Private owners of land voluntarily worked with federal agencies through a Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances to improve conditions for the Arctic grayling. The CCAA has helped start over 250 conservation projects to protect the grayling in the past eight years. They have done things like improving irrigation techniques that affect waters where the fish live to improve the grayling's habitat. The grayling's population has at least doubled since 2006 because of the CCAA's efforts.

"This is a prime example of what a CCAA can do, not only for wildlife, but also for sustaining the way of life in rural ranching community," said Service Director Dan Ashe in a USDA press release. "The conservation progress for Arctic grayling would not have been possible without the amazing support we have received from willing landowners and other partners in the Big Hole River and Centennial valleys."

MORE>>>Tech Times

Yellowstone National Park is giving visitors to the park this fall a heads up on some significant road construction work that will result in long detours.

The National Park Service says the road work involves two sections of Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road that will be closed due to construction after the Labor Day holiday weekend.

The road linking Old Faithful with West Thumb and Grant Village will be closed for the season starting on Sept. 2.

In addition, the road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris will be closed starting Sept. 14.

The road construction will cause detours that will add up to two hours or more along parts of the route.

Bill Muhlenfeld is owner and publisher of Distinctly Montana magazine and other publications. He lives in Bozeman with his partner, Anthea, and always finds time to enjoy the great outdoors, when he is not writing about it....

What's in a name? 

Well, if the name is Montana, quite a bit.  While googling "Montana" does bring up the Treasure State first in its search, more casual searches often overturn other cyber-rocks uncovering Joe Montana, Hannah Montana (sans twerking) and French Montana (who is he, anyway?).  This is especially true if the search involves news, videos or images, where Google seems a bit mnemonically challenged.

It seems that Montana could really never be called something else, though names were floated before statehood--"Shoshone," "Lincoln"--and there was a even move in the 1930's to lop off a piece of the state along with parts of Wyoming and South Dakota, to create a new state-"Absaroka."

For me, as likely for you, this annoyance is tolerable. Let's face it, Joe, Hannah and French are temporary obfuscations. The word "Montana" mostly conjures searches that relate to the Distinctly Montana masthead--Adventure.  Inspiration. Spirit.

That's enough for me.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks reports that several grizzly bears have been seen along rivers and streams east of the Rocky Mountain Front, and they asks residents to keep bear attractants contained.

"The bears are in the river bottoms following the chokecherry crop," Mike Madel, a bear-management specialist with FWP, said in a press release. "There have not been any reports of bear-human conflicts."

But bears could be drawn to populated areas by unsecured garbage cans, the smell of pet food, bird feeders, and even dirty barbecue grills.

"When bears encounter human-supplied food sources, they often have a hard time returning to natural food," Madel said. "Then, a conditioned bear will travel miles to get to a garbage can."

In June, three young grizzly bears attacked and killed two calves at the Schuler ranch along the Teton River north of Carter, about 30 miles north of Great Falls.

One of the bears was captured and relocated west of the Continental Divide. The other two bears were last seen moving west on the Teton River.

MORE>>>KTVQ

Yellowstone National Park and the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory posted a brief article online Friday titled "A Short Statement Regarding Recent Rumors" to help dispel rumors that have begun circulating -- again -- about a possible eruption of the Yellowstone super-volcano, reports of mass evacuations, and other such issues.

The YVO staff wrote:

We have received enough concerned emails and phone calls that we've spent some time tracking down a few of the statements made on various "alternative Internet news sources."

1) First, everyone should know that geological activity, including earthquakes and ground uplift/subsidence is well within historical norms and seismicity is actually a bit low at present.

2) Concern over road closures is much overblown. There's been one road closure of a small side road - just over three miles long - that was closed for two days. As one can imagine, it is not easy to maintain roads that pass over thermal areas where ground temperatures can approach those of boiling water. Roads at Yellowstone often need repair because of damage by thermal features as well as extreme cold winter conditions.

3) The park has not been evacuated. This one is pretty easy to verify by everyone. If the Old Faithful webcam shows people, or if news articles are coming out about a hobbyist's remote control helicopter crashing into a hot spring, Yellowstone is certainly open for business.

4) No volcanologists have stated that Yellowstone is likely to erupt this week, this month or this year. In one recent article, a name was attributed to a "senior volcanologist", but that person does not appear to exist, and a geologist with that name assures us that he did not supply any quotes regarding Yellowstone.

5) Finally, we note that those who've kept track of Yellowstone over the past decade or so, have seen a constant stream of "predictions" regarding imminent eruptions at Yellowstone. Many have had specific dates in mind, none had a scientific basis, and none have come true.

We will continue to provide updates on geological activity at Yellowstone, and educational materials to help understand the science around Yellowstone monitoring.

Montana News>>>KBZK

A mini metropolis of teepees sprawls across the parched plains, and in the early hours of the morning the first to rise are the children.

They have an important job to do.

"We'd wake up in those tee-pees, and we were pretty happy to slip the bridles off the horses and ride bareback to the river," remembers Jim Real Bird, today a man of 58.

"We'd take the horses to the river to drink water -- that was our first job as young boys."

Each August, the rolling hills surrounding Little Big Horn River in Montana are transformed into the "Tee-Pee Capital of the World," with over a thousand tents and hundreds of horses converging for the Crow Fair and Rodeo.

Started over a century ago in 1904, the four-day festival is one of the largest gatherings of Native Americans in the country, with spectacular traditional costumes casting a luminous kaleidoscope of color beneath a brilliant blue sky.

It's also an important training ground for the next generation of rodeo stars.

"It's one of the largest Indian rodeos within the United States of America," explained Real Bird, who today teaches youngsters how to hold on for dear life in the arena.

Montana News>>>KBZK

Joseph Shelton is a freelance writer who graduated from Montana State University with a degree in English Literature. He lives in Bozeman, where he enjoys hiking, reading, and being a misunderstood artist-type.

I have a friend who is very proud of being from Butte.  In fact, I have several, but this particular friend, who looks somewhat like one of those photographs of pugilists with names like Mug O’Shaughnessy or Guinness O’Irish or the like, is a dyed in the wool true believer in the power of Butte, America.

Now, it’s not that I’m not a fan of Butte, so put down your brick bats.  But it is a place that I had to come to appreciate.  As a kid, ignorant of the town’s remarkable history, it seemed like any other mining town, and there are a handful of them in Montana. 

But as you and I know, I was wrong.  Butte’s history is sufficient to ensure that it will be remembered forever as one of the great American cities.  You should read Mary MacLane’s journal, a section of which was reprinted recently in DM: http://www.distinctlymontana.com/Montana-people/Mary-MacLane.  When I read this I turned to my very Irish friend and said “boy, they oughta make a movie!”

He has recently pointed out that they are, a case, surely, of great minds thinking alike. 

“The Orphan Girl” is a production made by Montanans, with help from the Montana Film Office.  The production company behind the film is from Bozeman, but their love for Butte is apparent in the promotional materials they have provided. 

The film was shot this summer in Butte (where else?) and was funded by a campaign on Kickstarter which met and exceeded their funding goal.  The multi-media documentary will feature interviews with surviving miners as well as dramatized segments showing what life was like in the Orphan Girl mind at the turn of the last century. 

The footage that they have already shown is beautifully shot, and shows enormous promise.   And even the star, Brick Patrick (which also sounds like an old fashioned pugilist) is a Butte native pursuing an acting career in L.A.  As if that were not enough incentive, funds from the film will be plowed back into local Butte businesses.  This is a Montana production in every sense. 

But as excited as I am, no one is more excited than my true believing pal, who will remain anonymous except to point out that his name has at least one capital O and one apostrophe thereafter, who surely believes that all movies should take place in Butte, or at least figure it prominently into their plot.  To emphasize that point he cursed and shook a meaty fist at me.

So if you attend the September 11 premier at the Mother Lode theater in Butte, be prepared to brawl my Irish buddy for the best seats.  He’ll be waiting.

Within the boundaries of Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Montana lies the Medicine Lake Wilderness Area.

The refuge was established in 1935 to provide breeding and stop-over habitat for birds.

“The refuge was established for migratory birds,” refuge manager Michelle Chappell said.

More than four decades later, a portion of the refuge was designated as a wilderness area by a bill passed in Congress in 1976.

Medicine Lake Wilderness is Montana’s smallest wilderness area, covering 11,366 acres.

The wilderness area is divided into two units: the main waterbody of the lake and the Sandhills Unit.

Most of Medicine Lake itself is included in wilderness boundary. A small portion of the lake, west of Highway 16, is not included in the wilderness boundary. The wilderness also includes the natural islands in the lake.

The Sandhills Unit, located southeast of the lake, is made up of rolling hills and large sand deposits. Sand dunes in the area range between 20 and 40 feet in height, according to Wilderness.net.

MORE>>>Washington Times

Wild Horse Island State Park on Flathead Lake is one of the real treasures of Montana’s state park system.

To make a perfect summer day, you can sail or kayak to the massive, mostly undeveloped island and swim, fish, hike or watch wildlife to your heart’s content. The island is three miles long, but is very hilly and the landscape alternates between grassland and forest.

At 2,164 acres, Wild Horse Island is the largest freshwater lake island west of Minnesota. Salish and Kootenai Indians are thought to have used the island to keep their horses from being stolen by other tribes. Today, a population of about five wild horses, a herd of mule deer and about 100 bighorn sheep inhabit the island.

Since it was sold to the state in 1978, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has managed the animals to keep the population of horses and sheep at a level the habitat will support. The island is managed as a primitive area and overnight camping, firepits and pets are not allowed. Groups of 15 or more must get a permit, and a state-tribal fishing license is required from the Flathead Indian Reservation.

The state has six sites it recommends for public boat landings: Skeeko Bay, Eagle Cove, Rocky Bar, Driftwood Point, Osprey Cove and East Shores. All the docks are privately owned. There are 52 private, circle-shaped lots on the island. There is a public, unisex solar-powered composting toilet at Skeeko Bay.

MORE>>>The Prairie Star