Gardiner Winter Tourism Numbers, Wild Wings Choteau, Farm Bill Changes (MTN Outdoors)

Gardiner Winter Tourism Numbers, Wild Wings Choteau, Farm Bill Changes (MTN Outdoors)

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[Music] foreign TN Outdoors welcome everybody to MTN Outdoors I'm once again your guide Andy Curtis and we have got a great episode for you this week because as we get closer to what should feel like spring here in Montana we are treated each and every year to a truly visually stunning migration that happens on the waters just outside of Shoto and we'll flock there in today's episode we'll also meet a ranching family in belt that is driving innovation in the AG industry but first we'll head down to the state's Southern border and actually that's why we're starting things here at Spring Meadow Lake State Park in Helena because we're starting the show talking about parks and after the historic flooding back in June businesses in towns like Gardner were really banking on a strong winter tourism season but did it happen mtn's John Shearer talked with business owners and found out at the Gardner Chamber of Commerce the focus now is on the coming spring and summer seasons that's because this winter well certainly heals in comparison to previous Winters lots of guiding companies tell me the same thing the big winter surge never really happened after access to the park was restored at the end of October Following last June's flooding in town I would say it it didn't feel very busy I think that a lot of that had to do with the mammoth Hotel closure it's been a great winter for wildlife watching in the park the snow is deep the crowds are smaller in fact this place has been popular in the past because a grizzly bear has been seen coming out of its den just over the hillside here now that's wonderful for those who want to avoid the crowds not so great for businesses who depend on those crowds the economic aspects um are not great and I especially worry about my employees you know hoping that they have enough to kind of keep themselves fed and pay utilities and rent and all that sort of thing but not everyone suffered our winter has really turned out very nice the manager of this hotel also told me this winter was a great season because people who couldn't stay in Mammoth stayed here now hopes are high for the summer I think I think it'll be really good I think that will I mean hopefully we'll be adequately staffed and able to handle the capacity that we're expecting I think it's going to be a big summer because there were a lot of people last year who due to the floods cancel their trip entirely I am very optimistic about this summer Easter will be the next Telltale for me anyway uh on how the summer will go for guide McGarry who's hanging on through the lean winter well there's an upside to almost everything you know you either get time or money and and rarely both so we're we're getting some nice time to um collect our thoughts prepare for the summer um you know reevaluate and reassess the way that we do things and hopefully come back um even better now Cara tells me she used some of that extra time to visit friends in Australia but now she says it's time to get back to work in Gardner near the entrance to Yellowstone National Park I'm John Shearer MTN news and as warmer weather eventually creeps its way here into the state a lot of our state parks will be getting a little work done mtn's Jill Valley shows us what we can expect so everything you see in yellow it's pretty much Middletown state park is it unique that it's kind of broken up a little bit so it's uh 645 Acres and it covers about two and a half miles along the Clark fork and then a mile and a half along the Blackfoot so it kind of sprawls but it's just not it's sort of linear I guess 15 years ago when the Milltown dam was removed and cleanup began Milltown State Park was born and continues to evolve into a popular Recreation destination along the Clark fork and the Blackfoot Rivers it's kind of the the outgrowth of the whole super fun cleanup basically you know they spent a lot of money uh removing a dam restoring rivers and um and so how does the public get the most benefit out of it there's a long process and it resulted in the park I'm at Mike castudia at the new Trailhead near benman Flats there's Now parking and facilities for a nice hike there were folks that would park along the roadside and then hike in which is never a great way to access some place and so we wanted to have a little Trailhead here you know you can see there's what a dozen parking spots probably uh facilities for folks at trash can and latrine and and then just the trail that takes you to the Overlook or it can take you to the tunnel access has always been a challenge for the sprawling Milltown State Park but they're making progress a couple of years ago fwp was gifted this 34-acre parcel of land by the Bonner Development Group it used to be the old Bonner learning Park so now fwp is working with Montana railing on access issues and we'll hopefully have this ready to go in the next few months there's also work to eventually connect other areas for pedestrian access including a portion of Milltown state park that's right across from the kettle house Amphitheater it's separated from the rest of the park by about three quarters of a mile of private property there's been a recent effort there and the county has kind of taking the lead on it but there's going to be a development in in that area that might result in a trail easement so we'd have two Parcels connected which would be really exciting because then you'd have nearly three miles of the lower Blackfoot publicly accessible fwp keeps track of visitations and the Milltown Park sees a hundred thousand people in the park especially in the summer with its river access it's a small but diverse Park but with this new Trailhead and other improvements there's sure to be more boots on the ground and rafts in the river in Bonner Jill Valley MTN news and Milltown and Spring Meadow Lake aren't the only two state parks that our great state has to offer which brings us to this week's MTN Outdoors trivia question and I've found the answer to this question pretty impressive actually how many state parks do we have here in Big Sky country are there a 100 B 60 State Parks or C do we boast 55 state parks give it a good think say your answer out loud and in the form of a question and we'll tell you what's right and what's wrong when we come back we now return to MTN Outdoors welcome back everybody to this week's episode of MTN Outdoors now before the break I asked you this week's MTN Outdoors trivia question and we're here at Spring Meadow Lake State Park in Helena because this week's trivia question has to do with our great state parks so if you know the answer say it to yourself out loud to get full credit but if you need to hear it one more time here it is how many state parks do we have here in Montana are there a 100 B 60 or C do we boast 55 state parks if you answered C 55 then you are 100 correct the development of our state park system actually started back in the 1920s and they act preserve and protect our state's cultural and recreational heritage Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks has a great resource to find where all the state parks are located and what they have to offer on their website fwp.mt.gov and a yearly outdoor spectacle is on Full display right now even if the weather isn't exactly cooperating mtn's own scoring a case shows us why people and birds are flocking to Shoto I'm here at freeze out Lake just outside of Shoto where behind me over 15 000 snow geese have made the lake their staging ground as they mark their halfway point they're in their bi-annual migration the last weekend in March generally brings Peak numbers of snow geese also called light geese to freeze out Lake as the birds rest their bodies before continuing on their 1200 mile Journey since 2019 the town of Shoto has held a Wild Wings event coinciding with the migration people get guided tours going out to freeze out we have speakers that talk about the bird migrations and the history of the area so it's been a really nice event for the community as well for people from all over the state Nancy milewski is a bird spotter with the fwp she's been tracking this year's numbers we try to find an area where we can visualize the geese so you can see on this map that there's multiple ponds so there's nine bodies of water that we monitor under daily basis typically large swells of nearly 100 000 geese flock to Shoto but this year mileski and her team have only counted up to 15 000. this is in large part due to weather related delays our top figures so far has been 15 000 laikes also known as snow Gees so that's nowhere near our average Peak so we're definitely delayed Bonnie Griffis has helped to enhance the Celebration by working with the local elementary their science fair correlated with our event on Friday yesterday and we did migration themes science projects volunteers from the committee myself included and a few people from the community went to the school and we helped the kids do research we help them do their posters we had a long winter and you know a lot of our Commerce is generated out of Tourism so hopefully this helps it gets everything going it's also a symbol of spring from Shoto Owens Corner case MTN news and one Billings neighborhood is seeing the opposite of what Shoto is experiencing right now with dozens and dozens of dead birds littering backyards mtn's Haley Monaco tries to find some answers the first sightings were here on Billing South Side near Riverside Middle School nearly two weeks ago and now we're hearing more reports of birds dropping dead across the city of Billings in people's yards the U.S department of Agriculture has taken responsibility saying it's an abatement project to kill Starlings this time of year it's not surprising to have birds chirping in the trees but what is shocking is to find several dead ones in your yard actually one of my dogs brought a frozen Rock Solid one into the house yeah there's one right over here that's dead one week ago we spoke with Josh digly who lives on the billing South Side his neighborhood had hundreds of dead starlings now we are on the opposite end of town near the rims where Christine Pierce is also dealing with the aftermath of the usda's poisoning of Starlings I just feel like this is something we need to know about before it happens the USDA tells MTN they notified local government on March 6th about the project to use a chemical bait DRC 1339 to reduce the number of Starlings in the area something the Montana Audubon in Helena says it was shocked to learn what is the long-term goal because another bird is going to come replace it if there's a food source that's attracting that bird the Audubon and many here in Billings are are also concerned that no one was warned before dozens upon dozens of dead birds started showing up on their properties the city of Billings tells us they were not involved in planning or executing the DRC 1339 treatment telling MTN quote information on any USDA program is Theirs to share the USDA is our nation's Authority on invasive species that are detrimental to communities and the agriculture industry when asked why the USDA didn't notify residents about the abatement the agency replied by saying local governments were notified about the project and it's inhumane it's irresponsible and I don't want to find dead birds that have been poisoned in my yard and and not even be aware of what happened the USDA also now tells us they only use the treatment over the course of one day and that night any remaining treatment was cleaned the agency did say it occurred at two locations but will still not tell MTN where exactly despite a public records request it's a big that negative to our community in Billings Haley Monaco MTN news still to come here on MTN Outdoors we'll see how this multi-generational cattle ranch in belt is helping Drive innovation in the AG industry stay right where you are there's plenty more to come right after this we now return to MTN Outdoors welcome back everybody to MTN Outdoors we here in Montana have always been on the frontier of cattle ranching and this family we're about to meet is no exception mtn's Cade Mentor has our story [Music] technology is something you don't typically see a multi-generational family business the McCafferty Ranch raises grass-fed Sprout finished cattle at the base of the little Belt Mountains and I got the chance to check out the hydroponic plant which will be vital to both the family business and the AG industry our farmers and ranchers are some of the most Innovative in the country and the McCafferty's here are are taking grain and through Hydroponics turning it into feed this is not something I've seen at any other Ranch here in Montana it's really unique and allows them to produce just a superior beef they say it's important to know where your beef comes from and how it was raised at the McCafferty Ranch their beef is Sprout finished with barley and pea Sprout all of which is grown in their hydroponic plants the cattle is finished for 120 days on 100 pounds of grass water each day the finishing is what LEDs to a more Superior grass-finished beef third generation Rancher Joe McCafferty explained the process it all took to get to this point long story short it didn't come easy well we started in 2016. uh and uh then in 2019 covet hit and I met my partner Matt Woodworth he designed this system he's really the brains behind it but he's from an automotive background and him and his Engineers were able to go ahead and solve some of the problems that I perceived that we had in Hydroponics and so with not very much water and we can sprout a lot of grain so we're producing out of 40 by 60 building we could feed close to 800 headed cattle a day after finishing the cattle the beef is then processed at a local processing facility where it will be aged 21 days this unique method providing all sorts of benefits to the family ranch it's it's helped us immensely this year just ironically the drought hit and in July we got this system so our hay production was horrible but I didn't panic I lost a couple leases and uh normally I would have had to sell cattle in a down Market this helped us go ahead and maintain our same cattle herd and then so it's helped us magnificently not to mention the benefits it is meant to provide montanans by creating new sources of feed and producing a more marbled and high quality beef is just a part of what separates Montana AG from the rest of the world and belt gay Mentor MTN news we're uh paying two to three dollars sometimes the family part of AG production here in Montana goes far beyond just the people you're related to for this next story we'll throw things back out to Cade who's with one Rancher bringing montanans together for his annual bull sale while we are slowly approaching the end of March which means this is around the time where a popular tradition is underway here in Highwood it's our 10th Annual bull sale here in Highwood album we've been developing these cattle for 30 years plus and uh so now we've started having a public auction and people can show up whenever they want with up to 76 black angus bulls put up for auction Ty Malik brings hundreds of bidders from in and out of state who put their prices on the table so we've got everybody together and have a good event and everybody gets to see all our cattle if they show up that day so it's it's a one-day deal you can get it all over with in one day and then we they know whoever they got all their bulls bought for the year they don't have to worry about not being able to get one bought or something or be one short the third generation Rancher sells his Angus products to various area restaurants one Auctioneer says the ranch has made a name for itself in offering high quality cattle well the Malik Angus program is is a tremendous program here right here in Highwood Montana right in Central Montana cattle that are born and raised right here in some some rougher country Cadillac can go to a lot of different environments and really Thrive and so it's a unique combination that Ty and Tammy have put together cattle that not only read well on paper as we say in the business they've got great epd profiles but they also we know they work out here in Central Montana these bull sales are a social event for for communities and something that is just a still a piece of Americana right here but a big facet of the livestock industry because these these breeding bowls are are very important important part of production agriculture here in this part of the world now Malik says after 10 straight years of Hosting this he looks to make it an annual tradition bringing those from across the state of Montana together with the opportunity of not only seeing but purchasing some of the finest Bulls in the treasure state in Highwood Cade Mentor MTN news well some changes could be coming to the way we Farm and Ranch here in Montana mtn's Ryan Gamboa has a look at the farm bill United States Senator Steve daines hosted a round table to discuss concerns and suggestions for the upcoming Farm Bill debate we've got a list of specific policy items here that we want to make sure are included in the next farm bill this is going to make the next Farm Bill much better than the last one industry leaders from the Montana grain growers association sustainable oils and the host torgerson's LLC gathered to share their input at the end of the day the nation our nation is only secure if it's able to feed itself food security is National Security for Senator daines most of the six panelists brought concerns of wotus which is Waters of the United States at the end of December 2022 the EPA and the Army put out a press release stating the definition of wotus would be up for revision it's a 141-page revision proposal that Dane says stands in the way of Montana's agriculture industry this is the heavy hand of the federal government putting it around the necks of producers here in Montana that want to come in to regulate every dry ditch and puddle it's ridiculous it is a threat to our way of life here in Montana as a threat to our number one economic drivers agriculture we got to push back on this Senator Danes also Drew interest from sustainable ill's work on camelina production and how it can Propel an industry forward of renewable Diesel and Camellia is one more example of a crop like we saw with pulse crops that came into Montana years ago we're now one of the top pulse crop producers in the United States as rotation crops go oh so this is one more tool tool chest for our Farmers here in Montana I think it's got a bright future and those are just a few of the issues that can be taken into the farm bill debate the host Brian Torgerson believes that the discussions are the backbone of progress but educating that the Montana Farmers virtues won't change and will be valued when we have people moving to Montana that know nothing about AG they're coming here for our values but they don't know where our values were born and they were born in ag and the more that we can come together get our voice out there and help the general public understand who we are and what we do as a as a collective group I think that's important creating and understanding that Montana agriculture is here to stay there's a lack of common sense in Washington you hear common sense when you spend time with the round table like we did here in Great Falls today a few other hot button topics pitched to the senator were crop insurance protection of farmers and ranchers from the SEC and blm's access to private land and how Land Management is completely on the landowner for more information on the Roundtable discussion visit this link on our website in Great Falls Ryan Gamboa MTN news well that should just about do it for us here this week at MTN Outdoors everybody thank you for inviting me into your homes and remember keep those photos coming my way of you enjoying the Great Outdoors to andy.curtis at ktbh.com and you could see yourself at the end of a future episode just like these turkeys it's time for this week's MTN Outdoors brag board hello Mr turkeys that was mtn's Ryan Gamboa trying to talk some turkey to this bunch of birds standing outside our building in Great Falls that was also Ryan and if you missed the spectacular light show last week you're in luck because plenty of our viewers and Billings captured the amazing northern lights display here are just a few submitted to our MTN family of websites this angle of the lights was sent into us by Jim Over Shepherd and we'll wrap things up in Red Lodge and Julie's almost unbelievable scene here thanks again everybody and until next week stay safe stay warm and I'll see you out there [Music] MTN Montana's News Leader

2023-04-03 21:22

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