Explore Big Sky - February 11 to 24, 2022

February 11 - 24, 2022 Volume 13 // Issue #3

LPHS hoops streak into districts Lady Big Horns set school records Resort tax, water and sewer districts amend interlocal agreement Inside the new Custer Gallatin forest plan Staffing shortages force Morningstar to close Fridays Local rider sets sights on Freeride World Tour

TABLE OF CONTENTS

February 11 - 24, 2022 Volume 13, Issue No. 3

OPINION ................................................................... 5 LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS .................................................6 LOCAL.........................................................................7 REGIONAL ...............................................................10 OP NEWS ..................................................................11 SPORTS .....................................................................17

ENVIRONMENT & OUTDOORS...............................19 HEALTH.... ................................................................31 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ......................................33 BUSINESS ................................................................38 DINING .....................................................................40 FUN...........................................................................43

Owned and published in Big Sky, Montana

PUBLISHER Eric Ladd | eric@theoutlawpartners.com

EDITORIAL

8

As supply chain woes and high building costs maintain a chokehold on construction in the U.S., BSRAD unanimously approved changes to its interlocal agreement with the water and sewer district to free up funding opportunities for new infrastructure.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, VP MEDIA Joseph T. O’Connor | joe@theoutlawpartners.com MANAGING EDITOR Bella Butler | bella@theoutlawpartners.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Gabrielle Gasser | gabrielle@theoutlawpartners.com DIGITAL PRODUCER Tucker Harris | tucker@theoutlawpartners.com

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Staffing shortages force Morningstar to close Fridays

17

Local rider sets sights on Freeride World Tour

18

LPHS hoops streak into districts

CREATIVE ART DIRECTOR Marisa Opheim | marisa@theoutlawpartners.com SENIOR DESIGNER Trista Hillman | trista@theoutlawpartners.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER ME Brown | maryelizabeth@theoutlawpartners.com

SALES AND OPERATIONS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Megan Paulson | megan@theoutlawpartners.com CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Treston Wold | treston@theoutlawpartners.com VP OF SALES EJ Daws | ej@theoutlawpartners.com VP OF EVENTS Ennion Williams | ennion@theoutlawpartners.com VP OF MARKETING Blythe Beaubien | blythe@theoutlawpartners.com MEDIA AND EVENTS DIRECTOR Ersin Ozer | ersin@theoutlawpartners.com MARKETING COORDINATOR Sophia Breyfogle | sophia@theoutlawpartners.com

Resort tax, water and sewer districts amend interlocal agreement

21

Due to staffing issues, Morningstar Learning Center has closed its doors on Fridays starting the week of Feb. 7. Now, parents are struggling to compensate for the lost day of child care.

After claiming the top spot on podiums at two recent freeride competitions, Big Sky snowboarder Holden Samuels is looking to the top competition, the Freeride World Tour.

Now, his dream is within reach.

In a spate of games over the past two weeks, Big Sky School District basketball teams have been going hard and the Big Horns are gearing up for districts. The Lady Big Horns are taking big wins into the tournament after beating a Class B team and setting 3-point records against Lima.

Inside the new Custer Gallatin forest plan Left without updates since the 1980s, the U.S. Forest Service on Jan. 28 released an overarching revised land management plan for the Custer Gallatin National Forest to serve as the guiding document for the more than 3-million-acre forest for up to 15 years.

VIDEO DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHER Seth Dahl | seth@theoutlawpartners.com CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIST Mira Brody | mira@theoutlawpartners.com SENIOR ACCOUNTANT Sara Sipe | sara@theoutlawpartners.com

Opening Shot

ACCOUNTING MANAGER Taylor Erickson | taylor@theoutlawpartners.com PROJECT MANAGER Eli Kretzmann | eli@theoutlawpartners.com COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Meg Koenig | mk@theoutlawpartners.com EVENTS COORDINATOR, RETAIL MANAGER Connor Clemens | connor@theoutlawpartners.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER, LOCAL SALES Patrick Mahoney | patrick@theoutlawpartners.com COPYWRITER Patrick Straub

CONTRIBUTORS Rich Addicks, Leslie Ammons, Brennan Bretzler, Matthew Brown, Dr. Kaley Burns, Patrick Conroy, Brian D’Ambrosio, Kwame Dawes, Dan Egan, Kirby Grubaugh, Tyson Krinke, Mark LaRowe, Cam Mahoney, Faith Malpeli, Dave Marston, Scott Mechura, Wesley Overold, Jim Peaco, Charles Post, Micah Robin, Todd Wilkinson, Cy Whitling, Emily Stifler Wolfe, Dave Zinn

ON THE COVER: Junior Jessie Bough (10) shoots a layup over a Lady Bulldog defender during the Feb. 4 basketball game against Townsend. The Lady Big Horns beat the Class B bulldogs 43-37. PHOTO BY RICH ADDICKS

Mountain goats are natural mountaineers and make climbing look easy. They can often be spotted in high alpine terrain clinging to steep and rocky terrain features. Keep an eye out for these fearless ruminants while out skiing on Lone Mountain. PHOTO BY PATRICK CONROY

EDITORIAL POLICIES EDITORIAL POLICY Outlaw Partners, LLC is the sole owner of Explore Big Sky. EBS reserves the right to edit all submitted material. Printed material reflects the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the opinion of Outlaw Partners or its editors.

EBS will not publish anything discriminatory or in bad taste.

EBS welcomes obituaries written by family members or from funeral homes. To place an obituary, please submit 500 words or less to media@theoutlawpartners.com.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor allow EBS readers to express views and share how they would like to effect change. These are not Thank You notes.

Letters should be 250 words or less, respectful, ethical, accurate, and proofread for grammar and content. We reserve the right to edit letters and will not publish individual grievances about specific businesses or letters that are abusive, malicious or potentially libelous. Include: full name, address, phone number and title. Submit to media@outlaw.partners.

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OPINION

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6 February 11 - 24, 2022

LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS

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BASE community center opens March 13

Two snowmobilers perish in separate area incidents

EBS STAFF

EBS STAFF

BIG SKY – Big Sky Community Organization has officially announced that the long-awaited BASE community center will open to the public on Sunday, March 13.

BASE, Big Adventure Safe Environment, will be open to all who live, work and visit as Big Sky’s first community and recreation center, states a Feb. 9 BSCO release.

WEST YELLOWSTONE/BIG SKY – Two snowmobilers died in separate incidents the week of Feb. 6, one in an avalanche near West Yellowstone, the other resulting from a tree strike in Big Sky.

BSCO raised more than $20 million to complete the project, from purchasing 3.3 acres of parkland, building and improving the ice rink, and creating the 27,000 square foot community center.

There will be something for everyone at BASE, said Whitney Montgomery, chief executive officer for BSCO in the Feb. 9 release. “We look forward to serving our community with an accessible, year-round indoor recreation and fitness facility.”

BASE will feature a climbing and bouldering wall; a full gymnasium; a fully equipped fitness center; arts and culture education wing; meeting and classroom space; children’s play area; and open gathering spaces.

BSCO will host open houses on March 11 and 12 at BASE for community members to stop by and preview offerings and programs available. Membership passes will also be on sale on these dates.

FOBSE presents $80,000 in scholarships for LPHS Class of 2022 EBS STAFF Friends of Big Sky Education is now accepting applications for their Community Scholarship Program for Lone Peak High School seniors. These scholarships are awarded to graduating seniors for college and other post-secondary education programs.

For the Class of 2022, fundraisers Anne Marie Mistretta, Marsha McKillop and Kirsten King have raised $80,000 from 88 individual donors, 10 local organizations and agencies as well as 27 local businesses.

Co-founded in 2014 by Anne Marie and her husband, Jerry Mistretta, FOBSE’s mission is to enhance and support Big Sky students and the greater Big Sky community. Since the Community Scholarship Program’s inception in 2015, FOBSE has raised over half a million dollars, awarding 111 LPHS seniors.

“The Big Sky community has been incredibly supportive of this initiative,” Anne Marie wrote in a statement to EBS. “Since we started the project, contributions have nearly tripled. The community’s generosity has been amazing. It is clear that this community expects our students to continue studying after high school and will support them financially toward that goal.”

Scholarship applications are due Feb. 22 and awards will be announced on April 5.

The West Yellowstone Dispatch Center on Feb. 6 received a report of an injured snowmobiler caught in an avalanche in the Dry Fork of Denny Creek, west of West Yellowstone, according to a Gallatin Media Center press release.

Bradie Harold Becker, 30, of Iowa, was buried in avalanche debris and died of asphyxiation after an hour of unsuccessful CPR, the release said. Becker was wearing a helmet and an avalanche airbag that had been deployed.

On Feb. 8, Gallatin County Dispatch received a call of a snowmobile accident on Buck Ridge Trail in Big Sky. The rider reportedly struck a tree and was discovered in cardiac arrest, according to a Gallatin County Sheriff ’s Office statement.

The patient, 64-year-old Anthony Pace from New York City, was declared deceased at the Big Sky Medical Center after Big Sky Search and Rescue attempted lifesaving efforts.

Eighth Annual Give Big event raises funds for local nonprofits EBS STAFF GALLATIN COUNTY – One Valley Community Foundation is hosting their Eighth Annual Give Big Gallatin Valley to help raise funds for local Gallatin Valley nonprofits. The 24-hour long initiative will take place from 6 p.m. on May 5 to 6 p.m. on May 6.

Over the past eight years, the community has raised over $8.5 million for more than 210 nonprofits. “[Give Big is] a great way for your organization to connect with new and existing donors to raise critical funding for your work and to gain exposure for your nonprofit,” said Bridget Wilkinson, president and CEO of the One Valley Community With a focus on equity, all participating nonprofits are eligible for prizes when they share how their organization focuses on equity. Additionally, there will be registration fee discounts for organizations who face economic barriers.

The deadline for nonprofits located in or serving Gallatin Valley to participate is March 15.

Register your nonprofit at www.GiveBigGV.org.

One&Only Moonlight Basin announces summer 2024 opening EBS STAFF

BIG SKY – Kernzer International Holdings Limited and Lone Mountain Land Company on Feb. 2 announced the introduction to One&Only Moonlight Basin in Big Sky. The ultra-luxury resort and exclusive private homes community will be designed by renowned architect firm Olsen Kundig. This will be the first One&Only resort and residential community in the U.S. and the brand’s first alpine resort.

One&Only Moonlight Basin will include 73 guest rooms and suites in the main lodge, 19 secluded villas scattered throughout the resort, a ski lodge and a Chenot Spa. One&Only will offer 62 free-standing private residences.

“At Moonlight Basin, Lone Mountain Land Company has built a mountain destination that showcases the natural beauty of Montana’s extensive, dramatic landscapes, and I am delighted to introduce One&Only in this unrivalled destination,” said Philippe Zuber, chief executive officer of Kerzner International in a Feb. 2 press release.

7 February 11 - 24, 2022

LOCAL

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Montana AG: Proposed Ballot Initiative 24 legally insufficient Proposed measure sought stringent protections for Gallatin, Madison rivers

BY BELLA BUTLER

“will likely cause significant material harm to one or more business interests in Montana.”

HELENA – A ballot initiative proposed by a Bozeman-based law center that would have granted sweeping protections to parts of the Gallatin and Madison rivers was found legally insufficient in a memorandum filed on Jan. 28 by the Montana attorney general. Several Big Sky organizations filed comments in opposition to the measure, expressing concern for how it would impact development opportunity in Big Sky.

“The legal sufficiency review process is required under state law to determine if the petition complies with statutory and constitutional requirements governing submission of the proposed issue to the electors, the substantive legality of the proposed issue if approved by the voters, and whether the proposed issue constitutes an appropriation,” Emilee Cantrell, Attorney General Knudsen’s press secretary, wrote in an email to EBS. “In this instance, the proposed ballot measure does not meet the legal sufficiency requirements.”

Ballot Initiative 24, proposed by Cottonwood Environmental Law Center along with Montana Rivers and the Gallatin Wildlife Association, proposed outstanding resource water designation for the section of the Madison River between Hebgen and Ennis lakes and the section of the Gallatin River between the Yellowstone National Park boundary and the Spanish Creek confluence.

An ORW designation provides the greatest protection feasible under state law, according to Montana Code Annotated. State law enacted in 1995 afforded ORW designation to state surface waters located wholly within the boundaries of national parks and wilderness areas and established a process for other state waters to be granted the same designation if they qualify based on several criteria.

The petition for the ballot initiative was submitted to Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen in December. Jacobsen then referred the initiative to Attorney General Austin Knudsen on Dec. 29 for legal sufficiency review.

Knudsen issued a memorandum on Jan. 28 finding the proposed ballot measure legally insufficient on the grounds that it “could cause a regulatory taking” and

The Gallatin River. PHOTO BY MATT/ADOBE STOCK

During the legal review process, the attorney general’s office received dozens of comments on the proposed initiative, and according to Cantrell none of the comments from interested parties were in support of the measure. Several comments were sent from Big Sky organizations, notably including the Big Sky County and the Gallatin Canyon water and sewer districts, the Big Sky Community Housing Trust, and the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce. Others in opposition included the Madison County Commission, Gallatin County Commissioner Joe Skinner, the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce and the towns of Manhattan and West Yellowstone, among others.

Brad Niva, CEO of the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, said the proposed ballot measure spurred an emergency chamber board meeting as the organization worked to understand the impact that the measure would have on the business community in Big Sky. Niva said there were two main considerations that led the chamber to submit an oppositional letter and to make a plea to its member businesses to do the same: potential negative impacts to the Big Sky business community and a limitation

8 February 11 - 24, 2022

LOCAL

to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s authority.

“We know this community is growing,” Niva told EBS on Feb. 4. “We saw this as a threat to continued development in Big Sky as well as a huge economic impact to the businesses that are here and who work here and just had potential to just literally turn off anything that was happening here in Big Sky.” This includes, he said, development of local affordable housing.

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designation to the section of the Gallatin River, which Cottonwood renewed in 2018, along with a 2021 lawsuit filed against Montana DEQ by Ballot Initiative 24’s submitters that challenged the agency’s decision. The court upheld DEQ’s action in the 2021 lawsuit, according to the memo.

The Big Sky Community Housing Trust echoed this concern in its letter to the attorney general.

Montana law dictates that the DEQ may not allow a new or increased pointsource discharge that would result in a permanent change in the water quality of an outstanding resource water. Proposed Ballot Initiative 24 would have amended that language to prohibit new or increased point-source discharge that would result in a permanent or temporary change in water quality.

“While our organization has tried several creative approaches to increase the availability of housing for local workers, it is imperative that we continue to pursue the building of additional dedicated workforce housing units to support our Big Sky resort community,” the housing trust’s letter stated. “Ballot Issue #24 will likely prevent this from happening.”

In a previous assessment on the potential impacts of an ORW designation on the Gallatin, the Board of Environmental Review determined an ORW designation “effectively prohibits development unless development achieves ‘zero discharge,’ into the Gallatin River system,” according to the memo. The memo also stated that “zero discharge” is not economically or technically feasible.

Knudsen agreed.

The Montana Constitution dictates that “private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation.” By depriving affected property owners of all productive or economically beneficial use of their land without compensation, Knudsen found the proposed measure legally insufficient. The ballot initiative will not be qualified for the 2022 general election ballot.

“An ORW designation will prohibit DEQ from issuing wastewater disposal permits in the affected areas which will sharply limit development,” Knudsen wrote in his Jan. 28 memo.

The memo chronicled previous “unsuccessful efforts by the measure’s proponents to effectuate the changes they seek through the administrative and judicial process.” These efforts included a 2001 proposal to give ORW

When contacted for comment, Cottonwood Executive Director John Meyer declined an interview with EBS.

Resort tax board amends agreement with water and sewer district Local government entities provide updates on interlocal agreements

BY BELLA BUTLER BIG SKY – As supply chain woes and high building costs maintain a chokehold on construction in the U.S., the Big Sky Resort Area District Board on Feb. 9 unanimously approved changes to its interlocal agreement with the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District to free up more funding opportunities for new infrastructure.

The amendment will allow the water and sewer district to apply for funding from the 3 percent resort tax collections in addition to their 1 percent for infrastructure resort tax collections awarded in 2020. Other amendments to the interlocal agreement made technical changes to conditions requiring the water and sewer district to pledge service contributions to affordable housing in exchange for funding to go toward its wastewater resource recovery facility.

The resort tax district entered an interlocal agreement with the water and sewer district in February 2020, an arrangement that awarded water and sewer $27 million from an additional 1 percent of resort tax approved by voters in May of 2020. The agreement also set forth conditions of the award.

One of the conditions barred the water and sewer district from applying for traditional resort tax funding outside of the interlocal agreement. Ron Edwards, general manager of the water and sewer district, said he requested ahead of the Feb. 9 meeting that this condition be lifted in order to allow the district to seek additional funds as project costs climb.

As the water and sewer district looks to fund additional concrete work for the new wastewater plant, which is intended to increase the district’s service capacity, Edwards said that money from the 3 percent resort tax would be one of the best potential options for partial funding. The initial bid for the additional work was $4.9 million.

The resort tax board agreed. Board Vice Chair Ciara Wolfe and Board Secretary and Treasurer Steve Johnson suggested it would be in the board’s best interest to help advance current community capital building projects toward the soonest possible completion as national construction rates continue to rise.

“I think any of our construction projects that we have in progress now, we need to finish them out,” Wolfe said during board discussion. “The construction environment is so challenging for everybody in it to have any idea what those endresult costs are going to be.”

Board Chair Sarah Blechta clarified that while lifting the condition allows the water and sewer district to apply for additional funding, the board’s vote does not guarantee that it will grant the funding. Edwards said the water and sewer district doesn’t intend to apply for funds this year.

Edwards added that in addition to the construction climate, other costs have contributed to a growing need for additional funding.

“I’m spending money in other places that could be used for [the plant upgrade],” he told EBS after the meeting.

One expenditure is related to a lawsuit brought to the district in July 2020 alleging violations to the Clean Water Act. According to Edwards, the district’s legal fees and other costs are at approximately $850,000 and are expected to increase as a trial date approaches this spring. The costs are depleting the water and sewer district’s general reserves, Edwards said.

An amendment to another condition of the agreement approved at the Feb. 9 meeting increased the number of single family equivalents the water and sewer district must allocate to workforce housing from 500 to 600 upon completion of the new infrastructure. The amendment was made to ensure the water and sewer district’s service commitment remained the same after the district established standard SFE allocation for employee housing based on unit square footage in December of 2021.

The interlocal agreement was also amended to include definitions for workforce housing, affordable housing and deed-restricted housing.

Laura Seyfang, executive director of the Big Sky Community Housing Trust, assisted members of the BSRAD board and staff in drafting these new definitions and believes they will help all stakeholders operate under the same parameters.

“As we’re excited to see more developers wanting to actually create some workforce housing, we felt we really had to clarify what does it mean to make something workforce housing?” Seyfang told EBS after the meeting. “What does it mean for it to be affordable?”

The amended interlocal agreement defines workforce housing as “housing properties and housing projects that are restricted to tenants or owners who demonstrate full-time employment (annual average of 30 hours per week) with a business entity registered and operating within the [resort area district],” and affordable housing as “housing properties that are made available to qualified occupants (tenant or owner) at a rate for housing (mortgage or rent, plus taxes, and insurance) that is less than or equal to 33% of adjusted [area median income].”

Starting last year, BSRAD also entered into interlocal agreements with what it calls government entities which include the Big Sky Fire District; the Big Sky Transportation District; the Gallatin Canyon Water and Sewer District; and the Gallatin County Sheriff ’s Office. These agreements allow the agencies to apply for resort tax funding for operational costs on a three-year basis as opposed to a oneyear basis like other applicants are required to do.

All entities except the sheriff ’s office provided annual updates and disclosed any changes to their three-year contract and requested funding. The canyon water and sewer district, who’s three-year contract awards them $74,000 in resort tax funding per year, indicated a need for additional funding. No entities requested additional funding at the meeting.

9 February 11 - 24, 2022

LOCAL

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Morningstar will close Fridays due to staffing crisis

Community members struggle to balance child care and work

BY GABRIELLE GASSER

Leading up to the schedule change, Morningstar was asking parents to voluntarily unenroll their kids if they didn’t absolutely need child care that day in an attempt to keep its doors open five days a week.

BIG SKY – Due to staffing issues, Morningstar Learning Center will be closing its doors on Fridays starting the week of Feb. 7. Now, parents are struggling to compensate for the lost day of child care.

Morningstar announced that it would close on Fridays after a Jan. 25 Zoom meeting where Morningstar board members, staff and parents discussed several possible solutions including a lottery system or parents voluntarily pulling their kids out of daycare. Meeting participants agreed that closing the daycare’s doors one day a week was the best solution, and a subsequent survey yielded majority favor for closing Fridays.

“This is obviously a big deal, and it has ripple effects throughout the community,” Butan said.

One local mother of three and a nurse at the Big Sky Medical Center clinic Brittany Marvin said this change means she will eventually have to stop working on Fridays.

Children at Morningstar Learning Center play outside in the snow. PHOTO BY LESLIE AMMONS

Morningstar Executive Director Mariel Butan said the plan is to operate Monday through Thursday until the end of spring quarter on May 31 or until they can hire enough teachers to reopen for five days.

“No one is like ‘Oh good, we found a good solution now we can relax,’” Butan said. “Now we, if anything, have one extra administrative day in the week, to be just consistently at the grind and trying to find [more staff.]”

Morningstar has been trying to hire new teachers for a long time, and, according to Butan, the biggest obstacle is usually housing.

“Now the clinic is going to have one less nurse available to work,” Marvin said, “putting a lot more pressure on the other employees, and then decreasing patient care and availability.”

For now, Morningstar is stuck in a holding pattern until the facility can hire more staff, according to Butan.

It can be easy to get discouraged, Butan says, suggesting that the Big Sky community needs to keep working to solve these problems.

“We have to keep working towards [a solution] today so that maybe we have a solution in a year or two years or whatever it is,” she said, “but it’s going to take that continued effort, which is a really heavy burden for everybody.”

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10 February 11 - 24, 2022

REGIONAL

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Montana curbs wolf hunt after 23 from Yellowstone killed

BY MATTHEW BROWN ASSSOCIATED PRESS

Editor's note: As of EBS press time, the number of wolves killed in Region 3 was 79.

The numbers of wolves killed in Montana was 207.

BILLINGS – Montana wildlife commissioners on Jan. 28 moved to shut down gray wolf hunting in a portion of the state around Yellowstone National Park, amid mounting criticism over a record number of the animals shot or trapped after roaming across the park boundary this winter.

But commissioners rejected calls to revive quotas that would limit the number of wolves killed along Yellowstone’s northern border to just a few annually. Those longstanding quotas were lifted last year after Republican lawmakers passed laws intended to drive down the wolf population by making it easier to kill the animals.

Yellowstone officials had pressed the state beginning in mid-December to suspend hunting in some areas along the park’s border. They said the deaths marked a significant setback for the long-term viability of Yellowstone’s renowned wolf packs.

Under Jan. 28’s unanimous commission vote, hunting and trapping for wolves in southwestern Montana will be barred once the number killed in the region hits 82 animals. So far 76 have been reported killed in that area.

Twenty-three wolves from park packs have been killed so far this winter—18 in Montana, three in Wyoming and two in Idaho, according to Yellowstone officials.

That’s the most in a season since the predators were restored to the U.S. northern Rocky Mountains more than 25 years ago after being widely decimated last century. The park is now down to 91 wolves, spokesperson Morgan Warthin said.

Urged by ranchers and hunters who want fewer wolves, Republican lawmakers in Montana and Idaho last year loosened hunting and trapping laws to allow night hunting, higher harvest limits, the use of snares and even aerial hunting in Idaho.

Montana also eliminated the longstanding quotas.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte told Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly in a recent letter that once a wolf exits the park and enters Montana it may be killed under state rules. Gianforte trapped and killed a radio-collared wolf from Yellowstone last year on private land near the park. He was later given a warning for violating state hunting rules by killing the wolf without first taking a mandatory trapper education course.

Sholly told wildlife commissioners in a letter released 28 that park wolves spend only 5 percent of their time outside the park. In the last three years, Sholly wrote, there’s been only one attack on livestock by wolves in Park County, Montana, just north of Yellowstone. Such attacks are frequently cited by ranchers who want to reduce wolf numbers.

The 184 wolves killed statewide so far this season has been in line with recent years, Montana officials said. There are more than 1,000 wolves in the state.

“We have a statutory obligation to reduce the wolf population,” said Patrick Tabor, vice chair of Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, prior to the Jan. 28 vote.

But the killings just outside Yellowstone have infuriated wildlife advocates and brought condemnation from some businesses that depend on park tourism. One pack—the Phantom Lake Pack—is now considered “eliminated” after most or all of its members were killed over a two-month span beginning in October, according to the park.

Nature guide Cara McGary, who leads tourists on wildlife watching trips into the park from Gardiner, Montana, said the hunting along the park’s border targeted wolves where their greatest economic value was in being alive so tourists can see them.

“These are the most viewable wolves in the lower 48, if not the world,” McGary said.

“The same packs that my clients pay me to see on every wildlife watching tour all year round ... What’s the justification for this damage?”

The wolf season for the rest of Montana is scheduled to run through March 15. State regulations allow Montana’s fish and wildlife commission to review hunting seasons for different regions of the state when their individual harvest thresholds are met, or statewide when the total number killed reaches 450 wolves.

The increasingly aggressive attitude toward the predators among state lawmakers has raised concerns within the federal government that overhunting could scuttle the costly effort to restore wolves in wild areas of the West.

In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would examine if federal endangered species protections should be re-imposed for more than 2,000 wolves in six northern U.S. Rockies states including Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

Those protections were lifted a decade ago, based in part on assurances the states would maintain viable wolf populations.

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11 February 11 - 24, 2022

OP NEWS

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News from our publisher, Outlaw Partners

Big Sky PBR returns for 11th year

Big Sky’s Biggest Week will bring excitement, family-fun to Montana’s summer BIG SKY – Outlaw Partners is excited to once again bring Big Sky PBR and Big Sky’s Biggest Week back for its 11th year to the Big Sky Events Arena in Town Center in Big Sky, Montana. Tickets for PBR bull riding events July 21-23 will go on sale Tuesday, March 1 at 9 a.m. MST online only at bigskypbr.com.

Big Sky PBR is co-produced by Outlaw Partners and Freestone Productions and hosted each year as a part of PBR’s Touring Pro Division. Last year, the event was named Event of the Year at the PBR’s Heroes and Legends dinner for the eighth year in a row. Built from the sagebrush up, it has brought crowds to their feet under the backdrop of Lone Mountain for 10 days of bull riding, live music, heated mutton bustin’ competition and a crowd-surfing Flint Rasmussen.

“We are excited to bring Big Sky PBR and Big Sky’s Biggest Week back this summer,” said Megan Paulson CEO of Outlaw Partners. “Eleven years ago, I would have never dreamed that a one night bull riding event could grow into 10 days of family-friendly events culminating with three nights of world-class bull riding. I remember our first year wondering if we could even get people to show up, and now, it’s one of Montana’s ‘must do’ signature events.”

Big Sky’s Biggest Week will begin with the Big Sky Art Auction. Between Wednesday, July 13 and Sunday, July 16, auction bidders will gather in the basecamp tent located at the Town Center Plaza in front of The Wilson Hotel for the Big Sky Art Auction to bid on traditional and contemporary Western art, jewelry and furniture.

The Big Sky Community Rodeo will take place in the events arena on Friday, July 15 at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a Community Street Dance in Town Center Plaza at 9 p.m. Because last year was such a hit, Big Sky BINGO Night will return on Tuesday, July 19 at 6 p.m. and then Wednesday, July 20, Outlaw Partners will host the Big Sky

PBR Golf Tournament at the Black Bull Golf Course in Bozeman. In Town Center, fans will be able to partake in a variety of family-friendly activities including crafts, a petting zoo and the first of many mutton bustin’ events.

Three nights of Big Sky PBR bull riding events will take place Thursday, July 21 through Saturday, July 23 each night at 7 p.m., featuring 40 of the world’s best cowboys going head to head with world-class bulls. Each night will be followed by live music, featuring Texan country singer/songwriter Hayes Carll on Saturday night, and the Vendor Village with Western wear, art, souvenirs and more, will be open throughout the week from 12-6 p.m.

Tickets for the famed Big Sky PBR and other events will be for sale online only at bigskypbr.com Purchase tickets and learn more about Big Sky’s Biggest week at bigskypbr.com About Outlaw Partners Outlaw Partners is Co-Producer of Big Sky PBR, and a thriving marketing, media and events company in Big Sky, Montana. Outlaw-produced events include Peak to Sky, and are publishers of the regionally acclaimed Mountain Outlaw magazine and Explore Big Sky newspaper. Outlaw Partners was founded in 2009 and is Southwest Montana’s leading publisher, marketing and events organization.

About Freestone Productions Firestone Productions is owned by Andy and Jacey Watson who help co-produce the awardwinning Big Sky PBR each summer in Big Sky, Montana. Freestone Productions is a Three Forks, Montana-based production company who has brought bull riding not only to Big Sky, but also the Livingston Arena for the Livingston Classic PBR.

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12 February 11 - 24, 2022

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Sixth annual TEDxBigSky highlights the power of resilience Big Sky Ideas Fest brings journalists together to talk trust

BY GABRIELLE GASSER AND TUCKER HARRIS BIG SKY – The Big Sky Ideas Fest and TEDxBigSky kicked 2022 off with inspiration and important conversations. Beginning the January event with a panel discussion on trust and the media featuring renowned and regional journalists and closing it with two awe-inspiring nights of speakers exploring the theme of resilience, viewers around the country were treated to experiences of impact.

“Trust and the Media” panel Decorated journalist Jan Winburn sees a split in the trust media outlets receive: national media outlets must gain the trust of their readers while local journalists have that trust to lose.

On the evening of Jan. 27, NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik moderated a panel on Trust and the Media at The Independent theater in Big Sky.

and conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Folkenflik posed this question to the panelists to hear how these key concepts play into trust.

Adams chimed in saying that if you claim to be unbiased or completely objective, “ you might as well claim to be a robot.” He then asked if it is possible to be objective while acknowledging bias. His conclusion: “objectivity is an aspiration; it is not necessarily a promise.”

Wilkinson said that knowledge of issues is crucial along with experience and maturity.

With those under one’s belt, he says it’s the journalist’s responsibility to focus on getting the story right.

Winburn shared her experience grappling with the concepts of bias and objectivity on a national scale saying she focuses more on fairness, though fairness has its own pitfalls for journalists to navigate.

The panel featured five journalists including Winburn, who worked for The Baltimore Sun, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and CNN; John Adams, founding editor and executive director of Montana Free Press; Todd Wilkinson, founder of Mountain Journal; Joseph T. O’Connor, editor-in-chief for Outlaw Partners publications; and Luella Brien, founder of Four Points Media Inc.

When covering climate change for CNN, Winburn said she was asked to give equal time to the minority of voices that didn’t believe in climate change, but that those voices accounted for about 1 percent of the overall discourse. That coverage, Winburn said, was unbiased but not truthful and it created a harmful false equivalency. In this case, the pursuit of journalistic truth led to an imbalance in the way the information was being presented.

Presented live and on Zoom, the conversation opened with a provoking question from Folkenflik for Adams: “How [do] you make sure you earn the trust of the people you cover, and the people you write for?”

Despite challenges of local reporting outlined during the discussion, all the panelists placed a heavy emphasis on the importance of local journalism.

Adams pointed out that we exist in a time of declining trust in the media, and he launched MTFP in that climate of distrust. He has worked to partner with news organizations around the state to connect with his audience to build their trust in his outlet.

“It’s my view that the people who read their local newspaper and know their local news editor and their local news reporters, they trust those people,” Adams said. “Those people are part of their communities; those people have a place in that community.”

Luella Brien, an Apsáalooke journalist with nearly 20 years of industry experience, started Four Points Press three months ago. Brien works as the site’s sole journalist serving the Crow Indian Reservation and surrounding areas. She described her work as a constant effort to earn and maintain the trust between herself as a journalist and her community.

“It becomes this cycle of constantly repairing the damage that these outsiders are doing when they come in and barely scratch the surface on these difficult stories and then swoop out and then either tell them wrong or are inaccurate,” she said.

Part of a journalist’s traditional job is to seek objectivity; to recognize and avoid biases

Wilkinson added that journalists are first human beings and when they are living in a community writing hyper-local stories that affect lives in the community, they then must pass those people on main street and that direct interaction adds another layer of accountability.

That accountability of journalists to their communities can come in the form of transparency, according to O’Connor.

“Trust comes down to the tenets of journalism, that’s whether it’s nonprofit [or] for profit,” he said, “transparency, running corrections, fact checking, labeling paid-for content in the right way, and in the right place. These are discussions we have all the time.”

After the main panel discussion, attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions.

A former CEO and publisher of a small nonprofit news organization stepped up to the mic and asked, “[Do] journalists and journalism organizations need to do a better job explaining how journalism actually works?”

“I think that’s a critical component of what we do,” O’Connor responded. “It’s a critical component of why we’re sitting here right now.”

The more that journalists can communicate with and give audiences insight into the reporting process, the more they can understand, he added. And with that understanding hopefully comes trust.

TEDxBigSky BIG SKY – In a darkened theater, nearly 200 people listened raptly to an avalanche survivor’s account of being buried beneath 9-and-a-half feet of snow for 60 minutes.

The survivor, Ken Scott, was one of 15 speakers to bring to life stories of resilience on stage at the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center on Jan. 29 and 30 for the sixth annual TEDxBigSky. Scott invited the audience into the terror of being buried alive, the struggle to breath and the gradual narrowing of consciousness.

“Let's all take a breath, shall we?” Scott said, chuckling.

Collectively, the audience let out the breaths they didn’t realize they were holding.

TEDxBigSky is a local, self-organized event where speakers come together to spark deep discussion and connection. After being offered only as a live stream last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Outlaw Partners, publisher of Explore Big Sky and producer of TEDxBigSky, presented both live and virtual viewing for the 2022 event. For the first time, this year’s speaker series spanned two nights.

John Adams, founding editor and executive director of Montana Free Press, answers a question during the Jan. 27 panel on trust and the media. PHOTO BY GABRIELLE GASSER

“Over the years, talks from this event have been spread around the world,” said Ersin Ozer, media and events

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director at Outlaw Partners. “And the impact doesn't stop on the stage after they give their talks, it starts there.”

In some ways the choice for this year’s theme of resilience was obvious, said Ennion Williams, vice president of events at Outlaw Partners.

“Through the year of 2022, our world has been going through a lot of resilience in dealing with what’s been going on in the world,” Williams said. “It just seemed like a very appropriate theme being in the time and place our world and society are in.”

Introduced by a haiku presentation by poet Tom Levar and music by DJ Daniel Kern, this year’s speakers offered expressions of resiliency brought to life by themes of trauma and recovery; living a meaningful life; resilience through responsibility; and overcoming adversity.

Trauma and recovery Ken Scott’s story of resilience in the face of a deeply traumatic experience was a theme echoed throughout both evenings of the event.

Though born of events of a different nature, both Scott and speaker Saul Martinez discussed coping with the aftermath.

The two men suffer from PTSD and depression, Martinez due to an incident in Iraq in 2007 when he lost both of his legs to a car bomb.

Both Scott and Martinez found ways to move through their traumas. “Take it, build on it, make it a discipline, then use it for yourself and others,” Martinez said. “Discipline and resilience are what we do to improve when it's hard.”

Ryan Busse gives his talk “Responsibility: Democracy’s Critical Ingredient” at TEDxBigSky on Jan. 30. PHOTO BY MICAH ROBIN

Rev. Briana Lynn has also used resilience to help her cope with the trauma, or “shadow” as she calls it, in her life. She focuses on “radical aliveness” and navigates the duality of light and darkness in her life by accepting it as a paradox within which she must exist.

“I share these [stories] because I feel and I teach and I, in my best ways, try to embody what it means to be alive, to feel the full spectrum of human experience, that there is nothing that we need to run from, or avoid that we're actually meant to feel it all,” she said.

Both having experienced trauma of her own and reporting on the trauma of others, decorated journalist Jan Winburn’s storytelling career has focused on the aftermath of trauma and the ways that people recover like Scott, Martinez and Lynn.

Reflecting on the experience of being a TEDx speaker after the event, Winburn said she received incredible support.

“There was all this support from everyone who put on TEDx, but then there was also tonight this community support where people–you know we’re human–so you mess up and don't do exactly what you wanted but nobody cared about that; they accepted that,” she said. “I just felt a tremendous gratitude to be a part of this.”

Living a meaningful life After traumatic events and along the road to recovery, life continues, and many speakers touched on the power of making that life meaningful.

Speakers spoke about a breadth of ways to achieve purpose and meaning in life, from the use of plant medicine such as ayahuasca described by Azrya and Benjamin Bequer to help humanity achieve its full spectrum of aliveness to crafting meaningful relationships with our dreams and mentors as advised by psychotherapist Timothy Tate.

Musician Monique Benabou gave a stunning musical performance to close out night one that encouraged audience members to embrace their purpose in life.

“Resilience is something in the spirit that I really feel is the most protected element of the spirit,” Banabou said after the event. “It's only found by going to the edge, by hitting a bottom, by finding out what you're made of. That's where you really get to experience the gift of one's personal relationship with resilience.”

Brothers Nick and Mike Fiorito tethered their life’s purpose to the characteristics of love and kindness, as demonstrated through the work of their nonprofit Blankets of Hope which donates blankets to the homeless.

“Every single act of kindness brings us all one step closer to winning the game of life,” they said.

Resilience through responsibility In addition to messages about achieving individual resiliency, a handful of speakers discussed how personal and cultural responsibility can and should help the world achieve collective resiliency.

Ryan Busse, former National Rifle Association member and firearms executive, discussed this concept in the context of gun ownership, a polarized issue in the U.S. ​​ had a front row seat to it all for almost the entirety of that last 25 years,” Busse said. “I “I sold millions of guns, while trying to hold a line on decency. At the same time, I found myself in the middle of an industry that was transforming a country—and not for the better.”

Busse asked the audience to participate in one simple solution: to strive for responsibility in their own lives.

Speakers Tom Spruance and Todd Dittman addressed the need for resiliency in environmental spaces.

Similar to Busse’s request for listeners to take personal responsibility, Tom Spruance advocated for people to consider their impact on the places they live and to take responsibility for protecting the wild spaces.

He believes the love of the natural world can help “transform you into becoming a protector, a steward of wildlife and wild places.”

Investment professional Todd Dittmann spoke of the need for national and global solidarity as society looks to transition to renewable energy from fossil fuels. Dittman asked the audience to consider the impacts of energy transition on the economically vulnerable and advocated for a transition that considers socioeconomic impacts to society.

Overcoming adversity The final perspective on resilience offered by speaker Lisa Senters-McDermott, focused on perseverance in the face of adversity.

Now the CEO and founder of Jet Senters Aviation Senters-McDermott worked hard for years, ignoring the naysayers in her life, to build her career as an entrepreneur.

“I know not to ask permission. I trust my gut. I believe dreams can be prophetic,” she said. “I know the brain conspires to help us. And I know that life is precious and a whole lot of fun.”

Reflecting on her talk and the meaning of resilience after the event, SentersMcDermott said that she hopes attendees left her talk with the message that they should all follow their own unique passions rather than trying to fit into a prescribed societal mold.

“Resilience is what separates the quitters from those that are successful,” SentersMcDermott said.

— To close out a profound night of shared storytelling, singer/songwriter and local legend Bruce Anfinson took the stage with songs and anecdotes from his Montana roots. From raising draft horses in Helena to building 30-foot teepees in the summertime, Anfinson reminisced on his past through song.

Anfinson’s last tune of the night was “Home Is Where Montana Is,” which reminds us of the beauty of Montana. “It’s just too dang pretty to try to capture it you know,” Anfinson said before starting the song.

After a weekend of speakers bringing tales of resilience to life, it was an apt request.

Alive in the audience was a sense of potential, of hope and of perseverance.

“Even when we are doomed, we hope for something,” Scott said during his talk. “We are all beings of hope. There is great power in recognizing the hope within you. Please recognize that hope within yourself.”

14 February 11 - 24, 2022

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Inaugural Winter Fest honors Big Sky culture

Community collaboration yields successful four-day event

BY BELLA BUTLER Winter Fest is an Outlaw Partners event. Outlaw Partners publishes Explore Big Sky.

“We feel it was a huge success, thanks to the support of our community and volunteers,” Barker wrote in a statement. “The energy and excitement of the crowd, the heroic efforts of the racers, all made for a lively kick-off to Winter Fest.”

BIG SKY – The winter season is woven into Big Sky’s identity. When snow starts to fall and the outside world is put to rest, Big Sky comes to life. This year, the inaugural Winter Fest celebrated this identity with four days of events, each highlighting unique facets of community culture.

Friday, Feb. 4 Festivities picked up again Friday afternoon starting with the Frozen Foot Obstacle Course in Len Hill Park, organized by BSCO. Big Sky families sledded, crawled through hoops, parachuted and sipped hot chocolate beneath a glowing winter sun, giggling and smiling through balaclava-covered faces.

Like many of Big Sky’s most successful endeavors, the concept for Winter Fest was born at the intersection of complementary community interests. After losing valuable dollars when they weren’t able to sell fireworks this year, Big Sky Ski Education Foundation sought a winter fundraiser.

The fun continued nearby in the Town Center Plaza where Corey and Lisa Gransbery of Butte-based Absolute Zero Ice Design displayed their ice carving skills, shaping solid blocks of ice into Winter-Fest branded picture frames and dynamic fish.

Outlaw Partners, which publishes Explore Big Sky, had at the same time been in communication with the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce and Visit Big Sky to hold an event to celebrate the winter season and support community economic development.

Other community organizations including the Big Sky Community Organization and Big Sky Skijoring provided additional ideas for how to bring Winter Fest to life.

“This town has always needed a Winter Fest event,” said Ennion Williams, vice president of events for Outlaw Partners. “Through collaboration and partnerships throughout the community, we were able to bring together a communitywide, community-supported event, which we hope will grow in the future to include more organizations and more participations.”

With fundraising at the core, Winter Fest raised nearly $20,000 for BSSEF through a 50/50 raffle and a skijoring Calcutta.

“What a powerful testament to the collaborative nature of this town and the spirit of the Big Sky community,” said BSSEF board member and fundraising chair Erin Arend with BSSEF. Williams, who’s seen 28 winters in Big Sky, described the uniqueness of the area’s longest season in terms of the activities it presents and Winter Fest included ice sculpting, a winter obstacle course, a retro ski film night, Nordic racing, live music and skijoring, breathing celebration into these frigid days.

Thursday, Feb. 3 At Winter Fest’s first event, nearly two dozen young Nordic skiers-in-training shimmied in a collective Macarena dance on Feb. 3 to warm up at the start line of this season’s third Viking Nordic Race.

The event’s youngest competitors kicked off the evening with a 1K skate ski at the Big Sky Resort Nordic Center on the Big Sky Resort Golf Course and were followed by 3K and 5K races. Though the air was brisk as the sun dipped below the mountains, a lively crowd of supportive friends and family—some decked out in Viking apparel—made the first event of Winter Fest feel warm and merry.

Since December, BSSEF’s Nordic Board has held monthly Viking Nordic Races to create competitive opportunities for beginner and elite athletes alike. The event, according to BSSEF Nordic Coordinator Nicole Barker, is also intended to bring together community to celebrate and use some of the world-class trails in Big Sky.

As the weekend rolled in, Winter Fest was fully underway. At Retro Movie Night, local ski legends Scot Schmidt and Dan Egan recounted stories of their glory days filming with the likes of Warren Miller and Greg Stump in between screening clips from some of their favorite films to a sold-out crowd.

For a few hours, a packed audience at The Independent theater relived the ‘80s and ‘90s on slopes from Montana’s Bridger Bowl and Big Sky Resort to Turkey and Chile with Schmidt and Egan, cheering them along on some of their most famous lines and cringing at their legendary wipeouts.

“I think one of the best things about this is we have two legendary pro skiers that … have such a great history in the ski film industry and with Warren Miller, but also more importantly, they’re familiar faces here and they’re community members and friends,” said audience member Ben Brosseau, a ski guide and instructor in Big Sky for 18 years.

“It’s just really great to have an atmosphere like this where you can kind of relive some of those moments and see and hear a little bit of the behind the scenes of what we’ve all lived and seen and been entertained by for 30 years.”

For those looking to loosen up after a long winter week, Bozeman DJ Daniel Kern spun electric tunes at the Town Center Plaza for the Silent Disco, heard only by those wearing special headphones.

“I think people really leaned into that invitation to just have some fun, play, be weird, sing out loud, and really enjoy the night,” Kern said.

The experience was amusing for the outside spectator, as well, as people dancing wildly to what seemed like no music for hours. Dancers pleaded Kern to keep playing before the event finally ended near midnight.

“I will give you all of the money out of my pockets right now to play one more song,” one attendee told Kern.

Saturday, Feb. 5 On Saturday, a painted pony trampled through soft snow in the heart of Big Sky. Local Haley Hodge rode the horse, towing her brother Cody, who was on skis.

The sibling duo was one of several to compete in day one of the Best of the West Skijoring Competition, what Williams described as “the anchor event” of Winter Fest.

Day one of skijoring saw nearly six hours of competition including seven divisions including Novice, Junior, Women’s, Sport, Snowboarding, Switcharoo and Open.

Horseback riders, skiers and snowboarders from the local Big Sky community and around the country kept a full crowd on their feet all day to enjoy the spectacle of winter athletes navigating an obstacle course while being towed at adrenaline-worthy speeds by a horse.

“It’s just so fun to see all the different kinds of athletes that there are here—the skiers, the horses and the riders,” said Bozeman resident and longtime skijoring fan Lindsey Grauman.

“It’s so Montana,” Grauman’s friend Brittany Peters chimed in. “In the winter, you get outside and the weather doesn’t stop you … it’s such a Montana thing to be at.”

While skijoring events take place around the country, the sport is a unique combination of the blended culture in Big Sky. Longtime locals in the crowd represented both skiers and cowboys, all sharing a day together to enjoy a good time.

The end of the day was punctuated by the competitive Open Class division, where highly skilled athletes like 2019 national champion skijorer Colin Cook picked up the pace and made use of the bigger course features.

Young skiers in the 1k Viking Nordic Race dash for the finish line at the Big Sky Resort Nordic Center on Feb. 3. PHOTO BY BELLA BUTLER

While skijoring was underway, six competitors were competing in ice sculpting in the Town Center Plaza. Though it was a competition, participants showed camaraderie.

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Phoebe Alverson, 14, who skied behind her sister Fiona, 15, in the Switcheroo division.

“This event usually has more spectators than others, too.”

The carefully curated track complete with berms and jumps also allowed skijoring viewers an intimate view of the competitors.

Day two featured a special guest to welcome the final Open Class division: Olympic and World Champion gold medalist Bode Miller rigged himself up on skis behind a large draft horse from Lone Mountain Ranch to give his best shot at skijoring for the first time. The crowd gave him some hometown love as he successfully maneuvered the course.

The Open Class competitors came to play. Two-time National Champion and one of the event organizers, Colin Cook, literally turned up the heat up by igniting a flame under one of the larger course features. Open division skiers flew over the flame as they rounded the turn in front of VIP section spectators. The crowd went wild, ringing their cowbells and cheering the top competitors on as they closed out the event.

Music duo Forester spins on stage at the Community Street Dance in the Town Center Plaza on Feb. 5.

PHOTO BY ME BROWN

“The best part about ice carving is the people,” said Aubrin Heinrichs, who entered the contest on a team with his son.

The Big Sky Chamber judges awarded Chris Berryhill and Melanie Mangione of Butte with the first-place prize of $500. All other competitors received cash prizes, as well.

After riders put their horses to bed and skiers clicked out of their boots, the party continued in Town Center, where local DJs Take a Chance and Jenn and Juice opened for music duo Forester, who spun electronic mixes into the night as light snow drifted down on a crowd of dancers. Between the energetic music, dancing and 406 Agave tequila, which launched its brand for Winter Fest, the winter evening was warmer than most.

Sunday, Feb. 6 After bracing bitter cold winds on Saturday, the sun shown for a few hours on Sunday afternoon keeping the spectators warm and rowdy. Skier, horse and rider trios were seeking both redemption and speed to close out the second day of competition and clinch their respective division victories. “[Big Sky’s event] is really well put together, and I love the course too.” said competitor

The awards ceremony at Tips Up featured cash prizes for both day winners and the overall champions. The overall winners received belt buckles in addition to cash. Rider Sarah McConnell and skier Tyler Smedsrud teamed up with their horse Derby to bring home the winning Open division prize of more than $2,500.

Big Sky locals and best friends Matty Kirkland and Drew Vanyo decided to register at the last minute and ended up taking home first place in the Novice division. Though Vanyo said he’s been skiing for 38 years, this was his first time doing it behind a horse and is already looking forward to skijoring again next year. While their goal was only to complete two runs, Vanyo and Kirkland were thrilled to end the weekend with a buckle.

“Everybody involved was super nice,” Vanyo said. “I got lots of encouragement from competitors, people putting the event on, all the cowboys. Lots of helpful tips on how to hold the rope, where to pay attention on to the course. I just [had] even more fun than I could’ve pictured.”

Justa Adams, who’s been an event organizer with Big Sky Skijoring since the skijoring sanctioned nonprofit started in 2018, reflected on the novelty of the event, especially for a community like Big Sky. Raised in the horse and cattle industry and now a resident and recreator in Big Sky, Adams said the sport brings together the best of two worlds.

“Nothing makes me happier than a horse,” she told EBS after the event, “but an actual horse racing in a Western saddle pulling a skier just brings together my two heartbeats.”

Gabrielle Gasser and Tucker Harris contributed reporting to this article.

A crowd cheers on a skier-rider-horse trio as they navigate the skijoring course at the Best in the West Showdown during Winter Fest. PHOTO BY MARK LAROWE

JOIN US THIS SUMMER FOR

Big Sky’s Biggest Week WED. JULY 13 – SUN. JULY 16 Big Sky Art Auction

FRIDAY, JULY 15

Big Sky Community Rodeo Street Dance, Town Center Avenue

TUESDAY, JULY 19 Big Sky Bingo Night

Big Sky Community Day / Mutton Bustin’

WEDNESDAY, JULY 20

Big Sky PBR Golf Tournament at Black Bull Golf Course

THURSDAY, JULY 21

Big Sky PBR Basecamp Vendor Village Open PBR Bull Riding Night 1

FRIDAY, JULY 22

Big Sky PBR Basecamp Vendor Village Open PBR Bull Riding Night 2 Live Music Following Bull Riding - TBD

SATURDAY, JULY 23

Big Sky PBR Basecamp Vendor Village Open PBR Bull Riding Night 3 Live Music Following Bull Riding, Hayes Carll

TICKETS ON SALE - MARCH 1 AT 9AM MST online only at bigskypbr.com

BIG SKY EVENTS ARENA, BIG SKY, MONTANA

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SECTION 2: SPORTS, ENVIRONMENT & OUTDOORS AND HEALTH Big Horns busy over two weeks of basketball pg. 18

Beyond the beacon pg. 29

Seven benefits of IV therapy pg. 31

Holden finished in first place at the Freeride World Qualifier event at Kicking Horse on Jan. 27. PHOTO BY CAM MAHONEY

Local snowboarder advances dream of competing in Freeride World Tour Holden Samuels notches key wins in Canada

BY GABRIELLE GASSER

top two scores from those final three events are counted and the top two riders qualify for the world tour.

BIG SKY – Ever since he was 16, Big Sky native and snowboarder Holden Samuels said he has wanted to be on the Freeride World Tour. After claiming the top spot on podiums at two recent freeride competitions, that dream is within reach.

Holden’s approach to this 2022 season differs from his past strategies. He says he used to go for the biggest air in his lines but this year he’s focusing more on riding well through an entire line and avoiding big crashes.

Holden, 22, finished first in two four-star Freeride World Tour qualifying events at Revelstoke on Jan. 23 and Kicking Horse on Jan. 27. Samuels currently ranks first in the International Freeskiers and Snowboarders Association Region 2, which includes Canada, South America and the United States, in the men’s snowboard category on the Freeride World Qualifier tour.

“I am really just trying to ride the hardest thing that I can make look easy, because the judges really like that,” Holden said. “When you’re super in control, you’re super-fast, you never stop and it doesn’t look like you’re hesitating on anything.”

“It feels pretty good,” Holden said of his recent wins. He hasn’t won a world qualifier event since age 19 and Holden said this is the first season that he has felt fully healthy competing after an ACL tear. “It feels like a lot of the work I’ve done over the past couple years, it’s kind of paid off,” he said.

Holden began snowboarding at age 7 after his family moved to Big Sky. He joined the Big Sky Ski Education Foundation Freeride Team at age 13 but has been competing since he was 10.

“Seeing his passion and joy with this sport through the years has been a gift to us and we are thrilled to see him move closer to his longtime goal of qualifying for the Freeride World Tour,” wrote Holden’s parents, Acra and Chris Samuels, in an email to EBS.

A line score is based on five criteria defined by the IFSA: line choice, control, fluidity, technique, and style and energy.

Holden won the IFSA North American Junior Freeride Championship at age 16 and 17 and was invited to return to the Freeride Junior World Championship both years. At age 18, Holden finished second place in the world championship after tearing his ACL earlier that year.

Though his first ACL recovery was quick, Holden tore it again when he was 20 which took over a year for him to heal. Last season was shorter than usual with only three events in the span of a week and a half due to COVID, according to Holden, and he said one fall last year put him behind his fellow competitors.

“I was really motivated for this season because I wanted to be on the Freeride World Tour since I was like 16,” Holden said. “It’s been the only goal in my mind. So every day in the offseason [I’ve been] working out in the gym or hiking mountains or doing whatever just trying to get in shape for the winter.”

The aspirational rider has a few more hurdles to jump to qualify for the Freeride World Tour.

Previously, skiers and riders counted the top three scores from six competitions to qualify, but a change in the qualification process for 2022 made it so athletes must add up their scores from the first four qualifying events of the season to qualify for the final three events. Then the points start over, and world tour hopefuls are pitted against world tour riders who were recently eliminated from the tour. An athlete’s

Holden gets big air at the Junior Freeride World Championship in Kappl, Austria in 2018 where he finished in second place. PHOTO COURTESY OF ACRA SAMUELS

Holden has two more four-star qualifying competitions at Snowbird, Utah and Taos, New Mexico in the preliminary round of world tour qualifying events. Based on the two wins he already has under his belt, Holden says he’s already qualified for the final three events of the season which will take place at Crystal Mountain, in Washhington state, Big Sky Resort and Kirkwood Resort in Lake Tahoe.

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Big Horns busy over two weeks of basketball

BY GABRIELLE GASSER BIG SKY – The Lone Peak High School Big Horn basketball teams have played a packed two weeks of basketball. Both boys’ and girls’ varsity teams traveled on Jan. 27 to play the Manhattan Christian Eagles and just the boys squared off against the Shields Valley Rebels on Feb. 3.

At home, the Big Horns hosted the Gardiner Bruins on Jan. 28 and the Class B Townsend Bulldogs on Feb. 4 while the JV boys and varsity girls played the Lima Bears on Feb. 8.

As of EBS press time, the Lady Big Horns sat in eighth place in the District with a 5-8 record and the boys were in last place with a 1-12 record. Both teams have two regular season games left against the Sheridan Panthers at home on Feb.11 for Senior Night and away at West Yellowstone on Feb. 12.

The Big Horns will then head to Butte on Feb. 16 for the Class C District tournament where both the boys and girls will face play-in games.

Below are results and highlights from the last three home basketball games.

Gardiner On Jan. 28 at the Bough Dolan Athletic Center, the Lady Big Horns took on the Gardiner Lady Bruins, building an early lead and outscoring them 12-8 in the first quarter. The Lady Bruins outscored the Lady Big Horns by 17 points in the fourth quarter securing their victory with a final score of 59-50.

The varsity boys team took the court against the Bruins following the girls in a tight game that went into overtime and concluded in a wrenching five-point loss for the Big Horns. Sophomore Juliusz Shipman came off the Big Horns’ bench and contributed eight points for the evening.

The fourth quarter saw a big momentum shift in favor of the Big Horns and a Shipman layup tied the score at 42.

The four-minute overtime quarter featured ferocious play and with less than a minute left, the Bruins led 52-49 and hit key free throws to widen their lead. The final score favored the Bruins 54-49.

Townsend On the evening of Feb. 4, the Class C Lady Big Horns faced off against the Class B Townsend Bulldogs at the Bough Dolan Athletic Center.

The Lady Big Horns paced the Lady Bulldogs early in the game and pulled ahead 27-16 at the half, Townsend built a big lead scoring 19 points to Lone Peak’s five.

Townsend ended the half leading Lone Peak 27-16.

In the second half, the Lady Big Horns sunk five 3-pointers and their relentless defensive play shut down many scoring opportunities for the Lady Bulldogs, limiting

Sophomore Astrid McGuire (12) looks to the basket against the Lima Bears. PHOTO BY GABRIELLE GASSER

their opponent to just 10 points the entire half. Lone Peak held on to that lead and a buzzer-beater layup from junior Kate King brought the final score up to 43-37.

Following the Lady Big Horns, the boys took the court to test their mettle against the Bulldogs Class B team.

Townsend came out with a lightning-fast offense and a pressure defense that largely kept Lone Peak out of the key. At halftime, the Bulldogs led the Big Horns 38-26.

After the half, both teams came out with scrappy, high energy. Three-pointers from juniors Max Romney and Gus Hammond kept the Big Horns competitive though the Bulldogs widened their lead to 55-41 at the end of the third quarter.

The Bulldogs had their highest-scoring quarter of the evening in the fourth with 22 points. The Big Horns capitalized on a couple fast-break opportunities and drew some fouls, but the Bulldogs went on a scoring streak that put them 21 points ahead in the end for a final score of 77-56. Junior Max Romney led the Big Horns in scoring for the evening logging a total of 29 points.

Lima On Feb. 8, the JV boys’ and varsity girls’ teams hosted the Lima Bears at home.

The Lady Big Horns built an early lead with their consistent 3-point shooting and full court press. They only allowed the Lady Bears to score three points in the first quarter ending it with a 16-point lead 19-3.

Lone Peak continued scoring consistently and building their lead in the second quarter with offensive rebounds and second-chance points. A buzzer-beater 3-pointer boosted the Lady Big Horns’ lead to 35-10 at half time.

In the third quarter the pressure from the Lady Big Horns began to show causing Lady Bears turnovers. Lima did manage to log nine points to end the third quarter down 4819 to Lone Peak.

The Lady Big Horns scored 13 points in the fourth quarter cementing their victory with a final score of 61-29.

The evening saw the Lady Big Horns set two school records with nine 3-pointers in the first half and 13 total 3-pointers in the entire game. Seven of the nine girls on the team made 3-pointers and all nine of the girls scored.

Senior Tony Brester (5) drives to the basket against the Townsend Bulldogs. PHOTO BY GABRIELLE GASSER

“We spent the first 75 percent of the season working on offense—we set a goal of getting an average of 50 points per game and improving our 3-point shooting ability,” wrote Head Coach Loren Bough in an email to EBS. “However, as the saying goes, ‘Defense wins championships,’ and over the past two weeks we have reset our focus on improving our defense both man to man and our press while reducing the number of fouls we commit.”

ENVIRONMENT & OUTDOORS

19 February 11 - 24, 2022

Explore Big Sky

Is more ‘awe’ the magic we need to save Greater Yellowstone?

BY TODD WILKINSON EBS COLUMNIST

A few days ago, a flare on the surface of the sun sent a burst of radio-magnetic waves toward Earth. If you were paying attention and happened to reside in certain northern latitude locations and ventured in the wee hours outdoors away from a city, you might have observed the emerald-hued glory of the Northern Lights, aka Aurora Borealis.

increases over their lives, they become more capable of thinking not only about their own self-interest but across generations.

In Turner’s case, it resulted in a realization that doing what one can to protect nature also yields benefits for human communities. While still possessing a large ego, he derived enormous satisfaction from being magnanimous.

A few years ago, a study titled “Awe, the Small Self, and Prosocial Behavior” was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. It corroborated other scientific findings showing that people who derive awe in nature admirably become better citizens.

It got me thinking again about the power of such celestial delights that even in this age of A.I. and digital artifice to wow us. And I reflected back to that August morning in 2017 when we in our approximate region were treated to the Great Eclipse.

“Awe arises in evanescent experiences,” leader author Paul Piff from the University of California-Irvine wrote with colleagues. “Looking up at the starry expanse of the night sky. Gazing out across the blue vastness of the ocean. Feeling amazed at the birth and development of a child. Protesting at a political rally or watching a favorite sports team live.

If you were here, what kind of sobering sensations fired across the ancient synaptic pathways linking your mind to body and spirit?

“Many of the experiences people cherish most are triggers of the emotion we focused on here—awe,” Piff continued. “Our investigation indicates that awe, although often fleeting and hard to describe, serves a vital social function. By diminishing the emphasis on the individual self, awe may encourage people to forego strict self-interest to improve the welfare of others.”

Quite possibly, the conjunction of moon and sun was, for some, just another one-off event, a been-there, done-that moment, enabling the seeker to boast forevermore of having witnessed a cosmic alignment yet holding little capacity for pondering its deeper meaning.

For others, the eclipse was a lesson in humility, summoning reflection on what the rendezvous might offer in making them better people.

Mother Nature gives us reasons to stand in awe every single moment. But could it be that by dwelling in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, a region so resplendent with natural mysteries, we become desensitized sometimes, needing an eclipse or Northern Lights to remind us of the impact of awe?

We know, based on thickening reams of scientific evidence, that letting awe seep into our being can be transformational. When awe happens on a mass level, experienced jointly by tens of millions at a time, could it—should it—result in greater appreciation and respect for the natural world?

While I was researching my book on Ted Turner, “Last Stand: Ted Turner’s Quest to Save a Troubled Planet,” a few years ago, there were several things I wanted to know: one was there any correlation between Turner the fiscally conservative, sociallyprogressive billionaire and Turner the successful businessman who became a selfless conservationist and philanthropist.

For Turner, awe for nature played a pivotal role. As he was building the satellite TV cable channels TBS and CNN, an internal impulse began taking hold. During the start of middle age, he deepened his connection to the wild outdoors by buying properties and protecting them with conservation easements. The reasons were amorphous yet instinctual.

As it turns out, science offers an explanation: People who spend more time immersed in nature tend to be more empathetic, kinder, gentler and more giving souls. As exposure

Sheets of Aurora Borealis visible in Alaska. FLICKR/PUBLIC DOMAIN

Another study titled “Approaching Awe, A Moral, Spiritual and Aesthetic Emotion,” featuring research by Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt, noted this: “Fleeting and rare, experiences of awe can change the course of a life in profound and permanent ways.

Awe can transform people and reorient their lives, goals and values … awe-inducing events may be one of the fastest and most powerful methods of personal change and growth.”

Looking around Greater Yellowstone, I have seen plenty of people, many with significant means, drawn to the awe of the region’s wild lands. Many of them care, upon encountering this place, but they don’t know how to respond.

Once infected with biophilia and embracing conservation, I’ve seen people grow happier.

In Latin, the term alteri huic means “to this other.” In English, it is the root of the word “altruism,” i.e., exhibiting selfless concern for the well-being of other humans, animals and even places. Simply put, within the context of Greater Yellowstone, it translates to putting the best long-term interest of a place ahead of our desires to exploit it in ways that might do it harm.

With the eclipse, countless millions of dollars and mountains of human time and effort were expended simply to put people in a position to witness a natural event that arrived and passed within a couple of hours.

What a shame that these kinds of events do not result in our greater appreciation of real wild and wildlife wonders in our own backyards. Wonders that, with continued exposure, produce better communities and generous citizens heeding the power of awe.

Todd Wilkinson is the founder of Bozeman-based Mountain Journal and a correspondent for National Geographic. He authored the book “Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek,” featuring photography by famed wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen, about Grizzly Bear 399.

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21 February 11 - 24, 2022

ENVIRONMENT & OUTDOORS

Explore Big Sky

US Forest Service unveils long-awaited forest plan

New Custer Gallatin plan product of extensive collaboration

BY GABRIELLE GASSER BIG SKY – After six years of extensive public engagement, the U.S. Forest Service on Jan. 28 released an overarching revised land management plan for the Custer Gallatin National Forest. Left without updates since the 1980s, the plan will serve as the guiding document for the highly diverse, more than 3-million-acre forest for up to 15 years.

Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson signed the record of decision for the plan, a long-awaited moment which resulted from far-reaching collaboration across diverse stakeholders including 18 tribes, local governments, state and federal agencies and numerous individuals.

“One of the great advantages of working in a place like this, in the Custer Gallatin, is that people care deeply about this place,” Erickson said at a Jan. 28 press conference. “There was just tremendous interest from the time we began this process all the way through the six years.”

CUSTER GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST STATS:

Over 3 MILLION acres

SPREAD OVER 2 STATES Montana & South Dakota

400 MILES from west to east 400 miles from west to east

HUNDREDS of species of native plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates

CGNF is a highly diverse landscape ecologically, socially, economically and culturally.

GRAPHIC BY ME BROWN

A new USDA Forest Service planning rule implemented in 2012 created a focus on sustainability requiring plans to include sustainable forest restoration, climate resilience, watershed protection, wildlife conservation, ecosystem services, recreation, and uses such as grazing, timber harvest and mining.

As part of the planning process, the forest was divided into six geographic areas: the Sioux Ranger District; the Ashland Ranger District; the Pryor Mountains; the Absaroka Beartooth Mountains; the Bridger, Bangtail, and Crazy Mountains; and the Madison, Henrys Lake, and Gallatin Mountains.

Key decisions in the revised plan address native species, designated areas, wildfire and protection of communities, sustaining the forest, and human values and uses.

“There's a lot of pressures on these landscapes, there's a lot of values, and the plan lays out our framework for sustaining the forest over time,” Erickson said.

In August 2018 Congress designated 20 miles of East Rosebud Creek as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Thirteen miles of this creek are classified as wild and 7 miles as recreational both as part of outstanding remarkable values.

“In the first stages of this, we had a bunch of people involved in these meetings, who really honestly never had any intent of collaborating on anything,” said Big Sky resident Steve Johnson. “There were significant factions on both extreme ends of, you know, it's my way or no way.”

Johnson has been involved in the process since early conversations about a decade ago. At a certain point, he said, it became clear that a collaborative agreement wasn’t going to happen.

In the interest of providing cohesive feedback to CGNF, Johnson and other individuals from the surrounding area formed the Gallatin Forest Partnership in 2016 and submitted the final Gallatin Forest Partnership Agreement to the forest service in 2018. Johnson said that agreement became the basis for the plan the forest service ultimately produced.

Forest plans are intended to be updated every 10 to 15 years but according to Mariah Leuschen-Lonergan, public affairs officer for CGNF, the Forest Service’s capability hinges on funding from Congress.

That new rule triggered a nationwide review of needed forest plan revisions and identified the Custer Gallatin as one forest requiring an update since the last plan was written in the late ‘80s. The Custer and Gallatin forests were separate until 2014 when they were administratively combined to create one contiguous forest that spans 400 miles east to west.

the assigned tentative classifications for each river segment. The 30 rivers found by the plan to be eligible for this designation equate to approximately 433 miles.

The agreement details a future for the Gallatin and Madison Ranges that protects wildlife, clean water, wilderness and recreation opportunities through recommended protections and wildlife management areas.

Specifically, the document incorporates new land protections that will help guard clean water and ensure safe passage for wildlife while maintaining existing recreational opportunities and seeking to limit new development.

Designated areas created through the planning process include eight Recommended Wilderness Areas, 13 Backcountry Areas, two Key Linkage Areas, 10 Recreation Emphasis Areas and one platinum and palladium mine. GRAPHIC COURTESY OF CUSTER GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST/USDA FOREST SERVICE

“[The partners] came to the table with a spirit of ‘let's work something out’ and we did,” Johnson said in a Feb. 7 interview. “I'm tremendously proud to have been a part of that. And given what's going on in the country these days, anything that actually comes to an agreement amongst disparate parties is sort of a miracle.”

Leuschen-Lonergan explained that the recommended wilderness and type of land allocations drew some of the most diverse perspectives and sparked the most disagreements. The balance of sustainability and preserving public access struck by the plan was informed by focusing on the common ground in the extensive public comment received by the forest.

“It was a pretty lengthy process, and we're very thankful and fortunate to have people … across the Custer Gallatin, all seven districts, Designated areas created through the that really care about and are passionate about CGNF spans 400 miles east to west and includes a variety of designated areas. GRAPHIC planning process include eight Recommended these public lands and want to be involved in COURTESY OF CUSTER GALLATIN NATIONAL FOREST/USDA FOREST SERVICE Wilderness Areas, 13 Backcountry Areas, two the process,” she told EBS. “Because of that, Key Linkage Areas, 10 Recreation Emphasis we were able to build a more … inclusive Areas, 30 eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers, and one platinum and palladium mine. and robust plan that as we move forward for the next 10 to 15 years, incorporates a lot of people's thoughts and perspectives and is a better plan because of the Rivers identified as eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers are protected for their involvement that we had.” outstanding remarkable value, keeping the rivers free flowing, and maintaining

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23 February 11 - 24, 2022

Explore Big Sky

Imagine a great river, flowing free

BY DAVE MARSTON WRITERS ON THE RANGE

Some environmental groups and water honchos have sponsored a “Rewilding of Glen Canyon” contest, with the winner getting $4,000 “and counting.” The contest’s goal is to reconnect the Colorado River above and below a dismantled dam, to restore the beauty of a glorious place now submerged by Lake Powell — just 26 percent full.

The usual suspects make up the rewilding sponsors: former Bureau of Reclamation Chief Dan Beard and Richard Ingebretsen’s Glen Canyon Institute. There’s also Clark County, Nevada Commissioner Tick Segerblom; Save the Colorado’s Gary Wockner; and nature photographer John Fielder. Great Basin Water Network and Living Rivers are co-sponsors.

“Rewilding” is hardly a new concept. In 1996, draining Lake Powell was ballyhooed by David Brower and the Sierra Club, so much so that Congressional hearings were held, though mostly to denounce the very notion.

“Circus atmosphere” is how one observer described the packed hearings. Colorado Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell went all the way over to the House to say, “This is a certifiably nutty idea,” reported Ed Marston in High Country News.

It was the Glen Canyon Dam’s heyday as cheap and plentiful electrical energy poured out of its eight hydro turbines. The 5-billion-kilowatt hours of power it produced each year was enough to power 650,000 homes. You could say that the Southwest’s building boom was enabled by cheap electricity that made air conditioning routine.

The biggest opponents of plug-pulling 26 years ago were water managers from the Upper Basin states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. They considered Lake Powell their “savings account” to ensure compliance with the 1922 Colorado River Compact. Other opponents were the 3 million annual visitors to the reservoir, appalled at the mere suggestion of losing southern Utah’s flatwater paradise. Houseboat shares, for example, are passed down generationally like heirlooms.

Now, rewilding is back for consideration, and while the contest is fuzzy on details — see www.rewildingcoloradoriver.org — its goal is crystal clear: How do we pop the cork on

the 710-foot-tall concrete and steel structure holding back Lake Powell, the artificial 186-mile-long lake rimmed by sandstone cliffs?

As the West faces increasing aridity, rewilding advocates see the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that built and operates the dam, on its heels. Last year, it shifted water in a game of musical chairs, draining upstream reservoirs in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, to shore up Lake Powell. The water shuffle was barely enough as water levels in the reservoir plunged 50 feet.

Meanwhile, big technical challenges face the empty-Lake Powell crowd. More than 1,000 dams have been removed throughout the country, and nature seems to start healing the land quickly. But draining Lake Powell with existing water outlets is impossible: The lowest diversions are the so-called “river outlet works” at 3,370 feet of elevation, which is still 237 feet above the canyon floor.

To make a river wild, it has to flow fast, at grade. Yet at grade is where the rebarreinforced, 300-feet base of the dam shoulders hundreds of millions of tons of fine sediments behind it.

Drilling this beast would require advanced engineering and construction techniques.

Then, releasing water through the hole is akin to popping a giant water balloon without getting a face full of sandy water.

Forty years ago, it was a wetter world, says commissioner Tick Segerblom, an exriver guide and fourth generation Nevadan. “The dam was nearly overtopped, lost in spring floods, and now it’s nearly drained.” He points to the damage the dam causes as sandbars disappear in Grand Canyon downstream and silt builds up behind the dam.

If there was ever a time to consider this radical rewilding notion, it’s now. A free-flowing Colorado River, says the Glen Canyon Institute, would still be a major tourist attraction, and Segerblom sees Page, Arizona, becoming the gateway to a new place called Glen Canyon National Park.

Restoring a wonder of nature — why not imagine it? A solution would have pleased David Brower, who regretted not fighting the dam. “Glen Canyon died,” he lamented in a Sierra Club book, “and I was partly responsible for its needless death.”

Perhaps this contest cracks the door to rebirth.

Dave Marston is publisher of Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, a nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West.

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25 February 11 - 24, 2022

ENVIRONMENT & OUTDOORS

Explore Big Sky

The Way I Ski It: Imperative of Ecosystems

BY EMILY STIFLER WOLFE

The ForeverProject is about committing to sustainable business practices that protect the environment, human health and society.

What does the word ‘sustainable’ mean to you?

Sustainability speaks to the inherent connection we have with the planet and the broader communities we’re part of—whether the decisions we make with our spending, the food we eat, or the organizations, people and companies we support. But it’s also not really the metric we should be worried about. We’ve overdrawn the bank account. We need to focus on reinvestment and regeneration. How can we get the planet back in the green, as opposed to being in the deficit?

EBS CONTRIBUTOR

Thirteen stunning photographs of area wildlife grace the downhill-facing side of the new Swift Current 6 chairlift seatbacks. The chairback photos are the biggest display yet of the ForeverProject, an initiative by Big Sky’s parent company, Boyne Resorts, committing all of its 13 properties to sustainable business practices, including reaching net zero by 2030. Each of the three stories in this series focuses on one of the photographers—their work, their stories, and their passion for protecting the Greater Yellowstone.

Charles Post was working as field research assistant on the remote South Fork Eel River in northern California when he first grasped the power of photography.

Among bear, elk, mountain lions and 3,000-year-old redwoods, Post was helping renowned food web ecologists, Dr. Mary Power and Dr. Sarah Kupferberg, study Foothill yellow legged frogs, which migrate from small mountain streams to the mainstem river to breed every year.

Gallatin Gateway-based photographer Charles Post has published photos for National Geographic and Outside and through his consulting business has environmental marketing and brand strategy roles at Sitka Gear and HipCamp.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHARLES POST

In addition to his work as a researcher, Post carried a camera to document their work, the scenery and the wildlife he saw.

“Photography became a way for me to reflect on the places and people who were filling my mind and heart with meaning and purpose,” Post said.

Post spent the following four years documenting North America’s only fully aquatic songbird, the American dipper. That work shaped his graduate research at University of California, Berkeley, and eventually, he leaned into photography and film as a way to communicate the value of wild places and creatures to the general public.

Now based in Gallatin Gateway, 40 miles north of Big Sky, Post has published photos for National Geographic and Outside and through his consulting business has environmental marketing and brand strategy roles at Sitka Gear and HipCamp. He’s a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission and a Fellow at The Explorers Club.

The seatbacks of the new Swift Current 6 chairlift feature 13 wildlife photographs, the biggest display yet of Big Sky Resort’s ForeverProject, a sustainable initiative

by Big Sky’s parent company Boyne Resorts. PHOTO BY SETH DAHL

So, how do we get back in the green?

It’s all about small drops, and then over time and at scale, big things happen. I see sustainability as a starting place of having a meaningful relationship with the planet that will hopefully have a positive impact over time. There are so many ways for companies to do good. So many levers they can pull and push that didn’t exist in the past, or weren’t as widely known, vetted and available.

Let’s talk about your photography. Where did you take that bighorn sheep image?

That was an early spring day in Paradise Valley. I saw this band of rams marching along, so I pulled the car over safely and gave them ample space. I let them choose which way they wanted to go, and they kept walking toward me. As a field scientist, I learned that observation of wildlife exists up until their behavior is influenced, so as a photographer that’s my number one goal. How can I have this experience, take this image, have this observation, without influencing their behavior?

And the bison photo?

That was this epic day near Cooke City. We were parked in a pullout on the side of the road. There were two moose in the willows, and I was looking at a bighorn sheep on a little bluff when this bison came over the horizon. It was one of those moments you couldn’t expect, and yet it’s also a Montana moment. With all these healthy wildlife populations, things like that can happen.

Why did you want to work with Big Sky on the Swift Current 6 chairback photo project?

Big Sky is an important first touchpoint for Next, he and his wife, artist Rachel Pohl, are visitors. This project gives them a chance to be selling everything and moving to Norway, reminded of or be exposed to the concept of where Post dreams of going back to work as a an ecosystem. The plants and animals here are bird researcher. what make this place so amazing and unlike anywhere else. I remember watching Steve Q&A WITH CHARLES POST Irwin on TV as a kid and seeing National Post captured this photo of a bison on what he called an epic day near Cooke City.

Geographics and being captivated by the PHOTO BY CHARLES POST What does the Greater Yellowstone videos and photos of wildlife. Who knows, Ecosystem mean to you? maybe a young person sees those images on It’s one of the last remaining intact Swifty and wants to go a little further, go to Yellowstone, take a hike. interconnected ecosystems in North America and one of the few on the planet.

It’s a relic of what once was, and a reminder of what we’ve lost and how much we have to save. While I’m not focused on the Greater Yellowstone, a big part of Find more of Charles Post’s work at charlespost.com. Read more about the Forever Project and the photographers involved in the Swift Current 6 chairlift chairbacks at my work is highlighting the importance of and our connection to ecosystems. bigskyresort.com.

Why do you focus on that connection?

Emily Stifler Wolfe is a writer and business consultant based in Bozeman, Montana.

One way we can save ecosystems like the Greater Yellowstone is by engaging Find her at emilystiflerwolfe.com. with people in their ecosystem around the basics of ecology, so they understand that there are still intact ecosystems as rich and diverse as this, and that there This article originally appeared on Big Sky Resort’s blog: The Way I Ski It on are upstream and downstream consequences for all ecosystems. It’s all about December 6, 2021. For more stories, visit blog.bigskyresort.com. creating context, because most people will never go to the Greater Yellowstone, but they’re making decisions every day that impact it or the ecosystems in their community and watershed.

26 February 11 - 24, 2022

ENVIRONMENT & OUTDOORS

Explore Big Sky

The power of powder

BY DAN EGAN EBS CONTRIBUTOR

At the core of every winter morning, even before the coffee is poured, the possibility of fresh tracks is the motivation for most skiers and riders. A pristine powder slope sparkling with snow diamonds is a vision that is hard to forget.

That same slope with arcing tracks on it tells the world that we were there that day.

It’s a magical moment when a skier or snowboarder complements the mountain scenery. These moments are most commonly captured in our mind’s eye, through the goggle lenses of our winter companions, or by the lens of a camera.

When riding a chairlift on a powder day, gazing off toward the horizon, you can often pick out tracks left by a snow-rider bold enough to venture off the beaten path. On long drives through mountainous regions, I frequently find myself daydreaming about the possibilities of carving up the slopes beyond my windshield. Oh how quickly these moments trigger memories of powder days gone. Sometimes after a fellow skier has ripped a fresh line, I will relive that vision and try to complement their tracks by making figure eights with my own.

The result is an inner grin as I discover the rhythm and pace of their turns.

While skiing behind someone, I’m often drawn into the power of the energy they create as their skis dive in and out of the snow. That image puts my body into autopilot and their motion occupies my mind as my body mimics their movements.

When a group of skiers or riders have tapped into this energy and emerge from a magical run you can often see it in their eyes, smiles and soft-spoken chatter.

You think, ah, they found it and tracked it.

It’s amazing how powder motivates our need for adventure and to arc down a wide-open bowl or dance through the trees, and to leave tracks so others will know we were there first.

Skiers leave their mark on the powder slopes of Val-d’Isère, France. PHOTO BY DAN EGAN

Fresh powder: it’s what keeps all skiers hungry for more. PHOTO BY DAN EGAN

The power of powder stirs the soul.

This column originally ran in the Jan. 6, 2017 edition of EBS. Extreme Skiing Pioneer, Dan Egan coaches and teaches at Big Sky Resort during the winter. His 2022 steeps camps at Big Sky Resort run Feb. 24-26, March 10-12 and March 17-19. His newest book, “Thirty Years in a White Haze” was released in March 2021 and is available at www.White-Haze.com.

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29 February 11 - 24, 2022

ENVIRONMENT & OUTDOORS

Explore Big Sky

Staying warm next to a fire while the team considers the steps to take to get out of the backcountry on Jan. 4. PHOTO COURTESY OF GNFAC

Beyond the beacon

Thoughts and gear for a safe backcountry experience

BY DAVE ZINN EBS CONTRIBUTOR

Accidents happen, but they had not happened to me in any significant way.

While I do not feel youthfully invincible, I have a confidence built from many years working as a professional rescuer in the mountains. But there I was on Jan. 4, 2022, sitting in the snow with a dislocated shoulder. I was unable to reduce it and the pain severely limited movement and hampered any ability to ride or self-rescue. Here is some of the gear, training and thought processes that stacked the chips in our favor.

At the avalanche center, we emphasize that every member of your group should have a beacon, shovel and probe along with the training to utilize them efficiently in case of an avalanche. However, many backcountry incidents don’t involve avalanches and even minor injuries can quickly complicate a simple day of mountain travel.

After my accident, walking or riding a snowmobile was a challenge, and painkillers and a couple of triangle bandages were invaluable resources. Always carry a good first aid kit that is light and includes supplies to address lifethreatening emergencies and stabilize common injuries. A Wilderness First Aid or Wilderness First Responder class prepares you to put this gear to work.

Do not forget the details of your medical training. Sick and injured patients get cold easily and getting cold exacerbates everything. After my accident, puffy expedition mittens with hand warmers went on and a giant down coat went over everything I was already wearing. Mugs of hot cider provided simple sugars to stoke the internal fire and an external bonfire made from green wood roared to life when a flare—along with a bit of gasoline—was thrown into the mix.

A tarp suspended by parachute cord kept the wind off and served as an emergency toboggan to help move me into the flats. Many of these items had been in our emergency kits for years without being used but were effectively employed during the rescue. None of these supplies would have made for a comfortable night out, but it would have been survivable if we had not been able to evacuate that afternoon.

Our proficiency and desire for self-sufficiency in the mountains could have led us to not call for backup. I certainly did not want to get rescued and we openly asked, “How can we get ourselves out of here?"

Wisely, we activated local search and rescue in part because we were in fact riding with several members of the Fremont County Idaho Search and Rescue Team at the time. We need confidence to successfully navigate through the mountains and we need humility to know when to ask for help. An organized rescue takes time to mobilize and arrive, and if you are able to sort out your own emergency they can be turned around. Calling them early facilitated a timely evacuation and minimized the chances that we would have had to spend the night in the backcountry.

Ultimately, I am lucky to be on the road to healing and have every intention of being back in the mountains soon. Integrate some of these lessons into your backcountry travel plans and we hope the gear and the training will be a backup you never have to use. Finally, thank you to the members of the Fremont County Idaho Search and Rescue Team specifically and search and rescue volunteers in general. We are lucky that you have our backs.

Dave Zinn is an avalanche forecaster for the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center. He has been with GNFAC since 2019 and has eleven years of ski patrol experience at Bridger Bowl and the Yellowstone Club.

140 Upper Beehive Loop Road $6,250,000 4 Beds 4.5 Baths 6,705 sq.ft.

MLS 366377 Listing Advisor: Stacy Ossorio, Broker stacy.ossorio@engelvoelkers.com 406.539.8553

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Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, The Ranches, Lot 12 +/- 4.07 Acres $2,150,000 MLS 366465 Listing Advisor: Stacy Ossorio, Broker stacy.ossorio@engelvoelkers.com 406.539.8553

Customized mortgage options include: • Residential one to four units, fixed, adjustable or interest only mortgage options • Mortgage priority process, products and scheduling to meet your loan closing date • Primary, second home, condominium, co-op and investment one to four unit properties • Residential single close construction, lot loan, renovation & expansion options • Ability to hold title in an approved Trust, LLC, LLP, Corp or other non-operating entity • Conforming, jumbo and super jumbo loan size availability • Lending in all states (some loan types are limited to specific states)

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MLS 355156 Listing Advisor: Greg Smith, Broker greg.smith@engelvoelkers.com 406.599.8469

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31 February 11 - 24, 2022

HEALTH

Explore Big Sky

Seven benefits of IV therapy

BY DR. KALEY BURNS EBS COLUMNIST

Studies have shown that nearly one-third of the U.S. population is at risk for at least one vitamin deficiency or anemia. Intravenous, or IV, therapy offers a safe and effective way to ensure you’re getting all the nutrients and hydration you need, without stressing over daily meal plans and supplement dosages.

IVs deliver nutrients into the bloodstream, which is the most efficient way to administer larger doses of nutrients throughout the body. IV vitamin therapy involves vitamins, minerals and amino acids that are added to a hydration solution. Most importantly, IV therapy allows your healthcare practitioner to customize the types and amounts of nutrients to meet your health needs, catering to optimal health and wellness.

What can vitamin IV therapy do?

At the most basic level, a vitamin drip provides hydration and corrects any micronutrient deficiencies. You may consider an IV to support elevated stress levels, after excess alcohol intake, following athletic endeavors, or if you are experiencing digestive disturbances preventing absorption.

Here are seven additional benefits to nutrient IV therapy.

1. Immune boost | Protect against illness

The immune system is very complex and works hard every day to fight off disease and infection. Unfortunately, our immune system is weakened as we age or with certain lifestyle choices. Immune booster IV therapy can provide you with vitamin C, multiple B vitamins, zinc and selenium to support optimal immune function.

2. Increase energy | Improve stamina

IV vitamin therapy can also provide your body with a natural boost of energy. Nutrients like amino acids can help you replace the overwhelming need for coffee, soda or other caffeinated drinks that can otherwise flood your body with unnecessary sugar.

3. Improved sleep and mood | Promoting a calm and restful state

Increased hydration and minerals have been shown to improve sleep quality, allowing the body to reach REM sleep. Optimal magnesium levels have been shown to regulate mood, improve sense of well-being, support brain function and enhance sleep quality and duration.

4. Better digestive health | Unparalleled absorption

With IV therapy the body absorbs upwards of 90 percent of the essential vitamins and minerals available, making it especially effective for conditions that can cause nutrient deficiencies, such as IBS or IBD. Additionally, practitioners at Big Sky Natural Health are uniquely qualified and able to work with patients to personalize dosage and create a unique formula targeted to your individual needs.

5. Balanced hormones | Regulated metabolism

Your hormones play a larger role in your body than you might realize. Hormones can control how well you sleep, your overall mood, your energy level and weight management.

6. Skin health | Improved tone and glow

A common addition to IV therapy is a super-nutrient called glutathione. Glutathione has a plethora of health benefits. Glutathione reduces oxidative stress to improve your overall complexion. With glutathione treatments you can see lighter, brighter skin tone.

It can also help fight infections and cleanse the liver.

7. Hydration and detox | Remove toxins and rehydrate

IV infusion is undoubtedly the fastest way to nourish your body with hydration.

Nutrient drips work by getting fluids directly into your bloodstream to convey hydration where you need it most. When the body is hydrated and nutrients are readily available, your liver can filter out toxins, resulting in a healthier you.

Nutrient IV therapy, according to Dr. Kaley Burns, is the fastest way to hydrate. PHOTO COURTESY OF KALEY BURNS

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33 February 11 - 24, 2022

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Explore Big Sky

SECTION 3: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, BUSINESS, DINING AND FUN

Auction for the Arts preview now available online pg. 37

MIIBS: First Security Bank pg. 38

Back 40: The Fine Line pg. 46

Bucking the rules: a night with Dan Dubuque

BY BRIAN D’AMBROSIO

I’m playing. Somebody else, who didn’t know how to play it, would still turn heads.”

WHITEFISH – In a world of abundant harmonies, yowling collaboration and a full saturation of lyrics, Dan Dubuque does something simple and audacious: He wordlessly performs a broad appeal of genres on a single instrument.

What could be described as an action-packed wallop of sheer sonic improbability, the energy of Dubuque’s Weissenborn slide guitar heightens the senses with thump, sass and force.

“It’s super intense (playing the Weissenborn),” said Dubuque, who grew up in Polson and now calls Whitefish home. “I’m kind of hard on it, it’s kind of ridiculous. I’m hitting the metal bar with my left hand, I’m hitting the strings to get that snare sound, and it just digs into the neck, and puts holes in [the guitar] that way.”

Originally manufactured in Los Angeles sometime around the 1920s by a man named Hermann Weissenborn, the eponymous lap slide guitar is hollow from the neck to the body, ensuring the delivery of an inordinate amount of percussion.

“I like the dynamics of it,” Dubuque said. “You could play it soft and sweet and soulful.

You could play really soulful to really heavy and hard.”

Before he learned how to play a Weissenborn in his 20s, Dubuque, 39, would busk on street corners or in parking lots or at farmers markets, twanging a standard acoustic guitar, with little or no notice or response.

“Busking on the streets with a regular guitar wasn’t making much tips, but once I started busking with the Weissenborn, people would give me hella’ tips,” Dubuque said. “And then I learned how to play it good. And then it became a job.”

While captivation is his aim, resourcefulness is his vessel; Lending each genre a distinct air of passion, he reads the audience with an eagle’s intuition and a wolf ’s impulse to determine what comes next.

“I’m at the point where I could just take a peek up at the audience for one second and see what they want,” Dubuque said. “If it’s a bunch of old timers, I’ll play something like ‘Pancho and Lefty,’ or something to warm them up and make them comfortable. If it’s a bunch of college kids, I’ll play ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ or some techno or electronic stuff.

With a bunch of metal heads, it’s Rage Against the Machine, or Tool, or Metallica. If I see a bunch of hippies, I’ll play the Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood.’ ‘Paint It Black’ works anywhere.”

Dubuque sounds as if he is as eager as ever to fight the system, buck the rules, take on the establishment and let the music stand alone.

“I don’t need a comfort zone,” Dubuque said, “a spot where only my friends are showing up, always in the same area.”

An ambitious artist outfitted with an ambitious instrument, Dubuque is all about sharing the intoxicating pleasures of the Weissenborn’s sound, color and movement.

“I’ll play it tired, I’ll play it sick,” he said. “I’ll play where I’m getting booed out. I’ll play in old buildings with sh***y acoustics. I’m not picky. I like the challenge. I’ll play in any damn corner of any echo-filled building. I just like to play the best that I can.”

Dan Dubuque will perform at Tips Up on Feb. 12 at 9 p.m.

Dubuque’s engaging solo work stands easily on its melodic, muscular strength, instrumental skill and non-conforming charisma, but his strangely brewed set list of rock, pop, 1990s grunge and heavy metal is a revelation. Indeed, the range of Dubuque’s repertoire is incisive, an extremely wide course of study that surprises even him.

“It’s just crazy all of the styles,” he said. “I do everything from the blues, to country, traditional stuff to electronic music, to hip hop, heavy metal, and everything in between. There are songs that I love, like Tool’s ‘Descending.’

Originally, I thought, man, I wish I could translate this to the slide guitar, and I thought there’s no way in hell I could translate that song to slide. And that’s one of my favorite go-to songs now. I never thought that I’d [be] playing ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ or ‘Heart-Shaped Box,’ so I am more open minded now when it comes to translating songs.”

In addition to its total lack of limitations, another glaring feature of Dubuque’s music is that it isn’t overrun with production or gimmicks. There is a raw objectivity and toughness to his playing that he carries out with the surety of the guillotine.

“I think what makes it like magic when I play it’s just there’s not many tricks, and not all of these pedals, not all of this gear, not all this stuff that everyone hides behind, in my opinion,” he said.

Still, despite a robust following on social media sites, Dubuque concedes that it’s often difficult for instrumentalist artists to convert fans to their brand.

“It would be easier if I sang and strummed some chords, but I’m not singing, I’m doing the bass parts, the percussion and the vocal melodies with the strings,” he said.

Exhilarating to hear, Dubuque’s music projects a relentlessly physical character to see.

“I had one instrument that I broke the hell out of playing it percussively,” he said. “But the one I have now is all custom made, and it can take a beating now, and I think it’s the first Weissenborn to ever be made to play for percussively, because those things aren’t made to be played the way I play.”

Despite its undeniable presence and its popularity among a devout group of notable players such as Ben Harper and Ronnie Wood, the Weissenborn for the most part eludes mainstream awareness.

“It turns heads and stops people in their tracks, because there’s just no sound like it,” Dubuque said. “That sound is captivating, and not necessarily because

Musician Dan Dubuque plays his Weissbenborn slide guitar. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN DUBUQUE

POWDER

34 February 11 - 24, 2022

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Explore Big Sky

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

35 February 11 - 24, 2022

Explore Big Sky

BIG SKY EVENTS CALENDAR Friday, Feb. 11 – Thursday, Feb. 24

If your event falls between Feb. 25 and March 3 please submit it by Feb. 16 by emailing media@outlaw.partners.

Friday, Feb. 11

Thursday, Feb. 17

Valentine’s Sleigh Ride Dinner Bodhi Farm, various times

Big Sky Serenity Seekers Al-Anon meeting All Saints Chapel, 4 p.m.

Craig Hall Trio Jazz Night The Independent, 8 p.m.

Film: “Blades of Glory” The Independent, 7 p.m.

Trivia Night The Independent, 7 p.m.

Live Music: Stoneman’s Way Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Bozeman Doc Series: “The Velvet Queen” The Emerson, 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Live Music: Kaylie Marie Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 12

“Live from Laurel Canyon” The Ellen Theatre, 7:30 p.m.

Valentine’s Sleigh Ride Dinner Bodhi Farm, various times

Live Music: Bridget O’Brien Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Girlfriends Valentines: Mini Spa Restorative Event Santosha Wellness Center, 4 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 18

Live Music: Lena Schiffer and Josh Moore The Independent, 8 p.m.

Live Music: Dan Dubuque Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 13 Live Music: Cole Thorne The Standard: Cocktails and Desserts, 7 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 14 Monday Night Ruck Peets Hill/Burke Park, 6:45 p.m.

Film: “Across the Universe” The Independent, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 15

Little Red Truck’s Vintage Market Gallatin County Fairgrounds, 4 p.m.

Gypsy Jazz Night The Ellen Theater, 7:30 p.m.

Craig Hall Trio Jazz Night The Independent, 8 p.m.

Live Music: Dammit Lauren!

Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 19 President’s Polar Plunge Glen Lake Rotary Park, 1 p.m.

Music: Luke Flansburg & Jess Atkins The Independent, 8 p.m.

The Winter Olympics showing The Independent, 7 p.m.

Live Music: Daniel Kosel & Madrona Road Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Open Mic Night Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 20

Wednesday Feb. 16 Class C Basketball Districts Butte, Feb. 16-19 Trivia Night The Independent, 7 p.m.

Live Music: Not James Taylor Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Open Mic Night Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 23

Thursday, Feb. 24 Big Sky Serenity Seekers Al-Anon meeting All Saints Chapel at 4 p.m.

Film: “Interview with a Vampire” The Independent, 7 p.m.

Live Music: The Damn Duo Tips Up, 9 p.m.

Featured Event:

Girlfriends Valentines Mini Spa Restorative Event Celebrate Valentine’s Day with your girlfriends on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. at Santosha Wellness Center. Join Esthetician Samara Alcoke for an hour of healthy and fun self-love. Participants will be offered a nourishing cocoa beverage to open your heart and Samara will educate everyone on key ingredients for healthy skin and walk participants through facial steps. Participants will self-administer cleaning oil, a mini peel pad and use high potency Sanitas skin care products of retinol, Vitamin C and peptides.

Honor love and yourself this Valentine’s Day for just $35.

Live Music: Cole Thorne The Standard, 7 p.m.

Monday, Feb. 21 Film: “Billie Eilish” The Independent, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 22 Winter Olympics showing The Independent, 7 p.m.

Do You or Someone You Know Need Help Getting Sober?

Contact A.A. - We’re alcoholics helping other alcoholics stay sober.

Call 1-833-800-8553 to talk to an A.A. member or Get the Meeting Guide app or Go to aa-montana.org for virtual and face-to-face meeting times and locations

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

36 February 11 - 24, 2022

Explore Big Sky

Above It All. No crowded lines. No baggage claim.

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37 February 11 - 24, 2022

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Explore Big Sky

Auction for the Arts preview now available online Starting on Monday, Feb. 21, the public can view all silent auction offerings, as well as some live auction pieces, at the vacant space next to the Haas Builders office, just across the street from the Gibbous sculpture in the Town Center roundabout.

The public preview will be open daily through Feb. 24; Check the Arts Council website for times. Online bidding also starts Feb. 21 at 9 a.m. and closes on Feb. 26 at 8 p.m.

ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY

BIG SKY – The Arts Council of Big Sky is hosting its 10th Annual Auction for the Arts fundraising event on Feb. 26 this year at the new Montage Hotel, and the silent auction catalog is available for viewing on bigskyarts.org. Bidding for the silent auction opens Monday, Feb. 21 for anyone who registers to participate online or purchases tickets to the Feb. 26 live event.

Nearly 100 items will be available in the silent auction, including paintings, pottery, photography, sculptures and jewelry from local and regional artists, all priced to allow everyone from the casual buyer to the discriminating collector participate.

Tickets for the live auction gala event at the Montage are now on sale and include valet parking, a welcome cocktail, one drink ticket for beer, wine or champagne, hors d’oeuvres, dessert, final silent auction viewing and live auction participation.

Proceeds from the auction will support the Arts Council’s ongoing events and public art efforts, as well as their move into the BASE community center where accessible and affordable arts programming will be made available for Big Sky residents and visitors alike.

Confirmed silent auction artists include Ariane Coleman, Heather Rapp, Jill Zeidler, Shelly Bermont, Ryan Turner, Jim Dick, Kirsten Kainz, David Mensing, Tom Gilleon, Dave Pecunies and many more.

New to the mix this year, the auction will include exclusive travel and experience items, including several Montage vacation packages, a Museum of the Rockies private tour and two VIP Foo Fighters tickets paired with a live concert photo of Dave Grohl by professional rock photographer Nick Pickles.

This annual event is a great way to find new artwork for your home while helping out an important Big Sky nonprofit organization and the working artists they partner with.

“Garry Owen Blues,” a fine art print on paper from Montana artist Tom Gilleon, will be available in the Arts Council’s online silent auction. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY

Visit bigskyarts.org to register to bid, buy tickets and to find out more information about the Arts Council’s programming.

STACY OSSORIO Broker, Private Office Advisor 406-539-8553 stacyossorio.evrealestate.com stacy.ossorio@evrealestate.com

140 Upper Beehive Loop Road | Beehive Basin | Big Sky, MT Views of Lone Peak, Sphinx, Pioneer, Cedar and Fan Mountains +/- 20 Acre | +/- 6,705 Sq. Ft. | 4 Bedrooms | 4.5 Bathrooms $6,250,000 | MLS# 366377

Spanish Peaks Mountain Club | The Ranches, Lot 12 +/- 4.07 Acres | $2,150,000 | MLS #366465

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Providing exceptional service to buyers and sellers of Big Sky properties for 25 years. Let me be your community connection. ©2021 Engel & Völkers. All rights reserved. Each brokerage independently owned and operated. All information provided is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. If your property is currently represented by a real estate broker, this is not an attempt to solicit your listing. Engel & Völkers and its independent License Partners are Equal Opportunity Employers and fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act.E&OE. Published by REAL Marketing (REM) | www.REALMarketing4You.com | 858.254.9619

BUSINESS

38 February 11 - 24, 2022

Explore Big Sky

Making it in Big Sky: First Security Bank

BY MIRA BRODY BIG SKY – Timothy Kent, branch president at First Security Bank, fell in love with Big Sky and the community before he even had his first job interview at what was then called Big Sky Western Bank. He had spent years traveling the world, both in the Peace Corps and through working developing 40 golf courses across Asia, Europe and South America. When he took the job with the bank, the native Coloradoan was ready to settle under Montana’s spacious skies.

EBS: How big is your team and what do you love most about working with them?

T.K.: Here in Big Sky, we’re a relatively small team of about eight to nine people typically. However, with our support staff in Bozeman and the other branches in the Gallatin Valley, we are about 200 people total. That is a great combination of local service and knowledge, combined with an incredible resource pool to draw on.

And that describes what I like best about working at First Security Bank. The company culture supports one-on-one interactions with customers and taking the time to get to know everyone who comes in the door. Yet as part of a larger organization, we have the financial and knowledge resources to respond to most requests. It’s the best of both worlds.

Big Sky Western Bank was founded by locals in 1990—Big Sky’s first-ever bank—and was purchased by Glacier Bancorp of Kalispell, then merged with First Security in 2018. Today the bank serves all of the Big Sky community’s banking needs. Explore Big Sky spoke with Kent about his time at First Security and why he loves The company culture supports one-on-one the tight-knit community of employees he gets to interactions with customers and taking the time to get to work with each day.

This series is part of a paid partnership with the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce. The following answers have been edited for brevity.

Explore Big Sky: I’d like to start with a little background information on you. When did you come to Big Sky and what brought you here?

Timothy Kent: June of 2015 was my first introduction to Big Sky. At the recommendation of a good friend who lived here, I had applied for a job with Big Sky Western Bank. I was able to spend a weekend exploring the area, including fishing the Gallatin [River] for a Sunday morning and hiking in [Yellowstone National] Park.

Before I ever made it to a formal job interview, I was hooked.

“

know everyone who comes in the door.

”

–Timothy Kent, First Security Bank, branch president

EBS: What is the best part of working at FSB? T.K.: These last two years have highlighted what a great community and colleagues I get to work with daily. We have all struggled with COVID and how our business models need to adjust so we can continue to deliver services in a safe manner.

At the bank, we have had to close the lobby much more than I would like and customers have been great at using the drive-thru even on the coldest and most miserable days. The comment most often heard from customers is they hope the employees stay safe and healthy. That is a supportive community and in turn we’ve been able to continue providing essential services.

EBS: When you’re not at work, what is it you enjoy doing most?

T.K.: Back to where this conversation started— The team at First Security Bank (L-R): Maria, Tim, Rebecca, Tara and Tyler. fly fishing the Gallatin! During warmer weather, PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM KENT that is where you’ll find me, unless I venture far afield and spend a day on the Madison. My If that wasn’t enough, everyone I met within the bank, from upper management son and I have started an annual backpacking trip in [Yellowstone] which has on, was welcoming and positive about the community, the lifestyle and what become something I look forward to each summer. If not fishing or hiking, was happening here. I’m continually reminded how fortunate I am to now be a then I’ll be on the downhill slope, classic cross-country skiing or I am just part of this community. learning to skate ski. All the great things most people who live in Big Sky enjoy out our front doors.

I’m a native Coloradoan from the very southwest part of the state. I grew up as part of a ranching and farming community but from an early age was interested in all things international. After a degree or two from Colorado State, I joined EBS: What is the best business advice you have ever received? the Peace Corps and spent almost three years in North Africa working with T.K.: Good businesses support their communities. It’s plain, simple advice, but the Agricultural Ministry of Tunisia. Following that, I gathered a degree in easy to overlook in the day-to-day challenges every business owner or international business, moved to Northern California and started work at an manager faces. international golf course design and construction company as CFO. EBS: Anything else you’d like to tell the Big Sky community?

EBS: Tell me about the history of First Security Bank. When did it start? How/when T.K.: This is a community that is facing a wave of development at a pace that did you become involved? few others have experienced. With all the opportunities that [growth] presents, T.K.: The bank we call First Security in Big Sky traces its roots back to Big there are an equal number of challenges. How we as a community address those Sky Western Bank, which was formed by local Big Sky residents in early 1990. issues will set the tone for generations of Big Sky residents to come. It’s not a There was no bank here before that time which meant trips to Bozeman for matter of one interest group against another as we seek the best way forward, businesses and individuals on a regular basis. Big Sky Western eventually but all of us together as residents of the community that will find a common expanded into Bozeman where it had four branches under that name and was path to protect our resources and quality of life. I don’t know what that looks purchased by Glacier Bancorp of Kalispell. Glacier Bancorp then purchased like, but I do know that it is different than what we have today and our ability First Security Bank in 2018 and both banks were merged under the First to accept and define change will be key to Big Sky’s future. Big Sky will never Security Bank name with a total of eight branches. We are now part of the be “like the old days” again, but it can continue to be a world-class community Glacier Bank family, which includes 15 divisions or sister banks which reach for visitors and residents. from Kalispell to Yuma, Arizona, mostly along the Rocky Mountains.

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Phone and Internet Discounts Available to CenturyLink Customers The Montana Public Service Commission designated CenturyLink as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier within its service area for universal service purposes. CenturyLink’s basic local service rates for residential voice lines are $27.50 per month and business services are $38.00 per month. Specific rates will be provided upon request.

CenturyLink participates in a government benefit program (Lifeline) to make residential telephone or broadband service more affordable to eligible low-income individuals and families. Eligible customers are those that meet eligibility standards as defined by the Federal Communications Commission and state commissions.

Residents who live on federally recognized Tribal Lands may qualify for additional Tribal benefits if they participate in certain federal eligibility programs. The Lifeline discount is available for only one telephone or broadband service per household and can be on either wireline or wireless service. Broadband speeds must be 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload or faster to qualify.

A household is defined for the purposes of the Lifeline program as any individual or group of individuals who live together at the same address and share income and expenses. Lifeline service is not transferable, and only eligible consumers may enroll in the program. Consumers who willfully make false statements in order to obtain a Lifeline discount can be punished by fine or imprisonment and can be barred from the program.

If you live in a CenturyLink service area, please call 1-800-2014099 or visit centurylink.com/lifeline with questions or to request an application for the Lifeline program.

40 Feb. 11 - 24, 2022

DINING

Explore Big Sky

AMUSE-BOUCHE Amuse-bouche refers to an appetizer, and by French translation means, “to entertain the mouth.” It offers a glimpse into what you should expect from a meal. Also it’s free, compliments of the chef.

The fall of food, part IV

BY SCOTT MECHURA EBS COLUMNIST

This column is part of series. Read parts I, II and II on explorebigsky.com.

For two months, my series “The fall of food” has explored when and how it became so difficult to eat in America. To continue this series, I’ll examine one of the turning-point ingredients I believe set in motion a direction in how we eat that may be irreversible: High fructose corn syrup.

As America was coming into its own post World War II, our appetite for better and more interesting foods was growing each year. Television sets were making their way into more and more homes, and we began to create foods that more accurately reflected our lifestyle.

Sucrose, or common granulated sugar, was the standard. However, it was only in granular form, not grown or produced in the United States and saw wild price fluctuations due to a number of geographical and political factors.

Then in 1957, Richard O. Marshall and Earl R. Kooi, two scientists in Peoria, Illinois, created a clear liquid sugar called high fructose corn syrup.

Initially deemed a failure due to an inability to mass produce it, it would be less than 10 years later when this process would be refined (pun intended), to be easily mass produced from what was becoming an abundance of corn and corn byproduct.

Fast forward to today, and HFCS is in virtually every processed food we eat. But we’re talking about fat versus more fat. Shouldn’t it all come out in the wash? Fat is fat … right?

It turns out that not all fat is created equal.

Proponents of HFCS, such as the Corn Refiners Group, who are lobbyists for the corn industry, tell us that studies as to whether HFCS makes us fatter than consuming other sugars, are inconclusive. But in lab rat tests, rats that took in the same calories but had access to HFCP gained more weight—specifically, they gained it in their belly area.

Sound familiar?

In addition, as nations become more developed, the increase in obesity and weight gain directly corelates on a timeline as we consume eight times more sugar per person on an annual basis then we did post World War ll. This is no accident.

The key is to simply avoid it. But if you remember from some of my previous writing, there are two extremely powerful adversaries in the sugar battle: foods that are high in what’s called the bliss point; and the addictive, dopamine-induced reactions our brains undergo when we consume sugar.

And as a reminder, you can find HFCS in virtually every processed food we eat.

I once read a package of organic dried blueberries as I was enjoying them only to find that there was not one ingredient in the bag but two; organic blueberries and HFCS. Being in a particular mood that day, I called the 800 number on the bag.

Interestingly, the facility was in Peoria, Illinois.

After exercising more patience than I probably should have, I made contact with a real live human.

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Fully expecting to stump the woman on the other end when I asked why there was high fructose corn syrup as an ingredient listed on my organic dried blueberries, I was let down when she immediately and simply answered with confidence that it was used as a preservative.

It seems there truly is no escape from this clear syrupy nectar.

Scott Mechura has spent a life in the hospitality industry. He is an executive chef, former certified beer judge and currently the executive chef for Lone Mountain Ranch.

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All information contained herein is derived from sources deemed reliable, however, is not guaranteed by Pure West Real Estate, LLC., Managing Broker, Agents or Sellers. Offering is subject to error, omissions, prior sales, price change or withdrawal without notice and approval of purchase by Seller. We urge independent verification of each and every item submitted, to the satisfaction of any prospective purchaser.

43 February 11 - 24, 2022

FUN

Explore Big Sky

American Life in Poetry

BY KWAME DAWES Like music, one supposes, food, the memory of its procuring, preparing and consuming, leaves an indelible mark on us that is visceral and easily stirred.

We all must eat, and so we all know our own private litany of foods of our childhood. Susan Nguyen calls her poem an “Ode to Hunger,” reminding us that the line between satiation and need is so thin, and sometimes sits at the heart of what many of us remember about the insecurities of our food supply.

Which is why her ode to hunger is a praise song to the food that defeats hunger: the simple humble foods of our sustenance.

Ode to Hunger

BY SUSAN NGUYEN Praise SPAM fried with fish sauce and sugar jackfruit, 25lbs. of it carved on newspaper, latex sap sticking fingers Praise Kraft mac and cheese: small miracle of powdered cheddar pork floss in the big Tupperware Sara Lee Praise soy sauce and rice Shrimp Cup Noodles, 3 minutes ‘til done Praise the soft insides of baguettes the first star fruit, pocketed and sliced to Chef Boyardee to durian, sweet scent of garbage to pickled mustard greens, Lean Cuisine pizza bagels after school Praise Women, Infants, and Children banana blossoms, heart thinly sliced in vinegar, drained of all color

Corner Quote

BIG SKY

BEATS Ballads of Love

BY TUCKER HARRIS

“The love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only paradise we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need, if only we had the eyes to see.”

–Edward Abbey

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you may be looking forward to a romantic dinner with your significant other, stuffing your face with heart-shaped candy, or a night of celebration with your Galentines. Whether you’re in one love boat or the other—or somewhere in between—Explore Big Sky has put together the perfect Valentine’s playlist complete with modern, cheesy love songs and older classics.

1. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell 2. “10,000 Hours (with Justin Bieber)” by Dan + Shay, Justin Bieber 3. “Sucker” by Jonas Brothers 4. “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” by Elton John, Kiki Dee 5. “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction 6. “Grenade” by Bruno Mars 7. “My Girl” by The Temptations 8. “Adore You” by Harry Styles 9. “L-O-V-E” by Nat King Cole 10. “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo

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©2021 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of Columbia Insurance Company, a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. Equal Housing Opportunity.

46 February 11 - 24, 2022

BACK 40

Explore Big Sky

For Explore Big Sky, the Back 40 is a resource: a place where we can delve into subjects and ask experts to share their knowledge. Here, we highlight stories from our flagship sister publication Mountain Outlaw magazine.

Noun: wild or rough terrain adjacent to a developed area Origin: shortened form of “back 40 acres”

(L-R) J.C. Knaub, Shad Boardman, Terry Thomas, Suzy Samardich Hassman, and Tim Pattison dragging out a bull elk, circa 1996. “It’s pretty religious shooting an animal, and I depend on elk meat,” Pattison says. PHOTO BY FAITH MALPELI

The Legend of Bo

Tim Pattison: A modern mountain man

BY JOSEPH T. O’CONNOR

Tim Pattison is a modern mountain man, an outlaw living in a world of technology—one he regularly avoids. He has a television but prefers watching the wood burn in his stove: “caveman TV,” he calls it.

BIG SKY – Tim Pattison pulls out an old brown hiking boot, its upturned toe and worn, cracked leather befitting a yesteryear thrift store.

He points a gnarled index finger at the heel.

He lives in Big Sky, Montana, with no cell phone, no email, no driver’s license. He and his tight-knit crew of hunters and shed-antler seekers are known as the “Bos.” This is Bo Tim.

“That’s where her front teeth went through,” Pattison says in his easy cadence, pawing the two punctures. “These got a partial steel shank in ‘em. If I’d had tennis shoes on, she would have broke my foot and pulled me out of the tree.”

---

That was in 1979. A grizzly bear had chased a 24-year-old Pattison up a tree and snagged his left boot. He kicked it in the snout, and it let go.

But it’s a recurring pattern for Pattison. Bears have treed him seven times since.

“I can’t live in the city,” Pattison says. “If there ain’t a grizzly bear around, I don’t want to be there.”

Tim Pattison, known as “Bo” Tim, is a modern day mountain man living in Big Sky, Montana for nearly 50 years. “I’m a poor man but I’m rich in life,” Pattison says.

PHOTO BY TYSON KRINKE

Tim Pattison has a sturdy build and walnut eyes that gleam when he tells a joke, which he does often. He keeps gray-streaked hair in a ponytail that drapes like a mane from under his wool balaclava. He hasn’t shaved off his beard since 1977, when it was a shade darker than his eyes. His smile says he knows something you don’t.

47 February 11 - 24, 2022

BACK 40

Explore Big Sky

“He’s a gentle giant, and my best friend,” says Terry Thomas, who along with his twin brother Lance, grew up with Pattison and eventually followed him to Montana.

Pattison was raised in Sacramento, California, the son of a rocket-engine inspector and a tough stay-at-home mother. When he was a junior at Rio Americano High School, his father took him deer hunting in Idaho for two weeks. On that trip, a 17-year-old Pattison killed the largest mule deer buck of his life with the .30-30 he got for his 12th birthday. Bo Tim was hooked on the mountains.

“I was looking for the wilderness experience,” says Pattison, who turns 67 on Feb. 24. “I wanted to do what I wanted to do and not get caught up in the rat race.”

On Thanksgiving Day, 1974, Pattison moved to Big Sky and into the Michener Cabin with his black lab, Dudley. Built in 1913 near the intersection of Highway 191 and Lone Mountain Trail, the Michener Cabin was a welcome sight for Pattison. He rented it for $33 a month.

“It was wine, women and song back then,” recalls Pattison, who once had 30 people in the 250-square-foot structure. In 1997, Big Sky’s Ophir School administration refurbished the cabin and moved it south. It now rests in front of the school. “Bo Tim and Dudley” is carved into the center ridge beam.

When the cabin was moved Pattison needed a new place to live, and he asked local contractor J.C. Knaub if he could put up a wall tent on his property, a veritable compound dubbed “Knaub’s Hole.”

“Tim showed up here and said, ‘I need a place to put my wall tent for a couple weeks,’” said Knaub, sitting in his kitchen one afternoon. “He lived here for four years.”

In 1996, Pattison met Meredith Madden, Knaub’s nanny at the time. “She’s legend,” says Pattison. “She was the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in my whole life.”

They had their first and only child in Knaub’s cabin next to the main house on February 7, 1997. It was -38 F the day their son Winter was born.

“Bo Tim is what he is,” said Scott Hammond, who’s known Pattison for nearly 30 years and now rents him a cabin on the banks of the Gallatin River. “He doesn’t want to be bothered by modern day business. We could all aspire to be more like him.”

---No one quite knows what a “Bo” is, though some venture to explain the term.

It’s a noun; it’s an adjective; it’s often verbed. There might be 10 Bos right now.

There could be 20.

“If they liked you, they Bo’ed you,” says local Wade Stone, known as Woody the Wood Lord.

“They’re kind of a counterculture to the suit and tie,” Knaub says. “You hunted a lot, had your dog, lived in your wall tent, had friends that shared the same values.”

Pattison and his dog, Dudley, lived in the 250-square-foot Michener cabin, built in 1913, before it was moved south to Ophir School in 1997. PHOTO BY WESLEY OVERVOLD

(Pattison lived in one for five). Others say that you needed to kill a bull elk every year (Pattison has killed one each year save four since 1974).

It may be just living off the land or using the term “legend” to describe virtually anything.

“When I first met the Bos, everything was ‘legend,’” Knaub said, adding that Pattison created the moniker. “‘I went on a legend 10-mile hike, and I put a bull elk down with a legend shot in the heart.’ ‘I just had this legend burger.’”

Pattison and his crew hunted elk-shed antlers for 25 years and have stories that stretch the confines of the imagination; tales of big money and high risk, of a sheriff with three fingers and ungulate heads the size of Volkswagen Beetles.

They have satellite hunting camps up places like Tick Ridge and Never Heard ‘Em Scream Creek.

For more than 40 years, Bo Tim Pattison has lived like a mountain man in Big Sky, growing vegetables, hunting, fishing. He still seeks a bull elk every fall, but these days he also forages for character lodgepole pine logs to build his beds.

Six days a week, Pattison builds character lodgepole beds by hand in the shed adjacent to his cabin. He’s a master at his trade. A single king bed can take up to 125 hours to construct, and as of mid-February, Bo Tim was on his 158th.

Through his business, Rustic Log Beds, Pattison sells simpler handcrafted beds for $1,200 and can get as much as $5,000 for a burled king, but living the life he loves trumps all.

“Money is no big deal for me,” he says. “If I can wake up every morning and look out my back door and see elk up on the hill and the river flowing and the colors changing and I’m here and healthy, that’s all that matters.”

To inquire about Tim Pattison’s Rustic Log Beds, call (406) 995-3876.

An earlier version of this article first appeared in the winter 2015 edition of Mountain Outlaw magazine.

The Bos have lived by their own terms in Big Sky for decades. Some say you had to live in a wall tent for three Montana winters before you became a Bo

When Bo Tim shot a bull elk in November 2014, he needed to float it down the Gallatin River to his home. Here, Tim, brother Mike and Bob Milligan navigate the icy Gallatin. Where'd he shoot it? "In the neck." PHOTO BY JOSEPH T. O'CONNOR

Room to Roam...

Parcel 1A – The Hideaway | Big Sky | S. Canyon | $4,995,000 80 ± Acres This incredible acreage offers a variety of multiple world class homesites for the owner to make their own. The entry to the site features unique stone accents and beautiful topography. This large parcel with minimal restrictions allows for creative use of the property and the option to build a home, a barn, a shop and more. You’ll enjoy plenty of wildlife viewing and close proximity to the Gallatin River for Blue Ribbon trout fishing and a seasonal creek runs through the property. You’re only a 10-minute drive to Town Center. This parcel has recently been thinned and logged for forest health and fire management. Electric and fiber optic is available. New developed road to lot line is planned for 2022. This lot is bordered by other large parcels and will remain private without obstructed views of Lone Peak and the surrounding mountain ranges. This is the ultimate opportunity to own your own private piece of Big Sky. No HOA or Covenants.

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LKRealEstate.com | 406.995.2404 All information given is considered reliable, but because it has been supplied by third parties, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete, and should not be relied upon as such.These offerings are subject to errors, omissions, and changes including price or withdrawal without notice. All rights reserved. Equal Housing Opportunity. If you currently have a listing agreement or buyer broker agreement with another agent, this is not a solicitation to change. ©2016 LK REAL ESTATE, llc. lkrealestate.com * Membership upon approval