Bozeman Build #51

Welcome back the Bozeman Build Report discovering Montana trade content, we’re grateful to have you! This 51st edition will peek into the February Montana manufacturing report, Big-Game Migrations now tracked on map, local favorite Town Pumps, $3.4M vital infrastructure grant, NIH grant freeze impacts Montana researchers, proposed bill requiring developers to sell 10% of units below market rate, MT Renewables back on track with their $1.44B aviation fuels grant, 360 USFS Montana jobs cut, big four payout for meat monopoly allegations, USS MONTANA warships documentary, Pro Frac Machines, Montana building lot costs, DNRC puts a temporary pause on federally funded projects, Unlocking Public Lands program, Northwest Energy releases 2024 Annual report, BNSF to provide $2.9 million in grizzly bear conservation. In the Bozeman arena, we found stories about more extended stay hotels, MSU Spring enrollment record, notes about why mail is so snail in Bozeman, 7th and Aspen development, Yeti/Mystery ranch, new projects, icicles, snowy weather, and Red Lodge Brewing.

Happy Presidents Day!

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 trade content and news. We are not a financial or building advisors.}

Montana and Bozeman Trade Pulse

Montana trade pulse

February 2025 Montana Manufacturing News published Feb 14th (Montana Manufacturing Extension)

February 10, 2025 More Than 200 Big-Game Migrations Now Mapped Across American West (University of Wyoming). Wildlife Corridors and Route Viewer mapping tool can be accessed at www.westernmigrations.net/ 

Feb 12, 2025 - What’s your favorite town pump? (Reddit)

February 13 2025 Five Montana communities will share $3.4 million of grant funding to help fund the construction or rehabilitation of vital infrastructure and community facility projects. (Commerce MT)

• Lincoln County will receive $600,000 for the renovation and expansion of the Trego, Fortine, Stryker Community Hall.

• Madison County will receive $700,000 for wastewater system updates.

• The City of Shelby will receive $700,000 for wastewater system updates.

• The Town of Superior will receive $700,000 for the new construction of the Community Food Bank of Mineral County.

• The City of Wolf Point will receive $700,000 for wastewater system improvements.

Feb 13, 2025 Last month, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to implement a spending freeze on trillions of dollars worth of grants and loans .The latest of those came Feb. 7 when the National Institutes of Health announced a new 15% cap on overhead costs tied to grant-funded research. That includes equipment, facilities and support staff often critical to such initiatives which could cost Montana-based health research roughly $5 million a year. (Bozeman Daily Chronicle)

February 13, 2025 Northwest energy has released its 2024 Form 10-K report. (Northwest SEC Filings)

Feb 14, 2025 A Montana legislator is pushing a bill that would again allow local governments in the state to use policies that require developers to provide a certain level of affordability in new builds. The policy required developers to sell 10% of units in new construction at below market-rate prices, or pay cash-in-lieu to a city housing fund in exchange for the units. Bozeman previously had a so-called “inclusionary zoning” policy, until the Legislature outlawed it during the 2021 session. (KULR8)

Feb 14, 2025 The Department Of Energy’s $1.44 billion dollar loan to Montana Renewables to produce a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) was restored this week to expand their production of renewable fuels. The project is expected to create 450 construction jobs and up to 40 operation jobs. (KRTV)

Feb 14, 2025 The USFS, a critical agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is set to reduce its workforce by approximately 10% nationwide. In Montana alone, this translates to 360 job losses. The cuts at the USFS will reduce the agency's workforce of around 35,000 employees by about 10%. Public safety employees within the USFS are exempt and firefighter jobs also appear to be unaffected. It's still unclear exactly which positions are being eliminated in Montana. (Farmonaut)

Feb 16, 2025 JBS Foods has agreed to pay $83.5 million to settle allegations that it conspired with other meat packers to bring down cattle prices. It’s long been referred to as a “meat monopoly” with four big meat packers representing 85 percent of U.S. domestic beef production. The lawsuit, filed in in 2019 by Billings-based R-CALF, takes aim at JBS, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef and alleges the “the Big four” as they are known, conspired to fix cattle and retail beef prices from 2015 to 2019. (Montana Ag Network)

Saturday, February 22, at 6PM Montanans across Big Sky Country will be able to watch a powerful, informative and fun new television documentary about the first and new USS MONTANA warships – and our state’s unique relationship with the US Navy for more than one hundred years. (USS MONTANA COMMITTEE)

Pro Frac

Noticed three of these Pro Frac Dual Fuel machines heading West bound on I-90 near Columbus, MT. This machine allows the substitution of natural gas for diesel for operations. Pro Frac is owned by PF Holdings based in Willow Park, Texas.

Montana residential building lot costs 2025

This is what a starter improved lot costs across the State of Montana as of February 2025. Prices sourced from Zillow.com

DNRC and FWP News and Events

February 11 2025 Due to ongoing delays in federal reimbursements, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Forestry and Trust Lands Division is implementing a temporary pause on all United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management federally funded projects, grants, subawards, and contracts, effective Friday, February 21, 2025. (DNRC MT)

Helena Unit is proposing to harvest timber on the following state owned parcel estimated 320-480 thousand board feet from approximately 170 acres. Douglas fir is the dominant tree species within the project area. (DNRC MT)

Feb 12, 2025 Landowners have until March 15 to apply for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ Unlocking Public Lands (UPL) Program or the Public Access Land Agreement (PALA) Program.   For enrollment in UPL, landowners will receive an income tax credit in the amount of $750 per agreement and up to a maximum of $3,000 in tax credits in exchange for allowing access across the private lands, roads or trails to reach inaccessible public land. For enrollment in PALA, landowners will be paid, including money for possible infrastructure reimbursements (e.g., gravel, culverts, cattle guards) to facilitate public access to inaccessible public lands. (FWP MT)

Feb 14, 2025 Montana, BNSF Railway partner on plan to enhance grizzly bear conservation efforts. BNSF will provide $2.9 million to support personnel, equipment and education to reduce human-bear conflicts and grizzly bear mortalities in the ecosystem. The NCDE is home to one of the largest grizzly bear populations in the contiguous U.S., with an estimated 1,100 bears in the region. The area spans Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, and surrounding tribal, public and private lands in northwest and north-central Montana. (FWP MT)

Feb 14, 2025 KALISPELL — Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public input on a potential project that would place nearly 53,000 acres of private timberland in northwest Montana under a conservation easement and protect working lands, public recreation access, and wildlife habitat. This is the second of a two-phased project totaling 85,752 acres of private timberland and fish and wildlife habitat owned by Green Diamond Resource Company. The first phase of the project, covering nearly 33,000 with a conservation easement, was approved by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission and Montana Land Board. (FWP MT)

Bozeman trade pulse

Feb 10, 2025 The Home2 Suites in Four Corners is expected to open in March. Schliem says the 191 corridor could see more hotels in the next decade as a central location to destinations throughout Gallatin County. (KBZK). This is the second extended stay hotel to open in Gallatin County this year following the same idea as Everhome Suites off Huffine.

February 12, 2025 BOZEMAN – Spring enrollment at Montana State University has set a new all-time record of 16,237 students, marking the fifth consecutive year of spring semester enrollment growth at the state’s largest university. The new headcount is about 1% larger than this time last year, when the spring enrollment topped 16,000 for the first time in MSU history. Over the past five years, spring headcount at MSU has increased 4.3%. (MSU News)

Feb 12, 2025 So what's up with how bad mail delivery is in Bozeman? (Reddit)

• Rural carrier in Bzn here. We have been short staffed since 2020 and so have been over worked just as long. People continue to quit and we can't hire anyone who stays. The problem continues to worsen.

• I worked for the USPS for 22 years from 2000 to 2022 in Colorado in Denver and Boulder. I can assure you that the USPS was a cluster long before he got there. There are a multitude of reasons why service sucks, but the biggest part was the creation of a low paying position in 2016 or 2017 called the City Carrier Assistant, which pretty much replaced the Part Time Flexible Carrier.

• July 23, 2024 - Hi-Line Today - the US Postal Service announced that it will suspend air deliveries in the state of Montana in favor of ground transportation until further notice. According to a letter sent by US Senator Jon Tester to US Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the end of air service was announced in an abrupt manner, with the USPS giving air delivery partners Alpine Air one week of notice that their contracts would not be extended.

Feb 12, 2025 How Homebuyers Have Changed in Bozeman, Montana. (Bozeman Real Estate Group)

• The percentage of first-time homebuyers has decreased to 24% of the market share, down from 32% last year.

• The median age of a first-time home buyer increased to 38 years old.

• 62% Of recent buyers were married couples, 20% were single females, 8% were single males, and 6% were unmarried couples.

Feb 13, 2025 Phase 1 & 2 of an affordable housing development in Bozeman called 7th and Aspen has been approved by the city of Bozeman. The location includes the Midtown Tavern Building, a commercial building, a parking lot, and the former location of Aaron’s furniture store. This project is expected to include 171 units in total, 96 of those which will be classified as affordable housing. (Bozeman Real Estate Group)

Feb 14, 2025 Bozeman locals are upset about Yetis acquisition of Mystery Ranch that took place January of 2024 as they started eliminating positions. (KBZK)

Bozeman Chronicle Classifieds

Classifieds posted last week

• Riverside Lift Station and Force Main Project

• Firms to provide Preconstruction and Construction Management Services for the construction of a new Belgrade School District #44 elementary school.

• The Big Sky Transportation District is applying for Federal Funding $2,214,299 under the Montana Department of Transportation’s FY 26 Operating Grant Program

• 2025 Curb and Sidewalk Improvements Project

• Preliminary plat approval for the Dry Creek Minor Subdivision. The 29.83-acre site is located West of South Alaska Road and South of E Valley Center Rd.

Bozeman Development Applications

Evergoods SP (A Bozeman based bag brand) submitted docs for new construction of 2-story commercial structure on Iron Horse Road.

Ice

Channelized melting snow forming icicles across MSUs College of Engineering barrel tile roof. Not a common roofing material seen around here!

Montana Weather

Plenty of new snow to be found across Montana with some warmer temperatures looming on the horizon. This week will start off cold/wet and will end warmer but not necessary drier. The 3-4 week precipitation outlook extending into mid March still has Montana and the Pacific Northwest mapped out with above average precipitation. Graphics provided by the National Weather Service.

Red Lodge Brewing to Cannery

Have a great week!

Daniel

bozemanbuild.com & blockbiome.com