HELENA — Governor Greg Gianforte has requested federal aid to speed up the repair of the St. Mary siphon in Babb.

The siphon, which diverts water from the St. Mary River to the Milk River, suffered a catastrophic failure in June.

Water from the St. Mary River can’t reach the Milk River Project without the siphon which is critical in providing water to farms and communities across the Hi-lLne.
Gov. Gianforte sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation asking for “swift and immediate” action and assistance to address the disaster.

The governor also noted that the Montana legislature previously authorized $32 million in financial assistance to replace the siphons.

We are so excited to be teaming up with our friends over at Kenyon Noble and having our annual 100 Days Of Summer event.

The most asked question during this event is: “What are the prizes?!” Hold your horses, my friends, I am about to show you. Every week I will let you know what is up for grabs that week and how you can get qualified to win. Hint hint…you will have multiple opportunities to score these prizes.

Week Six Prize:

Weber Q 1200 Grill

Go hiking in nature with a grill as vibrant as the scenery. Travel on or off the beaten path, camp in the woods or near the water. Explore the world with big taste and your Q 1200 portable gas grill by your side.

With Kenyon Noble’s garden center open, you will be able to find all of the most colorful flowers you desire. They even have starter plants for peppers, peas, tomatoes and more. You can grab all the supplies you need for your home or garden, or shop at Kenyon Noble.

Every week we will let you know what prize is up for winning and how you can quickly get in on the fun. All you have to do is, download the XL Country App so you are on top of our 100 Days of Summer Code Words, listen for the keyword, and then enter it in. That’s it! You can also enter your key word below! Good Luck!

cc: Kenyon Noble, Kenyon Noble Summer 2024

On June 27, 2024, a federal court halted an illegal logging project on federal public lands in the Little Belt Mountains of Montana.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council filed their lawsuit to stop the Horsefly project in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest in April 2021. The project called for cutting and burning trees on 10,343 acres, which is more than 16 square miles. To enable the logging, the agency planned on bulldozing a stunning 40.7 miles of new logging roads in the Little Belt Mountains north of White Sulphur Springs, Montana.

The scope of the massive Horsefly landscape-altering proposal is alarming and because the project violated federal law, it had to be enjoined.

The Forest Service used a number of euphemisms in a transparent attempt to disguise what used to be more honestly called logging. For instance, the agency called 3,278 acres of commercial logging ‘intermediate treatment,’ 1,049 acres of clearcutting ‘regeneration harvest,’ 409 acres of clearcutting and possible burning ‘meadow restoration,’ and 465 acres of non-commercial logging ‘rearrangement of fuels’. They’re ‘rearranging’ them alright: from forest ecosystems to stump fields.

This is an ecosystem, not a private tree farm, and so we have to maintain the habitat for sensitive wildlife species.  One of those species is the northern goshawk, which has been declining in population, and which the forest plan lists as an old-growth forest management indicator species. Due to the importance of this species, the law requires 100% of goshawk nets to be monitored annually.

In 2018, the entire Forest was surveyed for goshawks and the Forest Service found an alarming 47% decline in active goshawk nests, which the agency failed to disclose to the public in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Forest Management Act. The agency also ignored its own Forest Plan requirement to issue an evaluation report if active nests decline by 10%.”

The Court’s ruling was very straightforward on the failure of the Forest Service to follow the law. As the Order reads: “The Court agrees with Alliance that the Forest Service’s failure to disclose and evaluate the decline in active goshawk nesting territories violated both NFMA and NEPA. . . . Federal Defendants all but concede that the Forest Service’s failure to disclose the decrease in active goshawk nesting territories to the public in the EA and failure to comply with the Forest Plan requirement to conduct an evaluation report if active nests decline by 10% amounts to a violation of NFMA.” Yet the Forest Service continues to log the last remaining mature and old growth forests and goshawks are in trouble.

The Court’s order remanded the project authorization to the agency, and enjoined the project pending compliance with federal law.  We follow the law every day, and the Forest Service must also follow the law.  When a government agency violates the law, it must be held accountable in court. It’s not easy to fight the federal government, which has far more resources than we do, but nonetheless we are committed to making the government follow its own laws to protect our native wildlife and public land ecosystems. Despite attacks by politicians, intimidation tactics, and misinformation campaigns, we won’t be stopped.  We are determined to continue with this critical work.

Please consider helping us continue to fight to protect old growth forests and make the Forest Service follow the law.