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It might surprise some to learn that Montana’s largest National Wildlife Refuge doesn’t contain a single mountain. Instead, all 1.1 million acres of the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, or CMR, consists of sweeping prairie encompassing the massive Fort Peck Reservoir and rugged, impassable badlands that spin the land into a labyrinth of gumbo hills and plummeting draws.
But for all its rugged wildness, the refuge has not always stood as a pristine example of prairie grasslands and more than a century of western expansion, homesteading and ranching has left behind barbed-wire remnants of when the refuge was parceled out as ranchland years ago. But one conservation group, known as Keep It Public, alongside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field offices that oversee the refuge are hoping to remove those fence lines in a decade’s long effort to restore the refuge’s prairie to its untamed glory.
On this episode, A.J Etherington, city editor of the Billings Gazette newspaper, talks about his time spent in the CMR reporting on work done by conservationists.
This podcast is created in partnership across five newsrooms – the Billings Gazette, the Helena Independent Record, the Missoulian, the Montana Standard and the Ravalli-Republic. You can support this podcast and our efforts by subscribing. Visit any of these newspapers’ websites, and click on the Become a Member button at the top of the home page. We appreciate your support of local journalism.
Thom Bridge can be reached at thom.bridge@helenair.com
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Thom Bridge is a photojournalist at the Independent Record.
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The unavoidable 10 inches in the study is more than twice as much sea level rise as scientists had previously expected from the melting of Greenland's ice sheet.
NASA has scrubbed the launch of its new moon rocket on a no-crew test flight after a cascade of last-minute problems, including unexplained trouble related to an engine. The next launch attempt won't be until Friday at the earliest. The 322-foot rocket was set to lift off Monday morning from Florida on its first flight, a mission to propel an empty capsule into orbit around the moon. The shakedown flight will be a big step forward in America’s quest to put astronauts back on the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program 50 years ago.
NASA's new moon rocket remains on track for a Monday liftoff, despite a series of lightning strikes at the launch pad. Officials said Sunday that neither the rocket nor ground equipment suffered any damage. Five lightning strikes were confirmed Saturday, hitting the 600-foot towers surrounding the rocket at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The 322-foot rocket is the most powerful ever built by NASA. It's poised to send an empty crew capsule into lunar orbit, 50 years after NASA's Apollo program. Astronauts could return to the moon in a few years, if this six-week test flight goes well.
An elaborate fireworks display has taken place under calm skies in Hungary’s capital. That comes after a postponement of the show last weekend caused controversy when it led to the firing of the country’s top meteorologists over their weather predictions. Saturday’s event, a rescheduling of the display planned for Hungary’s national holiday a week earlier, drew tens of thousands to the Danube River in Budapest On Monday, the two top officials at Hungary’s Na.tional Meteorological Service were fired after the agency prediction of a high probability of heavy rain for Hungary's national holiday. Storms struck that night but did not hit the capital. Critics of Hungary’s nationalist government say it takes punitive actions reminiscent of the country's communist past.
As winter nears, European nations, desperate to replace the natural gas they once bought from Russia, have embraced a short-term fix: A series of roughly 20 floating terminals that would receive liquefied natural gas from other countries and convert it into heating fuel. Yet the plan, with the first floating terminals set to deliver natural gas by year’s end, has raised alarms among scientists who fear the long-term consequences for the environment. They warn that these terminals would perpetuate Europe’s reliance on natural gas, which releases climate-warming methane and carbon dioxide when it’s produced, transported and burned.
New research suggests that a giant shark that roamed the oceans millions of years ago could devour a creature the size of a killer whale in just five bites. Scientists used fossil evidence to build a 3D model of the megalodon, one of the biggest predatory fish to ever live. They calculated that creature was bigger than a school bus and heavier than 10 elephants. Its gaping jaw allowed it to feed on other big creatures. The megalodon was also a strong swimmer that could have migrated across multiple oceans with ease. The research was published Wednesday.
Federal agents in Memphis have seized a potentially 3,000-year-old ancient Egyptian artifact that was shipped in from Europe. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says they intercepted the Egyptian canopic jar lid of the funeral deity Imsety on Aug. 17. The jars were used to hold the internal organs of mummies. The agency says the item was sent from a dealer to a private buyer in the U.S., and the shipper made contradicting statements about its value. Authorities say the item is protected by bilateral treaties and is an archaeological import subject to seizure under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act of 1983. The artifact was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further examination.
It's an increasingly familiar sight in U.S. cities and suburbs: workers in gloves and masks, spraying yards for mosquitoes. As climate change widens the insect's range and lengthens its prime season, more Americans are resorting to the booming industry of professional extermination. But the chemical bombardment worries scientists who fear over-use of pesticides is harming pollinators and worsening a growing threat to birds that eat insects. Federal officials report “dramatic” increases in illnesses spread by mosquitoes and other blood feeders, including Zika and West Nile viruses. At the same time, many beneficial insect species are threatened with extinction. Some experts say spraying should be a last resort, after removing breeding sites like standing water.
The Humane Society of the United States says it has removed the last group of beagles from a troubled breeding facility in Virginia. The facility in Cumberland planned to sell the dogs to animal testing labs. But it was cited by federal officials for violating the Animal Welfare Act. The Humane Society says it took away the remaining 312 dogs on Thursday. Nearly 4,000 were removed. They’re being taken to shelters and other rescue sites that are finding them homes. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals initially investigated the facility. PETA found dogs to be living in crowded and stressful conditions. A federal judge approved a plan to remove them in July. Envigo RMS owns the facility and plans to close it.
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