Bozeman Build #52

A warm welcome back the Bozeman Build Report discovering Montana trade content, we’re grateful to have you here reading the 52nd edition. Today we will provide updates about proposed tax cuts for grocery store stocking Montana products, UofM Spring enrollment up, Montana renewables in Great Falls receives first loan tranche $782M/$1.44 B, glowing rocks display at Montana Tech, Russell Museum announces auction listing 20+ pieces of Charles work, Helena fairground shop fire, medical marijuana ID proposal, maple syrup in Montana, Logging stories, DNRC funding pause, ice jam awareness, Missouri river elevations. Around Bozeman we discussed the Big Sky pond skim is back on the calendar and prices, water main break, Belgrade Amazon distribution center is hiring, new Pita Pit planned for Belgrade, new lidar business Hall Lidar Inc. coming to town, wool research in Time Magazine, Bridger Bowls expansion plans, West Post, warm weather, a few Wyoming updates and a historic MDT documentary.

Enjoy and have an awesome week,

Daniel

_{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

Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 A rally for Public Lands took place at the Montana State Capital and drew quite the crowd (Montana Journal)

Feb 20, 2025 Montana lawmakers are weighing proposals that would both study and support local food. One bill would fund a study on farmers' markets and another would offer a tax cut for grocers who stock Montana products. Both efforts have encountered little to no resistance. Rep. Jane Weber, D-Great Falls, is carrying House Bill 440, the “Montana Food First Bill,” which would create tax cuts for companies that stock food made in Montana. (Montana Ag Network)

February 20, 2025 The University of Montana’s spring 2025 enrollment is up by 4.3%.This spring, UM bolstered its overall headcount by also increasing undergraduate enrollment 2.5%, graduate student enrollment by nearly 1% and Missoula College enrollment by 2.6%. The University also welcomed 732 new students to campus this spring, a 10.2% increase over spring 2024. (UMT News)

Feb. 20, 2025 Montana Renewables Finally Receives $782M First Tranche of Delayed DOE Loan to Fund Sustainable Aviation Fuel Project (Energy Tech)

February 20, 2025 Popular display of glowing specimens back on display at Mineral Museum at Montana Technological University thanks to help of Montana Tech Robotics Club. (Montana Tech News)

Feb 21, 2025 The C.M. Russell Museum proudly announces a historic milestone for its prime fundraising event, The Russell, scheduled for March 20–22, 2025. This premier Western art auction will feature over 125 historic pieces, including more than 20 iconic works by Charles M. Russell. This event marks the largest sale of Russell and historic Western art in the 57-year auction history and one of the most significant auctions of Russell’s work worldwide in the past two decades. (C.M. Russell Museum)

Feb 21, 2025 A massive fire erupted at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds Thursday evening. According to Fire Chief Mike Chamber, the fire broke out at 7:11 p.m. in a maintenance building that housed fairgrounds equipment. The fire was brought under control by approximately 10:30 p.m (KTVH)

February 21, 2025 Lawmakers on Wednesday tabled a bill in an 11-4 vote that would change how the Public Service Commission members are selected. House Bill 363, introduced by Rep. Larry Brewster, R-Billings, sought to change what is now an elected process for the five PSC members, selected by districts, and instead allow the governor to appoint three seats while keeping two as elected positions, aligned with the current Congressional districts. (Daily Montanan)

69th Legislature 2025 Revise recreational marijuana laws to require a marijuana identification card (bills.legmt.gov)

Unique flyer found thinking that Montana doesn’t have enough Maple Trees to support a syrup industry, apparently there’s enough Silver, Sugar, Norway Maple along with Box Elder trees that can also be tapped. Montana Maple Works does this.

Montana Logging Association

New fun January February Stories released last week. Check out these stories and learn a few things about Montana logging. https://www.logging.org/news

• Karl's Korner January Update

• FH Stoltze Land & Lumber - Timber Roots

• The Roaring '20s 1920/2020's

• Off the Leash - By Hank

• TRUCKSTOP - By Rich Tatarka

• $afety $aves – by Justin Doble

MDT News and Lettings

Released 2/18 and 2/20 on mdtnews.gov

February 18 2025 The Montana Aeronautics Board has allocated more than $3.2 million in funding for fiscal year (FY) 2026. This funding is designated for a range of airport infrastructure enhancement initiatives. Requests totaling approximately $5.7 million were submitted by 49 public-use airports throughout the state. Ultimately, the Board awarded funding for 123 out of 140 submitted project proposals from 44 public airports in Montana, encompassing both federally supported and non-federally supported projects.

February 20 2025 CUT BANK, Mont. — The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) would like to announce that a construction contract has recently been awarded to Helena Sand & Gravel to build a shared-use path in Cut Bank.

March 13, 2025 Lettings

• 101 – JCT MT-81 – SOUTH MT-80

• 102 – WILSALL – N AND S

• 103 – EAST GLACIER – E AND W

• 104 – MONTANA STREET – DILLON

• 105 – GALEN – SOUTHWEST

• 106 – SF 189 PROSPECT AVE LIGHTING

DNRC and FWP News and Events

February 20 2025 Upper Grasshopper Valley Timber Permit & Fuels Reduction Project. The proposed project would remove an estimated 300 thousand board feet (MBF) from approximately 582 acres

February 21 2025 Due to ongoing delays in federal reimbursements, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) Forestry and Trust Lands Division can no longer fund any United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management federally funded projects, grants, subawards, and contracts. All work under these agreements must stop immediately.

Montana River Ice and Ice Jam Awareness

Montana River Ice and Ice Jam Awareness

• Montana has the highest number of reported ice jams in the lower 48.

• Montana has the highest number of ice jam related deaths in the lower 48.

• Ice jams can develop quickly and cause significant flooding or flash flooding.

• Two-thirds of Montana's ice jams occur in February and March.

• Top 3 rivers reporting ice jams in Montana are the Missouri, Yellowstone, and Milk River

Elevations of towns on the Missouri River

Was chatting with my dad about elevation differences between random locations which inspired the idea of plotting town elevations located along the Missouri River from Bozeman to Omaha.

Bozeman trade pulse

February 17, 2025 Big Sky is hosting the pond skim again after taking a handful of years off. This year it will be hosted on Saturday, April 26 (Big Sky Resort)

For kicks, here is how Big Sky is pricing their tickets Spring 2025 for the month of March and April. (Pricing calendar sourced from www.bigskyresort.com/lift-tickets)

Feb 19, 2025 Freezing temps lead to water main break in Bozeman. The extreme cold temps have caught up with our water system. We have had a number of water main breaks over the last few weeks," says City of Bozeman Utility Director Shawn Kohtz. (KBZK)

Feb 19, 2025 New Amazon distribution center in Belgrade now hiring, staffing up for opening. The first opened in Missoula in March 2024 and employs 100 warehouse workers and 80 drivers. The second, in Billings, opened last October with 50 employees and plans to hire more people. (KZBK)

Feb. 20, 2025 Pita Pit USA, a distinguished Mediterranean fast-casual brand announce a new development deal bringing a fresh and healthy dining option to Belgrade, Montana. (PR Newswire)

Feb. 20, 2025 David Hall continues to make his mark on the lidar industry as he launches Hall Lidar Inc., or HLi (www.halllidar.com) in Bozeman, Montana. Hall, the original inventor of the lidar technology for mapping and the autonomous vehicle industry, is eager to offer quality lidar for customers, as he sees growing demand. (PR Newswire)

February 20, 2025 Montana State University’s leading wool and sheep expert Brent Roeder was featured recently in the Time magazine article, “Farmers are Using Wool to Save Water in the Drought-Ridden West,” published Dec. 23. More information about MSU sheep and wool research can be found at http://www.montana.edu/woollab.

February 21st 2025 Central Valley Fire District responded to a roof collapse at a commercial warehouse at Best Rate Towing and Repair on Amsterdam Road in Belgrade Thursday morning. (NBC Montana)

Bridger Bowl Master Plan Envisions Six New Lifts

America’s second largest nonprofit ski area plans significant changes to its lift layout under a proposed 2025 master plan. Bridger Bowl proposes to add an expansion lift called Bradley Meadows, an infill lift called Pierre’s Knob 2 and three smaller lifts serving beginner trails and terrain parks. The plan was prepared by SE Group and is still undergoing finishing touches. (Peter Landsmans Lift Blog)

West Post

Quick status on the West Post Development South of the Bozeman airport. Photos captured February 4th 2025. Picture one is a new hotel, two is the new TSC which opened its doors in early November, and three includes some new residential construction. As of today February 20th there are 12 commercial lots available and a good handful of residential lots still on the market although all townhome lots are either pending or sold. The commercial land is going for ~ $728,000 per acre (avg of a 6 lot sample) . All price data is was gathered from westpostmt.com , this is not a pricing or quantity quote.

Nearby in Wyoming

In last weeks Bozeman Build #51 we discussed USPS bottlenecks in Montana and we’re not alone. Apparently in Wyoming there was a controversial plan to move local mail processing from Cheyenne to Denver and from Casper to Billings. This proposal was shot down and mail distribution will remain In-State (Cowboy State Daily). Also last Monday Louis DeJoy in a letter that he plans to step down as postmaster general and that it’s time for the USPS Board of Governors to seek his successor.

Crews prepare to crack the LaPrele Dam this month. Late last year, the state ordered the 116-year-old concrete structure to be breached and eventually demolished to avoid possible catastrophic failure. Though design plans are in the works for a new dam — estimated at $182 million — not all of the funding pieces have fallen into place. Nor is there unanimous support for how much or whether the state and federal government should pitch in. (Wyo File)

February 19, 2025 Virginia-based BWX Technologies is not just looking to deploy small micro nuclear reactors in Wyoming. It’s scouting the state for possible sites to build a uranium fuel plant. (Cowboy State Daily)

Weather

Warm weather ahead with chances of precipitation (both rain and snow) and high winds kicking off the week, the National Weather Service has issued State wide warnings around high winds and ice dams.

History

That’s all for today, thanks for reading!

Daniel

bozemanbuild.com & blockbiome.com