Montana
Western Montana Food and Farm launches new agritourism trail – Bitterroot Star
The Western Montana Food and Farm Trail, a new agritourism initiative led by Farm Connect Montana, launches May 30, offering locals and visitors a new kind of food and farm adventure across Western Montana.
Running June 1 through October 31, the self-guided Trail spans more than 200 miles and features more than 100 farms, ranches, farmers markets, restaurants, breweries and food businesses across the Missoula, Bitterroot, Flathead and Mission Valleys. Along the way, participants are invited to meet growers and makers, taste what’s in season and experience the culture and care behind Western Montana’s local food community.
At the center of the experience is the passport-style Trail Field Guide, illustrated by Missoula-based artist Courtney Blazon. The guide features illustrated maps, curated itineraries, seasonal highlights and more than 100 local food destinations throughout the region. The guide also includes more than $130 in special offers from participating farms and businesses.
Participants can collect stamps at Trail stops along the way to qualify for prizes, giveaways, or simply as a way to document their journey. End-of-season prizes include raffles for three CSA memberships valued at over $600 each, as well as local food and farm gift certificates, product bundles and Courtney Blazon-designed market totes.
The Trail is a regional collaboration led by Farm Connect Montana in partnership with Land to Hand Montana, The O’Hara Commons and Sustainability Center and Abundant Montana, organizations working to strengthen local food systems across Western Montana. The project aims to support local farms and food businesses through expanded visibility and agritourism opportunities while reconnecting locals and visitors with the people, places and stories behind their food.
“In creating the Western Montana Food & Farm Trail, we hope to inspire both residents and travelers to discover the stories behind their food and connect with the people cultivating a more vibrant, resilient and locally rooted food community,” said Bonnie Buckingham, Executive Director of Farm Connect Montana. “Participation in the Trail is a win for everyone. It creates new opportunities for farms and local food businesses to reach wider audiences while encouraging participants to explore new places, support local producers and experience Western Montana in a more meaningful way.”
“Land to Hand is thrilled to partner with Farm Connect on the Food and Farm Trail to highlight the robust agricultural heritage of Western Montana,” said Gretchen Boyer, Executive Director of Land to Hand Montana. “This initiative is more than just a guide – it’s an invitation to celebrate and support the local farmers who nourish our communities every day. By connecting residents and visitors directly to the source, we’re strengthening our local food system and honoring the people and landscapes that sustain the Flathead Valley.”
To celebrate the launch, regional Trail launch parties will take place in Missoula, the Bitterroot Valley and the Flathead Valley throughout early June, featuring Field Guide distribution, local food vendors, giveaways and opportunities to learn more about the Trail.
Trail Field Guides ($10) will be available for purchase beginning May 30 both online and at participating businesses, farmers markets and community locations throughout the region. A full list of Field Guide purchase locations and details, as well as a digital map and Trail listings, special events and more information is available at farmconnectmontana.org/trail.
Funding for this project was made possible through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service.
Regional launch events
• Missoula Launch Party — LaLonde Ranch, Sun., June 7, 1-4 p.m.
• Bitterroot Launch Party — O’Hara Commons Market, Wed., June 10, 4-6 p.m.
• Flathead Launch Party — Backslope Brewing, Tue., June 16, 4-7:30 p.m.
Montana
Montana Lottery Mega Millions, Big Sky Bonus results for June 23, 2026
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 23, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mega Millions numbers from June 23 drawing
48-51-60-63-66, Mega Ball: 20
Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from June 23 drawing
06-21-22-31, Bonus: 13
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Montana
Man Driving Giant Banana Gets Pulled Over in Montana
We cover lots of hard news here at The Drive. Y’know, the stuff that keeps you updated on the automotive industry and enthusiast scene. Other times, we don’t. Other times, we write silly car-related stuff because it’s fun. This is one of those times. A giant banana recently got pulled over in Montana, and as the Cowboy State Daily put it, it wasn’t its first time.
According to the Montana State Police, the giant banana car and its driver, Steve Braithwaite, were pulled over near Billings because part of the license plate was blocked. He did not receive a ticket. Also, the plate reads “SPLIT.”
“We’ve stopped speeders, distracted drivers, and even a few unusual vehicles… but this one definitely stands out.
The Big Banana Car was stopped cruising near Billings today. While it may be apPEALing, traffic laws still apply to fruit. 😎 🍌
Safe travels, Montana,” said the Montana State Police’s Facebook page.
According to the report, Braithwaite has been pulled over hundreds of times over the decade he’s been driving his banana car across the country. In fact, he believes that during the first few years he had the thing, he was one of the most frequently pulled-over men in America.
“Driving around in a banana and having all these people, all these smiles and waves, affects me. It actually does something fantastic,” he told the outlet.
He even claims to have been pulled over once for “peeling out,” which was, of course, a joke.
Another report claims that Braithwaite began working on the fiberglass banana in 2008 and finished it in 2011. It’s based on a 1993 Ford F-150 and is a bout 23 feet from tip to tip.
Keep on keepin’ on, Steve.
Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com
Montana
The Latest ‘Sustained Yield’ Scam Will Devastate Montana’s National Forests
Log landing, western Montana. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.
Way back in 1995 Bob Brown, the Republican president of the Montana Senate, called me into his office.
He had co-sponsored a bill with a pro-logging Missoula Democrat to establish a “sustained yield” level of logging on Montana’s state trust lands – and he was worried it wasn’t working out the way he hoped.
Bob was right to be worried then and Montanans are right to be worried now because Trump’s Forest Service Chief and former timber industry lobbyist Tom Schultz, has just unleashed the “sustained yield” scam on Montana’s National Forests.
To appreciate Brown’s concerns, it’s important to understand that the 1995 Montana legislature had two-thirds Republican majorities in the House and Senate and Republican Marc Racicot in the Governor’s Office.
Those majorities put Montana’s environment in the cross-hairs with a raft of industry-friendly deregulatory bills. That included the timber industry, which was losing the “timber wars” in large part because Plum Creek Timber, one of the largest private forest landowners in the West, had decided to “liquidate” its “timber assets” – also known as “forests.”
That decision resulted in massive clearcuts since there were virtually no regulations on logging private land. Plum Creek scalped the forests of northwest Montana, including the lands around Bob’s home in Whitefish, leaving barren, knapweed infested stumpfields that remain to this day. His goal was to protect the lands around the trout streams he’d fished growing up and hoped the bill would do that.
It was the closing weeks of the session and Bob wanted to know if it was possible to reduce the environmental impacts of his bill since it had been heavily amended to favor extraction, not “sustained yield.” My advice was to let the bill die because he didn’t have the votes to remove the amendments the timber industry lobbyists stuck on the bill. But he didn’t take that advice, the bill passed, and the logging level for Montana’s state forests was set at 52 to 55 million board feet per year.
Two years later, Tom Schultz went to work for Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, heading the trust lands timber division and earning the sobriquet “Chainsaw Tom” for his pro-logging zeal. Like the stumpfields, his dedication to the timber industry remains to this day – only now he’s in charge of the United States Forest Service and bringing chainsaws to millions of acres of our remaining intact forests.
If you believe that “sustained yield” is supposed to be a carefully calculated determination of how many millions of board feet of timber can be logged every year on a sustainable basis that means limiting logging to the pace at which the forests can regrow – regardless of the demands of the rapacious timber industry.
In the “old days” loggers liked to refer to forests as “100 year gardens.” But of course forests aren’t gardens, they’re complex ecosystems – and the timber industry doesn’t wait a century for forests to regrow.
It’s unlikely that quaint misnomer is even applicable in today’s climate with hotter, longer summers, minimal snowpack, and extreme drought. Yet, Montana’s “sustained yield” is now nearly 10 million board feet a year higher than when Brown’s bill passed, defying logic and science and justifying his concerns from 30 years ago.
“Chainsaw Tom” Schultz has now reappeared and demands that 350-500 million board feet of Montana’s national forests be logged over 10 years. Schultz’s timber industry lobbyist background offers a clue as to where that “sustainable yield” number came from — and the reason we will likely be left with nothing but stumpfields and knapweed from his “landscape scale” logging of our remaining intact forests.
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