Bozeman Build Report #27
Howdy makers of Montana
Welcome back to the Bozeman Build Report covering trade related activities happening in Montana and around the Northern Rockies. Today we’re talking about Balloon UFOs, property tax revenue shortfall, Belgrade new water wells, fire tanks, Acela Trucks, Wildlife overpass projects, Big Timber slides, Saint Mary water works, grasshoppers plaguing ranchers, Paradise Valley canals, carnival ride trailers, Pipestone abandoned rail riding, relevant commodities, upcoming weather, and more.
Thanks again for reading and please enjoy the next 5 minutes covering what Montana is made of.
View of East Billings from Four Dances Rec Area
Keep the saw sharp and tell us what your working on,
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Bozeman and Montana Trade Pulse
Bozeman trade pulse
MSU kicked off classed Wednesday August 21st.
There were some reports in Bozeman of some objects floating around South of town over the Gallatin’s, turns out it was BOREALIS, MSGC's high altitude ballooning program. Here was the flight path.
Small fire ignited and contained up Bozeman creek on 8/23/2024
Aug 21, 2024 - Decrease in Bozeman taxable values attributed to improper assessment of new construction. Earlier this month, the Bozeman City Commission was told that the city's taxable values decreased from last year. While the city of Bozeman was expecting to see 3% growth when certified values were released by the Department of Revenue. They instead saw over a 2% decrease, which equating to a loss of more than $5 million in taxable values.
Aug 21, 2024 -The Bozeman City Commission reviewed the status of its affordable housing ordinance in a work session Tuesday night. The ordinance incentivizes developers to construct affordable units, but many feel it is insufficient with incentives being secured for builders at just 5% of their developments. **The city said there are currently 387 affordable units under construction as a result of the affordable housing ordinance, and 1,079 units are in the pipeline across 15 different projects.
Aug 22, 2024 - City of Belgrade imposes temporary water restrictions, says solutions underway. The water restrictions are mainly time-based, restricting all overhead watering to the hours of 6 p.m. to 5 a.m.
August 22, 2024 - Beginning August 26th, the City of Belgrade will begin construction of two municipal groundwater wells. The project is expected to continue through Spring 2025. These wells represent a significant expansion of Belgrade’s water system by increasing production capabilities by nearly 50% and modernizing multiple existing water facilities. Grade A Civil is the project’s prime contractor and engineering services are being provided by DOWL. The new well sites are located in Lewis & Clark Park and Sunnyside Park. - City of Belgrade
Some well drilling action at Sunnyside Park, Belgrade, MT
Bozeman MT Project Portal
There were no newly created or modified projects over the previous 7 days.
Montana grade fire truck
Photos of Bridger Canyon Fire Districts Tatra beast of a firetruck parked on MSUs campus for the annual start of school “Catapalooza”. Tatra makes trucks for customers in defense, construction, mining, forestry, ag, oil, and fire industries.
Compared to Acela Truck Company, a Bozeman based manufacture taking the niche of smaller more compact capable trucks.
Montana trade pulse
Aug 19, 2024 - Montana Lays Plans for Federally Funded Wildlife Overpass. The program will fund another $145 million in projects for fiscal year 2024-2025, and is accepting applications over the next few weeks. Of the $110 million funding granted in 2023, Montana received $9 million.
Aug 19, 2024 - After years of the iconic but shuttered Big Timber water slides sitting along the interstate unused, the time to say goodbye to the landmark is quickly approaching. I'm going to use the tower for a treehouse Airbnb.
Slides at the ole Big Timber Waterpark photo cred to KBZK
Aug 20, 2024 - The Bureau of Reclamation held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning for the St. Mary Diversion Dam Rehabilitation Project in Glacier County, aiming to secure water resources for irrigated lands and communities in north central Montana. The current dam was completed in 1915, and consists of a concrete weir and sluiceway that diverts water from the St. Mary River into the St. Mary Canal. The new construction will supply water resources for 110,000 acres of irrigation land and communities.
Montana State University researches this stuff at the Western Transportation Institute
Wildlife crossings plotting
Aug 21, 2024 - Hoppin' mad: Montana ag producers frustrated with grasshopper invasion. It’s a cycle that USDA State Plant Heath Director Gary Adams says the state of Montana has been in for the past several years. There are about 400 species of grasshoppers in the western states, but only a small number of those species are considered economically damaging to crops and rangeland.
Aug 22, 2024 - Lewistown will get a new VA health clinic. The Veterans Health Administration said in a news release that it has awarded a contract for a new VA Outpatient Clinic in Lewistown. The new facility will be almost double the size of the existing facility, with about 6,100 square feet.
MDT News
Dated August 19th-23rd.
20240822-122225 | Chip Seal Scheduled On MT 200 Curve Widening Project
20240821-135419 | Construction Substantially Complete In Boulder
20240821-134432 | Construction Substantially Complete On Highway 282
20240821-104318 | Proposed Detour On I-90 Frontage Road
20240819-080930 | Proposed Bridge Replacement On Amsterdam Rd
20240819-080411 | Proposed Bridge Replacement On West Dry Creek Rd
Yellowstone Valley Canals
Last weekend, we stopped over at an irrigation ditch near Emigrant to cool off. The year 1959 was carved into the concrete at a diversion point, this inspired a build write up about irrigation ditches.
Roughly 25,370 irrigated acres of pasture and hay are in Paradise Valley within Park County, about 10% of the total 244,300 privately owned acres (over 50% of the remaining land is public).
Irrigated acres (after livestock use) can produce up to 6x the forage for wildlife than non-irrigated lands.
The 30 year average in-stream flow of water on the Yellowstone River at Corwin Springs is 2M acre/ft annually from April-Sep. Roughly 80k acre/ft (4%) of that is used for irrigation annually.
Learn more about the Ditches and Canals of Paradise Valley
Carnival cleanup post Montana Fair
Stopped by the Billings Fair Grounds to take a look at the carnival rides packed up ready for the next destination. Nearly all these trailers had Texas plates.
Raddling through Pipestone
Noticed this video while doom scrolling Youtube quickly recognizing this was filmed at Pipestone on BNSF tracks originally built by the Milwaukee Railroad.
Commodities
Covering volatility, building materials, and commodities of the Northern Rockies prices as of Sunday August 25th gathered from tradingeconomics.com and from gasprices.aaa.com
Volatility
Natural gas fell 10% last week
Orange Juice increased 182.60 USd/Lbs rising 10.57% last week
Corn futures plunged below $4 per bushel in July, reaching a low not seen since October 2020, driven by an improved supply outlook and lackluster demand.
Aluminum futures rose 7.46% last week
Weather
6-10 Day Outlooks
Near term forecast is calling for pleasant weather however the 6-10 day is showing above average temps coupled with below avg precip. Outlooks issued by the National Weather Service. Some mountains in Montana are likely to receive their first snow dusting of the year this week.
History of the week
"In 1957, construction of a 525 foot siphon under the Yellowstone River brought water from the west-side Park Branch Canal to the east side of the Yellowstone River. Thus was an additional 3,000 acres irrigated in Paradise Valley. In 1960, a section of Highway 89 was built over the siphon (MM 33.9E)." - upperyellowstonevalley.org
- Doris Whithorn, Paradise Valley on the Yellowstone, p. 89.
