Montana
Dual wildfires causing chaos on Montana-Wyoming border
Two major fires are threatening southeast Montana.
The Barber Draw fire sparked Wednesday just northwest of the Tongue River Reservoir and is currently at 8,000 acres in size.
The Remington fire first began in Wyoming but crossed the Montana, Wyoming border Thursday around 6 pm. As of 5:15 p.m. Friday, the fire has burned 128,771 acres. Pre-evacuation orders are still in place for the area south of Ashland to the Rosebud County Line.
The fire has crossed into three different counties: Powder River, Big Horn, and the southern end of Rosebud.
MTN News
Keith Gerber is the operations chief with Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and said they were originally at Tongue Reservoir for the Barber Draw fire, but the Remington fire quickly took precedent.
“We have close to 120 resources up there on the line for the Barber Draw fire, from smoke jumpers to contract engines, hand crews, dozers, blades,” said Gerber. “As of now, we’re setting up camp to support both the Barber Draw incident, our original team assignment, and potentially some operational support logistics for the Remington fire.”
Photo Gallery: Remington fire burns through Wyoming and Montana
The cause of the fire was determined to be lightning due to recent storms.
“Several recent rounds of moisture have come across Montana and thrown down some very abundant lightning with rain,” said Gerber.
As the fire grows, things are not looking positive for their efforts due to hot temperatures and high winds forecasted for Saturday.
“As large as this fire is, it’s not going to go out tomorrow. We’re going to have to get boots on the ground and folks around the perimeter of the fire to make sure it’s not going to move anywhere,” said Gerber.
MTN News
The fires have affected many in the area, including the Tongue River Reservoir Marina. This is the third time they had to order evacuations this summer.
“Being our third evacuation now, the worst part of this is the rentals, because a large part of our sales comes from boat rentals and days like today when the boat ramp is closed. We’re talking a significant amount of money that we have to bring back and missed sales as well,” said Ryan Bogers, the marina’s owner.
Bogers said this has significantly impacted their business, especially when they only have 10 days of their season left. They were hoping to be able to open back up on Friday, but due to the increasing Remington fire, that was not possible.
“It’s definitely concerning, especially when you drive and see black spots along the highway,” said Bogers.
The owner even assisted the fire crews on Thursday fighting fires, who had camps set along the reservoir with multiple aircraft pulling water out of the river.
“Right now, we’re just helping the fire crews out the best we can and let them do what they need to do,” said Bogers.
Fire season has taken a toll for many, and as the fire continues to expand, the future of the season is uncertain.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” said Bogers.
Additional reporting from Mack Carmack
HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.
“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.
It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.
(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)
Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026
“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”
But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.
“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.
Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.
“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.
The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.
The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.
“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.
While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.
Montana
Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round
BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.
The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.
MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.
MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74
MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.
Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.
Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.
But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.
As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.
Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Montana Western 65, Carroll 56
After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.
Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.
The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.
Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.
Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.
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