Montana

Montana Heritage Center opens in Helena

Published

3 months ago

December 3, 2025

Politicians, philanthropists and an excited public are celebrating the opening of the Montana Heritage Center, a $107 million project showcasing the state’s history.

During a ceremony Tuesday, Gov. Greg Gianforte called it a “world class facility,” and its historical exhibits and art galleries would not be out of place at major museums in Chicago, San Francisco or New York.

“This accomplishment is remarkable and highlights the generosity and the love that Montanans have for Montana,” Gianforte said.

Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was the result of decades of work from many Montanans who wanted to help preserve the state’s history. A 70,000-square-foot addition was added to the building and an existing 90,000 square foot area was remodeled.

The Homeland Gallery will likely become a destination for visitors to the state capitol, taking them through Montana’s rich history all the way back to the Ice Age. The space has exhibits from the state’s Indigenous peoples, with artifacts and deep explanations of nuanced history.

“If you think about it, 160 years ago, a number of pioneers met in Virginia City to talk about the process of starting to collect and preserve and honor the history of this area, and to be sure, it didn’t start with them, right?” Tim Fox, board president of the Montana Historical Society, said. “Our indigenous peoples were the first humans here, and our history goes back way beyond the discovery of gold, copper or silver.”

As visitors walk through that section, they’re treated to sounds that change as they move through the gallery. There’s interactive exhibits, things to watch and plenty to read. There’s also a smudge room, gardens, paths and gathering areas outside, as well as a cafe and event space.

The Charlie M. Russell Gallery also houses an extensive collection of work from the famed western artist. With low light, some incredible frames and even a sitting area, it is a home for many paintings that had been in storage.

There’s also another rotating gallery that will house additional exhibits. Only about 10% of the total collection is on display, museum officials said.

Exhibits cover a wide swath of history in Montana, all the way back to the Ice age are pictured at the Montana Heritage Center in Helena, MT, is pictured on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Jordan Hansen / Daily Montanan)

And in the Homeland Gallery, there’s even a covered wagon, a simulation of going down a Butte mineshaft and an exhibit on where the nuclear missiles in Montana are.

“One of the goals that we’ve had in this gallery is to make sure that there are lots of different stories and lots of different perspectives presented,” Amanda Streeter Trum, head of curatorial with the Montana Historical Society, said. “History is not just told from one group’s point of view. And so we’ve got lots of stories and lots of people represented here, as it should be.”

The final $60 million for constructing the facilities was privately funded. The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Norm Asbjornson, and BNSF Railway together contributed more than $40 million, according to a release from the governor’s office.

Gianforte helped fundraise after taking office, he said at the ceremony. He was supportive of the project, but wanted cost overruns to be paid for by private donations.

“I called every major business in the state … telling them about our plans and asking them for support,” Gianforte said. “Many of you got those calls and are here today.”

Hundreds of people filled the main atrium of the building for the ceremony and then were able to wander the facility after.

A stagecoach is pictured at the Montana Heritage Center in Helena, MT, is pictured on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025. (Jordan Hansen / Daily Montanan)

Gianforte also announced about $3.5 million had been donated toward an endowment to support Montana students getting to experience the museum. The goal, Gianforte said, is that every student in the state gets a tour the year they study the state’s history.

The target for the endowment is $10 million.

Some facilities and parts of the center are still under construction and a full grand opening is planned for next summer.

“I hope that we can be a space where we can talk about difficult things and present challenging topics in addition to the fun, joyous topics as well,” Streeter Trum said.

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Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

11 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

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.

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Montana

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

Published

23 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

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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Montana

Women who made agriculture work in Montana

Published

1 day ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Women who made agriculture work in Montana

Lisa Schmidt
| Columnist

Recently, I was asked to talk about what it is like to be a female rancher.

I was flattered to be asked, but I don’t know the answer.

I do know what it is like to be a human rancher and I know that I admire many women who also are ranchers.

In fact, 36 percent of the farmers and ranchers in the U.S. are women and they manage almost half of America’s ag land.

Globally, we produce more than half of all food.

In Montana, we all benefit from amazing female leaders in agriculture.

If you want to know about improving soil health or the rewards of raising sheep, talk to Linda Poole in Malta.

If you want to learn how to organize a grassroots rancher’s organization and effect meaningful change, talk to Maggie Nutter in Sunburst.

Trina Bradley of Dupuyer will look you in the eye and tell you everything you need to know about the impacts of grizzlies on her ranch life.

Colleen Gustafson, on the Two Med, graciously hosts and educates non-ranchers for months at a time without strangling them, all while maintaining every fence, buying every bull and killing every weed on her ranch.

Adele Stenson of Wibaux and Holly Stoltz of Livingston find innovative solutions to ranching challenges and then — even harder — find ways to share these innovations with hard-headed, independent cusses who want to do it our own way.

In fact, I’ve noticed that often women seek novel innovations to deal with a ranching challenge.

If a man happens to be around, she might even run it past him.

It’s rubber band ranching – stretch with an idea, contract to assess it, then stretch again to implement it.

Long ago, my friend Michelle and I promoted the One Good Cow program at the Montana Stockgrowers Association meeting.

We asked cattle producers to donate one cow to ranchers who had lost so many in blizzards and floods that year.

As we stood on stage in a room full of dour, silent men, I remember finding the one person I knew and asking what he thought.

Just as he would bid at a livestock auction, he barely nodded his approval.

We ended up gathering more than 900 cows from across the nation and giving them to 67 producers.

One Good Cow was a good idea.

Now I don’t seek approval for my ideas so sometimes my rubber band doesn’t contract to assess one before I stretch into action.

That’s how I got myself into producing shelf-stable, ready-to-eat meals made with my beef and lamb.

This is a good idea, too.

I hope.

I wonder if it is easier to ranch as a woman in some ways.

Society pressures men to know all of the answers all of the time, but If I mess up, I try to learn from my mistake and move forward.

When Imposter Syndrome hits or we can’t find a solution to an unsolvable problem – the effects of climate change, commodity markets or competing demands from family – secretly faking it until we make it gets lonely.

The downward spiral of loneliness and the pressure to be perfect can lead to suicide.

Male ranchers kill themselves 3.5 times more often than the general public.

Female ranchers kill themselves, too, just a little less often.

I’m fortunate to have good friends who love me even when I’m far from perfect.

We laugh together, they remind me that I have a few good attributes even when I forget, they tolerate my weirdness and celebrate little successes.

They stave off loneliness.

They know all ranchers try our best, we appreciate a little grace, and a warm fire feels good to our cold fingers.

Lisa Schmidt raises grass-fed beef and lamb at the Graham Ranch near Conrad. Lisa can be reached at L.Schmidt@a-land-of-grass-ranch.com.

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