Environment

Nearly 45-million acres of national forest lands that have been protected for 25 years could open up to logging. The Trump administration Tuesday proposed a new regulation that would remove what’s known as the “roadless rule.” MTPR’s Aaron Bolton spoke with Ellis Juhlin from the Montana Free Press about the latest in a decades-old fight over where the federal government allows logging.

An atmospheric river swept across the Pacific Northwest last December, dropping more than a foot of rain – and tens of millions of dollars in damages – in portions of the Cabinet Mountains. Work repairing and stabilizing a stretch of northwest Montana’s flood-damaged Libby Creek is now complete.

The Flathead National Forest has approved a plan to replace and modernize a wastewater treatment system for western Montana’s Holland Lake Lodge.

The state is looking for public comment on a potential tungsten mine in the Flint Creek Range of southwest Montana. Comments will be accepted until Friday, Aug. 14.

Northwest Montana has a below-average huckleberry crop this year. That means bears are now looking for alternative food sources and getting into trouble as a result.

Bozeman and Missoula declared 100% clean electricity goals in 2019 and have been chipping away at this effort ever since. Now both cities have committed to a new renewable energy plan that gets them closer to carbon neutrality by 2030.

Back in early spring Montana’s summer drought conditions were expected to be a lot worse than they currently are. June storms brought some relief, but the long-term outlook is less encouraging.

A federal judge ruled in favor of conservation groups this month in a decision against allowing increased road building in the Bitterroot National Forest. The lawsuit, filed in 2024, argued federal agencies didn’t take a hard enough look at the impacts of roads on threatened species.

Researchers continue to find PFAS, or 'forever chemicals,' in Montana’s waterways. The latest samples come from Flathead Lake. Advocates are calling for more attention and funding to research these substances.

Some Montana nonprofits that rely on federal grants say they’re not getting the funds they’ve already been awarded. The problem extends far beyond the Treasure State.