News
Waldo Canyon is latest super fire; get used to them, expert says
Source: LA Times So-called super fires -- like the fire currently rampaging through the Colorado Springs area, spurring mass evacuations, destroying property and endangering lives -- are not going away. They will continue to flare up, not just around the U.S. but also...
read moreMontana Trivia #39
Question: How long can a Montana sagebrush plant live? Answer: 200 years
read moreMountain pine beetles on rise in Colorado
The mountain pine beetle is about a quarter-inch long, has a one-year life span, is native to North America and, if left unchecked, this little bugger can kill forests. That is the fear of forestry experts throughout Douglas and Elbert counties, who are keeping their...
read moreBaucus adds measures to farm bill to aid Montana forest industry
Source: Missoulian U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., added several measures to help the state’s forestry industry to the 2012 farm bill on Thursday. They include a measure providing $100 million to the U.S. Forest Service for combating bark beetle outbreaks and permanent...
read moreLoggers: Forest Service Policies Thwart Logging
Source: CBS Denver CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — As crews continue to face off against a fast-moving wildfire in northern Colorado, some in the timber industry say the area’s fire danger has been heightened by U.S. Forest Service policies and an economy that discourages them...
read moreMontana Trivia #38
Question: When the Lewis and Clark expedition spent one entire day trying to capture a live prairie dog to be sent back to Washington, how did they finally make the catch? Answer: By forming a bucket brigade and pouring water down its hole until...
read moreBeetle killed pine trees blamed in B.C. mill explosions
Source: Missoulian Picture compliments of: Big Sky Country Photos The mountain pine beetle epidemic worrying Montana’s timber industry has literally turned explosive in Canada. Extra-dry sawdust from milling beetle-killed logs is the prime suspect in two fatal British...
read moreHappy Fathers Day!
Hope all you fathers out there had a great day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOKuSQIJlog
read moreMontana Trivia #37
Picture compliments of: Big Sky Country Photo's Question: How many states have a larger population of elk than Montana? Answer: None. There are an estimated 150,000 elk in the state
read moreBark beetles take bite out of air quality, study says
Source: The Daily Sentinel Picture compliments of : Big Sky Country Photos It appears that bark beetles are attacking more than just the trees. Research conducted outside Steamboat Springs has found that the beetles that have decimated pine and spruce forests...
read moreMontana Trivia #36
Photo compliments of: Big Sky Country Photos Question: What wild animal species in Yellowstone National Park injures more humans than any other? Answer: The Bison, injuring an average of 5 humans per year
read moreColorado beetle kill blitz
Source: Cowboys and Indians By Jason Blevins As pine beetles continue to ravage the West and the construction market continues to stall, entrepreneurs and environmentalists struggle to give new life to dead wood. The sky was the limit in 2007. Home prices were...
read moreMontana Trivia #35
Question: What percentage of the approximately 7500 Native Americans living on the Crow reservation speak Crow as their first language? Answer: 85%
read moreU.S. Forest Service considers using explosives to bring down trees
Source: Missoulian Paul Bunyan wouldn’t have known what to make of Gordon Ash’s little logging crew in the Pioneer Mountains last week. Instead of axes or saws, the U.S. Forest Service team went after trees with sticks of high explosive. “You’d calculate the proper...
read moreMontana Trivia #34
Question: How cold was it at Rogers Pass on January 20, 1954, when Montana set the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in the continental U.S.? Answer: The thermometer registered 70 degrees below zero, the lowest temperature it was capable...
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