Milk River runs dry: St. Mary Canal failure disastrous for Hi-Line irrigators

Moose were nearly exterminated in Montana in the early 1900s, with their population estimated to have numbered around 100 animals. Now their populations are estimated at somewhere between 9,800 to 11,700 animals A 10-year study conducted by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks into the state’s moose population has provided greater insight to the animals. The study was conducted in three different areas – the Cabinet-Salish mountains, along the Rocky Mountain Front and in the Big Hole Valley. Last month, Billings Gazette Outdoor editor Brett French spoke with lead research biologist Nick DeCesare about the study for a story.  

Snow-dusted peaks towered in the background, cows lowed in the expansive rangeland and cowboys on horseback moved heifers and steers off trailers. There wasn’t a film camera in sight, but it sure looked, sounded and felt like a scene straight out of the hit television show "Yellowstone.” And Wes Seward certainly looked the part donning his black cowboy hat and worn-in cowboy boots, with a gun holstered on his hip.  But Seward isn’t an actor pretending he’s an agent of the show’s fictional Montana Livestock Association. He is a district livestock investigator for the very real Montana Department of Livestock, a state agency with a history that reaches back to before the state’s formation and a mandate to ensure law and order within the state’s expansive ranching industry.  "Yellowstone" hasn’t just borrowed from Seward’s reality, though. It has changed it, bringing in more people, more animals, more money and more pressure on livestock producers who already face long days and long odds to make a living and to keep Montana’s ranching tradition alive. With me today is Ted McDermott a reporter with Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism who recently reported on the world of livestock police and the effects of the TV show on life in Montana.  

It’s the limestone cathedral of the Smith, the caddis hatch on the Madison, the rushing emerald water of the Flathead that draw more and more people to the arterial waterways of Montana’s wild country. That’s just to name a few. Anyone who’s spent time on a river in Montana in the past decade probably saw a variety of people using the waterways.  Especially since the pandemic, use of the state’s streams has escalated as more people have sought ways to recreate outdoors.  The Montana River Recreation Advisory Council was recently created by Fish, Wildlife & Parks to look into river recreation and all of the issues that come with it. These may include garbage, crowding and sometimes fistfights as tempers escalate. The council recently met over three days to come up with some suggestions for FWP. Here to talk about the group is Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette.  

The series starts with five billboards outside Livingston, Montana and from there it winds through the half-century saga of the Endangered Species Act. The Wide Open, podcast and radio series from Montana Public Radio and the Montana Media Lab tells the story of our changing relationship with the landmark environmental legislation and how it reveals as much about living with each other as it does about living with endangered species. With me on this episode is Nick Mott, an audio journalist who created and produced the show.  

Two years after the public learned of a controversial plan to drastically expand Holland Lake Lodge in western Montana’s Swan Valley, a new suitor is trying to purchase the historic lakeside lodge in far northern Missoula County.  A wealthy businessman originally from Great Falls and a partner teamed up to make the purchase. But after overwhelming public opposition to the previous prospective buyers over the past two years, the public is largely skeptical of the new potential future owners.  With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian, who has covered this issue from the beginning alongside Dave Erickson the business and real estate reporter.  We discussed the backstory of Holland Lake Lodge and the previous proposal on a past Untamed episode.  

The 16th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem held at Big Sky recently covered a wealth of topics about the region, which includes southwestern Montana. Brett French, outdoor editor at the Billings Gazette, attended one day of the three-day event. From that, he’s written stories regarding the pressures facing the region that national park and forest officials are seeing, as well as talks about grizzly bear management.

For at least a decade, a pair of great gray owls have made their nest each spring in the top of a broken cottonwood tree trunk on the Blackfoot-Clearwater Game Range northeast of Missoula. They fledge chicks almost every year, and they’ve become increasingly popular with wildlife photographers — including professionals — who appreciate the nest’s easy access and visibility from the ground.  So it made sense that some photographers were upset this spring when they learned that the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks planned to remove the nest. Why would FWP do that? Mainly because of the photographers themselves. And because the nest wasn’t actually natural.  With me today is Joshua Murdock, outdoors and natural resources reporter at the Missoulian. He visited the nest with an FWP biologist and met with photographers.  

Next year, for the first time in more than 100 years, farmers and ranchers across Montana’s Hi-Line region will face a summer without irrigation water. Normally, water from the St. Mary River is diverted into the Milk River, which runs through north-central Montana towns like Havre and Malta.  But the infrastructure that moved the water failed in June, and it won’t be repaired until the 2025 irrigating season is over. Agricultural producers say they face devastation.  By mid-August this year, the Milk River above Havre had run completely dry. That could be the norm for all of next summer.  With me today is Joshua Murdock, reporter for the Missoulian, who visited the St. Mary Canal to inspect damage, and who traveled the entire length of the Milk River affected by the loss of water.   

Pronghorns, also called antelope, are one of the coolest animals in Montana. They have lived in North America since the last ice age when woolly mammoths and cheetahs roamed the region. Those animals are gone, but the pronghorns remain. For four years Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks scientists, aided by graduate students, conducted a study of eight pronghorn populations across the state.  Here to tell us more about what the study revealed is Billings Gazette outdoor editor Brett French.

On July 18, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reported a member of its staff had killed a male grizzly bear that had been raiding homes, businesses and garbage cans in the Gardiner area for weeks. Repeated attempts to trap the 15-year-old bear were unsuccessful. The bear was shot while in the Yellowstone River, about 4 miles north of Gardiner and the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. One of the raids the bear made was at Chester Evitt’s house. Here to tell us more about that encounter and the situation in Gardiner is Brett French, outdoor editor for the Billings Gazette.