Hello and welcome back to the Bozeman Build Report covering business and trade events occurring around the Northern Rockies, its great to have you here! Today in the 81st edition we will cover new ag and manufacturing reports, film festivals, salting the roads, Sage grouse, “snowbows”, energy exports get the green light, the Canadian US boycott, and much more!

Have a sweet 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 Trade Pulse

September 2025 USDA Montana Newsletter (USDA)

Sep 3, 2025 Montana’s Labor Paradox: Record Jobs, Missing Workers, and the Crises Behind the Gap (Western Montana News)

September 3, 2025 Progress being made in the new Philipsburg Skatepark (Philipsburg Skatepark). Evergreen Skateparks of Portland, OR is the GC. They have raised $248,702 of the $300,000 goal so far.

Sep 15, 2025 Demolition expected this week at Butte mall as new owner redesigns plaza (KBZK)

Sep 15, 2025 Harlequin Organic Produce is on a mission to bring some southwestern spice up north. The farm roasts chile peppers for customers online and in the Missoula and Jocko Valleys. (Montana Ag Network)

Sep 16, 2025 Great Falls Development Alliance unveils three-year economic growth strategy (Grow Great Falls)

Sep 17, 2025 MDA Requesting Hemp Research & Development Proposals (AGR)

Sep 17, 2025 Montana Pulse Crop Committee Seeking Research Proposals (AGR)

Sep 17, 2025 The Montana Department of Labor & Industry (DLI) announced today its Montanans at Work statewide tour, offering a unique opportunity for local employers, workforce professionals, and community members to connect with DLI experts and resources as part of Governor Greg Gianforte’s 406 JOBS initiative. (MT DLI)

Sep 17, 2025 When the Montana Legislature passed House Bill 328 earlier this year, it expanded hunting privileges for Montana residents 75 years of age and older. (FWP)

Sep 18 , 2025 2025 Fourth Quarter Oil & Gas Lease Sale – Notice 2 (DNRC)

Sep 18 , 2025 A federal judge has directed the U.S. Department of the Interior and an irrigation corporation to stop diverting water from the Upper Clark Fork River near Deer Lodge to prevent harm to endangered bull trout. (Daily Montanan)

September 18, 2025 September 2025 Montana Manufacturing News (MMEC)

Sep 19 , 2025 A film festival geared toward showing “uplifting” movies and shorts is coming to Big Sky this weekend. It’s the first year for the Lone Peak Film Festival in Big Sky, which will have six feature films and 16 shorts. The event will also include a mentorship program for local Native American filmmakers. (Daily Montanan)

Sep 19 , 2025 Montana Technological University will celebrate the 125th anniversary of its Mining Engineering program with a three-day series of events September 25–27, 2025. The celebration, themed “From Butte to Beyond: 125 Years of Mining Engineering at Montana Tech,” will honor the program’s long legacy of shaping industry leaders and innovators who have contributed to projects around the world. (Mtech)

MDT News

Last weeks announcements from mdtnews.mt.gov/news/

• I-90 ramp closures between Bozeman and Livingston during improvements

• Safety improvements proposed for US 93 & Woodside Cutoff Rd

• Proposed resurfacing on I-90 from Crow Agency to Garryowen

• Proposed chip seal on I-90 southeast of Dunmore

• Walk to School Day Returns to Montana on October 8th: Let’s Put Safety First

• Big Hole River Bridge adoption notice

Preparation for Winter

A stockpile of traction sand in a MDT Yard somewhere in Montana. “Sand doesn't melt ice. It is applied to provide temporary traction during a storm event. MDT also uses Magnesium and Sodium Chlorides. Magnesium chloride is a salt compound extracted primarily from the Great Salt Lake, with added corrosion inhibitors, used to prevent or remove the buildup of ice and snow on the road. The effective working temperature for magnesium chloride is above 10 F on the road surface.” (MDT)

Bozeman Trade Pulse

September 8, 2025 Bozeman, Montana – Gallatin County Montana is moving forward with the design and planning of a new composting facility at the Gallatin County Landfill, with annual capacity to process up to 25,000 tons of biosolids, food waste, yard waste and other organic waste streams. The Gallatin County composting project is being led by Great West Engineering and recently went through a competitive tendering process to identify the best composting technology for Montana’s unique climate challenges. (Composting Technologies)

September 16, 2025 17,165 students to enroll at MSU this fall. That headcount is up from last fall’s total, which was itself a record at 17,144. Montana State is the largest university in the four-state region that includes Wyoming and the Dakotas. (MSU News)

September 17 2025 Initial Proposal Bear Canyon Fuels Reduction Project (DNRC)

Sep 17, 2025 Montana State University is leveraging its breakthrough into federal defense research to bring broader opportunities to Montana’s innovation community, hosting a regional event next week that connects local businesses and startups with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. MSU will host a DARPAConnect Regional Pop-Up on Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Strand Union Building. The event represents a significant step forward for the university, which landed its first DARPA contract just six weeks ago with a $780,000 cybersecurity research award. (Western MT)

Sep 18, 2025 Manhattan firewood company loses more than half its inventory in fire. If you’ve ever gotten firewood from a Town Pump, KOA, or local campground, that wood likely came from S & D Firewood. Based in Manhattan, S & D has been keeping folks warm for more than 30 years. Just how much wood are they producing each season? “About 4,000 cords of firewood. And then bundles — 3,000 pallets’ worth, and there are 72 bundles on a pallet. So, a lot,” said Kristy Thompson. (KBZK)

Sep 19, 2025 Montana State breaks ground for new campus hotel. The building itself will be 123,000 square feet, with 138 rooms 5,300 square feet of meeting space, Byrne said. Situated on South 7th Avenue, the building will have a rooftop restaurant, a fitness studio, outdoor dining and a cafe. (Bozeman Daily Chronicle)

Montana Fresh Hop Fest

Come enjoy a harvest festival featuring delicious fresh hopped styles of beer from 35+ Montana breweries at the Gallatin County Fair Grounds Oct 19: 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM. General Admission is $25.

Parade of Homes

The Bozeman Real Estate Group along with SWMBIA are hosting the annual Parade of Homes on October 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Buy Tickets HERE.

Northern Rockies Misc

September 4, 2025 CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Sage grouse lek attendance numbers across the state this mating season reached a seven-year high, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department announced. This year saw particularly robust mating efforts as the result of natural cycles and plenty of spring moisture. (Cap City)

September 15, 2025 An event at Buffalo High School Tuesday is designed to get sophomores and juniors to stay on The Right Road, by experiencing consequences from choices most kids will face during their high school years. She explained that, “between 1:30 and 2:30 there will be police, ambulance, fire and LifeFlight helicopter responders. This is a staged event for instruction. We don’t want the community to get unduly alarmed if they see hoards of first-responders at BHS or stumble over the crash scene itself in the afternoon.” This is the seventh year the event has happened at BHS, and over 90 community volunteers and 200 students are expected to participate. (Sheridan Media)

Sep 17, 2025 The Bureau of Land Management leased 32 parcels totaling 39,225 acres in Wyoming for $8,450,944 in total receipts for its quarterly oil and gas lease sale. This lease sale was conducted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which resets the royalty rate for new federal onshore oil and gas production to a minimum of 12.5%, reversing the 16.67% rate set by the Inflation Reduction Act. By lowering the federal onshore royalty rate from 16.67% to 12.5%, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act reduces the cost of doing business on public lands, making oil and gas development more economically attractive to industry.

September 17, 2025 Meteorologists say snowbows are a rarity, like the one that appeared during a Monday evening snowstorm at Brooks Lake Lodge near Dubois. What's even more rare is to actually photograph one. "They're hard to catch," said meteorologist Celia Hensley. (Cowboy State Daily)

September 18, 2025 The California Supreme Court on Wednesday effectively ended a decade-long legal battle over shipping coal out of the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal. The decision clears a path for potential Wyoming coal exports. (Cowboy State Daily)

Sept. 18, 2025 Bechtel gets green light on $6.7B LNG project. The Rio Grande LNG Facility was stalled after an appeals court nixed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authorization last year. (Construction Dive)

Sep. 18, 2025 Seven wind turbines that were heralded 25 years ago as harbingers of New York state’s green energy future were demolished Wednesday in Madison County. (Syracuse)

September 20, 2025 Wyoming Pathways has brought $2.5 million in trail investments into Wyoming since the organization’s inception in 2017. They’ve worked on a variety of projects across the state, and one of the most exciting is a recent rehabilitation and reroute of the Togwotee Pass section of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). (Single Tracks)

September 21, 2025 Laramie County fire crews have cleared the scene of a train derailment and explosive fire west of Cheyenne early Sunday that authorities called “significant and dangerous." The fireball was seen 60 miles away in Colorado. “The incident involved a Union Pacific Railroad train and a ruptured natural gas pipeline,” the report says. “The ruptured pipeline ignited in close proximity to rail cars carrying hazardous materials, placing responders and the surrounding area at a heightened risk.” (Cowboy State Daily)

Jet Fuel Pipeline

Over the weekend, I caught up with a collage friend who grew up on a farm in Western Kansas, he mentioned that a company was adding a second pipeline under their property. This second pipeline managed by ONEOK is constructing a new 230-mile, 16-inch diameter pipeline from Scott City, Kansas, to Denver International Airport (DIA). Further, it includes the upgrading of certain pump stations along the existing refined products pipeline system. Total system capacity will increase by 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) and will have additional expansion capabilities. The project is expected to cost approximately $480 million and be completed in mid-2026. (ONEOK)

2025 Canadian boycott of the United States

In the context of the 2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico, a boycott of the United States began in Canada, including both American consumer products and travel to the US.

• The volume of Canadians taking road trips into the U.S.—the way most Canadians visit—dropped by 37% last month compared to July 2024, according to new data from Statistics Canada, following a 33% drop in June. (Forbes)

• California launched “Californians Love Canada” initiative, extending 15 percent to 25 percent discounts at nearly 950 hotels statewide. (Asian Hospitality)

• U.S. alcohol sales are virtually non-existent in large swaths of the country as most premiers hold firm on keeping those products off store shelves. Brown-Forman, the parent company of major U.S. alcohol brands like Jack Daniel's whisky and Woodford Reserve bourbon, reported in its recent quarterly earnings that sales to Canada have dropped by an eye-popping 62 per cent. (CBC)

• The pullback in Canadian travel is expected to most negatively impact cities such as Seattle (-26.9% fall in overnight international visitors expected in 2025), Portland (-18.3%), and Detroit (-17.3%). (Discover Kalispell)

• The table below shows how this is directly impacting Montana communities such as Kalispell and the Flathead region pointing out a 38% decrease in Canadian credit card transactions year over year.

Thank you for reading, let us know what you think!

Daniel Zavadil

bozemanbuild.com & blockbiome.com