Guy Alsentzer

State lawmakers in 2021 directed Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality to change rules about nutrient pollution in waterways. Now, state environmental regulators have scrapped draft rules for new water quality standards.

A Montana district court judge struck down a proposed subdivision in Broadwater County because there wasn’t enough water to support the development.

In 2016 Montana became one of the first states to adopt numeric standards for certain river systems. Now, under a law passed during the last legislative session, it’s become the first to repeal them.

Where there are stressed fish, there are stressed fishing guides. As Montana and much of the west feel the effects of persistent drought, those with a line in the future of the state’s fisheries are navigating high temperatures, low flow and closures across the state.