The Gallatin Hockey Officials Association is looking to add more officials for the 2024/25 season and beyond. This is a great opportunity to stay involved with hockey, challenge yourself to learn more about the game, give back to the community, and make a little bit of money in the process. Registration with USA Hockey must be complete by October 31st and certification must be complete by December 31st. 

Join us for an on ice educational opportunity October 12th from 10:45am to 11:45am to learn about the basics of referee positioning.

Questions?
Kyler Harris
harris.kyler@gmail.com
ghoamt.com

Montana Farmers Union applauds the United States Department of Agriculture announcement this week about a series of actions in support of a fair and competitive agriculture market.

"We appreciate the efforts of the Biden administration to increase more fairness in the marketplace for farmers and consumers. Holding the corporate monopolies accountable and more transparency in the marketplace are critical to creating a fair market. Increasing investments in local food production and processing helps create a more resilient and healthier food supply chain," MFU President Walter Schweitzer said.

The USDA's announcement included a new framework for improving research access to seed germplasm that helps to guarantee that seed choices are driven by innovation and the demands of sustainability. 

The findings of a USDA interim report on competition in the meat retail industry also were released, further illustrating a concerning level of consolidation that makes it increasingly difficult for family farmers and ranchers to compete.

Additionally, the USDA announced efforts to enhance price discovery in cattle markets and enforce the Packers & Stockyards Act.
 
The USDA's actions are warranted to create a more level playing field in the face of industry consolidation that means roughly 80 percent of meat processing capacity is controlled by four large meat packers, Schweitzer said.

"MFU looks forward to the continued pressure on big business to be more transparent and forcing them to stop taking advantage of farmers and consumers," he said.

Click here to read the full USDA announcement. 

Devon Orme stands in the Xigaze Forearc Basin in Tibet, a field area for her ongoing research under a National Science Foundation CAREER grant. Photo courtesy Devon Orme

BOZEMAN – A Montana State University expert was quoted recently in a CNN article about the phenomenon of “river piracy” and its role in the uplift rate of Mount Everest and two nearby peaks in the Himalayan range.

Devon Orme, associate professor in MSU’s Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science, was asked by CNN writer Mindy Weisberger to comment on a paper by Chinese geologist Jin-Gen Dai, which was published Sept. 30 in the journal Nature Geoscience. The paper suggests that when a tributary of the Arun River was captured and diverted by the Kosi River in the Himalayas about 89,000 years ago, it changed the drainage patterns of the landscape. That, in turn, caused enough erosion in the valleys below Mount Everest to spark what is known as “isostatic rebound” – the upward lift of the landscape in response to decreased surface load.

As a tectonic sedimentologist, Orme studies landscapes formed by the collision of tectonic plates. She did her doctoral research in Tibet, where Eurasia and India converged 58 million to 60 million years ago to create the Himalayas. She is currently researching the erosional record of the region, which includes sampling river sands across Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Though Orme was not involved in the research reported by CNN, she and an MSU graduate student traveled to Nepal last December to sample sands in the Kosi and Arun rivers.

In the CNN article, which states that most of the Himalayan range is rising about 1 millimeter a year due to the continuing force of the plate collision, Orme said that Dai’s findings offer a promising explanation for why Everest, along with nearby mountains Lhotse and Makalu, are rising about twice as fast as neighboring peaks.

“This paper convincingly highlights the interplay of surface and deeper tectonic processes in shaping high topography on Earth,” Orme said.

She added, however, that because the findings are based on computer models, they will need to be verified by field research.

The article includes additional examples cited by Orme of river captures that have remodeled landscapes on Earth, including in the Amazon drainage basin and in two other regions of the Himalayas.

Orme, who joined the MSU faculty in 2017, has received numerous research grants from the National Science Foundation, including one that is funding her current research in the Himalayas. She is also the recipient of an NSF CAREER award, one of the most prestigious grants for researchers early in their careers.

BOZEMAN – About 34 million years ago, Earth began to cool dramatically, transforming the climate from greenhouse to icehouse and causing sea levels to fall. As more land was exposed to weathering forces, copious amounts of sediment likely sloughed off continents into the oceans, bound for the deep seafloor.

So, when Montana State University assistant professor Zachary Burton, then a doctoral student at Stanford University, set out to see how that sediment had accumulated as submarine layers of sand and mud, he expected there would be much to discover.

To his surprise, he instead found – nothing.

The journal Earth-Science Reviews this week published Burton’s findings, which reveal the existence of a global unconformity — or gap in the rock record — around the edges of every continent at the time of the pivotal greenhouse-to-icehouse climatic transition. In addition to challenging conceptual models widely used for the past half-century about the relationships between sea levels and sediment movement in the deep oceans, Burton said his discovery has left him and his co-authors wondering: Where in the world did all the sediment go?

“This is something we weren’t at all expecting to discover,” said Burton, who recently joined the faculty of MSU’s Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters in Science. “We’d set out to find lots of deposition, lots of sand. Instead, we’re finding a gap in the rock record. That sediment is missing.”

The paper published Tuesday began as part of Burton’s doctoral thesis, for which he conducted a massive review of existing data on deep-sea sediments deposited during various extreme climatic periods in Earth’s history.

Last year, the journal Nature Scientific Reports published another article based on a different chapter of Burton’s thesis. It described the presence of large volumes of sand deposited along the margins of nearly all continents when sea levels were high during a very warm climate interval about 50 million years ago. It was another unexpected finding that didn’t conform to traditional ideas about how ocean sediments are deposited.

Burton said further research is needed to explain the results of both studies, and to expand understanding of global controls on marine sedimentary systems in the past, present and future.

“Why do we care about sand moving out in the ocean? It’s not only to understand what happened millions of years ago, but also to understand the contemporary world and what’s going on under the ocean surface,” he said.

For example, he said, geologists employed by oil companies study the distribution of sands in sedimentary basins, which often contain oil. Some scientists are investigating the suitability of sand deposits as reservoirs for sequestering carbon. And a better grasp of submarine processes and hazards is necessary to protect undersea cables, as well as to determine risks to other types of offshore infrastructure, such as wind farms or oil and gas platforms.

As a new MSU faculty member, Burton plans to continue studying the impacts of historic climate changes and other catastrophic events with his students. In the spring, he hopes to offer a special course for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students to investigate what happened after an especially notorious moment in Earth’s natural history: the Chicxulub meteor impact that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Burton said the research-intensive seminar will follow a similar approach to his just-published paper. It will involve looking at data from marine settings along the world’s continental margins to compile a catalog of sediments centered around the dinosaur-killing impact.

“The motivation is to understand the responses of these sedimentary systems to catastrophic perturbations, such as extreme climate change or a world-altering meteorite impact,” he said. “For students, it’s an opportunity to contribute to a research question that hasn’t really been answered.”

As for the newly published paper, Burton said he expects it to capture some attention.
“We put out a paper that hopefully gets people scratching their heads,” he said. “It’s good to keep us all thinking.”

BIG SKY – Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks staff responded to a reported encounter between a hunter and a grizzly bear on Saturday.

The hunter was in the backcountry south of Hidden Lakes in the Gallatin Range when he saw a grizzly bear and two large cubs at close range. The hunter climbed a tree to avoid the bear, but the bear charged at the hunter. The hunter shot and injured the bear from the tree. The hunter stayed in the tree while the injured bear remained nearby.

The hunter called 911 and reported his location. FWP grizzly bear specialists, game wardens and a pilot responded via helicopter. After they landed, FWP staff dispatched the injured bear and found the hunter, who was not injured.

FWP staff did not observe any cubs or cub tracks from the air or ground. The area was flown multiple times during the event. The euthanized bear was confirmed to be an adult female.

This incident is still under investigation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Gallatin County Search and Rescue and the Custer Gallatin National Forest assisted FWP in responding to the incident.

Be bear aware

Montana is bear country. Grizzly bear populations continue to become denser and more widespread in Montana, increasing the likelihood that residents and recreationists will encounter them in more places each year.

This time of year is when bears are active for longer periods as they consume more food in preparation for hibernation. This period overlaps with hunting season and other fall recreation activities.

Avoiding conflicts with bears is far better than dealing with such conflicts. Here are some precautions to help residents, recreationists and people who work outdoors avoid negative bear encounters:

• Carry bear spray and be prepared to use it immediately.
• Make noise to alert bears to your presence and travel in groups.
• Stay away from animal carcasses, which often attract bears.
• Follow food storage orders from the applicable land management agency.
• Keep garbage, bird feeders, pet food and other attractants put away in a secure building. Keep garbage in a secure building until the day it is collected. Certified bear-resistant garbage containers are available in many areas.
• Never feed wildlife. Bears that become food conditioned lose their natural foraging behavior and pose threats to human safety. It is illegal to feed bears in Montana.

Some areas with dense concentrations of grizzly bears are very accessible to hunters, especially during the archery season. Keep these precautions in mind when hunting in grizzly country, which includes much of the western two-thirds of Montana:

• Carry bear spray and be prepared to use it immediately.
• Watch for and be extra cautious around bear sign, creeks and areas with limited visibility. Most attacks happen in surprise, close encounters.
• Hunt with a group of people. This can help you make localized noise to alert bears to your presence, and it may also increase your chances of survival in the event of a bear attack.
• Be aware that elk calls and cover scents can attract bears.
• Bring the equipment and people needed to help field dress game and remove the meat from the kill site as soon as possible.
• If you need to leave part of the meat in the field during retrieval, hang it at least 10 feet off the ground and at least 150 yards from the gut pile. Leave it where it can be observed from a distance of at least 200 yards.
• Upon your return, observe the meat with binoculars. Make noise while approaching the meat. If it has been disturbed or if a bear is in the area, leave and call FWP.
• Follow food storage orders from the applicable land management agency.

For more information and resources on being safe in bear country, click here. 

Grizzly bears in the lower 48 states are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Management authority for grizzlies rests with the Fish & Wildlife Service, working closely in Montana with FWP, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, Wildlife Services, and Native American tribes. This collaboration happens through the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee.

BOZEMAN – Montana State University’s Panhellenic Council, the governing organization for sororities, recently received two awards for innovation and community service from its national organization.

“It is my honor to advise a wonderful group of emerging leaders. They truly deserve to be recognized for their accomplishments,” said Erin Macdonald-Peck, MSU’s senior assistant dean of students and adviser to the Panhellenic Council.

The National Panhellenic Council recognized MSU’s council with the Community Impact Award and the Innovation in Programming Award for 2023-24. MSU’s council was one of 20 university Panhellenic councils nationwide recognized for community impact and one of 14 to be recognized for innovation.

“I am especially proud of the work we do to promote collaboration amongst the sorority chapters,” said Emogene Plagmann, MSU’s Panhellenic Council president. “In addition, our goal is to support Circle of Sisterhood and educate our membership on removing barriers to education.”

MSU’s Panhellenic Council raises financial resources to support entities globally that remove barriers and provide access to education for women and girls. The Circle of Sisterhood has helped to establish schools for women and girls in 31 countries. Montana State Panhellenic is one of 338 college campus sorority communities that support COS. For more information visit circleofsisterhood.org.

The student-run Panhellenic Council represents the university’s four sororities and continually works to improve sorority life on campus through learning, scholarship, alumni relations and community service. For more information, visit montana.edu/fslife/sororities.

BOZEMAN — Wendy Red Star, a visual artist and 2004 Montana State University graduate, has been named a MacArthur Fellow, a prestigious award recognizing individuals for exceptional originality and dedication to their creative pursuits.

Known as “genius grants,” the fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation provide recipients with $800,000 stipends over five years. A total of 22 individuals were announced as fellows on Oct. 1, according to the foundation.

Red Star graduated from MSU’s College of Arts and Architecture with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and went on to receive her Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. A member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation, Red Star was born in Billings and grew up on a family ranch on the nearby reservation.

“I am so happy for Wendy Red Star,” said Dean Adams, dean of the MSU’s College of Arts and Architecture. “She earned this very prestigious MacArthur Fellowship through dedication to her vision and her studio practice. We are always excited by the success of our students and are immensely proud of her as an alumnus of MSU and our School of Art.”

Native themes can be found throughout her art, in which she often uses archival materials in works that challenge colonial historical narratives. Her art, sometimes featuring self-portraits, offers a different perspective on misconceptions and oversimplified portrayals, according to a statement from the MacArthur Foundation.

MSU President Waded Cruzado offered her congratulations and praised Red Star’s artwork.
“I am so very happy to see one of our former Bobcats receive this recognition,” Cruzado said. “Ms. Red Star’s art highlights the resilience and strength of her Native American heritage, and MSU is honored to count her among our university’s distinguished alumni.”

Red Star’s work has been exhibited in prominent museums across the country and overseas, including in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain in Paris.

She currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

The Wyoming Arts Council is now accepting applications for the 2025 Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing and Journalism Fellowship.

This annual prestigious fellowship of $3,500 is a national call open to creative writers (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) and journalists (writer, photojournalist, videographer, documentary filmmaker, online or print media) who demonstrate serious inquiry and dedication to the Greater Yellowstone region through their work. This fellowship seeks to intersect science, education, current events, and conservation to effectively communicate the Greater Yellowstone’s natural history and singular importance to society through creative and exceptional writing and subject communication.

Applications are accepted online via Submittable at https://wyomingartscouncil.submittable.com/submit. The application deadline is November 1, 2024. Established and recognized authors are being sought, but emerging and mid-career writers are also encouraged to apply. Wyoming state residency is not required.

The fellowship recipient will be expected to create or complete a relevant publishable or produced work and may be requested or encouraged to make public presentations. In addition to the financial award, the fellowship recipient may elect to also receive a one week housing residency at one of several prearranged different locations within the Greater Yellowstone region. Such residency will be based on availability and will be negotiated with the fellowship recipient.

The jurors for this year’s fellowship are Kelsey K. Sather and Jim Robbins.

Kelsey K. Sather was born and raised in Montana. She’s the author of “Birth of the Anima” and is a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award for fantasy. Her stories, both real and imagined, explore the complexities of human-nature relations. She attended the University of Utah on fellowship and graduated with an MA in Environmental Humanities. The second book in her series, “Ancient Language of the Earth,” is forthcoming in the fall of 2025. When she isn’t writing, she directs the Biocene Foundation, providing grants for the individuals and organizations enacting solutions to the ecological crisis and sharing their stories of joy and perseverance. At the core of her vocation as a creator and conservationist is the hopeful intention to help people live with deeper connections to self, nature, and each other.

Jim Robbins has lived in Montana since 1977. He has written for the New York Times for more than 40 years, on a wide range of topics, but with a special focus on science and environmental issues. He is also a frequent contributor to E360, a Yale Forestry School environmental journalism website and has written for Audubon, Conde Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, Scientific American, Vanity Fair, The London Sunday Times, Conservation and numerous other magazines. He has covered environmental stories across the US and in far flung places around the world, including Mongolia, Australia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, the Yanomami Territory of Brazil, Norway, Sweden and other countries. In 2023 he was one of five ‘distinguished humanists’ awarded the Montana Governor’s Humanities Award.

This Fellowship is made possible with generous funding from The Pattie and Earle Layser Memorial Fund. In late 2021, The Pattie and Earle Layser Memorial Fund endowed this fellowship with the Wyoming Arts Council, ensuring funding this opportunity for years to come.
A complete list of eligibility requirements and additional information can be found on Submittable at https://wyomingartscouncil.submittable.com/submit. For more information, contact Kimberly Mittelstadt at kimberly.mittelstadt@wyo.gov or 307-274-6673.

HELENA – General antelope season opens Saturday, Oct. 12, and runs through Sunday, Nov. 10. For information about what to expect this season, check out Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks hunting forecast.  

FWP provides online information about hunting access, including our popular Block Management Program, which provides hunting access to more than 7 million acres of private land. 

FWP’s interactive Hunt Planner is a mapping tool that allows users to look at information for various species, including hunting districts and regulations. The hunt planner interactive map is a great way to access our block management information. If you’re planning a hunt in a certain region of the state, you can see if there are Block Management Areas available to expand your opportunity. 

Remember, regulations may change a bit from year to year depending on hunting district. Double check the regulations to be sure. 

FWP’s Hunter FAQ is another great resource to help you prepare to go out into the field.