Montana News Roundup: Pivot Point for Passenger Trains

Today's an important one for the efforts to bring passenger rail service back to Montana's "Southern Route", as the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority starts to shift from concept to implementation.

Authority Chair Dave Strohmaier says during the three-day conference going on in Livingston, attendees from all along the multi-state "Route of the Hiawatha" will be shifting focus to implementation…

"It's not too early to be starting to think about where would your station location be? How would we provide connecting services to get you from your rail station to your final destination?" Strohmaier says.

"Where will the rail stations be located? What sort of infrastructure investments are necessary to accommodate both freight and passenger trains"- BSPRA Chair Dave Strohmaier

The "Hiawatha" is the only new service corridor being considered, and Strohmaier says the next step is the Service Development study, expected to take the next two years.

    🚆 The conference is underway today and continues tomorrow at the historic Livingston Depot.

Park visits steady, but not record-setting in '25

Statistics continue to show 2025 will turn out as a solid, but not a record-breaking year for tourism in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.

The latest numbers for Yellowstone show just over 880,000 people visited the park in August, which is a 2% bump over last year. But the comparison with the park's biggest year, 2021, shows August traffic down by 4%. That's the year the park had seen nearly 3.6 million visitors before Labor Day, and would go on to a new record of 4.8 million visits. This year is off that pace by 1%.

    🏕️ Overall visitation in Glacier is down 4% from last August, with a year-to-date total of 2.4 million visits, slightly ahead of last year.

No more water problems on Flathead Lake

Even with the recent dry weather, Flathead Lake levels have remained fairly stable and are starting the gradual drop that's traditional for the fall.

After working through a dramatic drop in water earlier in the summer, Energy Keepers reports the amount of water passing below the dam has remained stable, while the amount of water coming into the lake is gradually dropping, and the lake will be down to its minimum elevation by the end of October, allowing for a lower level to prevent wave damage to shoreline properties.

Bike rider killed near Missoula

Montana Highway Patrol troopers are now saying it was a 68-year-old Arlee man who was killed over the weekend when his Harley went off I-90 west of Missoula.

Troopers say the bike crashed through a chain link fence and onto its side. The victim was wearing a helmet but died at the scene. A 10-year-old girl riding with him was also wearing a helmet. She was injured but survived.

Lightning brings more fire starts

Firefighters were busy yesterday dealing with a rash of smaller, lightning caused fires across West Central Montana yesterday, all sparked by a big storm Sunday afternoon. But all were limited to 10-acres of less, thanks to quick attacks.

Kootenai National Forest continues to be the most active fire area in the state, with firefighters still working 10-active fires. The slow-burning Ulm, which straddles the Montana-Idaho border, is the largest, with 10% containment at more than 2500 acres.

     🔥 Others are burning a few hundred acres each, with the 694-acre Ransome Fire north of Libby now 29% contained.

Dark money idea in Butte

The latest effort to shut down the flow of "dark money" into Montana elections will be up for discussion during a presentation in Butte this week. Tom O'Neil has the details from the Montana State News Network.