Big Sky Blog

Not a huge fan of Jewel, but still pretty cool that she wrote and performed “The Missoula Song.” Wonder what she could have done with, say, Two Dot or Wolf Point or Bigfork?

Jason Burlage of Bozeman, an MSU graduate, will screen his documentary film “Mi Chacra” (My Land) at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on February 19th at 5:30pm at the Wilma Theatre in downtown Missoula.

The film tells the story of Feliciano, an indigenous Peruvian farmer who works as a porter on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in hopes of some day taking his son to live in the city.

Learn more by visiting the official website.

Unless you have been living in a cave or a cabin in Lincoln the buzz around the state is the Football Championship Series semifinal game the University of Montana Grizzlies will be playing against the top ranked James Madison University Dukes in Harrisonburg, VA this Friday. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 and KPBR-FM, 105.9 or your radio dial, will broadcast the game in the Billings area.

The 12-1 Dukes and the 13-1 Grizzlies will be meeting for the second time. The first was the 2004 championship game in Chattanooga, TN which was notable for the horrific field conditions in which Montana lost 31-21.

If you don’t have ESPN2 at home nearly every sports bar in the city will have it on so head on down and enjoy the game. If you have to work, God forbid, then dial in the KPBR and cheer for the Griz!

If you know which radio station in your town is broadcasting the game leave a note in the comments.

Dr. John Francis traveled the world by foot and sail and didn’t speak for 17 years. Now that he’s speaking again he has quite a bit to say and it’s interesting to hear what role the University of Montana played in his success.

Only you can prevent forest fires.

To help us prevent forest/wildfires several fire management organizations have created a public website called firerestrictions.org to keep us abreast of where and how severe the fire dangers are around the country. Montana is part of the Northern Rockies Region which is composed of Montana, Idaho, North Dakota and northwest South Dakota.

From The Billings Gazette:

The public can access the most current information on fire restrictions and what areas may be closed. The Web site is a cooperative effort between the Northern Rockies Coordination Group and the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis at the University of Montana.

Wildland fire restrictions are implemented in two stages, stage I and stage II, in Montana, Idaho and northwest South Dakota. North Dakota refers to restrictions as very high and extreme. Weather, moisture in the vegetation, number of human-caused and natural fire starts, firefighting resource availability and other factors are considered to determine if wildland fire restrictions are needed.

When you go out and about this summer have fun but let’s also remember the admonition of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, “Let’s be careful out there.”