A bill currently sitting in Congress could close the few remaining gaps in the Continental Divide Trail, including one that interrupts the route in Jefferson County.  Read Article

Jefferson County's planned Western Legacy Center could be open as soon as Memorial Day in spring 2022, and a multi-million-dollar fundraising drive is underway to try to make it happen.  Read Article

Four years after Jefferson High School started seriously exploring the question of what to do with its cramped and aging campus, the moment of reckoning has arrived. Read Article

Cold temperatures including freezing overnight lows, as well as a dusting of snow early this week, considerably reduced the activity of the Haystack Fire south of Boulder, which stood at 24,011 acres and 88% contained on Monday.  Read Article

What could the South Campus of the former Montana Developmental Center and the lands south of the fairground look like in the years and decades to come? County leaders aren't yet sure, but they're coming up with ideas and taking public comments in an attempt to figure it out.  Read Article

For a third consecutive weekend, a massive plume of smoke rose from the mountains south of Boulder and towered over the town and surrounding terrain to the north and east, depending on the wind. But the smoke this past weekend was different: It was more from fires intentionally lit by the fi… Read Article

Five days, 25 local volunteers and 2,800 lunches—that’s what it took to feed hundreds of firefighters battling the Haystack Fire south of Boulder last week and weekend.   Read Article

The national forests that blanket the Elkhorn Mountains east of Boulder grew by 1,418 acres earlier this month, after a conservation effort by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Montana Fish & Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Montana’s Outdoor Legacy Foundation resulted in the purchase—a… Read Article

The Golden Sunlight Mine in southern Jefferson County is on track to ship reprocessed tailings by the end of the year, after receiving approval for the project from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality earlier this month.  Read Article

The Haystack Fire east of Elk Park and southwest of Boulder has grown to more than 1,760 acres and is burning in the upper reaches of the Little Boulder River drainage after high winds, low moisture and hot temperatures helped the fire run about 1.5 miles to the northeast last week, expandin… Read Article

UPDATE, 12 p.m., Sept. 13: Read Article

A wildfire was burning on a ridgeline west of Whitetail Road as of Tuesday, roughly between Whitetail Reservoir and Delmoe Lake.  Read Article

Fire restrictions across Jefferson County have been rolled back from stage-two restrictions to stage-one restrictions—allowing, among other activities, campfires in designated areas and the operation of motor vehicles off-trail where otherwise normally allowed.  Read Article

Basin’s resident jazz trombonist and vocalist, MJ Williams, has been nationally recognized as a 2021 Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association.  Read Article

The Haystack Fire in southwestern Jefferson County grew to an estimated 150 acres by midday Tuesday, three days after being estimated at just 1.5 acres. The Gatlin Gulch Fire southwest of Boulder was mostly contained, smoldering and not expected to grow. Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest … Read Article

The Jefferson County Commission unanimously voted to approve the city of Boulder’s request for $110,000 in county American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase and transport a building from Jim Darcy Elementary School north of Helena to use as a child care facility in Boulder.  Read Article

Favorable weather conditions including recent rain showers have aided firefighters in gaining the upper hand over local wildfires that ignited in recent weeks, including the Gatlin Gulch Fire southwest of Boulder, which was 70% contained as of Monday.  Read Article

The video, taken by a farmer in a field of hay that had just been harvested, showed dry stalks poking up from arid earth that seemed to writhe on its own—a plague of grasshoppers dining on the plants that normally become livestock feed, completely blanketing the ground and buzzing through the air.  Read Article

Coronavirus cases in Jefferson County, which in many recent weeks recorded only one active case at a time, are on the rise, fueled by infections among the unvaccinated.  Read Article

Fire restrictions outlawing all campfires, operation of vehicles off of designated roads and trails, and the discharge of firearms in most cases went into effect across Jefferson County on Saturday, July 31, and the restrictions were already in effect on some lands in the county before Saturday.  Read Article

The future of a child care initiative spearheaded by the city of Boulder is unclear after two Jefferson County Commissioners were split on Tuesday over whether to spend $110,000 in county American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase and transport a building from Jim Darcy Elementary School nor… Read Article

Jefferson County could become the next owner of the Montana Tunnels Mine, a large open-pit mine near Corbin, west of Jefferson City, and the state Department of Environmental Quality may take over the mine's permit.  Read Article

Boulder City Attorney Ed Guza presented the City Council with a first draft of the contract agreement that the city hopes to make with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to provide police services in Boulder.  Read Article

Jefferson County's North Tax Increment Finance Industrial District is operating at a deficit and unable to afford expenses and bond payments that exceed revenue, and leaders are unsure of the district's path forward.  Read Article