As the year comes to a close I thought it would be a good time to gather our team of outdoors writers and put a bow on it.

I asked the reporters to send me some of their most important stories from 2023 so we could re-hash them for folks as the last episode of the year.

So with me today is Rob Chaney and Joshua Murdock, from the Missoulian, Brett French from the Billings Gazette, and Duncan Adams from the Montana Standard. All familiar voices if you’ve listened to the show in the past.

Some of these stories will also be familiar to habitual listeners. Topics we’ll discuss today will be E-Bikes in National Parks, Snowbowl ski area, tribal Bison hunting outside Yellowstone, and Anaconda’s urban mule deer.

As the year comes to a close I thought it would be a good time to gather our team of outdoors writers and put a bow on it.
I asked the reporters to send me some of their most important stories from 2023 so we could re-hash them for folks as the last episode of the year.
So with me today is Rob Chaney and Joshua Murdock, from the Missoulian, Brett French from the Billings Gazette, and Duncan Adams from the Montana Standard. All familiar voices if you’ve listened to the show in the past.
Some of these stories will also be familiar to habitual listeners. Topics we’ll discuss today will be E-Bikes in National Parks, Snowbowl ski area, tribal Bison hunting outside Yellowstone, and Anaconda’s urban mule deer.

Montana Untamed, hosted by Thom Bridge, covers the state's rugged landscape from hook and bullet to policy and science.

Montana Untamed, hosted by Thom Bridge, covers the state's rugged landscape from hook and bullet to policy and science.

Montana Untamed

Outdoors roundtable: E-Bikes, Snowbowl, tribal bison hunt and Anaconda mule deer

AI has come for the animals. 

When the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks unveiled its 43rd annual photo issue of Montana Outdoors on Jan. 1, the magazine carried an explanation on page 1: Magazine staff, editor Tom Dickson wrote the magazine had gone to great lengths to verify that photos submitted for the issue were, in fact, photos. 

Dickson's concern was that images produced by generative artificial intelligence — AI programs that create new material in response to a prompt — now often appear as realistic as actual photographs and could be submitted to the magazine for publication.

On today's episode, Joshua Murdock, natural resources reporter for the Missoulian newspaper, discusses his reporting on AI-generated wildlife imagery.

AI has come for the animals. 
When the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife &amp; Parks unveiled its 43rd annual photo issue of Montana Outdoors on Jan. 1, the magazine carried an explanation on page 1: Magazine staff, editor Tom Dickson wrote the magazine had gone to great lengths to verify that photos submitted for the issue were, in fact, photos. 
Dickson's concern was that images produced by generative artificial intelligence — AI programs that create new material in response to a prompt — now often appear as realistic as actual photographs and could be submitted to the magazine for publication.
On today's episode, Joshua Murdock, natural resources reporter for the Missoulian newspaper, discusses his reporting on AI-generated wildlife imagery.

Artificial animals: AI threatens photo competitions and conservation efforts

According to Dr. Matt Rinella, The grass-roots traditions that have defined hunting in America are being displaced by a hyper-commercialized pay-to-play model. 

In response, he has created an organization called Hunt Quietly, and what he calls a movement to combat this tainting of the principles of hunting. 

Through his writing and podcast he has stirred controversy and prompted plenty of debate in the hunting community.

Rinella, a research ecologist by day and lifelong hunter joins me on today's episode to explain his stance.

According to Dr. Matt Rinella, The grass-roots traditions that have defined hunting in America are being displaced by a hyper-commercialized pay-to-play model. 
In response, he has created an organization called Hunt Quietly, and what he calls a movement to combat this tainting of the principles of hunting. 
Through his writing and podcast he has stirred controversy and prompted plenty of debate in the hunting community.
Rinella, a research ecologist by day and lifelong hunter joins me on today's episode to explain his stance.

Hunt Quietly: Matt Rinella on the hyper-commercialization of hunting

As the federally-protected grizzly bear continues to make its life outside of the wilderness enclaves of its recovery zones it is met with human civilization and the problems that arise as a result.

The folks whose lives and livelihood are on the line in these situations are the farmers and ranchers who work the land where civilization and wilderness meet.

In 2017, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks created the prairie grizzly bear team in response to the expanding grizzly bear population of the NCDE making its way from the mountains to the prairie.

What follows is a conversation I had earlier this year with Wesley Sarmento, the head of that prairie bear team.

This episode was recorded as we bumped along dirt roads outside Conrad, Montana. Sound quality may vary. 

As the federally-protected grizzly bear continues to make its life outside of the wilderness enclaves of its recovery zones it is met with human civilization and the problems that arise as a result.
The folks whose lives and livelihood are on the line in these situations are the farmers and ranchers who work the land where civilization and wilderness meet.
In 2017, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks created the prairie grizzly bear team in response to the expanding grizzly bear population of the NCDE making its way from the mountains to the prairie.
What follows is a conversation I had earlier this year with Wesley Sarmento, the head of that prairie bear team.
This episode was recorded as we bumped along dirt roads outside Conrad, Montana. Sound quality may vary.

Outdoors roundtable: E-Bikes, Snowbowl, tribal bison hunt and Anaconda mule deer

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