Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/tag/bureau-of-land-management/)
A handful of conservation groups and Montana landowners are protesting several oil and gas leases offered by the Bureau of Land Management along the banks of the Yellowstone River. Opponents said the leases aren’t suitable for the area, which relies on revenue generated by tourism and outdoor recreation. (more…) Continue Reading →
During a firefighting operation in north-central Montana last month, helicopter crews hit the wildfire with water scooped from manmade ponds on the site of the abandoned Zortman-Landusky Mines. Last Best News contacted the Department of Environmental Quality after hearing rumors that the helicopters mistakenly used water from the ponds, and that the supposedly toxic water had damaged land in the path of the fire. (more…) Continue Reading →
Two things surprised me about Vince Larsen’s obituary, which appeared in the Gazette on Tuesday. The first surprise was his age. I don’t know that I ever thought how old he was, but 87? Vince had the energy and the intellectual curiosity of someone half that age, and he had a way of transmitting his enthusiasm for life to everyone around him. (more…) Continue Reading →
I looked at the fishing pole he handed me. He looked so excited when he placed it in my lap. It was my birthday. My mind was swimming. I came from a family where fishing was done one week of the year when we vacationed on a lake in Wisconsin. Continue Reading →
The landscapes of the West, some of them at least, remain powerfully evocative. The Upper Missouri River Breaks is one of those landscapes, offering a procession of historical events that capture the imagination. (more…) Continue Reading →
A couple of visitors to Riverfront Park paused on the trail overlooking the Yellowstone River near South Bridge Thursday afternoon, looks of confusion on their faces. Fortunately, Al Nash was nearby and he explained that the sight of 11 people in haz-mat gear was nothing to worry about. (more…) Continue Reading →
Karen Stevenson remembers talking to a Miles City Economic Development Council class this winter in Miles City about the Buttes, Breaks, and Badlands map published last fall by the Montana Wilderness Association. Subtitled “Off the Beaten Path in Southeast Montana,” the two-sided map pinpoints dozens of parks, wildland areas, camping, hiking and birding locales, historic sites, areas of geologic and paleontological interest, battle sites, museums, restaurants and watering holes from Roundup to Alzada and Belfry to Sidney. (more…) Continue Reading →
In the Billings area, there is nothing quite like the Four Dances Natural Area. Located high above the Yellowstone across the river from the site of old Coulson, the town that preceded Billings, the natural area affords spectacular views of the valley and of the city itself. (more…) Continue Reading →
In the summer of 2013, when I was working on a story for the Montana Quarterly about the Shonkin Sag and Lost Lake, the Sag’s most spectacular geological feature, I was continually amazed at how little known they were. I made a point of asking every native Montanan I ran into, including a handful of native Montanans who also happened to be geologists, about the Shonkin Sag, located southeast of Great Falls. (more…) Continue Reading →
When you think of an “artist-in-residence,” you probably picture an artist spending a certain amount of time at a museum, school or some other institution. For Livingston watercolorist Paul Tunkis, an upcoming artist-in-residence program will mean spending a little more than two weeks in a canoe on the Missouri River. (more…) Continue Reading →
