Victoria Traxler
Rural Policy ReporterVictoria Traxler is MTPR’s Rural Policy Reporter. She graduated from Elon University in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and International Studies. She then moved to New Mexico where she worked as a Public Safety Reporter at the Santa Fe New Mexican. Afterwards, she came to Missoula to complete a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism at the University of Montana in 2024. During her time as a graduate student, Victoria interned with MTPR’s news team and fact-checked The Wide Open podcast. When she’s not reporting, she can often be found romping around mountain trails or playing with her tabby cat, Pico.
406 -282-4668
victoria.traxler@mtpr.org
MTPR wants to do a better job delivering news to, and telling stories from, the rural towns and tribal communities in Montana. What issues are at the forefront of your mind, and how are state or federal policies impacting your life?
-
Montana Farmers Union is working to enhance legislative literacy in rural communities. Events demonstrate how to contact representatives and participate in the legislative session. Ag communities have been impacted by several state and federal policy changes in recent years. -
A recent federal court ruling may increase what some Montanans pay for electricity. The order directs certain dams in the northwest to limit the amount of water used for generating electricity. The change marks the latest strain on western electricity cooperatives. -
An elementary school near Great Falls lost a portion of its roof Sunday after severe wind battered the region. -
Controversial BLM director nominee clears first Senate hurdle. Dillon City Council appoints new mayor. Court upholds state law that allows insurance companies to factor gender, marital status into rates. Bozeman-based candidate withdraws from State Department nomination process. -
Severe winter weather arrives in Montana this week leading to the potential for blizzards. Officials are asking people to be wary of travel plans starting Thursday. Schools in the Flathead Valley and Butte will be closed Thursday in preparation for the storm. -
The U.S. Secretary of the Interior met with mining executives and local government officials at the site of the largest Superfund complex in the world to discuss how to revitalize Montana’s former mining hub. -
A 2023 state law requires 10 municipalities to update their land use plans before the end of this May. These plans detail how communities want their growth and development to look over the next two decades. Whitefish is almost done with their plan, but local government is torn on recent revisions. -
Agricultural producers across the nation are aging out. In her podcast Reframing Rural, Montana-born journalist Megan Torgerson explores this issue and others that impact rural communities across the state. In her latest season, Succession Stories, Torgerson asks Montana farmers and ranchers one of the biggest questions they face today: who’s going to take over their land? MTPR’s Victoria Traxler sits down with Torgerson to hear what she learned -
"Harmonic rippling pattern" might seem like a description of the soothing sounds from a white-noise generator lulling you to sleep. That's close. But in this case, the noise machine is your car and the rippling pattern is the washboard road you're bouncing over. One listener wants to know what causes these washboard patterns. -
Lincoln County was hit hard by flooding from winter storms in 2025. Records of major floods in the area date nearly 100 years. A closer look at that history shows decades of mitigation measures, plans and preparations that officials say prevented further catastrophe in December.
