Montana

Beware 'unleashing freedom' to plunder and pollute • Daily Montanan

Published

1 year ago

January 10, 2025

Beware 'unleashing freedom' to plunder and pollute • Daily Montanan

In his recent inaugural speech, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte spoke about how we have what the rest of the nation wants, saying: “The American dream lives in Montana and it’s here where we are proving what is possible when the government gets out of the way and empowers the people.”

If anything, his words reflect a relative newcomer’s poor understanding of Montana history — and what can happen when you “get government out of the way.” But long-time Montanans remember. We lived through and still suffer from the era when government was indeed “out of the way” and the rapacious appetites of the railroad, cattle, timber and mining barons ran rampant, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

The record is clear, and while many scars yet remain, the benefits of regulating formerly unrestricted greed and destruction are evident all across this vast state.

Anyone who knew those who lived in Montana 100 years ago can easily recall their stories of hunters basically wiping out the wildlife populations. The most distinct example of human-caused destruction of wildlife was the decimation of the buffalo that once wandered our plains in the millions.

But the slaughter was stopped — not by individuals, but by the government. While buffalo continue to recover, Montana now boasts healthy populations of deer, elk, antelope and moose — all of which would have been hunted to extirpation were it not for the institution of regulations to prevent their demise.

Hunting seasons were established to protect the time when existing wildlife carried the next generation to replenish the herds. Regulatory limits on how many animals one individual could kill were instituted not to crush freedom, as the governor insinuated government has done, but to provide continuing opportunities for Montanans and generations yet to come.

While our clean rivers and abundant fisheries are the envy of the nation, that’s not by accident. Plenty of Montanans still remember when the Clark Fork was a dead river that ran red with mining and smelting wastes, which we will continue to wrestle with for decades to come.

The timber barons ran huge rafts of logs down the Blackfoot, destroying the banks and scouring the riverbed on their way to the mills and leaving behind clearcuts leaching sediment into once-healthy tributaries. Half a century later, the Blackfoot was again decimated when the Mike Horse mine tailings pond failed, flooding the river with toxic metals that wiped out the fishery.

And of course not all that long ago there was no such thing as the catch-and-release fishing ethic pioneered and promoted by iconic conservationists like Bud Lilly, who would willingly tell friends that in his youth it was “catch and release in bacon grease.”

While the governor lauds “unleashing freedom,” the undeniable reality of Montana’s past is that there must be sidebars on that “freedom” because there are those who will pillage the state’s wealth to get it while they can with no concern for the consequences.

The legislature’s GOP leaders, echoing the governor, have the regulatory laws that restored past damages and now protect Montanans and their environment in their crosshairs. But laws such as the Montana Environmental Policy Act protect all Montanans — and rest assured Republicans need clean air, water, and soil, too, as well as healthy populations of fish and wildlife.

Montanans continue to suffer from past deregulatory mistakes, which took our electricity rates from the lowest in the region to the highest. The lesson? Beware “unleashing freedom” if the result is actually unleashing rapacious corporations to once again plunder and pollute this great state.

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Montana

Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 20

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8 hours ago

March 20, 2026

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Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 20

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Montana

Montana smokejumper Sam Forstag aims to flip House seat blue

Published

20 hours ago

March 19, 2026

Press Room

Montana smokejumper Sam Forstag aims to flip House seat blue

Montana hasn’t elected a Democrat to the House since the late 1990s. Smokejumper Sam Forstag, who jumps out of planes into the remote wilderness to put out wildfires, is trying to change that. Forstag joins “The Takeout” to lay out his progressive campaign in the deep-red state.

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Montana

Amazing America: Smokejumpers share how job evolved through the years

Published

1 day ago

March 19, 2026

Press Room

Amazing America: Smokejumpers share how job evolved through the years

MISSOULA, Mont. — In this week’s Amazing America, NBC Montana is highlighting smokejumpers and their efforts to keep our communities safe during wildfire season.

NBC Montana caught up with a current and a former smokejumper to learn more about the work they do and how the job has changed throughout the years.

Jim Kitchen was a smokejumper for 20 seasons, fought over 100 fires and raised his three daughters on a smokejumper base, where he served as base commander.

Kitchen says he’ll never forget his first jump, when he started training in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1987.

“I went, ‘That was amazing,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah,’ and I go, ‘Have you ever done anything as amazing in your life? I mean, we just made our first jump,” said Kitchen.

Kitchen told NBC Montana when he laughed his crew had to do 50 pushups.

Kitchen saw several changes during his career, including women entering a historically male-dominated field. He told NBC Montana Deanne Shulman, the first woman smokejumper, paved the way for the industry.

He recalled a time when he was on a trip to Washington, D.C. , in the early ’90s to coordinate emergency response, when a U.S. Department of State official asked him a question.

“He goes, ‘I didn’t realize men were smokejumpers.’ And I had to go, ‘Peter, I’ll have you know, there’s quite a few of us, and actually, it’s the women that are rare,’” said Kitchen “The early ladies in smokejumping, they always met and exceeded the bar, and they were instrumental in doing these winter details.”

Another change he oversaw as base commander, was moving from round parachutes used in World War II, to the ones used today.

“Ram-Air parachutes that inflate make the shape of the wing and they actually have about a 20 mph forward speed. And so you can you can fly those in much windier conditions, higher elevations,” said Kitchen.

Kitchen says the job requires you to roll with the punches and make quick decisions on the fly.

He said while training new jumpers, he taught them early to prepare and never hesitate.

“The only thing that we ask of you is that you take all the information that you can and then make a decision,” said Kitchen.

Nick Holloway, a current Missoula smokejumper, who’s been working for 14 seasons, says it’s important to rely on your training, stay positive and persevere.

“Having done this for a few years, it’s just trying to know that essentially every season is a marathon, it’s not a sprint. Just stay healthy, stay focused and keep having a good time,” said Holloway.

NBC Montana asked both men what they were most proud of during their time jumping.

Kitchen recalled fighting a fire near the Grand Canyon, when he and his crew decided to manage a fire instead of suppressing it when they ponderosa pine trees.

The crew let the fire burn to a plateau, “The Ponderosa pine has about a 20 to 30-year fire return interval in that area,” said Kitchen. “That’s one of the high points as far as land stewardship of my career is seeing fire on a landscape escape and not necessarily suppressing it but allowing it to burn, because then you’re saying it’s good for decades after that.”

Holloway told NBC Montana, while he has “too many to count,” he’s most proud that recently he jumped a 3- to 5-acre fire at Yellowstone National Park.

The fire grew to 8 acres, “So seven days later we got around everything, put it all out and essentially with a good product upon departure. So it’s just a classic example of a smokejumper fire.”

Holloway says staying fit for annual trainings, regardless of experience, is critical to staying fire-ready.

“Pushups, pullups, sit-ups, a certain amount and then a mile and a half in a certain time as well,” said Holloway.

Kitchen told NBC Montana he still does his pullups, pushups and sit-ups.

“Many of my colleagues are still in really fit shape even in their 60s, 70s and 80s,” he said.

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