Nick Mott

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. Find out now on The Big Why.

Yellowstone employs more than 3,000 people at peak season, finding enough affordable housing for them has long been a problem.

Yellowstone National Park has received an anonymous $40 million gift to fund affordable housing for employees. Affordable housing is an issue for national park employees across the country.

A $40 million dollar gift will help Yellowstone National Park address its critical need for more employee housing. A state education panel Thursday finalized contracts with 19 new public charter schools set to open in cities across Montana.

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?

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.