U.S. Bureau of Land Management

$28 million in federal funding has been designated to support restoration and conservation projects on public lands across the West.

Federal environmental officials released their proposed plan to clean up a defunct aluminum smelter in Columbia Falls. Officials announced that they’re going to spend close to $27 million on three habitat restoration projects across Montana. A Wyoming district court has ruled in favor of hunters who crossed corners between public and private lands.

Our question this week comes from a listener in Helena named Bob Flipovich, who wants to know who owns the most water rights in Montana. Water rights determine who can take water out of our lakes and streams, and how much they can take.

The Montana State Land Board approved the acquisition of almost 6,000 acres in the Big Snowy Mountains on Monday. The land will now become the state’s newest wildlife management area.

Montana’s top forester, Sonya Germann, will become the next Bureau of Land Management director for Montana and the Dakotas next month.

Yellowstone National Park’s northern entrances remain closed after major flooding swallowed roads, bridges and homes. State and federal public land agencies are now anticipating visitors to look for other outdoor recreation opportunities, bringing crowds and tourism dollars to other areas.

The Fort Belknap Indian Community is training its young people to collect native grass seeds and restore their lands into the future.

The Biden administration is planning to sell oil and gas leases on huge tracts of public land in the U.S. West, despite the Interior Department's conclusion that doing so could cost society billions of dollars in climate change impacts, according to government documents.

The U.S. Senate late Thursday narrowly confirmed Montanan Tracy Stone-Manning as the next director of the Bureau of Land Management.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — President Joe Biden's nominee to oversee vast expanses of public land in the U.S. West was criticized Tuesday by Republicans over…