Attend an event and bring in your expired, empty or unwanted bear spray cans to an FWP office  

BOZEMAN – The day before fall semester classes began, a group of incoming Montana State University business students hiked the iconic “M” trail and continued forming connections with their peers.

Step-by-step up the dirt trail, climbing over rocky slabs and through green forest, staff from the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship watched the new students get to know each other. That was the goal of the day, and of the program that brought them there.

Started in 2020, the Community of First-Year Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (CABLE) program helps students develop leadership skills and a supportive peer network through intentional points of connection and programming.

This year, 48 first-year students are participating in CABLE. In addition to a group meal and the M hike at the start of the semester, dedicated sections of the introductory business fundamentals course and college writing are offered for CABLE students. That creates a built-in group of familiar faces for students transitioning into college that extends through the entire first year. CABLE students also receive support from peer and faculty mentors and a $1,000 scholarship.

“Every student deserves the opportunity to start college on the strongest footing possible,” said Brenda Truman, CABLE program lead and assistant dean of the business college. “CABLE provides that opportunity by helping students develop their leadership potential, connect with resources and build community right from the first day of college. CABLE helps instill in students the confidence and momentum that lead to long-term success and on-time graduation.”

Having the built-in CABLE network “makes it easier to make friends and form study groups,” Truman added.

The college invites all first-year business students to apply for CABLE and then builds the group, though because it is donor-funded, the number of spots is limited. This year CABLE saw a record number of applicants, and its capacity could expand with additional philanthropic support.

Since its inception, 253 students have successfully completed the program. After freshman year, many join the next generation of Jabs college leaders with the skills they developed during CABLE.

Two such students are new CABLE peer mentors this year.

Chris Druffel, a sophomore from Pullman, Washington, said he’s excited to serve as a mentor this school year. He is majoring in business management and joined CABLE last year because he thought it would be a good way to meet other students. Throughout the year, he found it beneficial to be able to garner support from the same group of familiar people.

Druffel wanted to be a mentor this year because he admired how last year’s mentors encouraged him to get involved in the business college. His main goal is to meaningfully connect with other students and share advice that is more uniquely tailored to business students than the more general advice new college students hear repeatedly.

Chloe Johnson, a junior from Billings, will serve as a CABLE mentor for the second time this year. She is studying business management and accounting and wanted to stay involved with CABLE to be a resource for other students.

“Freshman year is so fun but also so hard navigating all the things,” Johnson said. “I want to serve as a friendly face that makes students feel comfortable. Qualities I see as crucial to being a mentor are authenticity, kindness and a love for people.”

Mariah Stopplecamp, a business instructor who teaches CABLE sections of the introductory business classes, said the intention is to set students up for success early in their college experience. For example, she gives a presentation on the importance of habit creation at the beginning of college, sharing tips on how students can manage their time to make friends, join clubs, and also study and go to class.

Stopplecamp said she also provides practical advice for students on unfamiliar elements of college.

“For example, professional communication with instructors. Some students are nervous about it and don’t know how to do it,” Stopplecamp said. “So the hope with CABLE is that we remove that blockage and set them up for success a little more.”

For Stopplecamp, the most meaningful part of being involved in CABLE is watching her students develop from excited freshmen into leaders who build the confidence to pursue their goals. Even after they complete the CABLE program, students stay in touch with Stopplecamp and know her as a resource who can provide support and life advice.

People who are interested in learning more about CABLE can visit www.montana.edu/business/cable/FAQ.html or reach out to Truman with questions.

“CABLE helps students believe they belong here from day one,” Truman said. “And that sense of belonging can make all the difference in their long-term success.”

Auditory processing differences can significantly impact how students engage in the classroom. These differences affect how the brain interprets sound—not just what is heard, but how it is understood and used.

When these challenges are not recognized, they may be misunderstood as inattention, non-compliance, or mistaken for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Over time, this can lead to frustration, anxiety, or social withdrawal (Cooper, 2024).

Below are five common ways auditory processing differences can affect students in school.

1. Students Could Become Uncomfortable
Many neurodivergent students experience sound sensitivity. Loud, unpredictable, or sustained noise can lead to sensory overload, emotional dysregulation, or behavioral responses.
In some cases, this discomfort may contribute to school avoidance. Classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways can all present overwhelming auditory environments.

2. Speech-In-Noise Difficulties
Auditory filtering, which is the ability to focus on important sounds or speech while filtering out background noise, can be challenging for autistic students. At the school level, this can result in speech-in-noise difficulties, and can prevent some students from participating in conversational activities or following directions.

3. Listening Comprehension Challenges
Auditory processing differences can also impact listening comprehension and oral language development. Students may miss key details in spoken instructions, have difficulty retaining verbal information, or may need more repetition or visual supports. These challenges can affect both academic performance and classroom participation.

4. Challenges with Tone
Understanding tone of voice is an important part of social communication. Auditory processing differences may make it harder to detect subtle changes in pitch, emphasis, or emotional tone. This can contribute to misunderstanding intent (e.g., sarcasm or humor), difficulty interpreting social cues, or increased social stress. For autistic students, who may already find social communication challenging, this can add another layer of complexity.

5. Information Processing May Be Slower
Many autistic individuals experience differences in how quickly auditory information is processed. This can make it harder to keep up with rapid instruction or fast-paced discussions.

Research suggests that up to 80% of autistic individuals experience atypical auditory processing, including hypersensitivity to sound, reduced sound tolerance, and increased risk of sensory overload (Poulsen et al., 2024)

Slower processing can also affect how language is interpreted in context. For example, students may rely on immediate or literal associations when processing unfamiliar words or phrases.

A classic example described by Kanner (1946) illustrates how context can be misinterpreted. In this case, a child named Paul G. associated unrelated sounds and words based on what was happening in the moment. He heard the phrase “Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater” at the same time that his mom dropped a saucepan. Paul then assumed that “Peter” and “eater” referred to the dropped saucepan—highlighting how auditory and contextual processing can interact in unexpected ways.

Auditory and Sensory Processing Challenges: How Common Are They?
Auditory processing differences are common among autistic individuals. Research suggests that up to 96% of autistic individuals experience some form of sensory processing differences (Admin, 2024).

These challenges can directly impact school participation, engagement, and overall well-being. When unrecognized, they may lead to increased stress, burnout, or behavioral responses that disrupt learning.

Supporting Students Through Awareness and Assessment
Understanding auditory and sensory processing differences is an important step in supporting students effectively. Early recognition can help reduce distress, improve participation, and create more inclusive learning environments.

Comprehensive autism assessments can provide valuable insight into a student’s needs. Tools such as the CARS2, SCQ, and TOD help evaluate social communication, developmental patterns, and related learning differences.

With the right supports in place, students with auditory processing differences can better access instruction, participate in class, and succeed academically.

Resources
Admin. (2024, July 10). Part 1: Brain & Sensory Processing Differences Across the Lifespan. Autism Research Institute. https://autism.org/brain-sensory-processing-differences/

Cooper, P. (2024, February 29). Teaching students diagnosed with auditory processing disorders. New Jersey Education Association. https://www.njea.org/teaching-students-diagnosed-with-auditory-processing-disorders

Kanner L. (1946, September). Irrelevant and metaphorical language in early infantile autism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 103(2), 242–246. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21001998/

Poulsen, R., Williams, Z., Dwyer, P., Pellicano, E., Sowman, P. F., & McAlpine, D. (2024, December). How auditory processing influences the autistic profile: A Review. Autism research, 17(12), 2452–2470. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11638897/

Buzzoid is a legitimate Instagram followers provider with 12+ years behind it, selling real Instagram followers, likes, comments and views from active accounts, with fast guaranteed delivery and premium pricing as the honest trade-off.

Picture the moment right before you tap pay: you have found a service, you are staring at a package list, and you want to know whether the count that lands will be real people or a swarm that evaporates by the weekend. That is the question this Buzzoid review answers. Buzzoid sits in the trusted tier of the market alongside Twicsy, with Rushmax and iDigic close behind, and it earns that spot the way the whole safe corner does: real, active accounts instead of bots.

The short version is that ordering is quick, the delivery is guaranteed, and the engagement comes from genuine profiles rather than the fake accounts platforms hunt down and purge. Buzzoid has been in the space for 12+ years and has served more than 100,000 users. What follows walks through what actually happens at checkout, then how each service holds up once it lands.


Buzzoid - A Legitimate, Established Instagram Provider
Buzzoid is one of the most trusted names for buying Instagram engagement, backed by 12+ years in the space and coverage in outlets like Men's Journal and US Weekly. Its delivery comes from real, active accounts, which is why followers tend to stick and orders land on schedule. It carries the largest follower range on the market and around-the-clock support.

The honest trade-off is price. Buzzoid is not the cheapest option you will find, and there is no free trial. But that premium buys real accounts, guaranteed delivery, and a refill guarantee if any followers slip, which is exactly what separates the safe tier from the bot sellers.

• Real, active accounts, never bots

• Guaranteed delivery with a refill guarantee

• 12+ years and 100,000+ users

• Premium pricing is the trade-off

How the services compare

What is Buyng from Buzzoid Actually Like?
The checkout is where a service either reassures you or sets off alarms, and Buzzoid stays plain. You pick the service, choose a package size, and enter your username or the link to the post you want boosted. There is no password request at any point, which matters, because a legitimate provider never needs access to your account to add engagement to it. Payment is standard and secure, and confirmation arrives quickly.

From there the order queues and starts moving. For followers the delivery is gradual rather than dumped all at once, which looks more natural on the profile. Buzzoid backs everything with a delivery guarantee and a refill guarantee, so if any count comes up short or drifts, support tops it back up. Around-the-clock customer service is there if a question comes up mid-order.

How Do the Instagram Followers Perform?
Followers are the reason most people arrive, and this is Buzzoid's strongest showing. You can buy real Instagram followers in a range that runs from a small starter count all the way up to very large orders, the widest span in the market. There are also two upgrades beyond the standard package, a Premium tier and a VIP tier, for buyers who want higher-quality accounts behind the numbers.

Because the accounts are real and active, retention holds well instead of collapsing after a few days the way bot counts do. That is the whole point of the real-account model: the profiles belong to people who actually use Instagram, so they do not get swept up in the purges that flag fake engagement. If any followers do slip, the refill guarantee covers the gap.

What About Likes, Comments and Views?
Likes are the fastest-moving service, and Buzzoid delivers them quickly across a flexible range of package sizes. You can add genuine Instagram likes that stick to any post, and Buzzoid recently rolled out Auto Instagram Likes, which drops a set number of likes on every new post automatically so you are not reordering each time you publish. Delivery is near instant and the counts stay put.

Comments and views round out the set. Buzzoid's authentic Instagram comments are AI-generated and relevant to the post rather than generic filler, giving posts a more natural conversation. Views are its quickest turnaround: you can order high-retention Instagram views and see them begin landing in around 60 seconds. Views count and hold, so the numbers you pay for stay on the video.

Is Buzzoid Safe and Who Is It For?
Safety comes down to the market split. Most services sell botted or fake engagement, which is exactly what Instagram detects and removes, and that is why bought engagement gets accounts flagged. Buzzoid sits on the other side of that line, delivering through legitimate real-account methods. That does not make any provider immune to platform rules, but it does make Buzzoid one of the lowest-risk ways to buy, and its 12+ year track record backs that up.

Who is it for? Creators and businesses who want real Instagram followers and steady engagement without babysitting the process, and who value guaranteed delivery and responsive support over rock-bottom pricing. If the cheapest possible order is your only goal, look elsewhere. If you want a trusted name that delivers real accounts and stands behind the order, Buzzoid is an easy recommendation.

Frequently asked questions

Is Buzzoid legit and safe to use?
Yes. Buzzoid is an established provider with 12+ years in the space and a large user base, and it delivers engagement from real, active accounts rather than bots. Because it never asks for your password and uses legitimate real-account methods, it is one of the lower-risk ways to buy Instagram engagement. No provider can promise a platform's future behavior, but real-account sourcing avoids the fake-engagement pattern platforms purge.

Will the Instagram followers from Buzzoid drop off?
Retention holds well because the followers come from genuine, active accounts instead of throwaway bot profiles that vanish in days. Some natural fluctuation happens on any account, but Buzzoid backs orders with a refill guarantee, so if followers slip below what you ordered, support restores the count. That guarantee is a big part of why the trusted tier is worth the premium.

How fast does Buzzoid deliver an order?
It depends on the service. Views are the quickest, beginning to land in around 60 seconds. Likes arrive near instantly. Followers are delivered gradually rather than all at once, which looks more natural on a profile and is intentional. Every order is backed by a delivery guarantee, so it completes even if timing varies slightly by package size.

Does Buzzoid need my Instagram password?
No. Buzzoid only needs your username or the link to the post you want to boost. A legitimate engagement provider never requires account access to add followers, likes, comments or views, and being asked for a password anywhere is a clear warning sign of an untrustworthy seller. Keeping login details private is part of what keeps the process low-risk.

BOZEMAN – Starting the week of Aug. 31, construction crews will close a section of South Tracy Avenue to install sewer pipes as part of the City of Bozeman’s West Kagy to Babcock Sewer Improvements project. The closure will extend from the north leg of the Kagy/Tracy intersection to Mason Street and the south leg of the Kagy/Tracy intersection to Spring Creek Drive. Two-way traffic on West Kagy Boulevard will be maintained throughout the closure, although drivers will not be able to turn onto South Tracy Avenue from West Kagy Boulevard. The closure is expected to last approximately two weeks, weather and other factors permitting.

During the closure, the South Tracy Avenue driveway approaches to Kagy Korner businesses will be closed. Drivers who need access to businesses, such as the Southwood Child Care Center or Kagy Korner Store, must use the West Kagy Boulevard driveway approaches.

Hoffman Drive will also be closed to through traffic during the South Tracy Avenue closure. Hoffman Drive residents between South Tracy Avenue and South Black Avenue will need to enter and exit their neighborhood via South Black Avenue while the road is closed.

“This project replaces aging sewer pipelines to maintain a resilient and reliable sewer system in southwest Bozeman,” said Project Engineer Kellen Gamradt. “We appreciate the community’s patience and understanding as we work to improve Bozeman’s utilities.”

Upcoming Work:
In the coming weeks, crews will need to temporarily close the West Kagy Boulevard driveway approach to the business center on the southeast corner of the Kagy Blvd/3rd Avenue intersection. This closure is tentatively planned for early October and is expected to last a few days. Access to the business center will be available via South 3rd Avenue.

Once the full closure of South Tracy Avenue is removed, there will be intermittent partial closures and traffic pattern adjustments at the South Tracy Avenue and West Kagy Boulevard intersection.

More information about the West Kagy to Babcock Sewer Improvements project can be found at https://bit.ly/kagysewer. Click the “eNotifications” link at the top of the page to sign up for email or text alerts.

Please direct questions and comments to kagysewer@dowl.com or 406-281-7604.

Independence has a funny way of shifting shape as people get older. It doesn't disappear overnight, it just quietly requires more effort than it used to. Getting up the stairs takes a little longer. Cooking dinner feels like more of a chore than it used to. Things that once happened without a second thought suddenly need some planning around.

A lot of people push through this stage without saying much about it, partly out of pride and partly because none of it feels dramatic enough to raise as a real concern. It's just one small adjustment after another, until eventually those adjustments start adding up to something families can't help but notice.

Here's the part that often gets missed though, needing a little extra support doesn't mean giving up independence entirely. It just means finding the right kind of help in the right places, which is really the whole idea behind understanding who assisted living is for in the first place.

When Everyday Tasks Start Taking More Effort
Some of the clearest signs show up in the most ordinary parts of a day. Bathing and dressing might start taking noticeably longer, or feel physically harder than they used to. Meals get skipped more often, not because someone's not hungry, but because cooking suddenly feels like too much effort after a long day.

Housekeeping tends to slip too, dishes piling up, laundry falling behind, small tasks nobody used to think twice about. Transportation becomes trickier as driving gets less comfortable or feels riskier than it once did. Medication routines can slip through the cracks as well, doses missed or taken at the wrong time without anyone noticing right away.

Safety Can Quietly Become a Concern
Safety issues tend to sneak up gradually rather than announcing themselves clearly. A fall that seemed like a one time thing might actually be part of a pattern tied to changing balance or strength. Mobility shifts in general are worth paying attention to, especially if someone's noticeably more hesitant moving around their own home.

Missed medications carry real risk too, particularly for conditions that depend on consistent dosing. Isolation deserves attention as well, since spending long stretches alone can affect both safety and mental wellbeing in ways that aren't always obvious from the outside. None of these signs mean an emergency is imminent, but together they usually point toward a level of support that's currently missing.

Support Without Taking Over
The whole point of assisted living isn't to take over someone's life, it's to fill in specific gaps while leaving everything else alone. Someone who needs help with medication management doesn't necessarily need help with anything else, and the right setting reflects that instead of treating every resident the same way.

That distinction matters a lot to people worried about losing their autonomy. Getting help showering doesn't mean losing the ability to decide how to spend an afternoon. Support here tends to work best when it's targeted, addressing real needs without stripping away the choices and routines someone still very much wants to keep for themselves.

Looking Beyond Physical Needs
Physical support is only part of the picture. Social connection matters just as much, especially for people who've become more isolated as tasks got harder and outings became less frequent. Being around others regularly, without having to plan it, tends to make a bigger difference than people expect.

Activities and shared meals help with this too, creating natural opportunities for connection that don't require much effort to access. Transportation support opens up trips and appointments that might've been getting skipped otherwise. Community, in a lot of ways, ends up mattering just as much as the physical assistance itself.

Conclusion
Needing a little help doesn't mean independence is over, it often means independence gets easier to hold onto with the right support in place. The tasks that had become a daily struggle get handled, while everything else stays exactly as it was.

That's really the shift worth understanding here. The right amount of assistance, applied in the right places, can actually help someone stay more independent longer, not less. Recognizing that early tends to make the whole transition feel a lot less like losing something, and a lot more like getting some breathing room back.

BOZEMAN – A Montana State University physicist who studies the interactions between light and matter has received a prestigious Air Force Office of Scientific Research award for basic research on atom-photon interactions that could lead to advances in quantum computing and quantum sensing.

Matt Jaffe, a Montana State University assistant professor of physics, has been recognized with an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator award. MSU photo by Marcus "Doc" Cravens

Matt Jaffe, an assistant professor in MSU’s Department of Physics in the College of Letters and Science, will receive $150,000 in research funding each year for three years from the Air Force’s Young Investigator Program. The program is intended to support early-in-career scientists and engineers who show exceptional ability and promise for basic research.

“This prestigious award recognizes Matt as an outstanding researcher and mentor in an area of science that is of fundamental and strategic importance,” said John Neumeier, head of the physics department. “We are certain that Matt’s research will lead to significant discoveries in the field of atomic and molecular physics and are very pleased to have him at MSU.”

The Air Force funding will cover Jaffe’s investigation into the feasibility of changing how atoms and light interact in an optical cavity to facilitate innovative quantum applications. Optical cavities, also called optical resonators, are devices in which scientists bounce beams of light back and forth between mirrors.

Jaffe’s research group has discovered that by manipulating the placement of mirrors and lenses inside cavities, it’s possible to modify the usual shape of light beams to change the way they interact with atoms. A flattened laser beam, for example, could control atoms in a cavity more precisely and uniformly than the typically bell-shaped paraxial and Gaussian laser beams, which diffract and expand. However, the process isn’t quite as simple as it sounds, Jaffe said.

“It turns out that just using the regular kind of lenses and mirrors doesn’t do it – it just turns Gaussian beams into Gaussian beams,” he said. “But we’ve come up with a way of calculating and describing these beyond the simplest description. That allows us to design cavities that can host these non-Gaussian, non-paraxial beam shapes.”

Jaffe, along with two students whose work is funded by the award, will attempt to harness the manipulated beams to carry out specific tasks.

For the quantum computing application, they will investigate transferring qubits stored inside single atoms into single particles of light called photons. Qubits are the base units of data in quantum computing, but scientists haven’t yet figured out how to link and transmit them efficiently between two remote nodes through a process called entanglement distribution. Jaffe said that distributing entanglement, the “quantum resource” of quantum computation, is necessary for scaling quantum computing devices to a useful size.

“In order to wire arrays of neutral atom qubits up to each other, we’d like to write their quantum information out using photons, which can travel through optical fibers,” he said. “Photons from multiple modules can then link up to form a larger quantum processor out of this array of submodules.”

The sensing application – a new method of measuring gravity very precisely – would use light differently. Instead of transporting information, light would build up inside the cavity, resulting in a clean, optical field to reliably control an atom. Using a new kind of geometry developed by Jaffe’s group, the technique would involve splitting, redirecting and recombining the atom in the cavity through a process called atom interferometry. Because atoms have mass and are acted upon by gravity, the process is useful for measuring gravity, Jaffe said.

“The quantum computing project dipped our toe into more complex optical cavity design to get new and useful performance – in this case, stronger interactions between an atom and a photon,” Jaffe said. “Once we opened that door, we realized there are all kinds of degrees of freedom we can explore for designing these cavities to get new types of light-matter interactions, so new ways of interfacing atoms and photons.”

He said the potential, strategic applications of manipulating light and matter to enable entanglement distribution include enhanced decryption capabilities and potential developments in chemistry, materials and biological molecules where quantum effects play a role.

Jaffe was drawn to AMO, which stands for the atomic-molecular-optical branch of physics, because of the field’s built-in balance between practicality and complex science.

“You have to have the technology and the sophistication there where you need it, but it also just has to work,” he said. “Hopefully the end product is a new, weird cavity talking to atoms in a new, weird way.”

MISSOULA, MT – This morning, Americans for Prosperity-Montana (AFP-MT) State Director Jesse Ramos has a new opinion piece in the New York Post urging lawmakers to address overregulation, delays and litigation windows that have nearly killed American logging. Ramos calls upon Congress to take up the bipartisan SPEED Act, which will modernize America’s broken permitting system, accelerate energy infrastructure projects nationwide and help secure affordable, reliable energy for families and businesses.

In Case You Missed It…

Blame Uncle Sam for US megafires that turn money and jobs into ashes |
New York Post

Since 1944, Smokey, a cartoon bear in a ranger hat, has told generations of Americans that “Only you can prevent forest fires.”

But that’s not entirely true. Because Smokey Bear, like the rest of us, has overlooked the biggest villain behind today’s wildfires.

In fact, the greatest threat to America’s forests isn’t the family around a campfire. For decades, it’s been a federal system waging war on logging, turning public forests into tinderboxes one blocked timber sale and lawsuit at a time.

This year alone, over 7 million acres have burned nationwide across more than 49,000 wildfires, 68% more than the 10-year average.

Fires have already destroyed over 1,000 homes and structures, displacing families and stretching firefighting resources across the West.

Oregon alone has seen more than 2.3 million acres burned this year, breaking the state record set two years ago.

The damage doesn’t stop at the fire line: Smoke has blanketed the West, with Prineville, Ore., hitting an Air Quality Index reading of 670 (under 50 is considered “good”) on Aug. 5 — so extreme it’s barely measurable on the standard scale.

Tens of millions of Americans have been exposed to unhealthy air, and cities have repeatedly had the worst air quality on Earth.

“Climate change” has become the ultimate scapegoat, the explanation that lets everyone off the hook.

If the fires are climate’s fault, no one answers for the lawsuits or the delayed logging permits.

But here’s the number that blows that excuse apart: A wildfire on federal land is, on average, five times the size of one on nonfederal land nearby, per the Congressional Budget Office.

Same drought. Same heat. Same lightning. Weather doesn’t stop at a property line, but federal land burns five times bigger.

Bureaucracy has consequences.

Here’s what else you probably don’t know: Your tax dollars have funded the war on logging for decades.

It started with the 1980 Equal Access to Justice Act, which was meant to help small businesses and veterans recover legal fees when they win a lawsuit against the federal government.

Instead, it became a tool environmental lawyers use to collect attorney’s fees from taxpayers instead of clients, while blocking efforts to thin out forests.

The Government Accountability Office admits it doesn’t have a full accounting of how much has been paid.

What we do know: From 2019 to 2024, the US Departments of Agriculture and Interior paid nearly $25 million under EAJA, much of it to groups suing to stop thinning and logging on public forests.

And they have succeeded. While the lawsuits piled up, harvests collapsed.

Federal timber harvests have fallen nearly 80% since their 1987 peak, from 11 billion board feet a year to under 3 billion today.

And average acreage burned nationwide has more than doubled since the 1990s, from 3.3 million acres a year to over 7 million.

These aren’t just trees. As Smokey himself said on a 1946 Forest Service poster: burned timber builds no homes.

A single well-stocked acre of timberland can hold enough board feet to frame an entire house.

Every acre that burns represents enormous waste — lumber that never reaches a sawmill, wages never earned, timber sales that never got approved, value that goes up in smoke instead of strengthening a local economy.

The same local economy that watched its sawmills close while forests holding millions of homes’ worth of timber turned to ash.

And yet we’re told these fires are inevitable, that logging wouldn’t stop them anyway.

That’s like saying dams don’t prevent floods. The forest equivalent of a levee is thinning overgrown stands, prescribed burning, removing insect-killed timber and responsible logging.

We know how to build that levee, but Congress has made it nearly impossible to get permission to do it.

This week, the Trump administration took a swing at building a forest-equivalent levee of its own.

The USDA proposed rescinding the Clinton-era Roadless Rule, which has kept 59 million acres, nearly a third of the National Forest System, off-limits to fire management for a quarter century.

The process will take time, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Now Congress needs to do its part: The bipartisan SPEED Act would cut through the logging-permit delays and litigation windows that have allowed these fuel loads to pile up.

It passed the House in December, but Senate Democrats have blocked it since.

It’s time to send it to President Donald Trump’s desk.

But until we can manage our forests again, we’ll need to update Smokey’s slogan: “Only Congress can prevent the next megafire.”

Jesse Ramos is the state director of Americans for Prosperity-Montana and a former Missoula, Mont., city councilman.

VIRGINIA CITY – Lands in Madison County managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks are under Stage I fire restrictions.

Under Stage I restrictions, building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire or campfire is prohibited unless an exemption is made. People may only smoke within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site or while stopped in an area at least 3 feet in diameter clear of flammable materials. People may cook on a liquid petroleum gas or propane stove that can be turned off.

FWP follows the county’s lead in placing fire restrictions on properties it manages within that county, including fishing access sites, wildlife management areas and state parks. These restrictions at FWP sites will be in place until further notice. FWP urges people to use caution while recreating due to dry conditions and fire danger.

Learn more about wildfire prevention and the latest information on fires in Montana at mtfireinfo.org. For information on restrictions and closures at FWP sites, click here.