Environment

Missoula is the first, and only, city in Montana to manage parks without the use of pesticides. While the city has piloted this approach in several parks, some residents would like to see the efforts expand.

Montana has some of the largest intact grassland ecosystems in North America. And that same land is also cattle country. Collaborations and innovative techniques that try to bring biodiversity back – from the soil to the sky – are on the rise in Montana, finding a way to try to balance running cattle, saving birds, and maintaining the last of the prairie.

Knapweed and leafy spurge don't have many fans in these parts. Nobody makes the drive from Texas to pose with them and post the photos on Instagram. Invasive species aren't usually something to celebrate, because they can wreak havoc on native ecosystems in ways impossible to undo. But other invaders have gotten a much warmer welcome. One listener wonders why some non-native species – like brown trout and rainbows – are so valued in Montana.

Eight-hundred acres of western Montana habitat is now protected from future development. A new conservation easement helps anchor a safe passage for wildlife to move between valleys.

A federal appeals court rejected a suit filed by 22 young Montanans that challenges several executive orders signed by President Trump in early 2025.

Mountain goat populations have been on the decline in Montana for 70 years. Researchers are working to learn more about the nimble climbers, which means going where the goats go – and that's easier said than done. But no mountain is too high, no weather too extreme to stop us from answering this week's question: What happened to the mountain goat population in the Bitterroot Mountains?

The Trump Administration is fast-tracking logging on more than 100 million acres of Forest Service land. But some locals are pushing back against one of the projects just north of Yellowstone National Park.

There are now more grizzly bears in more places in and around Yellowstone National Park than at any time in over a century. But until this spring, the population lacked genetic diversity. Montana Public Radio’s Nick Mott reports on how fresh bear genes got into Yellowstone, and what it could mean for the bears' endangered species protections.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed President Trump’s nominee to lead the country’s largest land management agency. Stevan Pearce has been criticized by public lands advocates for his past support of selling off or transferring ownership of federal lands.

Public libraries have books, magazines, movies and … fresh air? Missoula Public Library and its satellite campuses have been set up as spaces where people can gather during hot, smoky days and breathe clean air.