Bozeman Build #71

Howdy and welcome back to the 71’st edition of the Bozeman Build Report covering Montana business and trade news. In this weeks edition, we discuss copper prices, cow herd vs griz, PFL gets acquired, Montana-Alberta Tie Line, NAIP imagery, downtown Bozeman’s nonstop developments, Midwest Welding, Wyoming Rare Earth Metals, Jackson spillover to surrounding counties, and more!

Enjoy,

DZ

Support the Bozeman Build by sponsoring an edition or by sharing your projects!

_{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

July 8, 2025 US Comex copper futures jump 12%, hit record high last week as President Donald Trump said he will announce a 50% tariff on copper on Tuesday, hoping to boost U.S. production of a metal critical to electric vehicles, military hardware, the power grid and many consumer goods. (Reuters) Now that’s a great addition to the already hyper inflated building material and electricity costs. On the flip side, this should benefit Montana copper producers such as Washington Companies Montana Resources and SandFire Resources Black Butte Copper Mine, wondering how long this will last or if this will actually go into effect.

Jul 08, 2025 A grizzly bear looking for trouble found itself outnumbered and outmatched on Sunday when a herd of Charolais cattle on a DeBruycker ranch property turned the tables and chased the predator out of the pasture. (Check the video out on the DeBruycker Charolais Ranch Facebook Page).

This family runs a breed of cattle called Charolais, a French breed known for their large size and white or creamy-white coat. Check them out at debruyckercharolais.com/

Jul 09, 2025 The Vomela Companies (of St Paul MN), a full-service provider of visual communications and specialty graphics, today announced the acquisition of PFL, a leading direct mail automation and printing company based in Livingston, Montana. (PRN Newswire)

July 10, 2025 Yellowstone, Glacier national parks on track for record years (Daily Montanan)

July 10, 2025 U.S. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) led three of his Montana Republican colleagues in urging the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to address cross-border electricity trade between their home state and Alberta, Canada. The lawmakers are concerned about regulations impacting the Montana-Alberta Tie Line (MATL), which interconnects the electricity grids of Montana and Alberta, a province in Canada. The Alberta government and the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) have enacted rules and practices that the lawmakers say discriminate against Montana electricity exports. (Ripon Advance)

Jul 11, 2025 FWP releases Grizzly Bear Conflict Dashboard. Check out the dashboard here

Jul 11, 2025 Montana reviews insurance coverage practices amid wildfire risk complaints. As of 2024, the five largest homeowners’multiperil insurers in Montana by market share were State Farm Group (23.35%), Liberty Mutual (16.25%), Farmers Insurance (12.97%), USAA Group (8.3%), and Travelers Group (7.53%), according to data from BestLink. (Insurance Business Mag)

Jul 11, 2025 Federal Timber Goals Set to Double Montana’s Forest Harvest (Western MT News)

Jul 11, 2025 Dozens of Frenchtown residents packed the local fire hall to express concerns about a proposed Town Pump convenience store planned for construction just off the Frontage Road. (KPAX)

The 19th annual Butte 100 Mountain Bike Race takes place this Saturday July 19, 2025. (Butte100)

DNRC News

DNRC news released last week on dnrc.mt.gov/News/

• 7/8/2025 Governor’s Drought & Water Supply Advisory Committee Meets Jul 16

• 7/11/2025 Project Notification Chloride Timber Permit

• 7/11/2025 Montana Administrative Rulemaking - MAR No. 2025-91.1, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

Bozeman trade pulse

Jul 09, 2025 You might notice when you take the roundabout on Oak Street, one of the exits is... well, a dead end. That all could change soon, with the potential expansion of Fowler Avenue. (KBZK)

July 9, 2025 Regional nonprofit Upper Missouri Waterkeeper filed a lawsuit June 27 against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. The group is challenging the state’s recent approval of phase two of the Quarry subdivision in Big Sky. (Explore Big Sky)

June 13 2025 - Over the weekend there was a King Air Beechcraft performing NAIP Imagery of Gallatin and Park County areas , thanks to F_redit for the Reddit article for bringing awareness. I had no idea what NAIP imagery is and for those who care to know NAIP stands for National Agriculture Imagery Program, NAIP acquires digital ortho imagery during the agricultural growing seasons in the continental U.S. This imagery supports various agricultural programs, land use planning, conservation efforts, and disaster response. Check out Montanas Orthoimagery collection page at msl.mt.gov/geoinfo/data/Aerial_Photos/

Downtown BZN becoming too dense

On Jul 11, 2025 Bozeman Real Estate Group, wrote an article laying out the details for a 7-Story Mixed-Use Development Proposed in Midtown Bozeman, which made me realize wow, these apartment/hotel developments around the downtown area are non stop. The BRG post also mentioned a handful of other projects in the downtown area pipeline as follows:

• A 4-story hotel is under construction at 507 W. Main Street, the former site of the City Center Motor Inn.

• Missouri Heights, a 5-story mixed-use building at 703 W. Mendenhall, is in final review with the city.

• The Aspen 8 project, a 289-unit housing development behind the U-Haul building, has received preliminary approval.

• A building with 95 apartments at 811 W. Mendenhall has also been preliminarily approved.

• A 171-unit residential project along 7th Avenue near the intersection with Aspen Street is currently under construction.

• The Guthrie Building, a 4-story building with 91 units, located at North 5th and Villard, has received city approval.

Bozeman or Nashville, cant really tell the difference, why cant they start building this stuff in Butte instead!

Uhaul making their presence known

I wonder if they’re renting out space inside the Harvestore? This is Uhauls location off Jackrabbit.

Midwest Welding & Machine Bozeman

Midwest Welding & Machine invited the Bozeman Build over for a tour last week. Founded in 1944, Midwest originally operated in an old blacksmith shop on the corner of Rouse and Mendenhall, in 1972 they built their shop off North 7th and in 2024 the previous owner decided to retire and sold the company to an employee carrying on Midwest's culture and mission.

Throughout the years, as a fabrication and machine shop, Midwest has been awarded contracts with Big Sky Resort, DOD, Bridger Bowl, and Yellowstone to name a few. They have also diversified into Snowplow & Trailers, Air Compressors, and Powder Coating. They are an authorized dealer and servicer for Kaeser Compressors based in Coburg, Germany and Western Snowplow of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you haven't already, stop by and check them out sometime! If you would like to be spotlighted in Bozeman Build, let us know!

Northern Rockies

Jul 10, 2025 On Thursday a celebration was held at the Capitol for Wyoming's 135th Statehood Day, and the kickoff to the celebration of America's 250th. (WY News)

July 11, 2025 U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was in Ranchester, Wyoming, on Friday for the ribbon cutting to open the first U.S. rare earth mine in 70 years. (Cowboy State Daily)

July 12, 2025 Teton County Search and Rescue had its busiest six months ever from December 2024 through May 31. They had more calls in this six-month stretch than the team used to get in an entire year. (Cowboy State Daily)

Modular a year after

About a year ago, the Bozeman Build #19 wrote about a Autovol modular project in Alpine Wyoming constructing a four story long stay hotel with 30 preassembled shoeboxes. The finished product is a Hawthorn Extended Stay by Wyndham, at the time of writing this, they were asking $329/night.

Teton County Wyoming Spillover

Populations have been creeping up in counties surrounding Teton County Wyoming (Jackson), especially Teton County Idaho and Lincoln County Wyoming. The growth numbers provided by the census aren’t super rampant however in the lens of a local it seems much busier. Lot prices in Teton County ID near Driggs are very comparable to those of Belgrade, MT.

• Lincoln Co Wyoming population in the year 2000 was 14,621 and grew to 20,880 in 2024.

• Teton Co Idaho population in the year 2000 was 6,100 and grew to 12,900 in 2024.

Thanks for reading,

Daniel Zavadil

bozemanbuild.com & blockbiome.com