When you’re gearing up to visit Bozeman, it helps to accept that you will constantly feel pulled in two directions. There’s the laid-back downtown, with its coffeehouses, galleries, and bookstores just begging you to linger. And then there’s the great outdoors, calling you to try your hand at fly-fishing, rafting, skiing, and hiking. Our advice? Stay at the Olive Branch Inn, housed in a 19th-century Victorian Manor house, and let your hosts help you create an itinerary that includes a bit of both.
Adventurers sick of the Forest Service's waxy, old-fashioned, hard-to-fold maps are now in luck. The agency has entered the Android and iPhone app business with a new product for Internet-age orienteers.
On Nov. 20, the Forest Service launched its PDF Maps Mobile App, available for free from the Android Play Store and iTunes. The app allows national forest users to buy digital maps for their mobile devices and track their location using GPS technology. Digital maps for the Lolo, Bitterroot, Flathead and Beaverhead Deerlodge national forests are already available for purchase.
"We had this overwhelming cry from the public that they really want to see more of our maps online," says Betsy Kanalley, national manager of the Forest Service map sales program. "What we realized we could do right now was geospatially reference PDFs of our visitor maps, which are now available for download, and allow you to track your location on the map as long as you are in range of a GPS satellite."
Avenza Systems Inc. was the contractor responsible for developing the map app.
Going forward, the Forest Service has still bigger plans for bringing its maps into the digital age: interactive visitor maps. Unlike the PDFs, these interactive maps could eventually show users which campsites are open, advise them about closed trails or even warn them of incoming inclement weather.
8:26 a.m. A Columbia Falls woman may have caught an image of a suspected peeping Tom with her game camera.
10:56 a.m. A spotted pony was captured after walking down Highway 2 West.
11:55 a.m. Someone in Whitefish found a large deer carcass in their driveway.
1:52 p.m. A Kalispell woman wanted to talk to law enforcement about her husband and his pornography.
4:55 p.m. A young girl in Bigfork called 911 after her 14-year-old brother stole her lollipop.
9:11 p.m. An Evergreen resident claimed that someone called and made fun of him for the underwear he had recently put on layaway. He has no idea who the man was or how he knew what about his underwear.
A North American Oviraptorosaur, the second substantial specimen of its kind, was discovered by Burpee Museum of Natural History paleontology crews on BLM-administered federal land near Ekalaka, Mont.
Ekalaka is northwest of Belle Fourche in Carter County, Mont., across the state line from Butte County.
It's also an area where many major dinosaur fossils have been discovered through the years.
According to a news release from the Bureau of Land Management office in Miles City, Burpee Museum Board Member Steve Simpson, who also is a Highland Community College professor, and one of his students are credited with the find.
Both were working an exposed section of the Hell Creek Formation in Carter County when they found claw and toe bones weathering out of a hillside belonging to a mid-sized "theropod"- a meat-eating dinosaur.
Further excavation uncovered more toe and foot bones. Within minutes, several other bones were discovered including vertebrae and ribs. The bones were not connected, but were found near each other.
President Obama says he'll take a unique trip next year to Indian Country.
"I saw the beauty of Crow Agency, Montana, when I was a candidate for this office," the president told the annual White House Tribal Nations Conference on Wednesday. "Next year, I'll make my first trip to Indian country as president."
Seeking to improve relations between the federal government and tribal nations, Obama vowed cooperation in four areas: Justice and tribal sovereignty, economic development, health care, and stewardship of the land.
9:10 a.m. Dogs were seen chasing deer on Peaceful Drive.
10:59 a.m. Someone drove through a fence on East Reserve Drive over the weekend.
12:15 p.m. High school kids were caught littering in the Glacier High parking lot.
1:38 p.m. Reportedly, a local man attempted, but failed, to impersonate an undercover federal agent.
2:12 p.m. A business owner on Electric Avenue in Bigfork reported that things have gone missing from her store and a number of other neighboring stores.
3:36 p.m. Someone traveling down Highway 35 in Kalispell spotted a truck full of young, drunken kids. They were last seen turning onto Shady Lane.
When you’re gearing up to visit Bozeman, it helps to accept that you will constantly feel pulled in two directions. There’s the laid-back downtown, with its coffeehouses, galleries, and bookstores just begging you to linger. And then there’s the great outdoors, calling you to try your hand at fly-fishing, rafting, skiing, and hiking. Our advice? Stay at the Olive Branch Inn, housed in a 19th-century Victorian Manor house, and let your hosts help you create an itinerary that includes a bit of both.
Adventurers sick of the Forest Service's waxy, old-fashioned, hard-to-fold maps are now in luck. The agency has entered the Android and iPhone app business with a new product for Internet-age orienteers.
You'll never get to all of them, but the scope and variety of Montana's December holiday celebrations is....well, astounding.
8:26 a.m. A Columbia Falls woman may have caught an image of a suspected peeping Tom with her game camera.
A North American Oviraptorosaur, the second substantial specimen of its kind, was discovered by Burpee Museum of Natural History paleontology crews on BLM-administered federal land near Ekalaka, Mont.
President Obama says he'll take a unique trip next year to Indian Country.
9:10 a.m. Dogs were seen chasing deer on Peaceful Drive.