A recent socioeconomic resilience study projects that drought and warming waters could result in a spending decline in recreational activity of 64% on southwestern Montana rivers. Adaptation for the recreation industry starts with client messaging about how those impacts translate into lower stream flows, higher water temperatures and other impacts that kill fish and ultimately change their vacations.

“At the root of organic farming is the belief that we must feed the soil, not the plant,” Doug Crabtree of Vilicus Farms says as his seeder locks into its GPS track. “You have to learn the art of tillage….Almost all we do is experimental and the elephant in the room is the climate changing beneath our feet, or above our head, as it were.”

It’s a wet, cool spring day in the Blackfoot Valley – a perfect day for burning. Dave Atkins methodically burns wood in a small fire ring and then extinguishes it to create “biochar,” a new term for a simple, ancient product that could be a new tool to retain more water and sequester more carbon in soils.

“Even though our visitation numbers have gone up, we’ve seen our demand drop over the last five years in Mountain Village…We improved our water metering, creating four tiers of rates – the more you use, the more you pay. There’s a correlation with rate setting and driving people to conserve water.” – Ron Edwards, Big Sky Water and Sewer District

Last summer, the Montana Conservation Corps’ Mesic Strike team built 20-30 imitation beaver dam structures in two stream channels at one central Montana restoration site. This low-tech restoration focuses on building simple, affordable structures that can help waterways and riparian zones regain natural form and function – and hold more water - after years, decades, or centuries of disruption.

“I can build a fence right here on my iPad. The programming that I implement goes to Vence, the virtual fencing company in San Diego. And whatever magic they work means I can control the herd and better manage the grasses without having to build and maintain actual fences…” – Leo Barthelmess, Malta-area rancher