Montana lawmakers are reconsidering how cannabis revenue is distributed for a conservation program in the state. A bill in Helena could deprive the Habitat Montana program of more than $30-million in projected cannabis tax revenue. The 2020 initiative legalizing cannabis for recreational use set aside tax revenue for conservation on state public lands through programs such as Habitat Montana, which opens up access to public lands.

Kathy Hadley, a hunter and board member of the Montana Wildlife Federation, called on lawmakers to keep voters in mind.

"That ballot initiative was passed by the voters and it seems like the legislators who are sponsoring this bill are ignoring the will of the voters," she said.

Lawmakers sponsoring the bill are following Governor Greg Gianforte's lead. He wants cannabis revenue to be used to serve veterans, strengthen treatment services and boost law enforcement. A hearing for the bill is scheduled for Thursday at 3pm.

Frank Szollosi, head of the Montana Wildlife Federation, said the state is working with a historic $2-billion surplus.

"With the big surplus that the governor and the Legislature are dealing with, we can support veterans and rural landowners and timber companies without raiding Habitat Montana," Szollosi said.

He added the state recently used Habitat Montana funds to improve public access to nearly 100,000 acres in the Big Snowy Mountains.

Hadley said the program has become increasingly important as more people come to Montana and land values increase, and added that is putting more pressure on public and private lands.

"If we have Habitat Montana, that helps alleviate some of the pressure by providing more access to public lands and more opportunities for hunting on private lands - at the same time, helping agriculture producers stay on their land," Hadley said.

This is the last weekend to get involved in a photo competition designed to encourage Montanans to explore the wilderness with their pets.

There are 30 million acres of publicly owned land in Montana - nearly a third of the state.

As part of an effort designed to get people in touch with public lands, conservation groups are holding a photo contest that encourages people to enter photos of themselves with their dogs in the great outdoors and post them to the competition website.

Becky Edwards is a contest judge for Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund and said given how much of life happens on social media these days, a photo competition seemed only natural.

"We live in a world of visual media," said Edwards. "Instagram, TikTok, even Facebook. There's a lot of photo sharing going on. So, it's fun to be able to combine something that we're doing anyway in our normal life with something that means so much to Montana families and Montana residents."

The top 12 dog photos - as judged by a panel of conservationists and outdoor writers - will be part of Montana Conservation Voters' Pups for Public Lands Calendar. The contest entry is at mtvotersedfund.org/pups.

While Edwards and others are encouraging Montanans to hit the trail with their dogs and post their photos, she said it is important to clean up behind your dog - not just for aesthetic reasons, but for environmental ones, too.

Dog feces can have negative impacts on plants and animals, but also on waterways that are near so many of Montana's trails.

"Which are feeding humans, feeding wildlife, feeding livestock," said Edwards. "S,o the more that we can clean up after our pets, the happier everyone will be - human and four-legged alike."

Edwards said domestic animal feces can also leave behind the scent of a predator, habituating prey and making them more vulnerable. Or, the scent may keep sensitive prey species away from the area, limiting their habitat.




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Three conservation groups have sued to stop a large logging project near Yellowstone National Park they say threatens endangered species in Montana.

The South Plateau Project would clear-cut 5,500 acres of trees, burn more than 16,000 acres, and carve 56 miles of logging roads into the Custer-Gallatin National Forest near Yellowstone Park, close to the Continental Divide.

Mike Garrity, executive director of the Helena-based Alliance for the Wild Rockies, which worked with the Center for Biological Diversity to file the suit, said the logging project would be genetically devastating for grizzlies near Yellowstone, because it proposes to slice through a corridor which allows Yellowstone grizzlies to mix with bears further north as they work their way back from the endangered list.

"Grizzlies, once again, need one connected population so they have healthy genetic interchange," Garrity emphasized. "Grizzlies that are isolated are at risk for inbreeding. Once inbreeding sets in, they are sunk."

Garrity added most grizzlies are killed within one-third of a mile of a logging road - evidence, he said, that humans are threatening the already threatened species in the state. The U.S. Forest Service, which would oversee the logging project, has declined to comment due to the pending litigation.

Beyond providing vital habitat for grizzlies and Canada lynx, which are known to avoid forest clear-cuts for as long as 50 years, Garrity pointed out halting the project would preserve close to 17,000 logging trucks worth of timber, and prevent a devastating ecological impact on the climate.

"Forests are tremendous carbon sinks," Garrity stressed. "National Forests absorb about 12% to 15% of all the carbon the United States produces in a year. They're going to cut down all these trees and disturbing all the soil because trees also pump carbon into the soils, and bulldozing all these new logging roads is going to release a ton of carbon into the atmosphere."

Garrity argued the Forest Service has not analyzed the environmental impacts of the project, which is required under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Imagine reaching your favorite Grand Teton National Park trail in half the time because of new pull-outs that clear traffic on arterial roads.

Or driving into Moose Junction, parking your car, and hopping on an electric-assisted bicycle to explore the park on a dedicated path that connects with a ferry across Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls.

These are the types of ideas that park Superintendent Chip Jenkins said he hopes to gather from visitors to help officials map out the iconic park's future.

"We're trying to get information from people," said Jenkins, "about the kinds of experiences that they would like to have at Grand Teton 10, 15, 20 years from now."

He said because National Parks belong to all Americans, it's important for people to have a say in how they're managed.

You can add your vision for improving the visitor experience at Grand Teton through October 10 online at 'parkplanning.nps.gov.'

The number of people from Wyoming and across the U.S. visiting Grand Teton National Park has swelled over the past three decades, reaching nearly four million in 2021.

But Jenkins said visitation data isn't like a thermometer going up or down, it's more like a balloon where people are doing different things on the landscape in a different way.

"So, while the overall total number of visitors in 2022 was similar to 2014," said Jenkins, "we had over a 50% increase in the number of people who were hiking on our trails."

Park officials have been adapting to visitation trends for over 100 years. In the 1920s and 30s, Highway 89 was created to help people reach Dubois and Riverton.

In the 1950s and 60s there was massive investment in Colter Bay to support increases in overnight stays. Jenkins said more recently, there has been a growing interest in experiencing the park by bicycle.

"It's just a wonderful way to be able to be out on the landscape," said Jenkins. "You'll see many many people like to do it as a family getting together or a group of friends getting together. Of course, E-bikes are opening up all sorts of opportunities for folks."