How Tearing Down Old Fences is Helping Montana Wildlife

Volunteers are hard at work this week removing another 35 miles of fences in the Grasshopper Valley of Southwest Montana as part of the ongoing effort to clear old fences that are impeding wildlife migration.

It's the end-of-the-year project for the National Wildlife Federation, which is removing the old barbed wire fences to ensure that pronghorn, elk, mule deer, and bighorn sheep can migrate freely.

Wildlife Project Coordinator Collin Peterson says there are over 20,000 miles of fences alone in 2 counties across Southwest Montana. 

"At minimum, fences are blocking pronghorn's ability to move across the landscape, to access critical resources, and to complete migrations," Peterson explains. "Fences can also present a more lethal risk to pronghorn. So you see a lot of injury that comes from colliding with fences, often entrapment leading to death, especially with young juvenile pronghorn."

78 miles of old fences have been removed so far, with over 200 volunteers taking part.

"We have a program where we share costs with producers to help install fences. You can also reach out to your local NRCS office or BLM office. They might have resources to help.

And there's a wide variety of other non-government organizations throughout Montana that engage in this work."

That includes Montana FWP, which is a good information resource.

     Work will continue today and tomorrow if you'd like to help. Here's how to register.

Major utility merger goes to the PSC

Northwestern Energy and Black Hills Corporation are formally applying to the Montana Public Service Commission to approve the multi-billion-dollar merger with Black Hills Corporation, creating a utility stretching across eight states.

The companies argue that the merger of the two companies will make them "better together", providing a path for new energy investment, long-term rate stability, and a system with more crews and resources to keep power flowing during storms and emergencies.

   🔌  Northwestern stresses in the filing that the merger doesn't change "energy service or rates" for the utility's Montana customers.

New Yellowstone judges appointed

Governor Gianforte is naming a pair of UM alumni to fill the two new District Court positions in Yellowstone County.

Seth Cunningham is an Air Force Academy grad who completed law school at the University of Montana in 2009 and has been with the Brown Law Firm ever since. Edward Zink graduated from UM in 1993, and then finished law school there in 1998. He's worked in the Yellowstone County Attorney's Office for 26-years and also a decade as a Special U-S Attorney for the District of Montana.

The Legislature approved expansion of Yellowstone County courts from 8 to 10 judges last session.

Montana takes top spot as best destination for travelers

We're winding down another big tourism season in Montana, and we can expect more visitors next year with this ranking, which puts us at the top of the list for destinations.

Chris Cards reports.

Montana officially ranked number one on Expedia's list for destinations of the year. Expedia says the ranking is powered by real-time search data from Expedia's app and website, revealing where global traveler interest is taken off."

Montana's global traveler interest topped the list with a 92% rating and is only one of 2 U.S. destinations on the list, with the other being Florida.

    🚤 Tourists spent close to $5-billion visiting Montana last year.

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