Explore Big Sky - March 8 to 22, 2023

'

March 9 - 22, 2023

Volume 14 // Issue #5

WITHOUT RESTRAINT ' MEMOIR INSPIRED IN BIG SKY

WILDLIFE CROSSINGS AND LANDSCAPE CONNECTIVITY

BOYS BASKETBALL: BIG HORNS REACH STATE

BSSEF ATHLETES ON NATIONAL STAGE

ART AUCTION RAISES SIX FIGURES

March 9-22, 2023

Volume 14, Issue No. 4

Owned and published in Big Sky, Montana

PUBLISHER

Eric Ladd | eric@theoutlawpartners.com

EDITORIAL

MANAGING EDITOR

Jason Bacaj | jason@theoutlawpartners.com

DIGITAL PRODUCER

Julia Barton | julia@theoutlawpartners.com

STAFF WRITER

Jack Reaney | jack@theoutlawpartners.com

EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

Leslie Kilgore | leslie@theoutlawpartners.com

CREATIVE

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Trista Hillman | trista@theoutlawpartners.com

SALES AND OPERATIONS

CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER

Megan Paulson | megan@theoutlawpartners.com

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Treston Wold | treston@theoutlawpartners.com

VP DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Hiller Higman | hiller@theoutlawpartners.com

MEDIA AND EVENTS DIRECTOR

Ersin Ozer | ersin@theoutlawpartners.com

MARKETING MANAGER

Sophia Breyfogle | sophia@theoutlawpartners.com

CONTENT PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Mira Brody | mira@theoutlawpartners.com

MARKETING COORDINATOR

Tucker Harris | tucker@theoutlawpartners.com

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT

Sara Sipe | sara@theoutlawpartners.com

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LEAD

Patrick Mahoney | patrick@theoutlawpartners.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Kaley Burns, Paul Bussi, Marco Delguidice, Dan Egan, Jacob W. Frank, Krisy Hammond, Marne Hayes, Rachel Hergett, Katheryn Houghton, Anna Pelzer, Holly Pippel, Benjamin Alva Polley, Jed Sanford, Michael Shoemaker, Jos Speetjens, Ryan Strother, Paul Swenson, Stephen Trimble

OPENING SHOT 6 22

On Friday, Feb. 24, local realtors hosted the Second Annual Big Sky Winter Ball to raise funds for the Big Sky Community Housing Trust—and for locals to dress up and dance at The Independent. The event raised more than double the money in its second year, and proceeds were donated to the housing trust. Housing trust staff attended the ball, pictured left to right: Caroline Rothkopf, Kenny Holtz, Elise Clark, Becky Brockie, David O’Connor. PHOTO BY JED SANFORD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

‘WITHOUT RESTRAINT’ MEMOIR INSPIRED IN BIG SKY

When Ryan DeLena first visited Big Sky in March 2014, he was 12 years old and still struggling with behavioral differences that had moved him from the public school system. Now in college, he is beginning a career as a mountaineering guide, in large part thanks to the efforts of his father, Rob, and Big Sky ski-instructorturned-friend Ben Brosseau who provided Ryan with freedom other adults didn’t think he could handle.

WILDLIFE CROSSINGS AND LANDSCAPE CONNECTIVITY

State Farm data shows that Montana has the second highest rate of animal-vehicle collisions in the United States. An individual driver in Montana has a 1-in-44 chance of hitting an animal while driving in any given year. Small solutions exist, and wildlife crossings are a proven way to prevent highway collisions. A recent report shows that U.S. Highway 191 between Spanish Creek and Gallatin Gateway could be in line for a crossing.

BOYS BASKETBALL: BIG HORNS REACH STATE

For the first time in Lone Peak High School history, the boys basketball team earned one of two spots to represent western Montana in the Class C state tournament. The girls team finished in third place, just shy of a state berth, but won their final game. Both coaches reflected with Explore Big Sky on the season’s success.

BSSEF ATHLETES ON NATIONAL STAGE

ON THE COVER:

A solitary elk stands in the snow in Gallatin Gateway. Steady development and an increasing number of cars traveling U.S. Highway 191 has led to members of the Gateway elk herd getting hit by cars more and more frequently. Experts say a wildlife crossing is the perhaps the best way to keep the elk and drivers safe. PHOTO BY HOLLY PIPPEL

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.

Alpine racer Skylar Manka and Nordic skier Hana Mittelstaedt will represent the Big Sky Ski Education Foundation after qualifying for their respective national events. Both Lone Peak High School students, Manka is a senior and the first BSSEF racer in at least five years to reach the U18 national championships. Mittelstaedt, a freshman, is Big Sky’s first ever Nordic skier to reach junior nationals.

ART AUCTION RAISES SIX FIGURES

The Arts Council of Big Sky hosted its 11th Annual Auction for the Arts on March 2 to raise funds for affordable arts programming and education to the community, including the Music in the Mountains concert series and “Contribute What You Can” art classes at BASE. More than 250 people attended the event which raised nearly $170,000, the most successful auction to date.

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.

ADVERTISING DEADLINE

For the March 23, 2023 issue: March 15, 2023

CORRECTIONS

Please report errors to media@outlaw.partners.

OUTLAW PARTNERS & EXPLORE BIG SKY P.O. Box 160250, Big Sky, MT 59716 (406) 995-2055 • media@theoutlawpartners.com

© 2023 Explore Big Sky unauthorized reproduction prohibited

ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED IS DEEMED RELIABLE BUT IS NOT GUARANTEED AND SHOULD BE INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED. INFORMATION AND DEPICTIONS ARE SUBJECT TO ERRORS, OMISSIONS, PRIOR SALES, PRICE CHANGES OR WITHDRAWAL WITHOUT NOTICE. NO GOVERNMENTAL AGENCY HAS JUDGED THE MERITS OR VALUE, IF ANY, OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ADVERTISEMENT OR ANY REAL ESTATE DESCRIBED OR DEPICTED HEREIN. THIS MATERIAL SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL IN ANY STATE OR OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE PRIOR REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED OR WHERE SUCH AN OFFER WOULD BE PROHIBITED, AND THIS SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION IF YOU ARE WORKING WITH ANOTHER REAL

LOCAL NEWS IN BRIEF

BIOLOGIST SPOTS YELLOWSTONE’S FIRST GRIZZLY BEAR OF 2023

EBS STAFF

A Yellowstone National Park wildlife biologist spotted the first grizzly bear to emerge from hibernation in 2023 inside the park on March 7. The adult grizzly is estimated to weigh 300-350 pounds and was seen near the remains of a bison carcass in Pelican Valley, according to a park press release.

The first bear of 2022 was spotted on the same date.

Male grizzlies come out of hibernation in early March while females and their cubs often emerge in April or early May, the release said. Bears immediately seek out food after hibernation and can react aggressively if they are encountered while feeding.

“Spring visitors skiing, snowshoeing, or hiking in Yellowstone National Park are reminded to carry bear spray and be especially alert for bears,” said Kerry Gunther, the park’s bear management biologist.

YELLOWSTONE TO CLOSE ROADS AS WINTER SEASON ENDS

EBS STAFF

Yellowstone National Park’s winter season is drawing to a close as roads began to close, according to an announcement from the park.

Most park roads will be closed to the public by March 15 as part of Yellowstone’s annual efforts to plow roads ahead of its spring opening.

Staggered road closures began on March 5. The South, West and East entrances to the park along with many remaining roads will close on March 15. The North and Northeast entrances are to remain open as weather permits.

The park suggested that visitors have flexible itineraries and prepare for changing weather conditions, warning that closures may occur at any time.

Current road conditions for the park can be found on its website.

Yellowstone is scheduled to begin opening for the spring season on April 21.

SKIER SUFFERS FATAL INJURIES AT BIG SKY RESORT

EBS STAFF

A skier died after striking a tree at Big Sky Resort on Sunday, Feb. 12, according to a March 7 press release from the Gallatin County Sheriff's Office.

The victim was identified as 50-year-old Robin Soare of Phoenix, Ariz. Soare struck a tree in the Headwaters Bowl near the Headwaters chairlift, resulting in significant head trauma. She was transported via helicopter to Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital where she died of her injuries.

In the release, Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer expressed the department’s “deepest condolences to the family and friends of Robin Soare during this time.”

BIG SKY MEDICAL CENTER OPENS PHYSICAL THERAPY CLINIC

EBS STAFF

After waiting for equipment and facility needs since 2020, Big Sky Medical Center opened its physical therapy clinic on Feb. 22.

BSMC rented space to Lone Peak Physical Therapy until 2020, when Bozeman Health bought out the clinic, according to Anna Christensen, outpatient supervisor for physical therapy at Bozeman Health.

Bozeman Health hired a physical therapist for the Big Sky location, Ally Brown, and is prepared to meet flexible demand with the help of therapists from Bozeman.

“The biggest change is that patients can receive the full spectrum of care without having to leave Big Sky,” Christensen said. “We can see you in [the emergency department], and whenever you go home, you can follow up with Ally in the outpatient setting. A nice arc of care.”

THE INDEPENDENT REBRANDS AS THE WAYPOINT

EBS STAFF

Facing legal pressure, Big Sky’s movie theater, bar and community event center has undergone a re-brand without changing any staff, products or programming

As of March 6, the Independent became “the Waypoint,” according to a press release. Ownership received “a notice of federal trademark protection” from a live music and entertainment provider by the same name, located in San Francisco. The Independent chose to comply to avoid “a potentially long and expensive legal battle,” Ruth White, general manager, stated in the release.

White told EBS the atmosphere and feel will not change. Previously Lone Peak Cinema, the space was named “the Independent” in January 2022. White confirmed that they attempted to rebrand as “The Indy,” but the West Coast venue claimed to also use that nickname.

The Waypoint’s Mediterranean restaurant inside will remain “the Perch.”

OBITUARY

Robert “Bob” Vozar passed away on Oct. 6, 2022. A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, April 2 from 11 A.M. until 2 P.M. at the Riverhouse, 45130 Gallatin Rd, Gallatin Gateway, MT 59730.

3 Rivers Annual Membership Meeting

If you are unable to attend, you can watch a live stream of the business meeting on 3rivers.net.

Monday, March 20, 2023

Fairfield Community Hall

Registration begins at 11:00 am

Lunch served Noon - 1:00 pm

Business Meeting at 1:00 pm

Fairfield office will be closed to walk-in traffic between 11 am - 3 pm.

Conrad and Big Sky offices will be open. 406.467.2535 ● 3rivers.net

Engage in Your Community

There are many ways to get involved in this amazing community of ours. Learn about vital topics, attend a local meeting, run for a board, volunteer for a nonprofit, connect with local representatives, and most importantly, vote! Start small or jump in with both feet. Either way, our community will be better for it.

Big Sky Resort Area District (BSRAD) Board Meeting

April 19th at 9:00 am

This meeting will be held at the District office and through Zoom. The public is always welcome. Visit ResortTax.org for more information. 19

Spring Commissioner & BSRAD Board Meeting

May 3rd at 9:00 am

May 2nd

Special Purpose District & School Election 3

Your locally elected government officials - Big Sky Resort Area District Board of Directors, Gallatin County Commissioners, and Madison County Commissioners - meet bi-annually to act and focus on the most important topic – YOUR community.

FY24 Allocation Cycle – Application Review Meetings

June 5th, 6th, and 8th at 5:30 pm

Since 1992, Resort Tax has awarded nearly $94 million to fund priority programs and projects. Plan to attend the June meetings where the Board reviews project applications and uses public feedback to guide decisions on these strategic community investments. This year’s requests represent 54 projects from 21 sponsors and total over $11 million.

ARTS & EDUCATION

•Big Sky Is an Arts & Culture Hub

•A Quality Education for All Children

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

•A Positive Climate Where Businesses Can Prosper

•A Quality Visitor Experience Balanced with Local Needs

HEALTH & SAFETY

•High-Quality Public Safety

•Robust Social Services Exist for a Thriving & Livable Community •Healthy Populations with Access to Local High-Quality Healthcare

HOUSING

•A Variety of Affordable Housing Options for All Local Workers

PUBLIC WORKS

•Big Sky & the Region Have World-Class Transportation Infrastructure & Services

•Improve & Maintain Water & Sewer

RECREATION & CONSERVATION

•A Connected Community Through Trails, Parks & Open Spaces

•World-Class, Year-Round Recreational Opportunities for Big Sky

•A Community-Based Solution to Develop Sustainability & Climate Neutrality

•Our Natural Resources Are Protected & Enhanced for Future Generations

‘WITHOUT RESTRAINT’

HOW A CHANCE ENCOUNTER IN BIG SKY INSPIRED A YOUNG MOUNTAINEER AND A MEMOIR

BY JACK REANEY

BIG SKY—For many, snowy mountain slopes provide an escape from the mundane, the indoors, the flatlands and crowded streets.

For Ryan DeLena, they once provided an escape from the cruel limits of misjudgment. When he first visited Big Sky in March 2014, he was 12 years old and still struggling with behavioral differences that had moved him from the public school system in preschool into a series of alternative schools that physically restrained students or locked them in solitary confinement until outbursts passed— techniques Ryan described as more traumatic than helpful.

By age 12, Ryan had found solace in skiing. Still, his struggles surfaced while waiting in lift lines, which led his father, Rob, to bring Ryan to the expansive and uncrowded slopes of Big Sky. That ski trip, among others, showed Ryan the possibility of a life beyond trauma and restraint, and beyond the hopeless picture of life painted by most adults responsible for his future.

“As soon as I saw a picture [of the Big Couloir], I said that was just the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and I have to ski that,” Ryan told Explore Big Sky.

Rob called Big Sky Resort Mountain Sports and asked for an instructor with patience. They answered, ‘We have just the guy.’

“Ryan was full of ambition and very goal-oriented,” instructor Ben Brosseau recalled. “He had done a lot of research and came with a list of things he wanted to ski.”

When Ryan told Brosseau about his Big Couloir objective, Rob waited to be laughed at. Instead, Brosseau looked him up and down and said, ‘OK, let me go get a beacon.’ Brosseau, who’s instructed at the resort since 2005, assesses more than a client’s skill before bringing them into consequential terrain.

“Mentally, emotionally, [I check] all the things leading up to skiing long, technical runs like [the Big],” Brosseau said. “[Ryan] checked all the boxes pretty quickly.”

Not only did Brosseau take Ryan down the Big in 2014, but later guided 16-year-old Ryan down the gnarlier, more technically demanding Little Couloir. Ryan lost all sense of time, and mostly remembers his first eight jump turns on the Little from the GoPro footage.

The partnership between Ryan and Brosseau helped Ryan overcome the stigma associated with his developmental differences—and the limits set by other adults. He grew from therapeutic schools to public high school, and now attends college in Vermont to prepare for a promising career as a mountain guide.

On March 1, Rob and Ryan DeLena released “Without Restraint,” their joint father-son memoir describing Ryan’s challenges of growing up incompatible with the approach taken by educators and medical professionals, and Rob’s struggle to reject their advice. The book describes how skiing

unexpectedly created the perfect space for a unique, energetic and misunderstood boy, who is now becoming a leader among young mountaineers. It’s also the story of parental growth: Ryan’s differences forced lessons upon Rob and his wife, Mary Beth.

Gifted

Rob and Mary Beth struggled to raise Ryan.

A former college baseball player himself, Rob expected Ryan to be an athlete. Early in Ryan’s life, that was clearly not in the cards.

“He was more interested in drilling inside the baseball to see what it was made of than playing the game,” Rob told EBS. Team sports were not a good fit.

Growing up in a Boston suburb, Ryan was a tough kid to manage. Preschool teachers suggested a neuropsychologist based on Ryan’s struggle to adapt when external factors broke linear routines.

Ryan was described professionally as “very strong on the left half of his brain, very weak on

the right half of his brain,” and diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified—a vague and unhelpful diagnosis, Rob said.

As a small child learning to read, he would repeat his father’s paraphrasing of picture books. Ryan wasn’t actually reading at all, he just memorized Rob’s exact wording. As a young skier, he would memorize trail maps.

“At Big Sky I can tell you every run, probably in order off the ridge and what they’re like,” said Ryan, a recurring visitor but never local resident. His photographic memory also allows him to recall every crag he’s ever climbed. He said anything that goes in sequence is glued to his memory.

Unfortunately, Ryan’s gifts were not well understood.

“The early years were pretty chill,” Ryan said. He felt normal until preschool, when his aversion to listening caused problems. At first, teachers thought he was gifted. He was moved to a private school, “and that lasted about a day,” he said. He

Rob and Ryan took a ski expedition to Antarctica in 2018, which reinforced Ryan’s ambition to become a mountaineering guide. COURTESY OF ROB DELENA

Ryan rips Firehole on the Headwaters at Big Sky Resort in 2023. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY

was fascinated by only the things that caught his interest, but he’d stand up and walk away from boring activities.

Ryan’s local school district recommended a therapeutic school, which relied on a “holding environment” in which staff would hug and hold distressed students.

“The first day, [my teacher] put me on the floor and restrained me. She covered my mouth and I couldn’t breathe, and I had bruises on me,” Ryan recalled. “That’s when I first realized my life was about to be really different.”

He was about 5 years old. He remembers wanting to get through the day as easily as possible, “just trying to survive.”

“He was restrained hundreds of times,” Rob recalled. “As he grew stronger, [staff] would put their knee on his back in the hallway until he calmed down.”

Ryan spent four years being restrained at home and at school—where the teachers misused the restraints as a punishment and not a calming measure, as designed—before Rob became fed up with his son’s treatment.

“[Restraining him] was the biggest mistake of my life,” Rob said. “I never should have agreed to it… It’s not hard to realize how wrong I was, and how many terrible decisions I made. I just wanted to fix him and make him like all these other kids.”

“They used my behavior in preschool to make a pretty big decision about my life,” Ryan said.

He said the attitude in Sudbury, Mass. is that people who go against the grain are shunned.

“Their immediate reaction [to my parents] was, ‘there has to be something wrong with your kid. Why would he not want to make macaroni necklaces?’”

Having attended a therapeutic school felt like a criminal record, Ryan said. Educators put deliberate and unnecessary obstacles in the way of his progress back to standard public education and expected Ryan to be perfect. But as he developed a trauma response to being restrained, he said he was never going to get out of an environment that physically escalated disagreements.

“Whenever I had conflict with an adult, I immediately assumed it was going to lead to me getting hurt,” he said. “Whenever I got in a fight at home, I would run outside and climb a tree, like 60 feet high, where I knew nobody was gonna get me.”

A natural fit

Rob hadn’t skied for 25 years when he made the risky decision to take 7-year-old Ryan to Nashoba Valley Ski Area in Massachusetts in 2009.

“By the time we got off the top of the magic carpet, I never thought we would get that far. So I didn’t even tell him how to ski,” Rob remembered. “Ryan just looked at me, [straight-lined] to the bottom and made a turn to get back into line.”

Ryan said he learned more about skiing from “Curious George” than from his dad.

Since he first visited Big Sky in 2014, Ryan has bagged nearly every named line on the Headwaters and A-Z ridge—he’s missing Second Fork, Kastle Rock, C.P. and Tower/Weathervane Chute. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY

“I first saw skiing on [the television show] ‘Curious George’. I remember they were going straight down the hill. So I kind of started going straight down the hill.”

Ryan wanted to get back in line, so he pointed his body toward the magic carpet and his edges took him there.

Rob said Ryan was like a cat in his first few days skiing, never falling once. Soon, they progressed to Wachusset Mountain, then Loon Mountain in New Hampshire, and Stowe Mountain in Vermont where Ryan skied his first double-black.

It was intuitive to Ryan. He said he never questioned how natural skiing felt, until he spent two winters ski instructing at Nashoba Valley in high school and realized how unnatural it is for some people to balance on skis. He knew skiing aligned with his personality in a way nothing else did, feeding his intrinsic desire to explore. He recognized his calling.

For years, educators still didn’t.

“When I went out West, I was able to have some big adventures,” Ryan said. “ I was getting so much positive reinforcement, being a young kid taking on that terrain.

“And then I would go home, and I couldn’t go to the bathroom without adult supervision.”

Between confinement and ski slopes

He finally left the first school with restraints in 2010, opting for another school with a similar approach that promised fewer restraints.

That year, teachers discovered his “Extreme Ryan” YouTube stunt videos and reported him to the state with concerns that his behavior was escalating. Exhibit A: he jumped out of a second story window, parkour-style. Exhibit B: “real-life fruit ninja” with a bread knife.

Authorities convinced Rob and Mary Beth to check Ryan into a mental hospital. Ryan was medicated and told he’d spend three days there. The medication doctors prescribed was known to occasionally cause Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a sometimes-deadly skin infection.

On day four, Ryan thought he was being abandoned, and began making daily attempts to escape.

In order for Ryan to be released from the hospital, he needed to show stability. Rob planned a ski trip as incentive and told Ryan they’d ski for the number of days he behaved.

Ryan was released after two weeks, and they visited Utah. On the flight home, Rob noticed a tell-tale rash on his leg. That was the last straw for Rob. He discontinued that medication, and began working to convince doctors that Ryan didn’t fit into their standard playbook, similar to his battle with educators.

By 2014, Ryan attended a third school that enforced discipline by locking kids in a tiny room with a metal door and no windows. Ryan said that was almost more traumatic than restraints.

The father and son couldn’t find a path to public school until a heated meeting with a school administrator in 2016. Rob stood up for his son— loudly—and the administrator finally admitted the name of a fourth school, where Ryan could spend a year proving himself before attending LincolnSudbury High School.

“As soon as they figured out I wanted to go to public school, they put constraints on me,” Ryan said of that fourth school. The teachers would taunt his behavior, saying, ‘they won’t accept that in public.’

“They really pushed me to the limit and I had to try so hard not to crack.”

That school tried to convince Ryan to stay for a second year, but he declined. He knew he wasn’t getting a full curriculum.

“I went to public [school in 11th grade], and everything went perfectly fine,” he said. “There were no issues, I proved everybody wrong, got good grades and was involved with the community.”

Despite the hardship, Ryan gained perspective on life through his struggles with education. After being told—and believing—he wouldn’t belong “with regular people,” he had to show himself he could fit in.

ROB DELENA

Ryan DeLena and Ben Brosseau in 2014. COURTESY OF ROB DELENA

Ryan was featured on the cover of Backcountry Ski Maps for the region including Tuckerman Ravine. COURTESY OF BACKCOUNTRY SKI MAPS

“This was a kid which everyone had told us to put in a group home when he was 11 or 12,” Rob said. “He got into college.”

Ryan said being accepted to Northern Vermont University wasn’t a huge deal to him, as it isn’t particularly selective. He’s finishing his junior year in a respected Adventure Education program. “When I was a kid, there were people who told me that I was maybe going to be able to work. I would probably do a solitary job like making furniture. No social interactions. Now I have a network of guiding clients, I have a girlfriend,” Ryan said.

“All of those things they said about me I’ve proven wrong, grown out of or conquered.”

From student to guide

Ryan dreams of ski guiding in Antarctica. This past summer, he got his foot in the door.

He tail-guided in Antarctica with Ode Silvonen, a Finnish guide for Ice Axe Expeditions. He called the experience “super mind-blowing,” and said it’s ushering in the next phase of his life. He was also surprised how many of the guides had heard of his college’s program.

“It’s super cool that the journey can start some place like Nashoba Valley, when there wasn’t much hope,” Ryan said. “How did this become life?”

That life came full circle in April 2021, when Ryan guided Brosseau at Tuckerman Ravine in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Despite some resistance early on, Ryan has trusted Brosseau’s coaching for years. Ryan was self-taught and always pushing his limit. But on a seven-

day trip to Portillo, Chile, Ryan was coached on unforgiving race skis to help break some bad habits. He took it down a notch and had a chance to focus on fundamentals, Brosseau said.

“Whatever Ryan’s initial vision was for being a skier, I think [it has evolved] in the last 10 years. He’s learned there’s a lot of different paths he can take.”

Brosseau foresees a lifelong friendship with Rob and Ryan.

“There will always be a coach-student, guidestudent side of that relationship,” he said. “But Ryan has become such a knowledgeable skier, climber, ice climber, and he’s a person I turn to if I have a question about mountaineering. He knows the gear, he knows the terrain, he’s built his own network of people who he’s mentored and people who have mentored him.”

Brosseau and Ryan had a conditions window in New Hampshire, so Ryan chose a v-shaped couloir around a rock buttress; Ryan said Dodge’s Drop is the hardest descent of Tuckerman Ravine.

“It can be kind of intimidating for people to ski,” Ryan said. “He ripped it. He had fun and compared it to Class Six on the Headwaters.”

“Ryan was my guide,” Brosseau said. “And I remember that being the first true time where the roles switched. He was the knowledgeable guide… making sure we had the right gear, making sure we knew the hike, the [descent] route, the snow conditions, parking; he was so tuned into how this day was going to go, how he was going to design the experience for me.”

Ryan was honored to show Brosseau around. He ran into pretty much everybody he knew, too, and friends joined the pair for a lap.

“He put the trust in me. I was stoked,” Ryan said. “I was so excited to have him see the place for the first time. I think we had a good weather window, we chose our lines well. But we just had good luck.”

At First Security Bank, Totally Free Checking really is FREE! Free of minimum balances and hidden weekly, monthly, or annual fees. We also have three great interest-bearing accounts to fit your every need.

Ryan DeLena leads his father, Rob, and Big Sky instructor Ben Brosseau on the Headwaters in 2023. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY

ELK CROSSING HOW TO MOVE FORWARD

BY RYAN STROTHER EBS CONTRIBUTOR

Just north of the Gallatin National Forest, the lines between the quilt of ranches, agricultural fields, and subdivisions in the southern Gallatin Valley are drawn by fences and roads—but on a drive under the cottonwoods, the question of who owns what, exactly, isn’t obvious. Elk, bears, mountain lions—the list goes on—pay little attention to which agency or owner manages any particular parcel.

But Holly Pippel knows who owns the land. Nearly every morning, Pippel gets up at dawn and tours the southern Gallatin Valley in her truck, coffee in hand, telephoto lens at the ready, usually still in her pajamas. If the lighting is good, she’ll photograph the wildlife: elk herds, bald eagle nests, bobcats. One of her field cameras recently snapped a shot of a snow-white ermine catching a mouse.

More than she shoots, though, she observes animals in the same way you get to know your neighbors. Everyone seems like a stranger before you see the same faces over and over again.

Pippel, who works full-time as a real estate agent, calls it a hobby. But it’s not without impact: once, she noticed a change in behavior in a pair of nesting bald eagles. One of the eagles sat lower in the nest than usual for a few days. She called a wildlife rehabilitator, who cared for the bird and released it back to the nest.

One morning, Pippel let me ride along with her for a morning drive. As we drove along the roads east of U.S. Highway 191, Pippel told me the elk travel across David and Deborah’s property, following open space and conservation easements to a usual point of crossing the highway on their trek to Ted Turner’s ranch on the west side of the highway. To the east of their usual thoroughfare, Pippel stops the truck adjacent to a field with a large herd of cow elk sitting in the snow.

Pippel tells me the elk used to cross here in large numbers, but since the installation of an aesthetic fence, the animals are frequently held up in this field. The previous owners of the property had the fence installed before putting the property on the market. An open gate in the fence line allows them to cross in theory, but a blind curve in the road prevents the elk from using the opening.

“I sat here when this first went up and watched 200 heads of elk get bottlenecked here at rush hour when Big Sky traffic came through. The elk were flipping over the fence because they couldn't jump it because of the snowbanks. And it's too tall,” Pippel said.

The new fence stopping the elk from crossing one the backroads here is a challenge for the herd’s mobility, but it’s a small obstacle compared to the landscape

connectivity issues posed by the highway just a mile west. Increasing traffic and steady development have made it difficult for wildlife to pass freely through the valley, particularly where 191 bisects foraging grounds on Ted Turner’s ranch on the west side and the private lands on the east side.

This winter, the Gallatin Gateway elk herd began congregating in larger numbers at the mouth of the Gallatin Canyon, leading to increased winter collisions on Highway 191 and heightened public calls for infrastructure to mitigate the issue. Experts have made the case that permanent conservation easements, combined with crossing structures, like a wildlife overpass, could be a viable solution for increasing landscape connectivity and reducing wildlifevehicle collisions.

Wildlife mortality increases as a direct result of collisions with cars, but that’s not the only challenge roads present for wildlife. Elizabeth Fairbank, a road ecologist for the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, makes the case that wildlife crossing structures are beneficial for more than just reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions.

Roads, she says, decrease habitat by decreasing landscape connectivity, and the amount of land wildlife can safely access. Even when collisions don’t occur, elk and other animals can be deterred from even attempting to cross the roads at all. Combined with challenges posed by development and fencing, moving around to find forage and water is becoming an increasing challenge for wildlife in the valley.

Landscape connectivity, she says, is paramount to the survival of wildlife.

“If you think about an animal’s lifespan, they’re going to need to be able to move daily between water, food, and cover,” Fairbank said. “Seasonally, especially a lot of the

ungulates in the Rocky Mountains move between their winter and summer ranges.”

In the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, elk and other ungulates move from their summer ranges at higher elevations down to lower elevations in the winter, often near roads and other human infrastructure. But elk and deer aren’t the only animals having trouble crossing 191.

On Dec. 28, 2022, 13 wild bison were killed by a semitruck 4 miles north of West Yellowstone. According to The Buffalo Field Campaign, an organization dedicated to protecting wild bison, a majority of collisions with bison on occur on a 7-mile stretch of road where Highway 191 crosses the Madison River a few miles north of West Yellowstone. The Buffalo Field Campaign has called for the Montana Department of Transportation to reduce speed limits and cited the 2021-2022 Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act as a possible source of funding for a solution to the problem.

A section of the infrastructure bill designates $350 million in funding for wildlife crossings. According to the bill, more than a million wildlife-vehicle collisions occur every year in the United States—a figure that could actually be much higher. Experts say many collisions go unreported, and researchers estimate wildlife-vehicle collisions may be under-reported by as many as two-thirds in some cases. The bill estimates the cost of wildlife-vehicle collisions at $8.3 billion annually in the United States and explains the purpose of the funding is to increase landscape connectivity and reduce highway hazards for drivers.

A national issue

Reporting from the Washington Post visualized the challenges faced by individual animals coming across highways, following a pronghorn moving across southwestern Wyoming. The pronghorn deftly avoid infrastructure, use existing wildlife cover, but is stopped

A portion of the elk herd between Gallatin Gateway and Gallatin Canyon. PHOTO BY HOLLY PIPPEL

The aftermath of a collision between a pickup truck and an elk.

PHOTO BY HOLLY PIPPEL

A road-killed elk in the snow off Highway 191.

PHOTO BY HOLLY PIPPEL

The aftermath of a collision between a pickup truck and an elk.

PHOTO BY HOLLY PIPPEL

in its tracks at Interstate 80 without a readily available means of crossing.

Wildlife crossing structures, like overpass bridges over highways, and underpasses tunneling under highway systems have been implemented with success in the United States. In 1975, the first wildlife bridge was installed near Beaver, Utah. Since then, over 60 wildlife crossings have been built in the state, and nearly every Western state has installed wildlife crossing structures.

About 100 miles west of Denver, an 11-mile stretch of Colorado Highway 9 was outfitted with wildlife crossings in 2016. The project includes two wildlife overpasses, five wildlife underpasses, 61 escape ramps, 29 wildlife guards and 10.3 miles of 8-foot-high wildlife fence.

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, a five-year effectiveness study conducted after the project’s completion, some 112,678 mule deer successfully crossed the highway, representing 96% of the mule deer population utilizing the crossing structures.

Prior to the project, an average of 63 carcasses were recorded along the highway each winter, nearly all of which were mule deer. A final report issued by CDOT with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, stated the wildlife crossings and fencing mitigation helped decrease wildlife-vehicle collisions by 92%, and roadside carcasses decreased by 90% prior to construction.

In Montana, wildlife crossing structures have also been implemented with success. On U.S. Highway 93, between Evaro and Polson, a reconstruction project added wildlife crossings at 39 locations, along with fencing and jump-outs. The project, located on the Flathead Indian Reservation, required tribal land to rebuild highway. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai

Tribes pushed the government to increase safety along the roadway and reduce animal collisions.

A follow-up study reported an overall increase in wildlife collisions along the entire corridor, but a relatively lower increase in sections with crossing structures and fencing. Landscape connectivity increased substantially, allowing for an average of 22,648 successful animal crossings per year.

A prime candidate for funding

According to information compiled by State Farm, Montana has the second highest rate of animal-vehicle collisions in the United States. An individual driver in Montana has a 1-in-44 chance of hitting an animal while driving in any given year, second only to West Virginia.

In 2020, the Montana Department of Transportation released a study on the highway corridor from Four Corners to roughly West Yellowstone. During the study period of 2009 to 2018, MDT documented 1,247 carcasses on that stretch with a conservative cost estimate of $10 million in property damage, lost hunting revenue, and human injury.

“We’ve got decades of data now from all over North America to say yes, wildlife do use [crossing structures],” Fairbank said. She emphasized the need for research to determine the right places for crossing structures—using carcass data or wildlife movement data to pin-point the most effective and long-term places for animals to cross.

So what’s the next step for a wildlife crossing bridge in Gallatin County? The Buffalo Field Campaign created a petition that aims to get Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly and Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson to earmark transportation funding dollars for a “buffalo bridge” over 191. The CLLC and the Western Transportation Institute is wrapping up a

final report to be released early this year detailing an assessment of Highway 191 between West Yellowstone and Four Corners. But don’t expect a new wildlife bridge to be put up quickly.

“In a perfect scenario, if you were talking about a project with public land on either side of the highway, or where there are already conservation easements in place, most transportation planning in Montana is on a five-year cycle. It doesn’t happen quick, especially with these bigger structural investments,” Fairbank said.

But a crossing structure alone isn’t enough to preserve the landscape connectivity necessary for a healthy and mobile ecosystem in the Gallatin Valley. Experts have pointed out that without public land or strong conservation easements on either side of a wildlife project, a project isn’t likely to be effective for animals or gain the political support needed to get built.

From Holly Pippel’s perspective, there’s smaller initiatives landowners in the Gallatin Valley can take to improve the mobility of wildlife. When that fence went up on a parcel that used to be an important corridor for the Gallatin Gateway herd, she got in touch with the landowner, asking if a rail could be dropped to make it easier for elk to cross. No dice. When the property was sold, she contacted the real estate agent, and relayed a question to the new owners if they might consider lowering a portion of the fence. No response.

What’s it like talking to landowners who won’t budge? “It’s just senseless,” Pippel said.

“If my pictures and observations can help some of these new people be a little more friendly that would make my day. But it’s private property rights, so you can’t force people to do things. You can only try to make them feel compelled or passionate or make them slow down and stop to really see what's going on,” Pippel said. “Only a couple changes can make a big difference. Lowering that fence could make a lot of difference.”

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 $29.50 per month and business services are $42.00 per month. Specific rates will be provided upon request.

- Bobcats are elusive and nocturnal, so they are rarely spotted by humans. Although they are seldom seen, they roam throughout much of North America.

- Fierce hunters, bobcats can kill prey much bigger than themselves, but usually eat rabbits, birds, mice, squirrels and other smaller game.

- In some areas, bobcats are still trapped for their soft, spotted fur North American populations are believed to be quite large, with perhaps as many as one million cats in the United States alone. They face habitat destruction from agricultural and industrial development as well urban sprawl. The ever-expanding human population further limits their ranges.

CenturyLink participates in the Lifeline program, which makes residential telephone or qualifying broadband service more affordable to eligible low-income individuals and families. Eligible customers may qualify for Lifeline discounts of $5.25/month for voice or bundled voice service or $9.25/month for qualifying broadband or broadband bundles. Residents who live on federally recognized Tribal Lands may qualify for additional Tribal benefits if they participate in certain additional federal eligibility programs. The Lifeline discount is available for only one telephone or qualifying broadband service per household, which can be either a wireline or wireless service. Broadband speeds must be at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload to qualify.

CenturyLink also participates in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides eligible households with a discount on broadband service. The ACP provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for households on qualifying Tribal lands.

For both programs, a household is defined as any individual or group of individuals who live together at the same address and share income and expenses. Services are not transferable, and only eligible consumers may enroll in these programs. Consumers who willfully make false statements to obtain these discounts can be punished by fine or imprisonment and can be barred from these programs.

If you live in a CenturyLink service area, visit https://www.centurylink. com/aboutus/community/community-development/lifeline.html for additional information about applying for these programs or call 1-800-201-4099 with questions.

Bobcat // Lynx rufus

NPS PHOTO

BIG SKY’S

TICKETS & INFO AT BIGSKYPBR.COM

COMMUNITY EVENTS

FRIDAY, JULY 14

BIG SKY COMMUNITY RODEO

7:00 PM - Big Sky Events Arena

COMMUNITY STREET DANCE

Featuring The Tony Marques Band

9:00 PM - Len Hill Park

TUESDAY, JULY 18

FREE COMMUNITY DAY / FAMILY ACTIVITIES

12:00 PM - Big Sky Events Arena

MUTTON BUSTIN’

4:00 PM - Big Sky Events Arena

DICK ALLGOOD COMMUNITY BINGO NIGHT

6:00 PM - Big Sky Events Arena

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19

BIG SKY PBR GOLF TOURNAMENT

9:00 AM - Black Bull Golf Course, Bozeman, MT

PROFESSIONAL BULL RIDING

THURSDAY, JULY 20

BULL RIDING NIGHT 1

6:00 PM - Big Sky Events Arena

MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAINS CONCERT

Featuring Madeline Hawthorne

8:00 PM - Len Hill Park

FRIDAY, JULY 21

BULL RIDING NIGHT 2

7:00 PM - Big Sky Events Arena

PBR AFTER PARTY

Featuring Jamie McLean Band

9:15 PM - SAV Big Sky Events Arena Stage

SATURDAY, JULY 22

BULL RIDING NIGHT 3

7:00 PM - Big Sky Events Arena

PBR AFTER PARTY

Featuring Lukas Nelson & POTR

9:15 PM - SAV Big Sky Events Arena Stage

BY JASON BACAJ

GATEWAY TOP TARGET FOR A WILDLIFE CROSSING

A report has identified the stretch of U.S. Highway 191 between Gallatin Gateway and Spanish Creek as a top priority for a wildlife crossing, a road ecologist involved with the report announced last week.

This spring, those involved with the report plan to reach out to landowners and residents in that area to gauge whether there’s a willingness to develop a crossing there, said Liz Fairbank, road ecologist with the nonprofit Center for Large Landscape Conservation.

The report—the US-191 Wildlife & Transportation Assessment—began in 2021 and is a joint venture between CLLC and the Western Transportation Institute. Its goal, Fairbank said, is to combine public agency data, citizen science, local and expert knowledge and engineering concepts to find ways to reduce wildlife vehicle collisions on the highway “and make sure that this landscape maintains its permeability.”

The report is expected to be released this spring with in-person events in Bozeman and Big Sky. Montana ranks second in the nation in wildlife-vehicle collisions, according to data from State Farm Insurance, Fairbank said. And Highway 191 has one of the highest rates of such crashes in the state, with nearly 25% of all accidents between Gallatin Gateway and West Yellowstone involving wildlife.

Fairbank was speaking at a Thursday event hosted by the Gallatin Valley Earth Day Festival Committee titled, “Wildlife Crossings: Exploring Solutions to Prevent Wildlife-Vehicle Collisions.” The event is part of a series of talks leading up to the Earth Day Festival on April 22 at the Emerson Center for the Arts & Culture in Bozeman.

“I wasn’t presenting results here tonight, because our report isn’t final. But I can safely let you know that our number one priority area is from Gateway to Spanish Creek,” Fairbank said during the talk’s Q&A portion.

That stretch of highway has seen a sharp rise in crashes involving wildlife this winter. Seeing roadside carnage, local activists pressured state and local officials to do more to warn drivers of the dangers posed by the resident elk herd. They succeeded in getting the Montana Department of Transportation to put two variable-message signs near Gallatin Gateway and the mouth of Gallatin Canyon warning motorists of the danger.

Fairbank said the biggest challenge to building a wildlife crossing north of Gallatin Canyon is fragmented land ownership. Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch has property on both sides of the highway at the mouth of the canyon, which Fairbank described as “awesome” because the ranch has conservation easements.

But the areas most frequented by the resident elk herd are farther north, where land parcels are small and owned by an array of different people.

“For a wildlife crossing structure to be built, there needs to be some participation from the landowners adjacent to the highway to say, ‘OK, we’re willing to put some kind of conservation agreement on our property’,” Fairbank said. “The next steps will definitely be reaching out, seeing if there is a willingness to do that.”

She pointed out that the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicated money specifically to building wildlife crossings for the first time. And of

that dedicated money, 60% of it is slated for projects in rural areas like Montana.

Also speaking at the Thursday event, which was held live at Bozeman’s Hope Lutheran Church and streamed online, was Rob Ament, road ecology program manager for the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University. Ament provided some data around the costs of wildlifevehicle collisions.

Ament said most of these crashes are underreported “across the board” in government datasets, as is the cost of such accidents. When calculating the impact of wildlife-vehicle collisions, state governments have assigned the animals a dollar value based on the number of hunting licenses sold per species.

The equation for determining the impact of such crashes has been adjusted by some groups in recent years to include the “passive use value” of the animals, which assigns a dollar value to the existence of a certain species and the value of knowing that species will be preserved for the benefit of future generations.

In Montana, there were an estimated 60,680 wildlifevehicle collisions between 2008 and 2017. Ament said the direct human cost of those crashes was about $87 million per year. But including passive use into the equation, the total cost of those accidents rises to $120 million per year.

“The cost of collisions has gone up significantly. And so that justifies building crossing structures,” Ament said. “If you [build a wildlife crossing], you invest once, put in the infrastructure, it lasts for 75 years and if you’re reducing those collisions each year, it pays.”

A HARD LOOK AT SOFT WATER

WATER AND SEWER BOARD TABLES TOPIC FOR FURTHER REVIEW, OTHERWISE APPROVES SECOND READING OF ORDINANCE

BY JACK REANEY

BIG SKY—Big Sky’s new Water Resource Recovery Facility may come with a ban on salt-based water softeners in an effort to protect the upgraded plant, the Gallatin River and local ecosystem.

More than an hour of the Big Sky County Water and Sewer District board meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21 was spent discussing the district’s proposed ban on sodium-softened water.

The proposed regulation is part of an ordinance that would also regulate the discharge of fats, oils and grease by local restaurants, and crackdowns on phosphorus discharge, respectively. Significant phosphorus waste can come from larger scale processes including laundry, according to District General Manager Ron Edwards.

“Our engineers have told us our background phosphorus levels—from detergents and things—are higher than what most communities typically see,” Edwards told the board. “So we’re trying to put some language in [the ordinance] to address that.”

The regulation on fats, oils and grease will protect the new plant’s membrane bioreactor, Edwards told EBS.

After long board discussion, the ban on water softeners was eventually removed from the ordinance draft and tabled for further review. The other components of the ordinance were approved on second reading, enabling the board to move forward on fats, oils and grease, and phosphorus.

During the meeting, District Water Superintendent Jim Muscat said that Mountain Village water has a hardness of about 63 milligrams per liter of calcium carbonate, just above the 60 mg/L threshold which defines “medium-hard” water.

“Anything above 180 [mg/L] is considered very hard,” Muscat said. “The meadow is 280. We’ve got really hard water here… It is an issue and that’s why some people want softeners.”

Public pushback

Brian McCollum, owner of Bozeman-based PureWater Technologies, told the board during public comment that he’s worked in many sectors of the water treatment industry for 27 years, and operated in Big Sky for 24 years.

“My clients, some are in this room, and have hundreds of millions of dollars of assets that need protecting… I’m simply here to ask a few questions,” McCollum said. “What is the purpose of this ban? What outcomes do you feel this will achieve? [I ask the board] to define the actual issue at hand, and the science behind it.”

McCollum suggested that the community may deserve further notification “as this affects everyone in this community,” and asked for more time in a future board meeting to discuss watersoftening regulations.

Bozeman Health Chief Operations Officer Kallie Kujawa also provided public comment, saying that the ban could prevent Big Sky Medical Center from providing some critical services.

“Without soft water, Big Sky Medical Center could not comply with manufacturers requirements and specifications for essential medical equipment,” Kujawa said.

She requested the hospital be exempt from any ban on water softeners, in order to prevent a significant

increase in the quantity of soap and cleaners required. Edwards told EBS that the hospital has a unique situation and is likely to get the requested exemption.

Bill Vetter, a water consultant and chemist with PureWater, asked whether testing had been done on the amount of sodium coming from area wells. Vetter said he pulled samples from Big Sky’s various district areas, and his results varied from 30 to 378 mg/L.

“My concern there is that if sodium is the issue, we need to look at where it’s coming from,” Vetter said.

He added that human waste includes roughly 2,500 milligrams of sodium per day per person, and 90% of that would reach the water treatment plant.

“Have you identified where the sodium is coming from? Is it coming from the water? Is it coming from the softeners? Is it coming from the human waste coming into the plant?” Vetter asked. “When we can determine what that [source] is, then we can have a better idea of what the impact of water softening might be.”

A sudden rise in wastewater sodium levels

After hearing public comment, the board opened their official second reading of the ordinance.

Board member Mike DuCuennois suggested that the board seems short on background information on water softeners and the impact of sodium, though he noted that he wasn’t part of the subcommittee that drafted the ordinance. He pointed out the costs a ban could incur on district-area businesses required to replace water softening technology.

“We started this program to curb any detriments to our wastewater treatment plant,” DuCuennois said. “Sodium levels that we’re talking about here are not detrimental to our new plant, according to [WRRF engineer Scott Buecker]. I talked to Scott at length yesterday, and he said the plant can deal with [sodium] fine. I think we run into a little bit more of an issue with the reclaim [water], and how we deal with the reclaim.”

In a statement to EBS, board member Peter Manka wrote that “High levels of salt and chlorides in our reuse water” could hurt that water’s value and negatively affect district ratepayers. He added that “[It also exposes] us to potential litigation and limits on reuse of our wastewater. This could have the effect of limiting the issuance of new water and sewer permits thereby constraining future development.”

He told the board that the district’s wells average 12-15 mg/L of sodium, not significant compared to magnesium and calcium content.

The sodium level of wastewater coming into the plant was historically between 20-25 mg/L, Manka said, likely due to human waste and saltwater treatment systems—mostly residential.

“We watched that level basically climb from 20 to 150 [mg/L] last summer,” Manka said. “That level has stabilized somewhere in the 100 [mg/L] area, which we continue to monitor weekly. Those numbers don’t waver, we don’t have any drops [below 80].”

Manka told the board that sodium concentration has increased five- to seven-fold in the past 12 to 18 months. He told EBS a study by BSCWSD and consulting engineers attributed “several large commercial projects that have been recently implemented” as the primary source of sodium increase.

Edwards told EBS the Wilson Hotel, Montage and Powder Light are “the obvious ones.”

Over the past 15 to 20 years, Manka added, saltsofteners have been regulated or banned in 15 states and hundreds of communities for the same phenomenon. Many of those communities, like Big Sky, reuse their wastewater or have sensitive discharge areas.

Manka wrote, “The important consideration here is that Big Sky reuses all of its treated wastewater, so every pound of salt that is used in a saltwater softener in the district ends up as a pound of salt input into the Big Sky ecosystem either by being irrigated onto the golf course or potentially used for snowmaking on the mountain, deep well injection, etc.

“This means that the hundreds of thousands of pounds of salt imported into Big Sky every year as a result of large commercial salt softening systems end up in our environment,” Manka wrote.

When board discussion turned to alternatives, McCollum pointed to “issues that have happened around town—I won’t talk about it.”

Potential water-softening alternatives

PureWater’s Vetter said that he’s working on a residential project in a location where sodium levels are higher than 700 mg/L, and a process called “weak-acid injection”—without salt softening—has reduced the levels to 200 mg/L.

“[That process] does not remove the sodium or chloride from the water, so we have not considered this,” Manka wrote to EBS. “But most communities across the country that face the same issues that we are facing have elected to lower sodium and chloride concentrations by limiting inputs from saltwater softener use.”

Manka added that Lochinvar, one of the largest boiler manufacturers in the world—and most popular in Big Sky—conducted extensive testing and claims that “template assisted crystallization” is a more effective alternative.

McCollum, owner of PureWater, told the board, “there’s many technologies that are out there, we’ve tried them as a company, we’ve had [terrible results]. Again I represent my clients and solutions. So if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

At the end of the discussion, Vetter volunteered his time as a consultant to the board “to figure out a middle ground” and ensure the ordinance keeps moving forward.

Expected to begin processing liquids before the end of 2023, Big Sky's new Water Resource Recovery Facility is prompting certain changes to water regulations. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY

INAUGURAL MASQUERADE BALL TO BENEFIT AFFORDABLE, QUALITY CHILD CARE IN BIG SKY

BY JACK REANEY

BIG SKY—Mariel Butan, executive director of Morningstar Learning Center, said she hopes the school’s fund- and awareness-raising event will be “a beautiful, colorful explosion of joy.”

Butan coined that phrase while describing the often “mind-blowing” art created by MLC students, which will be auctioned off during the inaugural Big Sky Masquerade Ball on March 9.

MLC has been planning the event for months. Butan wants to welcome guests from all over Big Sky, not just Morningstar parents. She says Morningstar is a pillar of the community as child care impacts everyone. The event has two goals: to raise money, and to raise awareness about the widespread impact of child care.

“There have been fundraisers for Morningstar in the past, but nothing quite like this,” Butan explained. “I think it’s really imporant at this moment in time to raise awareness and visibility of the issue.”

Hosted by Montage Big Sky, tickets are on sale and include two drinks, dinner and exceptional desserts; Butan expressed her great excitement for the cuisine in an interview with EBS. The event has a “cocktail-chic” dress code—mostly dresses and suits, but open to creativity and color—and Morningstar will provide masquerade masks. Photographer Chris Kamman will provide keepsakes in the “classiest, coolest photo booth” Butan said she’s ever seen.

The adult-oriented evening will be emceed by DJ and auctioneer Missy O’Malley and includes an auction with prizes like early ski access to the tram guided by Big Sky Resort Ski Patrol, skis and bindings from Yellowstone Club, an intro flight with Summit Aviation and a ride along with the Big Sky Fire Department. The ball will also feature a “paddle-raise” fundraising effort; Butan suggested guests determine a designated driver and a designated bidder.

Young artists at MLC have been putting colors on canvas to prepare for their art auction.

“That’s why people should come to the event— don’t disappoint the children,” she said. “The children are working very hard on their art project. They’re very excited.”

Butan said that whether community members realize it or not, their lifestyle in Big Sky is made possible by families who have children at Morningstar. Any business, restaurant, club or resort will, at some point, employ someone who relies on Morningstar.

“What I’m asking the community of Big Sky to do is not make me choose between price-gouging families and paying poverty wages to my teachers,” Butan said. Morningstar is dedicated to quality of care and affordability to families, she added.

Community funding and awareness can help solve a difficult equation by rewarding and retaining happy, talented teachers. Nearing two years at Morningstar, Butan has dealt with teacher turnover despite Morningstar’s high wages, largely due to the challenges of working in Big Sky and the demanding nature of child care work.

“I think especially in a small community like Big Sky that has been experiencing growing pains…

I think it’s really important for people to know that something that helps define the soul of a community is whether or not families can live here, and [whether] children can have a wonderful childhood experience here.”

She added that Morningstar needs to expand to fully meet family needs in the community.

“That’s not going to be possible without more people being aware of some of the challenges that we’re facing, and then supporting us to overcome them.”

A slam dunk return-on-investment

Butan cited an aggregate study by the First Five Years Fund, an early childhood advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.

“A lack of affordable reliable childcare takes a major toll on the economy as working families across the country lose more than $8.3 billion in wages annually due to inadequate child care access,” Butan read.

“Studies show investments in high quality early childhood education can generate up to $7.30 per dollar invested. Access to stable, high-quality child care also helps parents improve their labor productivity by increasing work hours, missing fewer workdays and pursuing further education.”

Other outcomes include a 46% reduction in incarceration rate, 33% reduction in arrests for violent crime, and 26% reduction in likelihood of requiring government assistance.

She added that the most critical time to invest in a child’s education is their early years. The best way to close reading and math gaps in K-12 is to prevent those gaps in the first place, Butan reasoned.

Beyond the economic side, she described “the heartstring reasons” to invest in child care.

“This is their first introduction to life to learning. And having a good experience with that is one of the most impactful things you can do to ensure a child’s success, period.”

“I’ve always worked in education,” Butan said. “I’ve always worked in nonprofits. And I’ve always heard [that] child care is so expensive. But in the last two years, what I’ve seen not just in Big Sky, but across [Gallatin] county, across the state [and the] country, has really been eye opening to me, and has made me want to tell anyone who will listen… what a slam dunk it is to invest in child care.”

Between economics and heartstrings, Butan hopes the Masquerade Ball can shed light on the importance of quality, affordable child care to anyone looking for a fun night out

Big Sky.

in

Children at the Morningstar Learning Center. COURTESY OF MORNINGSTAR LEARNING CENTER

Children at Morningstar Learning Center. COURTESY OF MORNING STAR LEARNING CENTER

The MLC building is seen during a January snowstorm. PHOTO BY JACK REANEY

OPHIR STUDENTS BUILD BIRDHOUSES WITH LOCAL VOLUNTEERS

BY JULIA BARTON

BIG SKY—Jeremy Harder's seventh-grade design technology class at Ophir Middle School took a short walk from campus to Roger Ladd’s barn on March 8 for a unique, out-of-the-classroom activity: building birdhouses. Ladd and Harder have teamed up on the project for two years, making cedar birdhouses that provide nesting places for both local and migratory songbirds in the area.

Songbirds rely largely on shrublands and sagebrush for their habitat. Development, agriculture and fire have resulted in these landscapes shrinking across the West over the past 30-40 years, according to reports from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Songbird populations are struggling as a result.

“Some of these birds who migrate, specifically the tree swallow and the mountain bluebirds, they’ll be coming back into town in the next couple of months,” Harder said. “When the breeding season comes, hopefully they’ll take advantage of our birdhouses.”

Ladd and another volunteer, Grayson Timon, assembled the birdhouse bases before students

came to work on them. Students used power tools to add removable roofs to houses—a feature Ladd explained lets students peek inside to check on the birds—and air holes for ventilation.

“It’s a fun way to get out of the classroom and for students to put real life skills into an authentic project,” Harder said. “It’s practice in problem solving and learning how to use household tools.”

The birds are partial to cedar wood, Harder explained, which is more expensive than other wood like pine. Simkins-Hallin, Inc., a building material supplier based in Bozeman, donated enough wood for this year’s project and for the class to do it again next year. That much wood costs about $800, according to Ladd’s estimation. He provides the rest of the materials.

According to student Ella Smith, making the birdhouses is "way more fun than being in the classroom.” She explained that the class did research about the birds that are likely to use their house before starting the construction project.

The birdhouses will go home with students after they’re complete. Depending on the specifications of their parents’ yard and parental permission, Harder hopes the birdhouses will go up at the students' homes where they can see birds use them. For students who can’t set up the birdhouse in their own yard, Harder hopes to find ways for the houses to be given to other members of the community or placed near local trails.

Ladd has four of the birdhouses set up on his property and recalls opening the lids to see four different species of songbirds—a tree swallow, a mountain bluebird, a black-capped chickadee and a white-breasted nuthatch—inside.

Harder, who has been teaching at the Big Sky School District for over 20 years, is known for his unconventional lesson plans. From taking fourth graders to Yellowstone National Park for a week to incorporating new technology into students’ repertoires, it seems he’s always exploring new ways to teach lessons outside of the classroom. As the middle schoolers followed him back to the school, birdhouses inhand, it was clear the students resonated with the project.

Seventh-grade students in Mr. Harder’s design technology class proudly hold their finished birdhouses.

PHOTO BY JULIA BARTON

Ella Smith was the fastest birdhouse builder of the bunch.

PHOTO BY JULIA BARTON

Students add the finishing touches to their birdhouses.

PHOTO BY JULIA BARTON

The class presented Roger Ladd with a thank you card featuring a bluebird. PHOTO BY JULIA BARTON

REGIONAL

SCHOOLS STRUGGLE WITH LEAD IN WATER WHILE AWAITING FEDERAL RELIEF

BY KATHERYN HOUGHTON KAISER HEALTH NEWS

PHILIPSBURG—On a recent day in this 19th-century mining town turned tourist hot spot, students made their way into the Granite High School lobby and past a new filtered water bottle fill station.

Water samples taken from the drinking fountain the station replaced had a lead concentration of 10 parts per billion — twice Montana’s legal limit for schools of 5 parts per billion for the toxic metal.

Thomas Gates, the principal and superintendent of the small Philipsburg School District, worries the new faucets, sinks, and filters the district installed for roughly 30 water sources are temporary fixes. The high school, built in 1912, is likely laced with aged pipes and other infrastructure, like so much of this historic town.

“If we change faucets or whatever, lead is still getting pushed in,” Gates said.

The school in Philipsburg is one of hundreds in Montana grappling with how to remove lead from their water after state officials mandated schools test for it. So far, 74% of schools that submitted samples found at least one faucet or drinking fountain with high lead levels. Many of those schools are still trying to trace the source of the problem and find the money for long-term fixes.

In his Feb. 7 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said the infrastructure bill he championed in 2021 will help fund the replacement of lead pipes that serve “400,000

schools and child care centers, so every child in America can drink clean water.”

However, as of mid-February, states were still waiting to hear how much infrastructure money they’ll receive, and when. And schools are trying to figure out how to respond to toxic levels of lead now. The federal government hasn’t required schools and child care centers to test for lead, though it has awarded grants to states for voluntary testing.

During the past decade, nationwide unease has been stirred by news of unsafe drinking water in places like Flint, Michigan. Politicians have promised to increase checks in schools where kids — who are especially vulnerable to lead poisoning — drink water daily. Lead poisoning slows children’s development, causing learning, speech, and behavioral challenges. The metal can cause organ and nervous system damage.

A new report by advocacy group Environment America Research & Policy Center showed that most states fall short in providing oversight for lead in schools. And the testing that has happened to this point shows widespread contamination from rural towns to major cities.

At least 19 states require schools to test for lead in drinking water. A 2022 law in Colorado requires child care providers and schools that serve any kids from preschool through fifth grade to test their drinking water by May 31 and, if needed, make repairs. Meanwhile, California leaders, who mandated lead testing in schools in 2017, are considering requiring districts to install filters on water sources with high levels of lead.

As states boost scrutiny, schools are left with complicated and expensive fixes.

As it passed the infrastructure bill, Congress set aside $15 billion to replace lead pipes, and $200 million for lead testing and remediation in schools.

White House spokesperson Abdullah Hasan didn’t provide the source of the 400,000 figure Biden cited as the number of schools and child care centers slated for pipe replacement. Several clean-water advocacy organizations didn’t know where the number came from, either.

Part of the issue is that no one knows how many lead pipes are funneling drinking water into schools.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates between 6 million and 10 million lead service lines are in use nationwide. Those are the small pipes that connect water mains to plumbing systems in buildings. Other organizations say there could be as many as 13 million.

But the problem goes beyond those pipes, said John Rumpler, senior director for the Clean Water for America Campaign at Environment America.

Typically lead pipes connected to public water systems are too small to serve larger schools. Water contamination in those buildings is more likely to come from old faucets, fountains, and internal plumbing.

“Lead is contaminating schools’ drinking water” when there aren’t lead pipes connecting to a municipal water source, Rumpler said.

A pair of drinking fountains at Sentinel High School in Missoula, Montana, tested for levels of lead that required school officials to either fix the fountains or shut them off.

PHOTO BY KATHERYN HOUGHTON / KHN

Because of their complex plumbing systems, schools have “more places along the way where lead can be in contact with water.”

Montana has collected more data on leadcontaminated school water than most other states. But gaps remain. Of the state’s 591 schools, 149 haven’t submitted samples to the state, despite an initial 2021 deadline.

Jon Ebelt, spokesperson with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, said the state made its deadline flexible due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is working with schools that need to finish testing.

Greg Montgomery, who runs Montana’s lead monitoring program, said sometimes testing stalled when school districts ran into staff turnover. Some smaller districts have one custodian to make sure testing happens. Larger districts may have maintenance teams for the work, but also have a lot more ground to cover.

Outside Burley McWilliams’ Missoula County Public Schools office, about 75 miles northwest of Philipsburg, sit dozens of water samples in small plastic bottles for a second round of lead testing. Director of operations and maintenance for the district of roughly 10,000 students, McWilliams said lead has become a weekly topic of discussion with his schools’ principals, who have heard concerns from parents and employees.

Several of the district’s schools had drinking fountains and classroom sinks blocked off with bags taped over faucets, signs of the work left to do.

The district spent an estimated $30,000 on initial fixes for key water sources by replacing parts like faucets and sinks. The school received federal covid money to buy water bottle stations to replace some old infrastructure. But if the new parts don’t fix the problem, the district will likely need to replace pipes — which isn’t in the budget.

The state initially set aside $40,000 for schools’ lead mitigation, which McWilliams said translated to about $1,000 for his district.

“That’s the one frustration that I had with this process: There’s no additional funding for it,” McWilliams said. He hopes state or federal dollars come through soon. He expects the latest round of testing to be done in March.

Montgomery said Feb. 14 that he expects to hear “any day now” what federal funding the state will receive to help reimburse schools for lead mitigation.

Back in Philipsburg, Chris Cornelius, the schools’ head custodian, has a handwritten list on his desk of all the water sources with high lead levels. The sink in the corner of his office has a new sign saying in bold letters that “the water is not safe to drink.”

According to state data, half the 55 faucets in the high school building had lead concentrations high enough to need to be fixed, replaced, or shut off.

Cornelius worked to fix problem spots: new sinks in the gym locker rooms, new faucets and inlet pipes on every fixture that tested high, water bottle fill stations with built-in filtration systems like the one in the school’s lobby.

WHAT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR HEALTH?

Samples from many fixtures tested safe. But some got worse, meaning in parts of the building, the source of the problem goes deeper.

Cornelius was preparing to test a third time. He plans to run the water 12 to 14 hours before the test and remove faucet filters that seem to catch grime coming from below. He hopes that will lessen the concentration enough to pass the state’s thresholds.

The EPA recommends collecting water samples for testing at least eight hours after the fixtures were last used, which “maximizes the likelihood that the highest concentrations of lead will be found.”

If the water sources’ lead concentrations come back high again, Cornelius doesn’t know what else to do.

“I have exhausted possibilities at this point,” Cornelius said. “My last step is to put up more signs or shut it off.”

KHN correspondent Rachana Pradhan contributed to this report.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

BONDURANT BILLIONAIRE BUYS ‘ELITE ENCLAVE’ IN NORTHWEST WYOMING, EYES LAND SWAP

BY MIKE KOSHMRL WYOFILE

The bulk of an exclusive, private resort community surrounded on all sides by the Bridger-Teton National Forest is now owned by TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, who may look to swap the coveted property for U.S. Forest Service land elsewhere.

Ricketts, whose family fortune exceeds $4 billion, has spent years trying to develop a resort and guest ranch along the Upper Hoback River Road in northern Sublette County. Now, over the course of the last year and a half, the businessman has moved into neighboring Lincoln County, where he’s bought up most of an “elite fly-in enclave” known as Renegade, Wyoming some 25 miles up Greys River Road from Alpine.

There are no final plans in place for what Ricketts’ camp intends to do with its portion of the Renegade subdivision, according to a source close to the businessman who asked not to be named.

Continuing to build out the resort community served by a paved airstrip is one path forward, the source said. Another option being considered is to exchange the Greys River inholding parcels with the Bridger-Teton National Forest, trading them for national forest acreage that would add to the family’s ranchland in the Hoback River basin, the source close to Ricketts confirmed.

Ricketts owns two larger disconnected parcels in the Bondurant area: the roughly 1,300-acre Jackson Fork Ranch that snakes along the Hoback River and another 160-acre parcel, formerly the Dead Shot Ranch, roughly two miles farther up river. Other private land lots —and a reach of national forest—separate the two Ricketts-owned chunks.

According to Ricketts neighbor and Sublette County Planning and Zoning Board member Pat Burroughs, the billionaire is buying up any lot that goes for sale along Upper Hoback River Road. He’s recently bought two residential lots in the vicinity of his two ranch properties, she said.

“His plan, for many years, has been to own this entire valley,” Burroughs said. “And if he can’t own it, he can run every resident out by commercializing it. Who wants to live on Hotel Row?”

Ricketts has not submitted a formal proposal for a land exchange to the Bridger-Teton, according to forest spokesman Evan Guzik. The theoretical exchange would add to the forest’s Greys River Ranger District while subtracting acreage from its Big Piney District.

“I’ve heard about [the exchange] from a couple different places beyond the Forest Service,” Guzik said. “We haven’t received a proposal, and that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

Burroughs said that it’s common knowledge in her circles that Ricketts acquired the Greys River Road inholding to entice the national forest into exchanging it for land near his Sublette County ranches, and that there’s been active discussions with the Forest Service.

“At first he wanted to have the other side of the [Hoback] River,” Burroughs said. “Trade that land in Greys River for land on the other side of the [Hoback] River. That was turned down.”

Ricketts’ camp declined to discuss details of any potential land exchange.

The 73-acre Greys River subdivision, dubbed “Renegade, Wyoming” in marketing materials, has a controversial history partly because of its incongruence with the surrounding remote, wild landscape. Initially proposed as the 43-lot Blind Bull Meadows subdivision by Lincoln County developer Dan Schwab a decade ago, the project was met with online petitions, letter-writing campaigns and vociferous opposition within Star Valley. Selling and building out the properties stretched for years, however, and by the time the development was renamed Renegade and successfully plotted in 2018, the community’s consternation had largely abated.

Lincoln County’s GIS server shows that a dozen of the parcels located within the Renegade subdivision are owned by Ricketts, including the largest 32-acre lot that includes the airstrip. Specifically, the parcels are registered to Riparian Lands II, LLC. That limited liability corporation registered a physical address with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office last year that traces to the Denver-based High Plains Bison meat company, which is among Ricketts’ holdings. Among his other investments: a 95% stake in Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field.

Four other lots in the Renegade subdivision are still possessed by Dead Man Ranch, LLC, according to Lincoln County’s GIS server. That limited liability corporation was registered to an address listed by the former owner of the development, Schwab.

Largely, the Renegade subdivision is a failed development that hasn’t sold. One of its formerly listed real estate agents reached by WyoFile declined an interview, but remarked the properties haven’t been marketed in a year. Dated marketing materials posted on RenegadeWyoming.com show that four of the 19 homesites have been sold.

Ricketts, meanwhile, has made regular headlines in Wyoming for his philanthropy. He has a legacy of giving, including to Sublette County causes recently.

On Feb. 13, Ricketts announced a $1 million donation to the Sublette County Health Foundation to make up for a shortfall needed to construct a critical access hospital and longterm care facility. Also last week, the University of Wyoming announced a “major” unspecified financial gift that’s supporting four bioversityfocused research projects in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. That builds on conservation work that a foundation in Rickett’s name is already doing.

But the billionaire’s real estate plays in western Wyoming have also collided with the natural resources his philanthropic efforts aim to support. The world’s longest-known mule deer migration corridor, which connects the Red Desert with the Hoback Basin, crosses Ricketts’ Jackson Fork Ranch in several places. There, he pushed a high-end resort and won approvals from Sublette County Commissioners after initially being shot down. That’s one of several developments that are proceeding within the migration corridor, which is afforded no protection on private land.

The 56-acre rezone where the resort will go was tied up in court, from which Ricketts recently emerged victorious, according to the Sublette Examiner.

“He has the zoning to do that [resort] and can move forward with that when he is ready,” Sublette County Associate Planner Tess Soll told WyoFile. Farther south along Upper Hoback River Road, Ricketts is also looking to add to his guest ranch by building an 8,000-square-foot lodge, a 6,000-square-foot dining center and a bunk house. A commercial use permit for those operations is set to go before Sublette County commissioners in March, Soll said.

A view of the Renegade subdivision's runway from the Wyoming Range in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. PHOTO BY MORGAN HEIM

CLASS C SEND-OFF: BIG HORNS REACH STATE BOYS AVENGE LOSSES AGAINST DISTRICT RIVALS, MAKE STATE FOR FIRST TIME IN LPHS HISTORY

BY JACK REANEY

For the first time in school history, the Lone Peak High School boys basketball team punched their ticket to the Montana Class C state tournament.

Head coach Al Malinowski said the boys played the maximum number of games possible between the District 12C and Western Division playoff tournaments—10 games in 13 days. They earned the No. 2 seed in the Western Division and will square off against the top seed from the Southern Division. The state tournament will take place in Billings from March 8-11 at the 10,000-seat First Interstate Bank Arena.

Malinowski spoke on the phone with EBS about the Big Horns’ playoff run. He pointed out that in the twomonth regular season, his team played just seven home games. They played 10 games in Butte in less than two weeks, winning seven.

After their first-round divisional win over St. Regis High School, they faced top-seeded Manhattan Christian High School Eagles. The game was tied after the first quarter, but the Big Horns fell behind by halftime.

“We just couldn’t keep up with their depth,” said Malinowski, who began pulling his starters in the second half. “We had to start thinking about our game [at 9:30] the next morning.”

The Eagles defeated the Big Horns and eventually won the divisional championship and enter state with the No. 1 seed from the Western Division.

With one loss, the Big Horns faced Drummond High School in a loser-goes-home matchup on the morning of Feb. 25. The Big Horns extended a four-point halftime lead into a 70-57 victory, behind 19-point efforts by sophomore Isaac Bedway and senior captain Max Romney.

The Big Horns’ win qualified them to play that afternoon against rival West Yellowstone High School. The Wolverines handled the Big Horns in both regular season matchups this season.

In the final minutes, the Big Horns led by three points when a Wolverines’ foul sent Bedway to the line. He nailed both free throws, extending their lead to five. The Wolverines scored a layup-and-one with less than one second remaining, but it was too little, too late.

“It was nice to get another chance at them and get a win this time,” Malinowski said.

Harrison High School Wildcats lost in the divisional championship to Manhattan Christian. Following double-elimination format, a “challenge game” emerged as both the Big Horns and Harrison had one loss and hadn’t faced off in divisional play.

Harrison had defeated the Big Horns by double-digits three times this season, once in the regular season and twice in districts, the tournament before divisionals.

“They had our number,” said Malinowski. “Every time we played them they went on [scoring] runs that we couldn’t seem to stop.”

He said the Wildcats are a well-coached, well-rounded and cohesive team that would have likely been ranked if not for their losses against tough competition in District 12C.

On the night of Feb. 27, the Big Horns returned to Butte for a rematch with the Wildcats. Malinowski summarized, “they had their [scoring] runs, and we minimized them and had runs of our own.”

With two minutes remaining, the Big Horns led by five. The Wildcats clawed back and hit a 3-pointer to tie with one minute remaining.

Bedway missed an outside shot but Romney—Lone Peak’s all-time leading rebounder—grabbed the offensive board. He dished it back to Bedway who scored with 13 seconds left.

Scrambling in transition, the Wildcats threw an errant pass and lost possession. They were forced to foul senior captain Gus Hammond, sending him to the line where he sealed the deal with a pair of free throws.

“[West Yellowstone and Harrison] ended with our guys going to the line for critical free throws, and hitting both,” Malinowski said. With their 49-45 victory, the Big Horns earned their spot at state.

‘It’s all new to us’

Malinowski said it still sounds funny that state is a reality.

“It’s all new to us,” he said.

He coached the first eight years of Big Horn basketball, before taking a five-year break and resuming for this season. Before their do-or-die game, he reached out to some former players for words of encouragement and advice. Before taking the floor with a chance to make state, Malinowski read their text messages to the team.

“I think it shows how much our boys program is really a family,” he said. “Guys came back in December to play in an alumni game… They’ve been following this team all year.”

He added that the team responded well to the support from the Big Sky community.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to be where we are,” he said. “But there’s an even bigger opportunity now that we couldn’t have imagined.”

Malinowski said the season was an ideal learning experience.

“We had some close losses [early] that were probably frustrating, but so critical in our ability to learn from them. When you win, it’s easy to forget mistakes. When you lose a couple close games, that play you didn’t make… it sticks in your mind.”

By tournament season, the Big Horns were prepared for tight games, with confidence against tough opponents.

“It was really encouraging to see so much team play, and how much we trusted each other,” Malinowski added. “And our subs off the bench [were] making critical contributions.”

After three straight weeks, he said it will be nice to have some practice time and a break from playoff efforts. Plus, Malinowski has only been focused on the Western Division of Class C; he’ll use this week to size-up six unfamiliar statewide opponents as they earn their spots in the final round of Class C playoffs.

Girls leave Class C with a win

Head coach Loren Bough is proud of his team’s constant improvement: His team finished fifth in

conference, fourth in the district tournament, and third in divisionals.

Unfortunately for the Big Horns, only two teams reach state. The girls side of the divisional bracket did not lend to a challenge game, as Twin Bridges High School beat Manhattan Christian in the championship, and Manhattan Christian already beat Lone Peak head-to-head.

“We were the comeback kids,” Bough said. “We were 10 points down in every game we played. In six of them, we came back and won.”

Like the boys, the girls followed a dramatic first-round win with a second-round loss to Manhattan Christian. They stayed alive with a 51-32 victory against Seeley Swan High School, and advanced to a consolation matchup against rival Ennis High School Mustangs.

Ennis had beaten the Big Horns in the consolation matchup of the district tournament. This time, the Mustangs had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Senior captain Jessie Bough hit all six of her free throws and the Big Horns outscored the Mustangs 17-5 in the final quarter, earning them a 41-37 victory.

Coach Bough is excited for the team’s seniors, and for the future of the team. He expects 12 returning players next season.

“The real story is the boys program,” Bough said. “We’re super proud of the boys.”

Ending the Big Horns’ time in Class C with a comeback win, Bough will step back from his coaching role.

“The high school for me and my family has been a 20-year project,” said Bough, who grew up in Class C basketball and played in the state tournament himself. His two goals were to create the best high school in Montana, academically, and build a strong basketball program.

The Big Horns proved the latter at least. They joined the powerhouse Manhattan Christian Eagles as the only schools to send both boys and girls teams to divisionals, and Lone Peak basketball will be tested by Class B competition next season.

The team celebrates after clinching a state tournament berth. PHOTO BY KRISY HAMMOND

The Big Horns break a late-game huddle in the divisional tournament.

PHOTO BY JACK REANEY

MANKA AND MITTELSTAEDT TO REPRESENT BSSEF ON A NATIONAL STAGE

BY JACK REANEY

BIG SKY—Lone Peak High School senior Skylar Manka was 5 years old when she joined the Big Sky Ski Education Foundation’s alpine race team. Now she’s ranked 12th in the Western division and is preparing for the U18 U.S. National Championships.

From March 9-15, she’ll compete at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire. She’s the first BSSEF athlete to qualify for U18 nationals in at least five years.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Manka said. “Especially when I’ve been working so hard in this sport for so long.”

She joined the FIS—International Ski and Snowboard Federation—Elite U18 division this year, after spending last winter in the development division. That was a strategy devised by Junior Development head coach Aaron Haffey to help improve Manka’s ranking before pushing for nationals this year. Haffey joined BSSEF in 2018 after more than 15 years coaching college racers, the U.S. women’s ski team, and Norwegian men’s team.

Manka said Haffey knows so much that it can be overwhelming. But he’s helped break his coaching down into small bits, allowing her to focus on one fundamental at a time.

“She’s put the miles in for sure,” Haffey said, pointing to the amount of time she’s spent training and racing this season—26 FIS starts and 30 race days.

Manka had her first breakthrough in the elite division at Sun Valley, Idaho this winter. In the standard two-race combined event, she overcame a low ranking to “make the flip” after a strong first run. She flipped toward the front of the pack for her second run, allowing her to ski a clean course and finish in the top 20.

“It felt amazing, I was very proud of myself,” said Manka. Haffey told her that if she consistently finished in the top 20, she’d have a good shot at nationals.

Manka realized if she went all-out, she could hang with the girls in the elite division. She proved it by earning the 12th rank in the Western region—which includes most Western states except Colorado.

Nationals will be her last major race, but she’ll have four more this season.

“BSSEF is a really good organization,” Manka said. “I’m really impressed with all the coaches that have been able to help so many athletes go far in this sport, even when they have major setbacks. I’m really excited to go.”

Manka added that she’s proud of her former soccer teammate, Hana Mittelstaedt, for accomplishing a similar feat.

A first for BSSEF Nordic

From March 9-17, Mittelstaedt will compete in Fairbanks, Alaska in the U16 Junior Nationals. The Lone Peak freshman is the first ever from BSSEF to qualify for junior nationals, according to Nordic Director Leah Lange.

Mittelstaedt moved from Gallatin Gateway to Big Sky when she was 6, and she’s been cross-country skiing for as long as she can remember. With her friend Maddy, they were once the youngest kids in the BSSEF Nordic program, and were called “the nuggets.”

She’s now one of only three U16 athletes in the 70-athlete program, and she ranked eighth in the Inter-Mountain division. Mittelstaedt said qualifying for nationals is a big deal and it was her goal at the beginning of the season. But she’s trying not to think too much about it.

“This year I’ve really been focusing on the fun aspect,” she said. “Last year it was getting too intense, and I was putting too much pressure on myself to place really well in the races.”

Coach Lange believed she could see a top-10 finish at Fairbanks, due to Mittelstaedt’s ability to break through in each of the three events which form a composite final score: a multiple-round 1.5-kilometer sprint, an individual race against the clock, and a mass-start.

“On a good day if anything comes together, anything can happen,” she added. “In U16 it’s their first-time racing—nobody can predict their results.”

Lange said Mittelstaedt is strong, with a big motor that allows her to push herself at a fast pace for a long time.

“We try to have a smart training plan,” said Lange, a three-time NCAA champion and former pro. “Getting in distance when we can, getting in quality intensity when we can. It helps that she played soccer in the fall.”

Mittelstaedt doesn’t do it for the racing, but loves the social aspect of the sport. Especially when the team travels, she befriends her opponents. She gave credit to her coaches, including Lange and Anna Fake who emphasized fun as the program’s main objective before the season.

“I really do like pushing myself though,” she said. “At the start line, we’re always like, ‘why do we do this, this is horrible,’ but afterwards it’s always so fun—it always makes you feel so good.”

Mittelstaedt said it’s hard to find the mental space to keep pushing her limit—she called it “the pain cave.”

“You need to step across that mental line of holding back for your comfort... Half of the sport is mental. It takes a lot of preparation mentally to race,” Mittelstaedt said.

Lange said Mittelstaedt’s best race of the winter was a mass-start, skate-style event in Bozeman.

New to U16, she was seeded 100th without any experience with mass-start—a giant cluster at the start line. She passed 76 of her competitors, finishing 24th overall and sixth in her Inter-Mountain division, all while overcoming a crash.

The Bozeman event was one of three Junior National Qualifier races she attended, with others in Boise, Idaho, and Soldier Hollow, Utah.

“It’s really challenging to qualify for junior nationals, the field is big,” Lange said.

At the recent Inter-Mountain Youth Championships—mostly U14 and younger athletes—in Soldier Hollow, BSSEF took first, third and fourth place in the downhill event; second, third and fourth in skate; first, third and fifth in classic. Lange gives credit to older kids for teaching younger athletes how to race, and she’s been excited to hear the team’s younger skiers asking about Hana.

“They know her and totally look up to her,” Lange said. “She’s really nice to everyone around her.”

Lange was chosen to coach the Inter-Mountain Division at nationals, so she’ll travel to Fairbanks where she competed in U16 junior nationals herself in 2013. If it’s the same race venue, Lange believes it will be a strong fit for Mittelstaedt’s racing style.

“I really want to emphasize: My coaches are the best,” Mittelstaedt said. “They make me keep doing it, honestly. I would not be where I am today without them, and my friends also make it way more fun.”

Lange said Mittelstaedt has a good gliding classic stride, shown here from an event at Soldier Hollow, Utah. COURTESY OF LEAH LANGE

LPHS senior Skylar Manka clears a gate during a 2023 race. PHOTO BY PAUL BUSSI / IDEAL PHOTOGRAPHY

AUCTION FOR THE ARTS RAISES FUNDS FOR ACCESSIBLE ART PROGRAMMING

AUCTION WAS THE ARTS COUNCIL OF BIG SKY’S "MOST PROFITABLE

BY JULIA BARTON

The Arts Council of Big Sky hosted its 11th Annual Auction for the Arts at Montage Big Sky on March 2 to raise funds that provide affordable arts programming and education to the community.

The local nonprofit aims to make the arts accessible to everyone, according to the Arts Council’s development director Katie Alvin. It does this through various programming including the free Music in the Mountains summer concert series and a “Contribute What You Can” model for community art classes.

Through the auction, the Arts Council’s only major annual fundraiser, nearly $100,000 was raised for the sliding-scale art classes through general bidding and an anonymous matching donation, Alvin said. Additionally, approximately $70,000 was raised for operating expenses and to help fund other Arts Council programming.

The cost-flexible art class model seeks to eliminate barriers to entry for community members to participate in art classes, according to a press release that preceded the event. According to Brian Hurlbut, the Arts Council’s executive director, 40% of art class participants take advantage of the pay-what-you-can program and 14% overpay so that others can participate.

“Raising additional funds for this program will allow it to continue,” Hurlbut said in the release. “Our goal

is [to] provide access to the arts for everyone, and this program is the best example of that.”

The art classes offered at BASE are also available in English and Spanish to help increase accessibility for community members.

The auction featured works from many returning and local artists including David Mensing, Carrie Wild, Kevin Red Star, Ryan Turner and Jake Mosher, and was attended by an estimated 250 people. The Arts Council also provided live music from the Mike Murray Duo during the event.

“It was our most profitable event to date, which was great,” Alvin told EBS. “And the event itself was probably, I would say, our best ever. We got the best feedback from the people who attended.”

Alvin noted that a particularly special moment was watching artists finish painting live at the event that immediately went up for auction. Attendees were able to interact with the artist and their process before purchasing the work, creating an “art experience, not just a fundraiser,” she said.

“We are a classic nonprofit and most of our programming is free,” Alvin said. “When we do sell tickets for things, the ticket costs generally go straight to the artist… Another key part of what we do is support working artists and support people in the music industry or in the arts industry.”

The Arts Council will also be included in the 9th Annual Give Big Gallatin Valley, a 24-hour fundraiser in May that supports local nonprofits. Last year the event raised $2.87 million for 230 nonprofit organizations in the Gallatin Valley.

Donations to support the Arts Council can be made through their website or in-person at their office year-round. Money from people that overpay for an art class also goes directly into the “Contribute What You Can” program.

Attendees of the 11th Annual Auction for the Arts participate in the paddle raise component of the auction that raised funds for the Arts Council of Big Sky’s affordable art class program. PHOTO BY MARCO DELGUIDICE

bigskybozemanrealestate.com

ZY BROWN RANCH RD

Big Sandy

25,000± acre ranch near Big Sandy, MT. 18,124± acres deeded and over 8,000± acres BLM and State lease the ranch is a 650 cow calf pair and had 5,000± tillable acres plus a 30+ year outfitting history for trophy mule deer and big horn sheep hunts. $17,450,000

SIOUX Big Sky

Incredible views of Lone Peak, Mountain Village and Andesite. This home has been partially renovated and would be perfect for a new owner to complete the renovation to their own specifications. Ski accessable with local knowledge.

6

| #377658

| #368590

BIG SKY EVENTS CALENDAR

Thursday, March 9 – March 22

If your next event falls between March 23 and April 4, please submit it to media@theoutlawpartners.com by March 15.

THURSDAY, MARCH 9

Big Sky IFSA Junior National Freeride

Competition

Big Sky Resort, All Day

ARTventure Afterschool Program BASE, 4:30 p.m.

Morningstar Masquerade Ball

Montage Big Sky, 5:45 p.m.

Wild Montana: Backcountry Film Festival

The Waypoint, 6:30 p.m.

Drop-In Hockey

Marty Pavelich Ice Rink, 8 p.m.

Live Music: Robby and Kent Duo Tips Up, 9:45 p.m.

FRIDAY, MARCH 10

Big Sky IFSA Junior National Freeride

Competition

Big Sky Resort, All Day

Open Pottery Studio BASE, 5 p.m.

Live Music: TracendentalExpress Tips Up, 9:45 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 11

Big Sky IFSA Junior National Freeride

Competition

Big Sky Resort, All Day

A Day for Jake

Big Sky Resort, All Day

Screening: Warren Miller’s “Climb to Glory” with American Legion Post 99 The Waypoint, 4 p.m.

Live Music: Amanda Stewart featuring Annie Clements

Montage Big Sky, 7 p.m.

Performance: James Sewell Ballet & The Ahn Trio WMPAC, 7:30 p.m.

Live Music: Zach Aaron The Waypoint, 8 p.m.

Live Music: DJ Swamp Moose Tips Up, 10 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 12

Big Sky IFSA Junior National Freeride

Competition Big Sky Resort, All Day

St. Joseph’s Mass Big Sky Chapel, 8 a.m.

All Saints in Big Sky Big Sky Chapel, 10 a.m.

Open Pottery Studio BASE, 4 p.m.

Big Sky Christian Fellowship Service Big Sky Chapel, 4:30 p.m.

MONDAY, MARCH 13

Competitive Video Games The Waypoint, 7 p.m.

Live Music: Amanda Stewart Montage Big Sky, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY, MARCH 14

Big Sky Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, 8:30 a.m.

Live Music: Kylie Spence Montage Big Sky, 7 p.m.

Screening: “Hoji: The Story of Eric Hjorleifson” The Waypoint, 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15

Learn to Skate (4-5) Marty Pavelich Ice Rink, 5:30 p.m.

Learn to Skate (6-8) Marty Pavelich Ice Rink, 6:15 p.m.

Trivia

The Waypoint, 7 p.m.

Live Music: Mathias Tips Up, 9:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, MARCH 16

Visit Big Sky Board of Directors Meeting Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, 8:30 a.m.

Community Acupuncture Santosha Wellness Center, 11 a.m.

ARTventure Afterschool Program BASE, 4:30 p.m.

Performance: TAIKOPROJECT WMPAC, 7:30 p.m.

Drop-In Hockey

Marty Pavelich Ice Rink, 8 p.m.

Live Music: Dan Dubuque 9:45 p.m.

FRIDAY, MARCH 17

Open Pottery Studio BASE, 5 p.m.

Live Music: Hardwood Heart

The Waypoint, 8 p.m.

Live Music: Wes Urbaniak Tips Up, 9:45 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 18

Live Music: Cole Decker

The Waypoint, 8 p.m.

Live Music: Afro Funk Tips Up, 10 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 19

St. Joseph’s Mass

Big Sky Chapel, 8 a.m.

All Saints in Big Sky

Big Sky Chapel, 10 a.m.

Open Pottery Studio BASE, 4 p.m.

Big Sky Christian Fellowship Service

Big Sky Chapel, 4:30 p.m.

MONDAY, MARCH 20

Competitive Video Games

The Waypoint, 7 p.m.

Live Music: Amanda Stewart

Montage Big Sky, 7 p.m.

TUESDAY, MARCH 21

International Ski Hall of Fame Welcome

Reception and Vintage Ski Fashion Show

Big Sky Resort, 6 p.m.

Live Music: Kylie Spence

Montage Big Sky, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22

International Ski Hall of Fame Cocktail Party/ Book Signings

Big Sky Resort, 5 p.m.

Gallery Paint Party – Paint Your Pet

Big Sky Artists' Collective Studio & Gallery, 5:30 p.m.

Learn to Skate (4-5)

Marty Pavelich Ice Rink, 5:30 p.m.

Emotional First Aid with Shannon Steele

Santosha Wellness Center, 6 p.m.

Learn to Skate (6-8)

Marty Pavelich Ice Rink, 6:15 p.m.

31st Annual International Ski Hall of Fame Awards Banquet

Big Sky Resort, 7 p.m.

Trivia

The Waypoint, 7 p.m.

Live Music: Fish Camp Boys Tips Up, 9:30 p.m.

Featured Event: Big Sky IFSA Junior National 3* Freeride Competition

On March 9-12 freeride skiing and snowboarding athletes ages 12-18 will come to Big Sky Resort for a competitive weekend of extreme riding. Athletes from across the country—and skilled Big Sky rippers— are scheduled to compete on Obsidian and the Headwaters, and will likely be spotted hitting drops, straight lining through chutes, throwing tricks and vying for coveted podium spots.

LISA

Thursday, Friday & Saturday

March 9, 10 & 11

BEHAR

Thursday, Friday & Saturday March 16, 17 & 18

Featuring great curb appeal, mature landscaping and unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains. The Dennis Stoner built signature floor plan has main floor Master Suite and living areas, a river rock fireplace and guest quarters upstairs. A spacious outdoor living area with a wrap around deck is great for entertaining and includes a new hot tub. $2,550,000 #376312 KIRK DIGE 406-580-5475

Thursday, Friday & Saturday March 23,

This Firelight Chalet End Loft condo features a functional, open floor plan that is ideal for any buyer. Original owner and very lightly used, fireplace has never had a fire. Being sold furnished and turnkey, located just down the road from Big Sky’s popular and growing Town Center. $1,349,000 #367306

MAGGIE BIGGERSTAFF 406-580-6244

Why Choose ERA?

Katie is a very professional, efficient and knowledgeable agent. She knows the area very well since she has been a resident since the inception of the town. Working with Katie is always a pleasure. She is honest and hardworking and makes the buying experience easy.”

- Colleen K.

ERABigSky.com

406-995-3444

36 Center Lane, Big Sky, MT

Robyn Erlenbush, CRB, Broker/Owner

Each office independently owned and operated.

Katie Haley Grimm 406-580-3444

3 BED | 3.5 BATH | 2,425 SQ FT

2125 YELLOWTAIL ROAD, BIG SKY

3 BED | 3 BATH | 2,139 SQ FT

181 CANDLELIGHT MEADOWS DR, BIG SKY

BY MIRA BRODY

BUSINESS

MAKING IT IN BIG SKY: GALLATIN RIVER TASK FORCE

BIG SKY—If there’s one thing that all Gallatin River Task Force employees, board and volunteers have in common it’s their love for the Gallatin River. Here in Big Sky, water is life—from our drinking water, recreation activities and also our economy. The Task Force, a grassroots effort founded in 2005, works to protect that life. For this Making it in Big Sky, Explore Big Sky sat down with Kristin Gardner, the nonprofit’s chief executive and science officer, and talked about the Task Force’s conservation projects and how you can get involved. Whether you’re volunteering, donating or simply doing your best to conserve and protect our watershed, those who invest in the Task Force’s mission are key to its success.

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: First, let’s start with a little background on you—when did you first come to Big Sky, what brought you here?

Kristin Gardner: I first started coming to Big Sky regularly in 2003 as a graduate student at Montana State University (MS) to collect field data for my doctoral research that examined the impacts of land use change on streamwater nitrogen patterns. Then in 2005, I received a National Science Foundation scholarship that places scientists in the classroom to assist teachers in developing science curriculum and to hone skills in communicating science to non-technical audiences. I moved to Big Sky full time in 2006.

EBS: How did you get involved with the Gallatin River Task Force?

KG: My first connection with the Task Force was as a volunteer collecting water quality data when the organization was based out of MSU. Shortly thereafter, I connected with Katie Alvin, the founding executive director of the Big Sky-based nonprofit, to obtain landowner contacts to access sampling locations. In addition, she helped me recruit local volunteers to collect water data for large sample collection days when we would go out and collect 50 samples across the watershed in one day.

EBS: Tell me about how GRTF came to be: Who were some of the initial founders and what sparked the idea?

KG: The Task Force started as a grassroots effort organized by the Montana Water Center at MSU to collect water data in the Gallatin River. The Big Sky Water and Sewer District had obtained a permit to discharge treated wastewater effluent into the Gallatin River. The purpose of the data collection was to collect baseline data prior to a surface water discharge to assess whether or not the discharge had an impact on the water quality of the Gallatin River. The BSWSD never used the discharge permit and let it expire and consequently, we are a 100% wastewater reuse community. In 2005, a group of dedicated volunteers led by Katie Alvin and Jon Holtzman, decided to formalize the grassroots effort into a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and move the headquarters to Big Sky.

Protecting our rivers and drinking water is going to take a collective community effort that will include sacrifice. We may not be there yet, but at some point in our future, we will have to make a decision on whether we want green lawns and golf courses or a healthy river with thriving trout populations. I hope we choose the latter

– Kristin Gardner, Chief Executive and Science Officer, GRTF

EBS: Tell me about your staff and board—how many people are behind the work that GRTF does?

KG: We have a talented dedicated staff team of five and board team of 12 that have one thing in common—their passion for the Gallatin River. In addition, we regularly host two AmeriCorps members and typically recruit a few interns in the summer. We rely heavily on support from over a hundred and fifty volunteers and dozens of partner organizations and landowners to move our project work forward.

EBS: What are some of the largest threats to the Gallatin River right now? Have those threats changed at all over the years?

KG: The abundant love of and demand for recreation and development along the Gallatin River between Yellowstone National Park and Bozeman has placed serious pressures on our local rivers, streams, and groundwater. Temperatures are rising and winter snowfall patterns are changing. Collectively, these shifts present an unsustainable proposition for water if left unchecked. Big Sky’s unique geographic management structure is complex, with public and private lands, two county jurisdictions and multiple district-based administrative bodies. This creates an urgent and ongoing need for trust-based collaboration, a focus on community education and behavior change, and the invaluable application of science-based decision making to protect our water resources.

More specifically, the largest threats I see are poorly treated wastewater, water used for landscaping, and the fragmented

government structure that exists to manage water in our community. Water is a public resource and deserves a more holistic approach. Over the years the threats have increased with increasing people, but we have also made significant progress to address these threats. However, there is still much work to be done.

EBS: Why is a healthy river so important, and why the Gallatin specifically? Does our local river health in turn affect other connecting waterways?

KG: In Big Sky–water is life. The plentiful snow of winter on Lone Peak, the healthy trout habitat, and the abundant wildlife and history of indigenous peoples have all, over generations, been supported by the Gallatin River and its waters. These same treasured waters have inevitably become an economic engine for the region—an asset in driving tourism and development, in turn creating jobs and opportunity for many businesses and individuals. Water flows downstream so our local river health both water quality and water quantity affects downstream waters.

EBS: How can the community help? What sort of support or work makes the largest waves when it comes to river conservation and the work GRTF does?

KG: We have a small staff team so community help is critical to protect our waters in and around Big Sky— Everyone has a role to play. Examples of individual actions include:

• Get educated and engaged

• Convert lawns to native landscapes

• Upgrade and maintain septic systems or connect to central sewer

• Use water saving fixture devices (check out EPA Watersense)

• Vote for representatives that support clean water initiatives and regulations

• Call Senator Daines and ask that he support the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act

• Volunteer with the Task Force

• Attend community events

• Advocate for more protective regulations at local, state and federal levels

• Join a local board or attend board meetings in organizations that make water decisions (Task Force, Gallatin Canyon/Big Sky zoning committee, Resort Tax, Water and Sewer)

EBS: Is there any business advice you’ve received over the years you feel has made an impact on your work?

KG: Think big and outside the box, and take calculated risks to open the doors to change, progression and success!

EBS: Anything else you’d like to tell the Big Sky community?

KG: Protecting our rivers and drinking water is going to take a collective community effort that will include sacrifice. We may not be there yet, but at some point in our future, we will have to make a decision on whether we want green lawns and golf courses or a healthy river with thriving trout populations. I hope we choose the latter. Learn more at gallatinrivertaskforce.org.

Gallatin River Task Force staff all believe in one thing–protecting our beautiful Gallatin River. PHOTO COURTESY OF GALLATIN RIVER TASK FORCE

OPINION

A LA CARTE

CUPCAKE LAURYN TURNS MACARON QUEEN

BY RACHEL HERGETT EBS COLUMNIST

Lauryn Mathis came into my life nearly a decade ago, though we can’t possibly be that old. She was one of those people who made an immediate impression, with both her style and demeanor exuding joy. She was oh-so-fun. I was drawn to her wide smile and quick laugh (which I later learned mirrored her mother) and I knew almost immediately that we would be friends. We still are.

When Lauryn, a self-taught baker, started slinging mini cupcakes out of a renovated milk truck at farmers markets, I would walk around with a six pack, nestled in a little egg carton, doing my best low-key Vanna White impression.

“Oh, these cupcakes?” I would ask when people said they looked amazing or cute or delicious. Then I would share the bounty. “Why don’t you try one? I have six.” Not that eating a half dozen of the gems wasn’t possible or plausible. Cupcakes are an easy sell, and sell Lauryn did, making appearances at three markets a week (Tuesdays and Saturdays in Bozeman and Wednesdays in Big Sky) for three summers.

My part in the venture was self-serving, of course. I was generously paid… in cupcakes. And Lauryn’s cupcakes remain the best I have ever tasted. I crave those tiny moist gems of cake topped with a generous dollop of melt-in-your-mouth buttercream. Like Lauryn, they’re classy with a healthy dose of fun — which often translates into her baking through the variety of booze she infuses in her concoctions. Think lemon cupcakes topped with huckleberry liqueur buttercream, chocolate-y Irish car bomb cupcakes that sneak in Guinness beer, Jameson whiskey and Bailey’s Irish Cream.

In early March, Lauryn told me her baking experience in Austin and Denver, and time working in coffee shops, ultimately led to her own exploration of flavors and quality ingredients.

“How can I turn my favorite cocktail — wine, spirit, beer — into some kind of dessert?” she remembers asking. “I really wanted to keep the nostalgia of the cupcake but give it that adult element.”

And she did it well. Somewhere in those early years, my mom started calling her “Cupcake Lauryn,” high praise because “Cupcake” is my mom’s nickname as well. And I went to East Main Ink with Lauryn while she got a tiny cupcake tattoo.

In 2016, as event and wholesale business was picking up, Lauryn hired a staff and expanded her offerings. Especially popular were her French macarons, those little pillowy sandwich cookies that somehow melt in your mouth and retain a light crunch on the exterior.

The boozy element to her desserts took on another level when Lauryn and her then-business partner opened Luxe Spirited Sweets in Big Sky in 2017, serving her creations alongside alcoholic beverages

or with a lightly sweetened milk that poured from one of the taps.

And then Lauryn left me. She moved to Whitefish to open Butterkrēm, which specializes in macarons (often arranged in fantastical towers). But don’t despair. While we’re missing her smiling face in this part of Montana, fans of her confectioneries can rejoice in the fact that Butterkrēm offers nationwide shipping.

Cupcakes still make the menu from time to time, along with other gems like mini hand-made, and let’s be honest, vastly improved “Pop Tarts.”

But the macarons have taken over, and Lauryn brings the same love of flavor and aesthetic perfection to their creation as she does each new sweet treat. I ask her which macaron flavors she is most drawn to at the moment, and she tells me my question is too hard.

“Now I have to think about which child is my favorite,” she said.

She’s a sucker for a classic vanilla bean, but then goes on to name a dark chocolate sea salt macaron

with Godiva liqueur and another that features the sharp lime and rum of a margarita.

Sometimes Lauryn tests flavor boundaries, like using Thai red curry to flavor a cookie with coconut cream cheese filling. She said despite the skeptics, it was “phenomenal” paired with the right red wine. Currently, she’s perfecting a Manhattan macaron with rye whisky.

Butterkrēm treats are available at Boudoir Bar Café in Whitefish, and by special order with nationwide shipping.

For more information, visit butterkrem.com or follow @butterkrem on Instagram.

Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.

Lauryn Mathis poses for a photo in the kitchen. COURTESY OF LAURYN MATHIS

A display of macarons from former Big Sky staple Lauryn Mathis. COURTESY OF LAURYN MATHIS

Macarons arranged by color. COURTESY OF LAURYN MATHIS

ScantoOrderOnline

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE “SYNS” OF THE SPHINX

BY PAUL SWENSON EBS COLUMNIST

Have you ever been hiking or skiing in the backcountry and noticed what looked like a big chunk or boulder of concrete? When I was a kid, I would. I would stop and look around for an old house or cabin, or mining shack, that might be the source of this material. I wanted to find the treasures buried by the homesteaders, hidden away from the marauding bandits. But alas, I never found an old foundation, mine or burried fortune.

It still excites me to find these blocks of rock in the backcountry, however, now I know they are not concrete made by man, but rather a type of sedimentary rock called a conglomerate. The riches of these rocks are not the monetary kind you want as a kid, rather a treasure map of sorts to the geologic history of the Rocky Mountains.

A conglomerate is defined as a number of different entities or parts put together to form a whole, but each still retains its identity. As a rock, a conglomerate usually contains large pebble- to boulder-sized clasts that are surrounded by a sandy matrix. Each of the clasts retains its original properties like composition, color and rock type. Usually the rocks that survive to make up the conglomerate’s clasts are the ones resistant to erosion: limestone, chert, sandstone, gneiss and granite, for example. Geologists can often identify the formation that was the source of the clasts.

Conglomerates usually form as a result of a landmass that has been uplifted and exposed to the erosional forces of water. Looking at the clasts and matrix, one sees rounded boulders, cobbles, pebbles, and sand. It looks like the cross section through a gravel pit. These indicate that there was a lot of energy in the water that moved the sediment along, like a fast-moving river. And the larger the clasts in the conglomerate, the more energy water would need to move them.

Let’s use the Gallatin River as our modern-day analog. Driving through the canyon you see huge

boulders and cobbles mixed with sand in the riverbed. During spring runoff, you can even hear these boulders moving and colliding as they are transported along by the rushing water. Then as you move off into the valley, the river loses gradient and the cobbles get smaller in the gravel bars as you move away from the mouth of the canyon. All the way down by Manhattan, the size of the sediment has now become mostly golf-ball size pebbles and sand. Keep traveling down to Three Forks and the sediment is now predominately marble size gravel and sand. Drawing on these kinds of observations we can infer the type of depositional environment a conglomerate formed in. In addition to the clast size determining the gradient of the stream or river, they can also inform us as to the direction of the flow of the water that deposited them.

One can put this into practice by observing the largest collection of conglomerates in our region:

Sphinx Mountain. The entire mountain, and the smaller “Helmet,” are made up of thousands of feet and many layers of Sphinx conglomerate. It is the only place in the region where you find this formation, and is the erosional remnant of what’s called a synorogenic foreland conglomerate.

Synorogenic means formed during a mountain building event known as an orogeny. As the land is compressed and folded, the crust thickens and increases in elevation. In front of this deformation there is usually a basin formed, called a foreland basin. And it is into this basin that rivers carry sediments from the rising mountains.

In our region, this orogeny was creating the Rocky Mountains to the west. As the mountains rose, the youngest rocks from the top formations eroded first. With continued erosion, older rocks would be exposed and eroded, and so forth. This leads to an “unroofing” sequence in the conglomerate. The layers of conglomerate on the top of the Sphinx contain the oldest (Paleozoic limestones) clasts from the dissected mountains to the west, while the layers at the bottom of the mountain contain the youngest clasts (Mesozoic sandstones and limestones). For the Sphinx conglomerate, all this happened between 75-56 million years ago.

After 56 million years ago, the basin itself was affected by the continued deformation of the orogeny. The layers of the conglomerate were folded, uplifted and then eroded. It is a synclinal fold of the conglomerate that kept the last remnant of this tumultuous period preserved.

So next time you are over on Dakota, Shedhorn, or up on the tram, look to the south and observe the Sphinx and its “syn’s,” synorogenic deposition preserved by a syncline.

Paul Swenson has been living in and around the Big Sky area since 1966. He is a retired science teacher, fishing guide, Yellowstone guide and naturalist. Also an artist and photographer, Swenson focuses on the intricacies found in nature.

Sunrise on Sphinx Mountain displaying its syncline and layers of conglomerate.

PHOTO BY PAUL SWENSON

Conglomerate from the Kootenai Formation. The clasts are pebbles measuring an inch in diameter. PHOTO BY PAUL SWENSON

Ryan Coombs Service Operations Director

Photo

HB 462 PITS MONTANA’S OUTDOORS AGAINST MENTAL HEALTH IN A FALSE NARRATIVE

BY BENJAMIN ALVA POLLEY EBS COLUMNIST

What comes to mind when you think of Montana?

A vast sky where sun and clouds eternally play the game of hide and seek, with shadows dancing across undulating prairies interspersed with the open space of working ranches? Or ribbed, muscular mountains rising toward heaven, flanked with bottle-green trees, u-shaped valleys carved by glaciers with rivers running clear?

Maybe a place teeming with biodiversity and wildlife still freely roaming, and hard-working people fighting to keep all the above characteristics?

A new bill in the Montana Legislature seeks to divert funds away from one of Montana’s most important conservation funds. House Bill 462, sponsored by Rep. Marta Bertaglio, R-Clancy, at the request of the Gianforte administration, is the latest effort to subvert funds from our public lands.

In 2020, Montanans voted to legalize recreational marijuana along with a 20% tax on sales, which went toward Habitat Montana, veteran’s services, substance abuse treatment, health care and local governments. Under Habitat Montana specifically, these funds are allocated to state parks and trails, conservation easements, land trusts with public access and wildlife conservation. But, although the state has an enormous budget surplus right now, HB 462 would strip money from Habitat Montana and allocate it to mental health and increase law enforcement instead.

Habitat Montana is a win-win situation for working ranches and sportsmen and women. It allows landowners to enroll in conservation easements but also allows public access through parcels of their land. The landowner wins because they receive a significant check that ensures the property stays within the family by preventing them from having to subdivide it or develop it in the future.

“Habitat Montana is the best tool we have for keeping Montana, Montana,” says Kevin Farron, the regional policy manager of Montana’s Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. “We’re disappointed in the governor’s budget, and we’re disappointed in the legislature’s attempt to defund the program. It's ridiculous we’re arguing over who gets the money when we’re looking at a record surplus. We’re putting well-deserving programs against one another when we have the budget to do both.”

Bertaglio counters by claiming that “we are suffering from an out-of-control drug problem.”

It’s true, some people in Montana suffer from drug addiction. But to say it’s out of control is hyperbole; the statistics for the highest drug use rank not even in the top five or the top 10 in the nation but No. 16. That’s not to say mental health should be cut short of funding, nor should our great American outdoor heritage. Especially given that public land access is an increasingly acknowledged tool in improving mental health.

More and more studies show that time spent in nature calms nerves, relieves stress, helps people suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, boosts immune systems, helps clarity of thought, reduces the risk of psychiatric disorders, and causes upticks in empathy and cooperation. In Montana, 44,000 adults have a severe mental illness, and this is probably only half of the reported cases. Montana

ranks third in the nation with one of the highest suicide rates.

“Nature has been proven to benefit our physical and mental health in various ways,” says Aaron Adamski, a licensed professional counselor. “There are plenty of public lands to access in Montana, and my life’s goal is to help others access and use this land to help them heal from mental health disorders, trauma, and stressors.”

Montana is Montana because of our outdoor heritage and public lands.

"Montana has remained the Last Best Place because of our shared outdoor values. Attacking our public lands by permanently defunding them undercuts every Montanan who values our public lands,” says Whitney Tawney, executive director of Montana Conservation Voters. “As Montana continues to grow by leaps and bounds, we should invest in what makes Montana the place to raise kids and get outside. We wholeheartedly reject any attempts that put our outdoor way of life at risk, and we know Montanans do too."

Montanans already need help finding access to our public lands because private lands surround some public lands. Much of the public lands have hunting crowding, not to mention the elephant in the room for working ranchlands: rising property tax rates, a real estate boom and inflation.

We want to keep working ranches on the landscape, ensuring open space and viewscapes by fending off development.

The land is the stage where our human stories play out, whether we’re anglers, conservationists, hunters, ranchers, recreationists, veterans, or common everyday Montanans. We all need the place and space that heals us.

A hiker looks over the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park. PHOTO BY JACOB W. FRANK

EVERY DROP COUNTS FIX THE LEAKS; SAVE WATER AND MONEY DURING FIX-A-LEAK WEEK

BY MARNE HAYES EBS CONTRIBUTOR

As the childhood song goes, “There’s a hole in my bucket, dear Liza”. The response? “Then fix it, dear Henry”. Did you know that easyto-fix water leaks account for nearly 1 trillion gallons of water wasted each year in U.S. homes? In fact, the average household leaks nearly 10,000 gallons of water per year, or the amount of water it takes to wash 300 loads of laundry, costing you upwards of an additional 10% on your water bills.

Much more than just a hole in the bucket, and deserving of a look into all of the opportunities available to fix and prevent leaks, saving money and water in our homes and through our community.

With the potential for an average family to waste up to 180 gallons a week, or 9,400 gallons of water annually from household leaks, there is good reason to implement all of the ways you can search your home for leaks and crack down on water waste. Many common household leaks are quick to find and easy to fix. Worn toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and leaking shower heads all are easily correctable and can save on costly utility bills, and protect community water resources.

Leaks in your home could be wasting thousands of gallons of water each year and nearly the equivalent in dollars. Replacing old, inefficient bathroom faucets and plumbing fixtures can reduce the amount of water wasted in an average household by more than 2,700

gallons per year and save the average family $250 in water and electricity costs.

Each year, in partnership with the EPA, the Gallatin River Task Force participates in a week focused on finding and fixing leaks and making your home more water-wise. Known as “Fix-a-Leak Week” (FALW), this annual event is designed to provide resources and tips for saving water and money, increasing your home’s efficiency and promoting future water conservation practices. This national week of recognizing water conservation allows the Task Force to engage community households and businesses and incentivize smart water choices, and better water conservation measures.

You can take advantage of FALW, solidifying your part in saving household money, and community water. First, take time to figure out where potential leaks may live. The EPA promotes its easy-to-follow guide during FALW that helps identify household leaks, and introduce smart practices that address faulty faucets, toilets, showerheads, and even sprinkler systems. Fix-a-Leak Week offers a full suite of ways to proactively engage in awareness, employ better conservation measures, and easily achieve fixes for common leaks in our own homes and businesses that we may be unaware of.

During this year’s FALW—scheduled for March 20-24—the Task Force will be encouraging participation in our free leakdetection and water-saving resources, in addition to promoting our rebate program, which offers savings for improved water use.

From now through April 15, homes and businesses can take advantage of a $75 rebate with proof of leak repair, supporting additional ways to move to higher efficiencies, and greater savings. The rebate program provides resources for homeowners, business owners, and renters to save both money and water; a solution that is good for the Gallatin River and good for you. Checked every toilet, faucet, and pipe and concluded you are leak-free? There are still plenty of ways to implement your own methods of saving water. Consider shortening your shower time, turn off the faucet when brushing teeth, run only full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine, and be sure to regularly check household fixtures and appliances for leaks.

Saving water around the home is simple and smart, and FALW makes it easy to implement adjustments that conserve water. The average household spends as much as $500 per year on its water and sewer bill but could save about $170 per year by retrofitting with waterefficient fixtures and incorporating watersaving practices.

This year’s FALW is the perfect opportunity to jump on board, setting your own personal path for more savings, and better water conservation. By making small adjustments, you could save more than 11,000 gallons annually—and that’s no drop in the bucket.

Marne Hayes is the communications manager for the Gallatin River Task Force.

A leaking faucet. PHOTO BY JOS SPEETJENS

PEAK SKIS SHOWROOM

SKI TIPS WITH DAN EGAN LEAN FORWARD

BY DAN EGAN BS CONTRIBUTOR

The most used overused saying in ski instruction is, “lean forward and pressure the front of your boots.” Even though this phrase is used by most ski instructors and coaches, many skiers ski sitting back with more pressure over the tails of their skis rather pressure on the tips of the skis.

First let’s look at the three major sections of a ski.

Tip: front end of the ski to 3 or 4 inches in front of the toe piece.

Mid-section: 3 to 4 inches in front of the toe binding toe piece to 3 to 4 inches behind the heel piece.

Tail: 3 to 4 inches in behind the tail piece to the end of the ski

When we pressure the tip of the ski, several things are accomplished. It flexes the front section of the ski, which flexes the tip and initiates the turn. This is critical part of controlling speed.

If you only pressure the mid-section of a ski without bending the tip, the result the ski is tends to scoot forward and instantly the pressure hits the tail. Pressuring the tail is pure acceleration, and the combination of these two things moves your foot in front of your hip... which causes you to lose control.

Skiers who “sit back” generally pivot their skis to turn, by twisting their feet, rather than carve turns. When your hips, hands and shoulders are aft of your feet you have few options for turning, you throw your hips into the turn and or pivot your feet.

Returning to the “Lean forward” concept, many people bend their knees by first sinking their hip

down and pushing the knee forward, in other words they sit. This bends the knees but moves the hip back or aft of center resulting with very little pressure on the tongue of their boots and their hip aft of their feet.

The compensating body motion to counter this stance is shoulder forward, however this makes you bend at the waist and puts the hips further back. When we break at the waist, we lose core strength in our midsection. Once the core is broken, the strain is on the lower back and too much strain is put on the thigh. This is not only inefficient, but also exhausting.

So, what is the solution? It's simple: stand up and move your hips over your feet during the transition of the turn. While reaching forward into the new pole plant with the downhill hand, shift your shoulder forward and down the hill and tighten your core as you tip your skis into the new turn. This will load up the tip of the ski and initiate the new turn with tip pressure and the result will be a carving ski with an even flow of snow from tip to tail.

Now let’s talk about ski boots. Boots are designed with varying degrees of stiffness, referred to as the flex rating. Boots are constructed with a flex rating ranging from 60 to 140 and on average most boots fall within an 80 to 130.

There is no industry standard between brands, so a 130 flex in one brand could be 120 or less in another. And the other varying part of a boot design is cuff angle. Cuff angle is the forward lean of a boot and manufacturers have models of ski boots with different forward leans. The trend lately has been to straighten cuff angles, and if this is the case with your boots, it puts the knee not over the toes.

Because of the stiffness of boots, there is only so far the knee can actually move forward.

So, with this limitation how can we get further forward to create the desired tip pressure required for a turning ski? Simple! We create angles, starting with flexing the ankle and driving it to the inside of the turn, this is complemented by moving the hip forward while angling the knee into the hill.

The result in forward pressure at the top of the turn. As we move through the turn yes, the hips will sink low, the feet will move forward as the ski accelerates but by moving forward and standing up in the transition of the turn you can realign your body over your feet for the next turn. And just like that you will be leaning forward.

Extreme Skiing Pioneer, Dan Egan coaches and guides at Big Sky Resort during the winter. His 2022/23 steeps camps at Big Sky Resort run March 1-3, and March 8-10. His book, “Thirty Years in a White Haze” was released 2021 and his newest book, “All-Terrain Skiing II” was released this November and comes with a free app which you can download from Google and Apple App Stores. His books and worldwide ski camps are available at www.Dan-Egan.com

Dan Egan driving the tips on the steeps. PHOTO BY RUMBLE PRODUCTIONS

Dan Egan getting tip pressure in the powder. PHOTO BY DEGAN MEDIA

Dan Egan gets forward in the bumps. PHOTO BY RUMBLE PRODUCTIONS

BY STEPHEN TRIMBLE WRITERS ON THE RANGE

Last November, the Great Salt Lake, iconic landmark of the Great Basin Desert, fell to its lowest surface elevation ever recorded. The lake had lost 73% of its water and 60% of its area. More than 800 square miles of lakebed sediments were laid bare to become dust sources laden with heavy metals.

Without emergency action to double the lake’s inflow, it could dry out in five years. “We’re seeing this system crash before our eyes,” warns Bonnie Baxter, director of the Great Salt Lake Institute at Salt Lake City’s Westminster College.

Settlers colonized the eastern shoreline 175 years ago, displacing Native peoples, and all of us who followed have mostly taken this desert lake and its fiery sunsets for granted. But the lake is an economic engine as well as an ecological treasure.

Its waters and wetlands yield thousands of jobs and an annual $2.5 billion for Utah from mineral extraction and brine shrimp eggs used worldwide as food for farmed fish and shrimp. The lake also suppresses windblown toxic dust, boosts precipitation of incoming storms through the “lake effect,” and supports 80% of Utah’s wetlands.

The Great Salt Lake has no outlet. It can hold its own against evaporation only if sufficient water arrives from three river systems, fed by snowmelt in the lake’s 21,000-square-mile mountain watershed. When that flow declines, the shallow lake recedes.

In each of the last three years the lake has received less than a third of its average streamflow, recorded since 1850. And as the lake shrinks, it grows saltier, currently

measuring 19% salinity. This is six times as salty as the ocean and well past the 12% salinity that’s ideal for brine shrimp and brine flies.

More than 10 million birds depend on the lake’s tiny invertebrates for food. Half of the world’s population of Wilson’s phalaropes feasts on Great Salt Lake brine flies in summer, taking on fat reserves for their 3,400-mile, non-stop migration to South America. For phalaropes, the lake is “a lifeline,” says conservation biologist Maureen Frank.

All these wonders do best with a minimum healthy lake level of about 4,200 feet in elevation, which the Great Salt Lake hasn’t seen for 20 years.

You could say that the crisis snuck up on us.

Our big build-up of dams, canals and pipelines to harness incoming water throughout the lake’s watershed began soon after 1900. With a lake this big and with natural fluctuations in weather, “unsustainable behavior doesn't get noticed until you are really far down the line,” says Ben Abbott, ecologist at Brigham Young University.

By the 1960s, diversions had bled the lake to levels nearly as low as we see today. But then an extraordinary wet period masked the downward trend. In the mid-1980s, the lake hit an historic high, flooding wetlands and highways and threatening the Salt Lake City Airport.

When precipitation dropped to normal, lake levels declined again, aided by today’s drying and warming climate, which is reducing natural flows and increasing evaporation, a recent but growing impact.

But agriculture is the primary driver of the disappearing lake. Two-thirds of the diversions in the Great Salt Lake watershed go to farms and ranches. With climate change accelerating, experts say the only way to bring back the lake is to decrease diversions and crank open the spigots of incoming streams.

Because Utah manages its own water, it’s up to the state Legislature to save the lake. “We can’t talk water into the

lake” through studies and task forces, as Salt Lake City Rep. Joel Briscoe puts it. The state Legislature can—and must—pass mandates and incentives to reduce water use, purchase water rights, pay farmers to fallow fields and increase streamflow.

To pass such legislation, lawmakers must withstand unremitting pressure from a chorus of high-paid and powerful water lobbyists.

The 2023 Utah legislative session ended on March 3. Members didn't take decisive and difficult action to save the Great Salt Lake from collapse, with some advocates describing the action taken as legislative Band-aids. As the Brigham Young University scientist Ben Abbott says, “Unlike politicians, hydrology doesn’t negotiate.”

Waiting another year may be too late. Utah—the second driest state in the nation—must come to grips with its arid heart.

Stephen Trimble is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring conversation about the West. A 35th anniversary update of his book, The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin, will be published next year.

Antelope Island looking over Great Salt Lake. PHOTO BY MICHAEL SHOEMAKER

HEALTH BUZZ

STAYING WELL IN 2023

BY DR. KALEY BURNS EBS COLUMNIST

Are you working harder to stay well? Catching bugs more often? Feeling less energetic?

Post-viral conditions can include a wide range of ongoing health problems. These conditions can last weeks, months, or even years. One systematic review estimated that 80% of patients developed one or more long-term symptoms following the recent viral pandemic. The five most common residual symptoms following a viral infection are fatigue (58%), headache (44%), attention/concentration disorder (27%), hair loss (25%), and dyspnea/shortness of breath (24%). According to another survey, thousands of Americans have sought medical care for post-viral health concerns.

These symptoms can be difficult to explain and manage. Clinical evaluations and results of routine blood tests, chest x-rays, and electrocardiograms may often be normal. When symptoms arise that are not explained by tests or scans, it can become difficult for patients to find support and care options with conventional care.

The main concern for individuals is unrelenting fatigue. Many patients experience symptoms and sensations that resemble, in part, a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). This includes the presence of severe fatigue, neurocognitive struggles, compromised sleep, and symptoms suggestive of autonomic nervous system dysfunction.

Holistic care provides options

While there are medical conditions that mimic CFS that should be ruled out, there is evidence that the immune system, oxidative stress, and microbiome/digestive health all play a role in the syndrome. Although each patient’s treatment plan will be different, there are some common approaches that should be considered.

The types of food we eat and the challenges to maintain a healthy diet have changed significantly over the past few decades. In particular, we now

know that added sugar is much more harmful to our health than previously thought. It's little surprise many of the unhealthier products make it into our homes when you consider that there are more than 30 types of added sugar and there are no restrictions around the amount of sugar or salt that can be added to foods.

The good news is that implementing consistent lifestyle habits can go a long way in supporting optimal health and wellness. Health is a daily practice!

Make your plate anti-inflammatory

Evidence shows that adopting an antiinflammatory diet shows promise in treating chronic fatigue conditions. This means a mostly plant-based dietary pattern focusing on fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and whole grains. Food is fuel for a functioning immune system and a healthy body. Here are a few tips for boosting the value of what you consume:

• Try new veggies: red vegetables are full of phytonutrients that act as antioxidants and help reduce inflammation. Yellow vegetables contain essential minerals and vitamins A, C, and B6. Green veggies are rich in vitamins A, C, E, and K and many of the B vitamins. These vegetables also contain an abundance of antioxidants.

• Enjoy some omega-3s: salmon, walnuts and chia seeds have omega-3 fatty acids which help to reduce inflammation.

• Limit processed foods. Processed foods limit your body's ability to fight diseases effectively. No need to over-restrict but try scaling back a little. For example, replace chips with carrots and hummus for a crunchy snack.

Stress makes an impact

We live in an era of increasing stress levels, which is a huge contributor to today's level of immunity.

Take a moment to check in with your mental health. What is contributing to your stress?

Signs that your stress is high:

• Gastrointestinal symptoms

• Stomach problems

• Headaches and migraines

• Trouble sleeping

Putting time in your schedule for yourself is key to lowering stress levels. Taking a bath, cooking a meal, or walks around the neighborhood are good ways to spend time taking care of yourself.

Move More

An active lifestyle can boost your metabolism and immunity! Ease yourself into a more active schedule by adding 10 minutes of stretching when you wake and before bed. Body weight exercises are powerful resistance exercises; try doing a few rounds of squats, planks, or push-ups daily.

Satisfy Your Sleep Requirements

If you're having trouble sleeping at night, is light from your phone to blame? Browsing social media or watching TV right before bed can affect your sleep schedule by interfering with melatonin production. Try putting the phone on silent or turn it off an hour before you intend to go to sleep.

Seek Support When Needed

If you've struggled to make progress on your own, recruit your team! A team of holistic practitioners allows you to utilize a variety of treatments that work together to heal the body as a whole. At Big Sky Natural Health, patients can utilize therapies such as intravenous nutrients, acupuncture, holistic lifestyle counseling, reiki and more, with one collective team. We also work with your other practitioners to ensure balanced care. You can improve your own health when you practice a daily holistic way of life and work with your team on your wellness.

Dr. Kaley Burns is the founder, owner and naturopathic doctor at Big Sky Natural Health. She embraces a natural approach to health and aims to similarly inspire and guide others on their health journey. Dr. Burns has advanced training application of regenerative and intravenous injection therapy. She also serves as the vice president and CE liaison of the Montana Association of Naturopathic Physicians.

Evidence shows that adopting an anti-inflammatory diet shows promise in treating chronic fatigue conditions.

PHOTO BY ANNA PELZER

BIG SKY BEATS BIG SKY BEATS: IRISH PUB

BY JULIA BARTON

Saint Patrick was born in the fifth century and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. Although the Irish have celebrated the religious holiday for a millenia, the modern St. Patrick’s Day holiday—observed annually on March 17, the day of his death—didn’t begin until 1631. Due to the holiday’s religious significance, Irish pubs were seldom open on March 17, but in 1995, the Irish government began a new campaign to drive tourism by capitalizing on interest in the holiday, and drinking has since become a staple for many St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Enjoy this playlist that intends to create the ambience of an Irish pub in any establishment, so long as you provide the Guinness and are sure to wear green.

1. “Drunken Sailor” by The Irish Rovers

2. “Ríl Liatroma” by Téada

3. “Whiskey in the Jar” by The Pogues, The Dubliners

4. “On the One Road” by The Wolfe Tones

5. “Last Nights Fun” by Dervish

6. “Beer, Beer, Beer” by The Clancy Brothers

7. “Tim Finnegan’s Wake” by The Tramps

8. “Tessie” by The Dropkick Murphys

9. “Drink The Night Away” by Gaelic Storm

10. “Whiskey, You’re the Devil” by The Poxy Boggards

For the first time in Big Sky, The Inn will offer a unique second home ownership opportunity in a luxury Residence, steps from the new Montage Big Sky. Connected by an underground pathway, Montage Residences Big Sky offers owners privileged access to the resort’s amenities and services, plus ski-in, ski-out access to Big Sky Resort. All owners will also enjoy the benefit of membership at Spanish Peaks Mountain Club, which includes private concierge services, a Tom Weiskopf Championship golf course, clubhouse and a year-round calendar of special, member-only events and experiences. Ownership at The Inn is offered in deeded, quarter-share ownership interests, and includes fully-furnished three- and four-bedroom Residences, as well as an exclusive après ski resident’s lounge, ski lockers and lobby bar.

14240 Cottonwood Road | Bozeman, MT

2,672± SQFT | 63.75± ACRES

4 Bedrooms | 3.5 Bathrooms

Listed for $10,000,000

Listed by Kristen Hoell, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Montana

15 Colters Run Loop, Gallatin Foothills | Big Sky, MT 3,400± SQFT

5 Bedrooms | 4 Bathrooms Listed for $2,900,000

Listed By Michael Pitcairn