Mountain Journal

World-famous Grizzly Bear 399 and Snowy with paparazzi. 399 was struck by a car and killed in October 2024 south of Jackson, Wyoming. On Tuesday, the federal government announced grizzly management would be shifted to the states. As the debate over the future of grizzly bears rattles on across the Northern Rockies, there’s a common phrase invoked by advocates on both sides to advance their positions: “science-based management.” Sounds good, right? After all, science is objective.

A large male grizzly lies in the snow during spring in Yellowstone National Park. Credit: Thomas D. Mangelsen After more than half a century of federal protections, the Trump Administration on Tuesday announced a proposal to return management of grizzly bears in the Lower 48 to the states.

A wolverine, a very rare carnivore in the Lower 48 and listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, perched beneath a Douglas fir in the Montana mountains on a spring morning, April 2022. The U.S. Interior Department will officially drop the definition of the word “harm” from the kinds of actions prohibited by the Endangered Species Act in a Federal Register notice expected to publish Tuesday.

Prescribed burning impacts like this U.S. Forest Service project on Mink Peak in the Lolo National Forest were a top discussion issue at the 2026 North American Forest Ecology Workshop held last month at the University of Montana. More than 400 scientists and forestry students from around the world attended the four-day conference in Missoula, exploring the latest developments in wildfire tactics, tree survival, agency policy and forest health.

While operational wildland firefighters have largely been spared from federal layoffs in the last year, it remains to be seen if a recent reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service will impact wildfire operations. Here, Missoula smokejumpers jump a wildfire on the Flathead Indian Reservation. When the alarm bell rings at the smokejumper base in Missoula, Montana, the countdown begins.

An algae bloom photographed on the Lower Big Hole River near Wisdom on July 14, 2025. Low streamflows can contribute to algal blooms, which deplete rivers of the oxygen cold-water fish need to thrive. The Big Hole River, a blue-ribbon fishery that’s become a focal point in a years-long debate over nuisance algae growth, is poised to receive an impairment designation.

Significant public lands issues remain at play ahead of the November general election. Montanans have expressed in numerous ways how important public lands are to their quality of life. Now that the 2026 general election candidate slate is set, voters have plenty of specific topics to help them make up their minds.

The new political action committee Protect Wyoming’s launch event in Cody, Wyoming, March 2026. This story was produced by RE:PUBLIC Lands Media and is co-published here by permission. A recent primary election race in Idaho between Republican candidates Stephanie Mickelsen and Kelly Golden wasn’t the sort of contest that shows up on CNN’s Magic Wall, but it yielded a vivid example of how conservation can be used as a political weapon these days.

Evan Barrett gathers signatures for the Butte Data Center Initiative petition during the primary elections. When a proposed data center began sparking council meetings in Butte last January, real estate broker Denise Kelly was getting frustrated. She’d never been involved in politics. But she worried about the impact Washington-based Sabey Corporation’s massive complex could have on her community, especially when it comes to water use and electric rates.

Senator Steve Daines, R-Montana, praises fellow members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for passing his America the Beautiful Act by voice vote on Wednesday. The bill would resupply a Legacy Restoration Fund for maintenance and repair work in national parks and public lands.