Investigative

Timber, Memory, and Neglect: The Race to Save Montana's Forgotten Forest Service Cabins

Scattered across Montana's backcountry, dozens of historic Forest Service cabins built during the New Deal era are quietly rotting away under decades of deferred maintenance and shrinking federal budgets. Volunteers, preservationists, and rural communities are mounting an urgent effort to document and restore what remains before the wilderness reclaims them entirely. What these structures represent—and what disappears when they do—goes far beyond architecture.

Jul 9, 2026

Ice, Identity, and an Uncertain Tomorrow: Glacier National Park Faces Its Final Melt

Glacier National Park's remaining glaciers are disappearing at a rate that has alarmed scientists and quietly unsettled the communities built around them. From ranchers who depend on snowmelt-fed streams to tribal nations with generational ties to the land, Montanans are beginning to reckon with what it means to lose the ice that defines their home. This is a story about a transformation already underway — and the people trying to make sense of it.

Jul 8, 2026

When the Post Office Closes, the Town Starts Dying

Across Montana's most remote corners, the local post office has outlasted the grocery store, the bank, and sometimes even the school. Now, federal consolidation efforts are threatening to extinguish the last institutional heartbeat of dozens of small communities — and the people who depend on them are fighting back.

Jul 8, 2026

The Invisible Roads: Montana's Pronghorn Are Running Out of Room to Roam

For thousands of years, pronghorn antelope have traced the same invisible highways across Montana's open plains — routes encoded in instinct long before the first fence post was ever driven. Now, a convergence of expanding ranch infrastructure, subdivision sprawl, and highway construction is severing those corridors mile by mile, and the window to act may be narrowing faster than anyone expected.

Jul 8, 2026

When There Is Nowhere Left to Turn: The Quiet Unraveling of Montana's Mental Health System

Montana consistently ranks among the worst states in the nation for suicide rates, yet the infrastructure meant to prevent those deaths is crumbling. Psychiatric beds have disappeared, community mental health centers cannot retain staff, and rural residents often wait months for a single counseling appointment. An investigation into how the system broke down — and who is paying the price.

Jul 7, 2026

Guardians of the Land: Montana's Tribal Game Wardens Assert Sovereign Authority Over Wildlife

On Montana's reservations, a growing corps of tribal wildlife officers is quietly reshaping the landscape of conservation authority. These wardens enforce hunting and fishing rights guaranteed by treaties that predate Montana statehood, often navigating complicated jurisdictional friction with state and federal agencies. Their work is as much about restoring a sovereign relationship with the land as it is about enforcing the law.

Jul 7, 2026

Dead Tracks, Live Debate: Montana's Abandoned Rail Corridors and the Fight Over Their Future

Hundreds of miles of decommissioned railroad track lie dormant across Montana, threading through small towns and open rangeland alike. Now, a growing coalition of developers, preservationists, and local officials are locked in a fierce dispute over whether these forgotten corridors should carry freight again, become recreational trails, or serve as highways for broadband cable. The outcome could reshape rural Montana for generations.

Jul 7, 2026

Wired Out: How the Digital Divide Is Draining Life from Montana's Rural Communities

In communities stretched across millions of acres of Montana's high plains and mountain valleys, the absence of reliable broadband has become something far more serious than a frustration — it is an economic and social emergency. From ranchers navigating federal tax systems by satellite dish to teenagers completing homework in fast-food parking lots, the state's connectivity crisis is accelerating population decline and stalling local economies. Montana's News examines why years of federal fundi

Jul 6, 2026

Smoke, Silence, and a Fading Watch: Montana's Fire Lookout Towers Stand at the Edge of History

For more than a century, solitary watchmen perched atop Montana's mountain summits have served as the state's earliest warning system against catastrophic wildfire. Now, tightening federal budgets and the rise of drone surveillance are threatening to silence those towers for good — and the veterans who staffed them say the loss runs far deeper than a line item on a balance sheet.

Jul 6, 2026

White Gold or Fool's Gold? Montana Weighs the Promise and Peril of the Lithium Boom

A surge in global demand for electric vehicle batteries has turned Montana's remote lithium deposits into some of the most coveted real estate in North America. But as mining companies stake their claims across the state, communities, tribal nations, and environmental advocates are asking a hard question: can Montana afford to repeat the mistakes of its mining past?

Jul 4, 2026

Driving Hours to Survive: The Rural Hospital Crisis Threatening Montana Communities

Across Montana's vast stretches of open land, a quiet healthcare emergency is unfolding — one measured not in headlines but in miles. Some residents face drives exceeding 100 miles to reach an emergency room, and several critical access hospitals are teetering on the edge of closure. State lawmakers and local advocates are racing to find solutions before the next crisis becomes a tragedy.

Jul 4, 2026

Hundreds of Miles Between Voters and the Ballot Box: Montana's Quiet Election Access Crisis

In some of Montana's most sparsely populated counties, casting a ballot requires overcoming distances, weather conditions, and logistical obstacles that most Americans will never encounter. Election administrators and tribal community members are sounding the alarm about a democratic infrastructure under quiet but serious pressure. An investigation by Montana's News examines the human effort — and the political debates — behind keeping every vote accessible across the nation's fourth-largest sta

Jul 4, 2026

Thirsty Land: Montana's Escalating Battle Over Who Controls the Water

As drought tightens its grip on Montana and cities continue to grow, a collision of competing water claims is reshaping the state's future. Ranchers, tribal nations, and expanding municipalities are locked in a struggle that legal experts warn could define Montana's next generation of policy. The stakes, measured in acre-feet and livelihoods, have never been higher.

Jul 4, 2026