The 2026 Forest Service reorganization rejects the lesson of the 1988 fires. The West is entering what may be a historically dangerous fire summer with an intentionally traumatized agency managing 193 million acres of forest and grassland.
open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
The labor movement in Montana isn’t in the rear view mirror, although dark money campaigns are working hard to make it so. Montana’s workers are focused on keeping our history alive. Let’s support them.
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Our land and our libraries are not backdrops. They are the connective tissue that nurture life, and republics.
On this July 4, let’s celebrate the land, and our libraries. And our freedom to be changed by what we experience there.
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Bids to restore Virginia City’s courthouse, the oldest in Montana, are due today. This town’s collection of more than two hundred original structures makes it one of the most intact gold rush townscapes in the West.
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Under the surface of the Last Best Place lies machinery for global annihilation. Radar stations of 1950s were built on a theory that warning buys time, and time might buy survival. That theory assumed two superpowers playing by understood rules.
That world is gone.
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Although we don’t know what the comment period will be, or when or if it will happen, we can still continue to engage and submit our comments on this project. Comments can be submitted to West Fork District Ranger Daniel Pliley at Daniel.Pliley@usda.gov.
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It’s calving season. Ranchers vaccinate because of the financial risk they face if they don’t. Under Robert Kennedy, the government has cut vaccinations routinely recommended for children. Let’s apply a common sense approach of taking care of public health. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
The RHTP funds infrastructure, not patient care. $1.2 billion over five years does not replace the $4.8 to $6.1 billion in federal Medicaid dollars leaving the state over ten years.
When your hospital is on the ropes, consider how you vote.
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In Holland Lake Lodge it is time to rethink the West, and revisit the Pinchot – Muir - Roosevelt debate.
Let’s grab it with both hands. We the People must claim the right to make decisions about how our public lands are used, and who benefits from them, and how.
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With gold at record highs, mining the Blackfoot River is happening again. If the River that Runs Through it means more than digging for gold and leaving us with the waste, submit your comments to the DEQ before April 6. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
Montana’s modern homestead exemption is an effort to protect the economic stability of homeowners and long term renters. The deadline for filing for tax relief is March 20.
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We the People are not an inconvenient flock of sheep to be herded into righteous wars. We are the fundamental voice of legitimacy.
Presidents must bring their case to the public before the dying starts. Mansfield worked on the War Powers Act to hold us accountable. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
Our data is private and if Montana’s SOS shares it, it cannot be “unshared.”
Republicans who fail to respect our constitutional right to privacy will be on the ballot. We can decide, at the ballot box, whether we want this to continue.
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NorthWestern’s tax bonanza shouldn’t mean Bonner and West Riverside residents get a giant travel plaza, with costs socialized to the rest of the county’s taxpayers. The second Missoula County Commissioners’ public hearing is this Thursday, March 12 at 2:00 p.m. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
Daines and Sheehy trying to appoint their successors in Montana. We don't want monarchists who choose their successors. Let them know - ballots drop May 8.
If you don’t like what is happening in Ravalli County with Sheep Creek, vote for the candidates that support what you support: democrats - not the monarchists who are trying to choose their successors.
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Residents of Bonner can’t have traffic, noise, and pollution from a travel plaza on their river front, all based on a promise. False choices do not help communities decide what growth looks like. Show up on March 5 at 2:00 to make your voice heard. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile successfully used arbitration clauses to block customers from suing over data privacy breaches but now want a jury trial for themselves. Constitutional rights must be enforced to protect We the People, and hold Corporations accountable.
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Good government requires making sure the bridges in our neighborhoods are safe, that our schools are funded and our neighbors aren’t priced out of the homes they’ve lived in for decades. That’s why I’m running for Montana HD 92!! Please help out by donating to our campaign! Thank you!
The joy of college sports, being a Griz, or a Hoosier, or a Bobcat, is traded for a rotating cast of players who might be at a rival school next season. That model may work for winning, but leaves the true ideal of sports and what is gained from competition behind. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
The Year of the Fire Horse is a time to speak up and speak out and to remember the people who did so much to build America. The oldest Chinese restaurant in America is not on either coast, but in Butte, America.
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To confront consolidation of wealth and rising costs, we need to dispel the myth of the cowboy and draw from the promise of Lincoln, who preserved the Union, expanded its promise and gave us reason to believe in our better angels.
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It is politically incoherent to fight for Roberto on Monday and vote for his deportation on Tuesday.
If Roberto belongs here, working on our trucks and coaching our kids, our politics have to match our beliefs. Run for office. Vote for what you believe in.
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Let's be the people who see the best in each other - more Olympians in congress! www.nationaljournal.com/s/730901/cap...
The most powerful tool we have is our vote. Ensuring that every eligible person can cast a ballot, free from intimidation, confusion, or despair, is how we move “faster, higher, stronger — together” toward a society where every family can live without fear. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
Getting money out of politics is essential for the health of our democracy. The Montana Plan gives us options, but we need to work for them. Get in touch with with Transparent Election Initiative to find ways to help.
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Consolidation of land is the physical manifestation of wealth disparity across America. Post-civil war restructuring confronted this consolidation, with the West being central to defining physical spaces, civic institutions, and the rule of law.
Lets' do it again.
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For Renee Good and Alex Pretti, for our integrity as Americans, We the People must continue to bear witness.
I’ve signed up to take action with No Kings on Monday, Jan 26, 2026, 8pm - 9pm EST. Are you free to join me? Use this link to sign up: mobilize.us/s/g5ekqY open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
Western women had early voting rights, but they were granted by men using women’s voices for their own ends. Women's rights must be protected as durable freedoms, not privileges to be granted and taken away by men depending on the political whim of the day. open.substack.com/pub/monicatr...
How does this square with reconstruction argument of no federal troops to states? Through line - racism. If states are racist and feds are not - no fed troops. If states aren't racist and feds are - then bring in the feds.
