With nights getting longer and cooler, a couple of sections of rivers in southwest Montana have met the criteria for lifting fishing restrictions.
Effective immediately, the following sections of rivers (previously under “hoot owl restrictions”) are open to fishing daily:
    •    Big Hole River from Saginaw Bridge on Skinner Meadows Road to the Mouth of the North Fork Big Hole River;
    •    Lower Beaverhead River from Anderson Lane to confluence with Big Hole River;
 
For up-to-date information on restrictions related to drought, visit http://fwp.mt.gov/news/restrictions/.
 

“We are asking the community for help to ensure that every student in Bozeman goes back to school with a backpack full of supplies and mind full of dreams” shared Lt. Peter Oliver from The Salvation Army Bozeman Corps & Community Center. Students who are equipped with proper school supplies are more likely to stay focused and perform better throughout the year. It helps with self-confidence and keeps them motivated. Unfortunately, many students in our community return to school with empty backpacks or worn-out hand-me-downs.

If you are looking for back-to-school assistance for your family, please contact:
1.       The Salvation Army 406-586-5813
2.       Love, Inc. at 406-587-3008

•    Bridgercare is partnering with Haven on a new initiative called “Bridge to Care for Domestic Violence Survivors Project”, which is often referred to as Havencare.

    •    The Bridge to Care for Domestic Violence Survivors Project is a partnership between two Bozeman non-profits: Bridgercare, a non-profit family planning clinic, and Haven, a domestic violence survivor agency.  


    •    Bridgercare has partnered with Haven whereby Haven will refer their participants in need of reproductive healthcare services to Bridgercare.  All Bridgercare services will be provided to Haven’s referrals free of charge.  In addition, Bridgercare will assist participants and their dependents with Medicaid or insurance enrollment as needed.  


    •    Preventing an intimate partner's reproductive choice is referred to as reproductive coercion. Research on contraception interference performed by males against female partners indicates a strong correlation between domestic violence and birth control sabotage. Research has also shown that domestic violence can increase a woman's chances of becoming pregnant and the number of children she has, both because the woman may be coerced into sex and because she may be prevented from using birth control.  The Bridge to Care for Domestic Violence Survivors Project increases access to reproductive healthcare by reducing financial and privacy barriers.

    •    Bridgercare’s mission is to provide excellent, affordable reproductive and sexual healthcare and education in a safe, supportive, empowering atmosphere.  Bridgercare’s work focuses on helping men and women from vulnerable populations achieve healthier lives and financial stability through family planning and preventative healthcare.  Accessing reproductive healthcare can be difficult for survivors of relationship and domestic violence due to financial strains and lack of confidentiality on family health insurance plans.  By offering free services to those individuals who are concerned about confidentiality and cost, Bridgercare serves its mission.

    •    This partnership is funded by a grant from the Doll Family Foundation.

Montana State University has been recognized as the best value of any university in the state, according to a ranking published Thursday by the magazine Money.
 
In its listing, the magazine notes that MSU is Montana’s largest university and attracts more than 40 percent of its students from out of state. MSU welcomed a record 16,440 students in fall 2016 and has seen continuous enrollment growth since 2008.
 
In addition to being ranked best in the state, MSU was also listed 364th out of 711 schools ranked on Money’s national Best Colleges for Your Money list.
 
“As a land-grant university committed to academic excellence, Montana State University is proud of its record of maintaining affordability while providing its students with a signature undergraduate education,” said Chris Kearns, MSU’s Vice President of Student Success.
 
To compile its lists, Money calculates the estimated cost of attendances, which includes tuition, housing, fees and other costs, minus the average financial aid to students. Early career earnings of recent graduates are also calculated, based on data from PayScale, a crowdsourced database of compensation information.

“Research spending typically exceeds $100 million, offering undergrads and grad students access to hands-on creative and research projects,” Money wrote in its profile of MSU. “It's also been recognized for its specific commitment to undergraduate research, in which the school invests more than $1.7 million annually.”

MSU is one of 222 U.S. universities – out of more than 4,600 – that has been designated as having higher or highest research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
 
Offering more than 225 academic options in its colleges and programs, MSU is among the top 3 percent of colleges and universities in the nation for research expenditures. It is also Montana’s largest research enterprise, conducting more than $100 million in research annually.
 
MSU is a national leader in producing winners of the Goldwater Scholarship, the nation’s premier award for undergraduates in math and science fields, according to the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. MSU has produced 68 Goldwater scholars.

In an effort to give back to the community, Big Sky Resort and its partners are boosting educational opportunities at this year’s 4^th Annual Vine & Dine wine and food festival by offering an entry-level Sommeliers class and inviting high school students interested in the hospitality industry to learn from the best in the business. 

Eight Montana high school students from across the state will learn side-by-side with local and special-guest chefs. These students are members of ProStart, a collaboration between schools and the foodservice industry to provide real-world skills in culinary arts and restaurant management.  

Vine & Dine, which is Aug. 17 – 20, will feature Google’s culinary team, American Chef and TV Personality John Besh, Big Sky Resort’s culinary team and Buck’s T4’s Food and Beverage Director Chuck Schommer. These chefs and their sous chefs will pair up with a student and give them a collaborative look at what it takes to execute a major culinary and wine event.

“I am thrilled to work with ProStart’s Montana students at this year’s Vine & Dine,” said Google’s Global Program Chef Scott Giambastiani. “As chefs and hospitality leaders, it’s not only our obligation to mentor tomorrow’s talent, but it’s one of the most rewarding parts of the job. The responsibility we have as leading professionals to inspire and engage tomorrow’s talent is huge.”

Twelve Montana high schools participate in the Montana ProStart program. The students selected to participate at Vine & Dine include Bozeman High School’s Erika Carrol, Mackenzie Pistor, Hunter Bermeister; Whitefish High School’s Kyiah Ingraham, Alysha Wigner, Baileigh Krause, Robert Bertelsen; and Drummond High School’s Kolter Clute.

“Having worked with ProStart for the last 8 years, it is always exciting to host these young future culinarians in my kitchen,” said Todd Christensen, Big Sky Resort executive chef. “This year is very exciting to have not only the Big Sky Chefs working with ProStart but also them having the opportunity to work with Chef Scott Giambastiani and his Google team of chefs.”

The goal is to inspire and excite the students about working in the hospitality industry by giving them a real-world, behind-the-scenes look. 

“Growing up in the hospitality industry, I have always had chefs and mentors that I looked up to,” said Chuck Schommer, Buck’s T4 Food and Beverage Director. “Now as a chef and restaurateur, ProStart is the natural fit to give back to an industry that has taken such good care of me. I am honored to be part of the Vine and Dine and bringing 8 Montana students to Big Sky Resort for this weekend event.” 

The students will take part in the festival’s grand opening, “Back to our Roots: The Power of Plants,” on Thursday evening on Big Sky Resort’s Summit Hotel Terrace. On Friday evening, there is a ProStart fundraising dinner at Buck’s T4.

Montana ProStart is under the national ProStart umbrella, which is a program developed by the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation in conjunction with the industry. ProStart reaches nearly 140,000 students annually in all 50 states.

“It’s ProStart’s unique approach of partnering industry with education that is the programs’ foundation and strength,” said Brad Griffin, executive director of the Montana Restaurant Association, “and this joint venture with the Google Global Program chefs and ProStart is a perfect example.”

In addition, Vine & Dine is also offering an introductory Sommeliers class for professionals working in the hospitality industry in Montana. Master Sommeliers will teach this two-day intensive course, which begins Wednesday, Aug. 16. The introductory course is a prerequisite for the Certified Sommeliers Examination. Registrants will learn about wine and spirits, proper wine service and deductive tasting. 

To register for the introductory Sommeliers class, or for tickets and information about the wine and food festival, please visit bigskyresort.com/vine.

Some say Montana is a small town with long streets, and in the Big Sky State, the word “neighbor” is a verb.  That notion may ring true, even at Montana universities.
 
When the nation’s largest fire erupted in late July in eastern Montana’s Garfield and Petroleum counties, the weight of the devastation reached two young men who work and manage MSU’s Red Bluff Ranch, just three counties west of the Lodgepole Fire Complex fire camp in Sand Springs.
 
JT Saunders, Red Bluff Ranch manager in the Department of Animal and Range Sciences in the College of Agriculture, was sitting in a baler, wondering what could possibly be done to help hundreds firefighters and the eastern Montana ranchers who were seeing their land, jobs and — in some harrowing cases — even livestock go up in flames.

After all, Saunders and his MSU ranch colleague Jace Solf, MSU research assistant and Winnett native, grew up in central Montana and personally know many Jordan, Mosby and Winnett families and ranches, either through summer work or high school sports.
 
“Central Montana is a whole beast of its own in terms of community, and it really hits home when you know the folks personally,” Saunders said. “The hardest part is wanting to do something but knowing there’s such a thing as being in the way. We wondered what could be helpful other than more people.”

A former rural volunteer firefighter himself, Saunders immediately thought of water. After phone calls to friends and fire relief efforts and a handful of emails to college administrators, Saunders and Solf secured modest university funds to purchase 9,000 bottles of water at a discounted rate of 7 cents apiece from the Bozeman Costco.


After a full day of work at the ranch, in the middle of the university’s haying season, Saunders and Solf loaded up five pallets — 11,000 pounds — of water at Costco, then drove 300 miles in five hours through the night, spent 40 minutes unloading at the Winnett Volunteer Rural Fire Department, turned around and drove back in time for work the next morning at MSU.

“It was a long night but nothing compared to what firefighters, producers and community members in central Montana are going through,” Saunders said.

Saunders knows first-hand what a community response to fire means. In 2006, when a wildlife enflamed Bear Trap Canyon near Red Bluff Ranch, one of several fires that affected MSU ranch land and livestock, neighbors and fellow MSU staff came to help, without needing a phone call.

“It’s all hands on deck during fire, you don’t wait for a call. You just show up,” Saunders said. “What I think most people don’t understand about rural ranch life is that fire just doesn’t take someone’s house, like in cities; people can still go back to a job the next day,” he said. “For a rancher, fire takes everything; their house, job, animals and, in some cases, generations of genetics and family history. They spend the whole year trying to keep these animals alive, and then you’re just humbled by the vulnerability to Mother Nature.”

The Lodgepole Fire Complex, according to the Bureau of Land Management’s Miles City Office, started on July 19 as four lightning-caused fires. Though livestock and property loss reports and data from the fires are still filing in, the BLM estimated the fire burned 270,723 acres and was 93 percent contained. The fires consumed mostly grazing land, with 80 percent to 100 percent of those lands experiencing a complete loss of grass, according to MSU Extension. BLM data also said 16 homes, numerous secondary structures, a significant amount of fencing and haystacks and 120 power poles were destroyed.

The fire prompted a statewide and national response from community organizations, nonprofits, banks, agribusinesses and corporations in the forms of money and supply donations, including animal feed, hay, labor, clothes, food, fencing supplies and land for grazing. The relief effort generated a popular hashtag on social media, #MontanaStrong.

“Our relationship with Montana’s agricultural community extends beyond research,” said Patrick Hatfield, Animal and Range Sciences department head. “As a land-grant, our connection with farmers and ranchers is personal, and their loss is our loss. Our hearts and empathy are with our friends in eastern Montana and I’m glad we were able to make a small donation that hopefully provided a bit of relief.”

While the long-term economic losses of the fires are still being evaluated, the ripple effect of the fire will have severe financial setbacks for years to come, Hatfield said. Gallatin County’s Farm Service Agency estimates the fencing repair across 1,400 miles at $15 million alone, and livestock respiratory damage from smoke inhalation creates serious risk of infection. Many ranchers will likely have to sell their livestock early; many of them are still searching for lost livestock, according to Hatfield.

Wildfire continues to be one of the nation’s largest and most devastating natural resource threats, especially for agricultural communities, Hatfield said.
 
“There’s likely no larger threat to our agricultural industry than fire caused by drought,” Hatfield said. “Wildfire is and will continue to be one of our largest challenges in states that are sustained by agricultural economies, like Montana, because devastation extends beyond the surface: Fire affects vegetation, food production, ecosystems, property loss and people’s lives.”

Hatfield added that a portion of the department’s research efforts are dedicated to effective fuel management and looking at fire as tool to manage ecosystems and stabilizing and reclaiming rangeland following fire devastation.
 
MSU Extension has compiled wildfire and drought resources, and the Northern Ag Network has organized a Web-based Montana Wildfire Relief page. The Montana Agriculture Fire and Drought Assistance Hotline is 1-844-515-1571.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ properties in many southwest Montana counties are set to enter Stage 1 Fire Restrictions Saturday. This includes Fishing Access Sites, State Parks, and Wildlife Management areas.The restrictions apply specifically to properties in Beaverhead, Butte-Silver Bow, Deer Lodge, Madison, Broadwater, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Meagher counties.
FWP follows the counties in entering fire restrictions. 

In those areas mentioned above, the following acts are prohibited until further notice:
Building maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire. (Note exemptions below)
Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable materials.

Exemptions:
Persons with a written permit that specifically authorizes the otherwise prohibited act.Persons using a device fueled solely by liquid petroleum or LPG fuels that can be turned on and off.

Persons conducting activities in those designated areas where the activity is specifically authorized by written posted notice.

Any Federal, State, or local officer, or member of an organized rescue or firefighting force in the performance of an official duty.

All land within a city boundary is exempted.At Bannack, Lewis and Clark Caverns, and Spring Meadow State Parks, fires are allowed within established fire rings or grills, but prohibited elsewhere within the parks.

Individuals may be fined up to $5,000 or imprisoned up to 6 months for violating the noted fire restrictions. 

For updates on restrictions and closures around the state, go to: http://fwp.mt.gov/news/restrictions/droughtDetails.html. 

Students for Life at MSU is passionate about making campus more accommodating to expecting and current parenting students at Montana State University and Gallatin College. In the past, this student organization has raised money to install two new diaper changing stations on campus, promoted local pregnancy centers, compiled available resources for pregnant and parenting students into an online database and so much more.

Currently this student-lead organization is working to raise money to endow a scholarship for pregnant and parenting students. To do this, the club plans to raise $25,000 and invest it through the Montana State University Alumni Foundation. The interest from this investment will provide a $1,000 scholarship every year, perpetually. To date, the group has raised more than $6,400 toward their goal of $25,000.

You can help make a lasting impact by donating online at www.grouprev.com/msuendowment. Contact Lindsay Langhals (419-890-9302) to arrange a cash or check donation or to find other ways you can be involved with making campus more accommodating for these students.

The mission of Students for Life at MSU is to peacefully promote and protect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death through education and events on campus and in the community, and by providing support for the mother, the father, and the child in an unplanned pregnancy.

As the Aug. 21 total solar eclipse draws near, Montana State University researcher Angela Des Jardins has some advice for viewing the rare and awe-inspiring celestial event.
 
“It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Des Jardins, who has been preparing for the eclipse for more than three years. To make the most of it, people should be prepared and plan one or more ways of viewing the eclipse, she said.
 
The last total solar eclipse that was visible from the contiguous U.S. occurred in 1979; the next ones won’t take place until 2024 and 2045. During a total solar eclipse, the moon aligns perfectly with the sun and obscures it entirely.
 
First, Des Jardins said, be safe. Even during an eclipse, looking at the sun can cause permanent eye damage. In the Bozeman area, where viewers will see a partial eclipse in which the moon will obscure 95 percent of the sun, it will be necessary to wear protective glasses the entire time.
 
Glasses are inexpensive and are available online. It’s important to purchase glasses that comply with international safety standard ISO 12312-2, Des Jardins said. Information about obtaining free glasses at MSU can be found at www.coe.montana.edu/eclipse/viewing.html.
 
Starting at 10 a.m. on Aug. 21 in front of the MSU Library, members of the MSU Physics Department will distribute glasses and will also have solar telescopes and other special viewing equipment. In Bozeman, the partial eclipse will begin at roughly 10 a.m. and will peak at 11:36 a.m.
 
Second recommendation: If at all possible, Des Jardins said, go to the path of totality - the roughly 70-mile-wide area stretching from Oregon to South Carolina where viewers will experience the total eclipse. There, the moon will completely block the sun for about two minutes, producing the most dramatic effect.

“If you don’t do it, you might really regret it later,” Des Jardins said.
 
Although she hasn’t witnessed a total solar eclipse in person, Des Jardins, an assistant research professor in the Department of Physics in MSU’s College of Letters and Science and director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium at MSU, has studied the phenomenon enough to know that experiencing it is profound.

“It’s kind of a deep twilight, with basically a 360-degree sunset,” she said. “Some of the brightest stars will come out.” The sun’s violent atmosphere, called the corona, will become visible as a ring around the moon, “which is an amazing thing to be able to see.”
 
During the period of totality, viewers can safely look at the eclipse without glasses.
 
The path of totality includes a tiny and remote corner of southwestern Montana, as well as Idaho Falls and Rexburg in Idaho and Jackson, Thermopolis and Casper in Wyoming. If you go, be prepared for crowds and traffic and bring plenty of water and food, Des Jardins said. Cellphone service may be temporarily unavailable due to high demand.

Third: Watch the aerial video that an MSU team and 54 other teams will livestream using high-altitude balloons as part of the MSU-led Eclipse Ballooning Project. A team of MSU students, mostly undergraduates, has spent countless hours designing and building a system that project teams across the country will use to provide a unique perspective on the eclipse.

“It’s a space-like perspective,” said Des Jardins, who initiated the project in 2014. Helium-filled balloons will carry cameras to an altitude of more than 80,000 feet to capture the video. “From that height you can see the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space.”
 
“You’ll get to feel like you’re looking down on planet Earth,” she said. “It will invoke wonder and curiosity about what’s happening, the special alignment that has to happen for the shadow to move across the Earth.”
 
The video from all the teams will be livestreamed to NASA’s website. During the eclipse, the MSU homepage will link to a livestream transmitted from one of the MSU team’s three balloons, which the team will launch from the Rexburg area.
 
The livestream is meant to complement viewing the eclipse directly, not replace the experience, Des Jardins said. She recommends viewing the livestream during the hour before or after the local peak of the eclipse. Teams will be livestreaming from more than a dozen balloons in Oregon and Idaho before the eclipse peaks in Bozeman.

The Museum of the Rockies will show the Eclipse Ballooning Project livestream at the Taylor Planetarium. Doors open at 10 a.m. and normal admission charges apply. Eclipse glasses will also be available for purchase.

Regardless of how or where people view the eclipse, Des Jardins is encouraging everyone to take time to experience the extraordinary happening.
 
“There will be something special about seeing it with your own two eyes,” she said, “but there will also something pretty profound about seeing those images looking down on the planet.”

High water temperatures and low stream flows have prompted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to implement “hoot owl” restrictions on several rivers in Southwest Montana starting Wednesday.

The following sections of rivers will be closed to fishing daily from 2 p.m. to midnight until conditions improve effective Wednesday:

Big Hole River from Saginaw Bridge on Skinner Meadows Road to the Mouth of the North Fork Big Hole River;
Big Hole River from Notch Bottom Fishing Access Site to the confluence with the Beaverhead River;
Lower Beaverhead River from Anderson Lane to confluence with Big Hole River;
Lower Madison River from Ennis Dam to the mouth;
Lower Gallatin River from the confluence with the Madison River at Three Forks to Sheds Bridge (Hwy 84) near Four Corners;
East Gallatin River from Spring Hill Road Bridge (Hwy 411) to the confluence with the Gallatin River;
The entire Jefferson River 

These restrictions come two weeks later in the year than the first restrictions seen in 2015 and 2016. Regional Fisheries Manager Travis Horton said, “We’ve been fairly fortunate so far this year with flows in general, but temperatures are high and could stay that way for a while.” Additional restrictions are possible on other stretches of these or other southwest Montana rivers in the coming weeks.For up-to-date information on restrictions related to drought, visit http://fwp.mt.gov/news/restrictions/.