One of western Montana's most famous grizzly bears now has its own interpretive display for the many visitors who stop by the Forest Service's Lincoln Ranger District office.

In 2007, a driver hit and killed the 830-pound, 12-year-old male bear on U.S. Highway 200 outside of Lincoln. The bear quickly gained notoriety for its exceptional size, likely from its propensity to scavenge food amongst dwellings, and the clamoring of entities that wanted the animal after it had been stuffed. Officials finally determined the Lincoln bear's final home would be the Forest Service office, where it came to reside in 2008.

The initial buzz around the bruin immediately made the office a must-stop location for tourists passing through, said Forest Service biologist Pat Shanley. The opportunity to use the bear for education led to the recent completion of an interpretive display, full of grizzly facts and the famous bear's story.

"We still get quite a few with everyone on vacation that stop to see it," Shanley said. "It's certainly not like it was that first year when it was kind of crazy. From a local standpoint, a lot of people bring guests out to see it and they really like the display."

Included in the display is information on the natural history of grizzlies, their feeding habits and bear safety. An adjoining "Be Bear Aware" wall advises visitors on how to safely navigate the backcountry.

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Tabitha Graves can’t say this will be a bad year for huckleberries, even though four of the five sites she is monitoring in the West Glacier area show berry production is down 75 percent to 95 percent from last year.

But the fifth is showing the same number of berries as 2014, when a bumper crop was produced after a wet, cool spring.

And Graves, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, doesn’t yet know what the huckleberry crop at higher elevations — where bushes are just popping out from under snow — will be like this summer.

"It could still be a great year if the berries at the higher elevations grow," Graves says.

The fact that she’s watching — and watching closely — means the day may come when she will be able to predict with some certainty what huckleberry lovers can expect.

Of course, the huckleberry lovers Graves is concerned with will never read her research or decipher the predictability maps she hopes to produce.

This is all about the bears. In Glacier Park, huckleberries constitute 15 percent of the diet of grizzlies and black bears.

If you can predict when and where huckleberries will be plentiful, you can predict where bears will likely be at that time.

In a Glacier National Park forest, just a short walk from her office near park headquarters, Graves has set up one site where it’s easy to show people how she and her collaborators are gathering data for their huckleberry research.

There, she kneels next to a plant that has more tent caterpillars chewing on its leaves than berries hanging from its branches.

She counts five caterpillars, and three berries, on the bush. In 2014, Graves says, a bush of this size would have had at least 20 berries, an estimate she also calls “conservative.”

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Kathleen Clary Miller has written 300+ columns and stories for periodicals both local and national, and has authored three books (www.amazon.com/author/millerkathleenclary). She lives in the woods of the Ninemile Valley, thirty miles west of Missoula.

A Washington Post writer quoted a Southern California resident as saying, “"What are we supposed to do, just have dirt around our house on four acres?" The woman in question doesn’t think it’s fair that she should have to conserve during the historic and potentially cataclysmic drought there---and has obviously never visited Montana. The dirt tattoo on the shin of my jeans sends the unspoken message that I live on 21 acres of free dust and gravel. Anyone would think Pig Pen was driving considering the cloud of dust my car kicks up behind me. And somehow I manage to survive without an expanse of lush lawn and a weekly car wash.

I am a native Southern California girl who goes back to the dark ages of the early 1950’s. Hence, I stay current on the news there, most especially the growing media coverage of the drought. When I worked for the Los Angeles Times my sales territory included the Eden from which our quoted woman in question hails: Rancho Santa Fe, a collection of estate ranches (no ranching involved here) that I used to think God was decidedly dedicating for the afterlife –reserved exclusively for those who had been really, really good on earth.

After reading this morning’s newspaper account I’m not so sure. The self-absorbed attitude of the quoted resident that exemplifies many other similar reactions (also quoted in the article) to water rationing in order to save their state from ruin gives me pause to wonder: instead of heaven, are we looking at the other option?

Meanwhile, back at the real ranchland, out here in the country where, granted, people opt to sometimes duke it out with seasonal severe weather, we take orders from Mother Nature and the land itself. It’s really quite simple: If it rains, the grass is green. If it doesn’t, it’s brown. Sprinklers don’t define us. We don’t feel entitled to blue skies, manicured landscape, and a well that can never run dry.

Montana rural life may not be picture perfect but as author Dejan Stojanovic writes, “Everything that looks too perfect is too perfect to be perfect. To accomplish the perfect perfection, a little imperfection helps.”

Jenna Caplette migrated from California to Montana in the early 1970s, first living on the Crow Indian reservation. A Healing Arts Practitioner, she owns Bozeman BodyTalk & Integrative Healthcare. She says, " Health is resiliency, a zest for the journey. It’s about coming awake to the joy of being alive. As a practitioner, its a privilege to facilitate that healing process, to help weave new patterns of health & well-being. “ And by the way, healthier, happier people help create a healthier, happier world.

It’s the season for macro, or close-up, photography, photography for that world at your feet, the world of pygmy flowers and busy-bugs. For that work, and for many of your other summer photography expeditions, you’ll appreciate having a tripod to hold and stabilize your camera.

Because they are such a personal piece of equipment, this is a purchase that you want to make after discussing it with someone who can match your needs with the right equipment. It is a good idea to try out tripods and heads before you make the leap. You may even want to rent before you buy.

Generally, tripods can be sturdy, lightweight, or affordable. Of those three characteristics, you need to choose the two most important to you. If you want an affordable tripod, it is easy to find one that’s sturdy, but probably not also lightweight. If you want one that is both sturdy and lightweight, the cost is likely to rise.

Think about where you’ll use your tripod, what kind of equipment you want it to hold; video cameras, still cameras, spotting scopes and super telephoto lenses excel on different styles of tripod heads and you may even want slightly different legs or "sticks." .

Calculate the weight of the heaviest set up you will be using on the tripod. If you’re using a spotting scope, include the weight of the body plus eyepiece; the camera body’s weight should be added to the heaviest lens weight for the total support needed. You can put ten pounds of equipment on a tripod and head that are rated at thirteen pounds, but the reverse could be disastrous resulting in damage to your equipment and sub-par pictures.

If you work outdoors on ground that isn’t level (think side hill or even in the borrow pit of a road) it is essential to be able to change the angle and length of each tripod leg individually to level the camera. Want to set your tripod up in the mud, water, sand or wet snow? Make sure the legs are sealed to keep out moisture which can cause some tripod legs to temporarily lock up.

Check the style of the leg locks. Quick release levers are fast to use, and you can tell at a glance if the legs are locked or not. Twist locks are slower until you get in the habit of using them, but they have the advantage of being virtually unbreakable. Ask if the brand you are choosing sells parts.. Lines like Manfrotto and Gitzo have a long history of making repair and replacement parts available which can significantly lengthen the life of your support. Fine tripods are a long term investment. Cheap tripods are often an annoyance and if you break anything a cheap tripod goes right to the dumpster.

In addition to tripods, you can buy monopods, walking sticks, minipods, selfie sticks and car window clamps. A monopod is a single tripod leg with a head used when the photographer needs to be highly mobile—the subject is probably moving as well.

Walking sticks are for the hiker in everyone—two sticks, and one doubles as an uber lightweight monopod.

Window clamps do exactly that—drive and shoot from the vehicle days are well served by a clamp with a tripod head.

Minipods work with point-and-shoot cameras, iPhones, point-of-view video cameras and lighting on the go. Fold them, hold them, grip them and sometimes even stick them with a suction cup or magnet and you can get your camera or lights almost anywhere you want them. Use a proper support even for your super lightweight gear and avoid the temptation to balance your camera on a rock or tree limb on the edge of a cliff over a stream.

The Selfie Stick is relatively new, designed primarily for mobile photography. They help you with all those fun self-timer pictures so that your arm isn’t in every single picture. Many include a bluetooth remote for your phone. Fun? Yes, but also banned from many museums and high traffic areas because they can be annoying in crowded spaces. Be aware of your surroundings and consider getting some pictures of yourself the old fashioned way—ask a fellow traveller to snap the shutter for you.

About five to six bites are reported in the state every year, according to the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center in Denver. The center adds that there hasn't been a single death from a rattle snake bite in Montana in eight years.

Although rattle snake bites are rare in Montana, there are some things you should know if you encounter one out on the trails.

Rattle snakes are secretive creatures who like to hide themselves.

But early in the morning, you might find them laying out on a trail or even the pavement to warm themselves up.

Areas to watch for rattle snakes are are in spots where they get the most sunlight to warm up, that would be on slopes facing South or Southeast.

After 30 years of hunting rattle snakes, Glenn McCaffery of Great Falls said rattle snakes don't always give warning if they're about to strike. He said usually, you step on one, or they pick up your heat signature and strike.

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"Usually a snake has to be coiled up to strike," McCaffery said. "Pretty much the length of their body is their range, but if you've got a snake that has a rock behind it or a rock out cropping-- it gives them a little more leverage--they can actually propel themselves off the ground or off the rock after you--and I've had that happen a few times by surprise."

Hikers are encouraged to avoid tall grass or brush, and should always carry a long stick to use as a barrier. McCaffery said it's the easiest way to scoop a snake away from you.

The most common venomous rattle snake in Montana is the prairie rattler.

In the event you do get bit, you should first call 911, but remember to remain calm and keep hydrated.

 Federal land managers have approved a summer roundup at Montana's Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range to curb the size of its mustang herd.

The Bureau of Land Management announced Wednesday that it plans to remove 20 horses in 2015 and 6-12 horses annually in future years to reduce the size of the 170-animal herd.

The horses would be put up for adoption.

The Pryor herd is believed to be descended from horses used by Spanish Conquistadors. Roundups to reduce the herd take place periodically, with 700 horses removed since 1971.

The last took place in 2012, when 38 horses and six foals were removed to prevent overgrazing and other damage to the range.

The horse range established in 1968 includes 38,000 acres of public land near the Wyoming-Montana border.

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