Bozeman Build #50

Hello and welcome back to the Bozeman Build Report surfacing trade news around Montana. Today we will cover BNSF vs Marias Pass, public input on Montana Dakota oil leases, Skijoring in Boulder, Big Sky Avalanche, cloud seeding consideration in the Big Hole, Butte copper industry on the up, Ennis-Big Sky boundary conflicts, conservation easements, $5.3 million new water system in Missoula County, Montana pulse crops, DNRC news, Sentinel Project, Montana beef, I-90 closed twice last week over Bozeman pass, Gianforte Hall using CLT Mass Timber, Wyoming news, Yellowstone Monthly volcano report, cold weather, and more.

Have a sweet week and stay warm,

Daniel

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_{When and what is the Bozeman Build? The BB is a 1x/week free email newsletter delivered Monday mornings focused on Montana trades. We are not a financial or building advisors.}

Montana and Bozeman Trade Pulse

Montana trade pulse

February 04, 2025 BNSF vs. Mother Nature on Montana’s Marias Pass. For 20 years, BNSF Railway has maintained a unique avalanche program to keep its main line to the Pacific Northwest open. (Railway Age)

Feb 04, 2025 HELENA — The Bureau of Land Management Montana-Dakotas State Office is asking the public for their input on possible oil and gas lease sales this September. The 30-day public comment period is now open, and the BLM is looking for comments on 29 oil and gas parcels totaling 9,102 acres. (BLM National NEPA Register)

Feb 04, 2025 - Boulder, MT - When you combine skiing, horse racing, and rodeo, you get skijoring. Skijoring is a Norwegian word meaning "ski driving", a sport enjoyed by many around Montana, especially in Boulder, where they hosted Skijoring the Big Rock, a couple of days of entertainment and experience. (KBZK)

Feb 05, 2025 During avalanche mitigation work on Wednesday, February 5, an avalanche was triggered in the Bone Crusher area at Big Sky Resort, Montana, before the resort opened. A significant amount of snow was deposited in and around the upper lift terminal of Swift Current 6. (Snow Brains)

Feb 05, 2025 The state of Montana is considering using "cloud seeding" to try to improve snowpack in the Big Hole Watershed. (KBZK)

Feb 06, 2025 - Butte, MT - Copper continues to remain well over $4 per pound, which is good news for Montana Resources in Butte, and officials say they're about 80 feet away from some of the highest-grade copper that Butte has ever seen, which is good news for those in the mining industry here in the Mining City. The company moved about 54 million pounds of copper last year, but they expect to move more than 70 million pounds of this higher grade copper. (KBZK)

Feb 06, 2025 A new bill Senate Bill 260 (SB260) was introduced by state Senator Greg Hertz was presented to Montana Senate committee last week that could resolve ongoing disputes over district boundaries between Big Sky and Ennis. The bill would allow residents to bypass county commissions and instead vote on such decisions to address issues like geographic barriers or lack of legal access to services. (Meet Montana)

February 06 2025 the Montana Department of Commerce launched the Opportunities in Rural Economies Program, a new initiative aimed at fostering economic growth, supporting business expansion and creating high-paying jobs in rural communities across the state. Commerce anticipates the ORE Program will start accepting applications mid-May. A total of $8 million will be available; $7.5 million for loans and $500,000 for grants. (Commerce MT)

Feb 06, 2025 In a demonstration of the popularity of private land conservation, Sen. Tony Tezak, R-Ennis, offered to kill his bill to limit the terms of conservation easements to 40 years. He then allowed dozens of people to testify against his own measure, including ranch families, timber interests, hunting and fishing advocates, and business leaders. (Flathead Beacon)

Feb 6, 2025 Missoula County is moving forward with plans to construct a new water system in the Wye, aiming to provide essential infrastructure for the area's development. The total cost of the water system will be just over $6 million. Taxpayers will cover nearly $5.3 million, while private companies will contribute almost $800,000. Grass Valley Industrial will be reimbursed by the county for their contributions once the system is completed. The project is expected to be finished by in the fall of 2025. (Montana Right Now)

Feb 09, 2025 After generations of planting and farming wheat, Miller’s family decided to try something new. About 25 years ago, they planted peas. Pulse crops are plants in the legume family—things like chickpeas, lentils and dry edible peas. According to a the 2024 Montana Agriculture Statistics report from the Montana Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Agriculture, Montana is the top producer of chickpeas lentils and dry edible peas in the United States. Preliminary numbers from 2023 put the production value of all three crops at more than $373 million. Miller isn’t the only one raising pulses, numbers in the 2024 Montana Agriculture Statistics report show an upward trend in acres of pulses planted and harvested in Montana since 2014. (Montana Ag Network)

DNRC and FWP News and Events

The Loose Horse Timber Sale - 11 miles southeast of Seeley Lake, Montana and approximately 3 miles northwest of Clearwater Junction. The project would remove an estimated 1.5 million board feet of sawlog volume from 500 acres.

Feb 7, 2025 (FWP) is proposing to enhance a previously constructed fish barrier on Big Coulee to protect a nonhybridized population of westslope cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus lewisi (WCT). The fish barrier project site on Big Coulee is located entirely on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, Judith-Musselshell Ranger District. (FWP)

Feb 6, 2025 (FWP) proposes to restore native westslope cutthroat trout (WCT) to Elk Creek in the Madison Valley in southwestern Montana. (FWP)

Feb 7, 2025 (FWP) proposes to stock tiger trout into seven Region 4 ponds or reservoirs (FWP)

Sentinel Project

Sentinel is the weapon system proposed to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system. It represents the modernization of the land-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad and would extend its capabilities through 2075. This project extends to F.E. Warren Air Force Base (WY), Malmstrom AFB (MT), Minot AFB (ND), Hill AFB (UT) , the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), and Camp Guernsey (WY).

In Sep 2020, the Air Force awarded a $13.3-billion Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract to Northrop Grumman as the prime contractor. January 18, 2024, cost growth beyond its initial cost projections, which resulted in a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach. The Air Force will not have a new timeline and phasing for transition and deployment activities until the program is restructured. This page will be updated as new information becomes available. The image below is the proposed overview for Sentinels improvements made within the State of Montana. (AFGSC.MIL)

MT Cattle Counts

The January 1, 2024, inventory of all cattle and calves in Montana totaled 2.12 million head, down 2 percent, or 40,000 head from the January 1, 2023, inventory, according to the January 1 Cattle Survey conducted by the Mountain Regional Field Office of the National. Since 2020, Montana cattle inventory is down ~14%. (USDA CATTLE INVENTORY JANUARY 1, 2024)

Bozeman trade pulse

I-90 was closed a few times last week due to hazardous road conditions over Bozeman Pass on Friday February 7th and again on Wednesday February 5th. (KBZK)

February 6, 2025 From German currywurst to Chinese mo po tofu to Ghanian jollof rice, there will be something for everyone at Montana State University’s annual International Food Bazaar on Wednesday, Feb. 12. (MSU News)

The 19th annual Fly Fishing Film Tour (F3T) is back, hitting the road with the very best fly fishing films hosted at the Emmerson Center for the Arts February 13th at 7pm. (Fly Film Tour)

Bozeman Chronicle Classifieds

Classifieds posted last week

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS - COMMERCIAL LAND FOR LEASE- Logan, MT. The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation is soliciting responses to a request for proposals (RFP) for commercial lease to develop 20+ acres of School Trust Land near Logan, Montana located off Buffalo Jump Rd in the W2W2 of Section 2, T2N, R2E, Gallatin County, Montana.

Said request is for approval to convert the garage space into a Cycle Studio with 4 bicycles to offer spin classes within Residential zoning.

Gianforte Hall Cross Lamination

Contracted by Swank Enterprises is the new Gianforte Hall of Computing at MSU Bozeman. This project contracted Western Wood Structures of Tualatin, OR employing CLT Mass Timber within the build similar to the First Security Bank Missoula.

Northern Rockies

February 03, 2025 The anticipated budget for a “world-class” shooting complex near Cody, Wyoming, is up from $10 million to $19.5 million. The Wyoming Legislature in 2023 appropriated $10 million to build what backers called a “world class” shooting complex. Several municipalities competed to have the complex built in their communities, and Cody was announced as the winner last summer. Construction expected to begin this spring. (Cowboy State Daily)

February 06, 2025 Low-level helicopter flights are planned over areas of Wyoming and northern Colorado to image geology using airborne geophysical technology. Data collection for this survey area will be conducted starting in February 2025 for approximately three months, weather and flight restriction permitting. Surveying is expected to be completed by the summer of 2025. Flights will cover areas within Albany, Carbon, Converse, Laramie, and Platte counties in Wyoming as well as Jackson, Larimer, and Routt counties in Colorado. (USGS)

February 07, 2025 The University of Wyoming has expended $2 million for a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl celebrating Buffalo Bills' quarterback Josh Allen and his connection to the University of Wyoming. The spot will air in cities across the country and will be seen in Wyoming too. Baldwin estimates that at least 10 million people watching the Super Bowl will see UW’s ad. (Cowboy State Daily)

YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY MONTHLY UPDATE

During January 2025, the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, responsible for the operation and analysis of the Yellowstone Seismic Network, located 56 earthquakes in the Yellowstone National Park region. The largest event of the month was a minor earthquake of magnitude 3.7 located about 15 miles south-southwest of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park on January 28 at 5:59 PM MST. This event was felt in the surrounding area and is the mainshock of a sequence of 25 located earthquakes. The sequence includes two foreshocks and 22 aftershocks, with aftershock activity ongoing. (USGS Volcano Updates)

Upcoming Weather

Last week Southwest Montana experienced a handful of snow storms over the weekend on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This week starts off super chilly with light snow through Monday and Tuesday gradually warming up into this weekend, overnight lows will remain below 10 degrees. Wear extra layers Monday, Tuesday, into Wednesday.

This week, everywhere East of the Mississippi will get significant precipitation. Starting up again this weekend early next week there will be a new layer of Snow throughout the Central Rockies. Weather charts provided by ag-wx.

History

Group of people on snow, watching snow removal operations on the Going-to-the-Sun Road near Logan Pass as part of "Show-Me Day."

Thanks for reading,

Daniel

bozemanbuild.com & blockbiome.com