Bozeman Build #56

Welcome back the Bozeman Build Report discovering Montana trade content and a warm hello to anyone new here, thanks for tuning in. In this weeks edition of the Bozeman Build we will discuss March MT USDA updates, Montana linemen volunteering their services in Guatemala, 85th Intermountain logging conference this week, wolf management plan released, Russell Museum Auction sells $9.16M worth of art, Bute Development input, USDA loans for drought recovery, Spring auctions, ski area closing dates, successful lawns, $2 million lathe, 89 jets, 191 truck fire, Amazon in the northern Rockies, Boise fun stuff, Wyoming welcome signs, northern light graphs, and the first Montana oil wells.

Enjoy!

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

03/19/2025 March 2025 USDA Montana Newsletter (USDA)

Mar 24, 2025 Fergus Electric Cooperative linemen Dan Rice and Darek Dygert were part of a team of 14 linemen from across Montana that brought electricity to the village of Cocalitos Guatemala for the first time last month. The team landed in mid-February, and, by the end of their two-week trip, had brought electricity to roughly 100 people in Cocalitos, running power lines to 23 homes and providing the necessary electrical infrastructure for seven more homes currently under construction. (Lewistown News)

March 25, 2025 The 85th annual Intermountain Logging Conference and Equipment Show is being held next week, April 2-3, 2025 in Spokane Valley, Washington. The theme of this year’s show is Workforce Opportunities & Challenges. (Montana Logging Association)

Mar 26, 2025 FWP releases final Montana Wolf Management Plan. The new wolf plan shifts a key counting metric from the number of breeding pairs to the number of wolves representing at least 15 breeding pairs. The plan establishes that 450 wolves ensures 15 breeding pairs. (FWP)

March 26, 2025 What will Trump's order on logging mean for Montana's timber industry? “Sun Mountain is one of the six timber mills that remain in Montana. Thirty-six mills have closed across the state since the 1990s.” (MTPR)

March 26, 2025 Stillwater Reports Multiple Large-Scale Polymetallic Magmatic Sulphide Targets From 2024 Geophysical Surveys in Montana's Historic Stillwater Mining District (Junior Mining Hub)

Mar 26, 2025 C.M. Russell Museum reported total gross sales of $9.16 million from their auction. 25 works by Russell himself for the auction. (Montana Free Press)

Mar 28, 2025 HAVRE — Montana Premium Processing Co-Op receives $50,000 through Agriculture Grant. In 2024, its first full year, MPPC processed 398,918 pounds of protein. (KRTV)

Mar 28, 2025 The Butte Local Development Corporation is initiating a five-year strategic planning process and is calling on the community for input. A public meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 1 at 5:30 p.m. at Butte Brewing. (Montana Right Now)

Mar 30, 2025 Farmers in multiple Wyoming and Montana counties can now apply for USDA emergency loans following a severe drought designation. This designation allows the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) to provide crucial financial aid to farmers recovering from natural disasters. (KULR8)

2025 MONTANA STATEWIDE SPRING EQUIPMENT AUCTION hosted by Ascent Auction Ends on April 16, 2025. Mostly Ag equipment, some heavy equipment, trailers.

MDT News

Articles posted last week on MDT/News

• 3/24/2025 Proposed resurfacing on MT 200 through Perma

• 3/25/2025 MDT and its partner Kiewit will be hosting an open house on 4/8 to discuss two projects in the Lewistown area.

• 3/25/2025 Proposed resurfacing project on MT 200 east of Winnett

• 3/26/2025 MDT offers opportunities to explore careers and job openings

• 3/27/2025 Three I-90 bridge inspections

MDT Advertised Bid Packages

Upcoming Lettings April 24, 2025

• 201 – MOUNTAINSIDE TO MP 133

• 202 – PARK CITY – WEST

• 203 - MULTI-USE PATH – HEART BUTTE

• 204 - RR XING – MT 13 – MACON SIGNING-TIED

2024/2025 Ski season waning

Projected closing dates for the following ski areas 24-2025 season, PROJECTED.

• Lost Trail - March 30

• Whitefish - April 6

• Discovery - April 6

• Showdown - April 6

• Bridger Bowl - April 13

• Big Sky - April 27

Maintaining Successful Lawns in Montana

Since spring sprouts are among us, it seems timely to share this guide put together by MSU Horticulture PhD’s“ LAWNS TIE MOST HOME LANDSCAPES TOGETHER, CONTROL soil erosion, dampen traffic noise and cool the air. But these things only happen if the lawn has been installed and maintained correctly.” MSU Extension

Bozeman trade pulse

Mar 24, 2025 Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (“FWP”) proposes to acquire an approximately 86-acre easement (the “2 Dog Road Easement”) from the Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation (“DNRC”) as a preliminary step in the anticipated development of a formalized public shooting range. (FWP)

Mar 25, 2025 Mayor Terry Cunningham gave his second State of the City address last Monday. (KBZK)

March 26, 2025 Montana State University will soon have access to a $2 million lathe that can cut spinning materials so precisely that its end products are measured in fractions of the width of a human hair. The lathe weighs about 37,000 pounds and is the size of a small bedroom, is on indefinite loan from Los Alamos National Laboratory. “This is a longstanding, unclassified project for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy.” (MSU News)

Mar 26, 2025 - radaratlas2 on X tweeted “89 private jets flew in/out of Bozeman, MT this evening.” Some folks on reddit were mentioning there was a Chase Bank annual event at the YC.

191 Truck on fire

Highway 191 was closed on Friday for sometime due to a semi fire. Thank you to Gallatin Gateway fire department for your service and responses to Hwy 191 incidents.

MSU athletic building update

Almost all exteriors are tined up, crews are finishing up the roof paneling on the new 40,000-square-foot Kennedy-Stark Athletic Center. This building is so large it changes the skyline of Bozeman when you are driving into town from Bozeman Trail Road/ Kagy.

Northern ROckies

Amazon Major Facilities

• Utah has 11 facilities across the State according to amzprep.com

• Wyoming has 2, one in Gillette and one in Casper

• Montana has 3, one in Missoula (March 24), Billings (WMT3 Oct 24), Belgrade Spring 25

The Boise Build

I was visiting family in Boise Idaho over the weekend and learned that Idaho potatoes grow well here due to volcanic ash, 88 buildings in downtown Boise are heated with geothermal, Micron is constructing a $15b manufacturing campus.

• Idaho’s rich volcanic soil is ideally suited for potatoes. Potatoes seem to grow better in a light soil, like volcanic ash which has a rich supply of trace minerals and appears to be necessary for successful potato production. (Idaho Potato Museum)

• In 1983, the City of Boise began building the system that is now the largest, municipally-operated geothermal heating utility in the country, with 20 miles of pipes heating 88 buildings throughout downtown Boise. (City of Boise)

• See Micron’s $15 billion Boise project from the air (Boise Dev)

Welcome to Wyoming

Old welcome to Wyoming signs are available for bid on the public surplus site. Wyoming Department of Transportation installed new welcome signs last Fall 2024. (Cowboy State Daily)

Montana Weather

Wet start to the month of April! Sounds about right for this time of year.

Turn of the month snowpack tale

Here’s a screenshot of the Natural Resources Conservation Services snotel map checking in the averages transitioning into April. Not a bad year but not great.

Solar Cycles

I had no idea there were 11 year solar cycles, based on this graph, it appears now is as good time as any to be on the look out for favorable aurora sightings!

History

The first oil wells drilled in Montana were located in the Butcher Creek drainage between Roscoe and Red Lodge, beginning in 1889. These wells were not very successful. The first significant oil production in the state came from wells drilled in the northward extension of Wyoming's existing Elk Basin field in 1915, southeast of Belfry. Montana's first new oil field was Cat Creek, near Winnett, discovered in 1920. That soon was followed by the Kevin Sunburst field discovery in 1922. Over the next 40 years, more oil fields were developed in the Williston Basin (northeast Montana), the Sweetgrass Arch (northern Montana), the Big Snowy Uplift (central Montana), the northern extensions of Wyoming's Big Horn Basin (south central Montana) and the Powder River Basin (southeastern Montana). (Montana Legislative Archive)

Another source says that the first well was drilled by by Butte Oil Co. in 1901 in the Kintla Lake area that’s now part of Glacier National Park. (Daily Inter Lake)

Rock and Roll!

Daniel

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