Nick Mott

A Helena listener had a long-simmering curiosity about a relic of Montana history that still sits just across the Beaverhead River from Twin Bridges: The old Montana State Orphanage built in 1894. We took a look around with one of the previous residents. Join us for the tour, on this episode of The Big Why.

In Lauren’s conversation with podcasters and authors Nick Mott and Justin Angle, the three talk about the nuances of wildfire: ‘This is Wildfire: How to Protect Yourself, Your Home, and Your Community in the Age of Heat’ (Bloomsbury Publishing) “offers everything you need to know about fire in one useful volume.”

Authorities have been unable to find the bear that killed a woman near Yellowstone National Park late last month. The attack has renewed calls to take grizzlies off the endangered species list.

In Montana, we're used to hitting the water in our tubes, rafts or waders and going wherever the river takes us. Anyone can recreate on streams in the state below the high-water mark — no matter who owns the land beneath them. This isn't possible in most of the country. How did we end up with such strong stream access protections, and what does the law's future look like?

Montana’s frontier days were stuffed with gold, greed and political corruption — and all three played a part in drawing the state’s western boundary with Idaho. A listener wants to know how that squiggly line came to be. How did Montana get its shape? Learn more in this episode of the Big Why.

This week, we’re tackling more of a “big where” than a why. A listener wants to know, where does our recycling go in Montana?

Why so many "Bald" mountains? Why Native place-names matter. Chouteau or Choteau? Gardiner or Gardner? We sort it out on The Big Why.

If you've ever seen or experienced a pickup pull alongside or in front of you and then belch out a huge cloud of black or gray exhaust — well, you've just been coal-rolled. But why?

Major flooding in south central Montana has destroyed homes, roads and bridges. Reporter Nick Mott lives in Livingston, where the Yellowstone River crested around 11 p.m. last night. He describes what the town looks like today.

States neighboring Yellowstone National Park have eased rules on hunting wolves, resulting in the most being killed in nearly a century