it’s taking a toll on our bodies and our minds. MTPR's Edward O'Brien reports.

The critical fire weather and poor air quality across much of Montana will last at least until the end of the week. Almost half of the state’s air monitoring stations bounced between "Unhealthy" and "Moderate" air quality readings Monday afternoon

Western Montana has reaped the benefits of a weather pattern that has kept wildfire smoke at bay. Weather and air quality experts say that will likely change soon.

Coming off Montana’s most active fire weekend of the summer, residents in Bridger Canyon are using the current break in the weather to reflect and regroup from the damage incurred, and avoided, from the Bridger Foothills Fire . MTPR’s Edward O’Brien caught up with two evacuated families.

The state is bracing for yet another round of dangerous wildland fire conditions Saturday, which will soon be followed by unseasonably cool temperatures. National Weather Service Meteorologist Corby Dickerson says the weekend weather forecast is "gonna be a tale of two different weather patterns."

Find the most recent daily update A cold front that swept across the state yesterday fanned several fires that threatened neighborhoods and entire towns. Most evacuated residents are now back in their homes. Damage reports are still incoming. Here's a recap of Montana’s biggest fire day yet in the 2020 season.

The Flathead National Forest released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement last week, moving one step closer to finalizing a 15-year logging and fire mitigation project in the Swan Valley. But critics say the Mid-Swan project, which covers an area larger than Flathead Lake, violates federal law due to the project's lack of specificity.

Thirty-plus years ago when I was studying wildlife management at Oregon State University, we learned that Ceanothus was a highly preferred forage plant for deer and elk during the winter. I knew that Ceanothus was the genus name of a large group of western shrubs and I even knew enough to recognize a few of the individual species back then.

Where there’s smoke, there’s not necessarily fire. Montana’s air quality rapidly deteriorated this week, but the vast majority of the wildfire smoke polluting the state’s air is coming from northern California. Researchers are increasingly concerned about the public health impacts of wildfire smoke. MTPR's Edward O’Brien introduces us to a Montana engineer who researched the efficacy and safety of an inexpensive and increasingly popular "do-it-yourself" home air-filtration system.