2025 insights gathered from writing a weekly newsletter about Montana business and industry. 

Each Monday,  we publish an email newsletter called the Bozeman Build Report (BozemanBuild.com) tracking Montana change, specifically business, industry, and outdoor topics. Going through the motions of writing a weekly report led us to gain a better understanding of what’s unfolding in the rapidly changing Northern Rockies Region. This half year 2025 review will highlight infrastructure, energy, resource, oil, technology, education, population, construction, and environmental categories providing you with takeaways that took us hundreds of hours to uncover, most topics in this discussion are dated January – July 2025. We are not financial or building advisors, enjoy! 

Energy

In the energy section, we reflect on recent changes to the grid discussing a diversification into nuclear energy, rebound of coal, grid connection projects, wind projects, renewables facing headwinds, and budget draining utility costs.

Nuclear Diversification

Wyoming is traditionally known for its coal and wind; however, since 2025, we’ve been seeing a large number of articles covering nuclear developments around the State of Wyoming and Idaho. Bill Gates’ TerraPower seems to have sparked a chain reaction attracting a conga of new mines, processing, test plants, and State support. Wyoming is also excited about its rare earth mining prospects along with the reopening of the big horn basin. At this rate Wyoming has more energy generating means than any other State. 

• January 14, 2025  – TerraPower Awarded Pivotal State Permit for aNatrium® Plant  (Terra Power)
• April 7, 2025 – Eleven governors and their state energy offices are putting out ready-for-business signs to advanced nuclear energy developers under an initiative that taps into experts at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). 
• April 09, 2025 $30 Million Investment Bets On Glenrock Being Wyoming’s Next Uranium Hot Spot (Cowboy State Daily)

• May 02, 2025 Gov. Mark Gordon signed a tri-state agreement with Idaho and Utah April 29, pledging to contribute to the growing industrial ecosystem supporting nuclear energy in those three states. (Cowboy State Daily)
• May 29, 2025 Even Industry Insiders Find It Hard To Keep Up With Wyoming Nuclear Boom (Cowboy State Daily)
• Jul 15, 2025 Oklo Selects Kiewit as the Lead Constructor for First Aurora Powerhouse in Idaho (Business Wire)

Coal Rebound 

During the Biden administration, the EPA was taking steps to phase out coal. In May 2024, the Administration announced that it would end new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, the largest coal-producing region in the U.S. (Biological Diversity). In addition to the lease terminations, the EPA was also targeting the Colstrip Generating Station in Montana claiming it emits high levels of toxic air pollutants, requiring them to invest $400m to reduce emissions, or cease operations. (Power Technology) For a while, many of these coal communities were facing regulatory hurdles. In August 2024, Wyoming had filed at least four lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging regulations affecting the coal industry (CSD). Coal communities were at their low point but seemed to have rebounded since 2025 with a new administration in office. 

Jan 14, 2025 The federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement announced last week that it has prepared an environmental impact statement that allows the expansion that the owners of the Spring Creek Mine, located near Decker, first requested nearly two decades ago could increase its coal production by 19 million tons. (OSMRE)

June 6th 2025 – Federal government OK’s expansion of Bull Mountains coal mine Friday to a long-delayed expansion of Signal Peak Energy’s Bull Mountains coal mine near Billings. (Montana Free Press)

 Jul 7, 2025 BLM considers new areas for coal leasing in Montana and Wyoming” (BLM)

Grid Connector Projects 

North-South and East-West grid connection projects are currently under development allocating electricity generated by natural gas plants and coal plants shipping electricity from SE to NE Wyoming and Montana to North Dakota. Recently, there has been some strife with Canada addressing Unfair Trade Practices on the Montana-Alberta Tie Line that’s been in operation since 2013. 

October 25, 2024 DOE Announces Public Scoping Meetings for the North Plains Connector Project (NPC) which would would provide 3,000 megawatts (MW) of bi-directional transfer capability and connect the Western and Eastern Interconnections (also known as the western and eastern grids) between Colstrip, Montana and Central North Dakota. (DOE)

June 19, 2025 Black Hills Energy Spending $540M To Connect North-South Wyoming Power Grids (Cowboy State Daily)

July 8, 2025 The Alberta government and the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) have enacted regulations that discriminate specifically against Montana electricity exports, which if left unaddressed would threaten the stability of Montana’s electric grid and harm the state’s energy producers. The Montana-Alberta Tie Line (MATL) interconnects Montana and Alberta’s electricity grids. (Daines.Senate)

Gone with the Wind 

On a federal level, under the Trump administration, renewable energies are facing significant headwinds. 

Jul 02, 2025 Trump’s budget bill is ‘bad news for America’s clean energy future’ (MSN)

• Tax credits for wind and solar farms end abruptly in mid-2026
• Tax credits for home energy upgrades will expire at the end of 2025.
• Credits for residential rooftop solar, EV purchases, and energy-efficient new homes will expire between late 2025 and mid-2026.

Projects that were approved pre 2025 are being completed now however, those projects might be the last ones out? 

July 24th, 2024 – Stillwater County, Montana – Puget Sound Energy building two massive wind energy projects in Montana. Seattle-area electrical provider will ship wind energy west, with a third project possible. (Daily Montanan)

• The Beaver Creek wind project will help the company meet Washington’s aggressive clean-energy laws.
• Washington has mandated that it will not rely on any energy derived from fossil fuels by 2050, but in order to do that, it will require a rapid build-out of renewable projects, like the Beaver Creek facility and others.

The feds aren’t the only ones wanting to axe renewable projects. 

Eastern Montana lawmakers sponsor bills seeking to restrict wind development (Terry Tribune) Eastern Montanans voice concerns over Berkshire Energy wind towers (see Eastern Montana Wind Facebook Page) , Ranch Family near Laramie Files Lawsuit to Block Wyoming Wind Lease (Cowboy State Daily), Idaho Falls residents have also been pushing back resulting in House Bill 146 requiring the installation of light-mitigating technology systems on wind energy conversion systems.” (East Idaho News)

Utility Costs Continue to Flow Higher

In 2002, NorthWestern Corporation purchased the Montana Power Company transmission and distribution system forming NorthWestern Energy. Similar to when BNSF acquired Montana Rail Link in January 2024 (BNSF), there was a lot of work that needed to be done. 

Justifications for price increases are along the lines of capital investments, investor ROI, and infrastructure improvements furthermore they are also monopoly utilities who can charge a premium however they still need to play by the rules established by the States service commissions who regulate rates and service quality. Regardless of the service commissions controls, residential consumers are still voicing complaints about the series of rate hikes experienced throughout the last calendar year. 

In August 2022, NorthWestern Energy’s average monthly electric bill for residential customers was $91.27. (Daily Montanan)

In November of 2023, NWE established new rates, this increased by $13.67, to $118.06 an average residential customer in Montana using 750 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month paid $104.39 previously. (NWE)

June 6, 2025 – NorthWestern Energy announces another rate increase, If the Montana Public Service Commission signs off on the most recent increase, the average residential customer will be paying $127.16 in July, according to information from the agency. Altogether, that would be a more than 25% increase from May 1 to July of this year. (Daily Montanan)

Natural Resources

In the year 2025, there have been numerous articles about attempts to revitalize the logging industry and America’s gold fever for rare earth elements. We also mention recent acquisitions, layoffs, oil production, and the fact that all of Montana’s cement mines are owned by other countries. As of 2021, Montana’s largest exports are coal, copper. cattle , high tech, and electrical energy. (LMI) 

Logging Landscape

Montana mills have been hitting a rough patch over the last couple of years. In 2024 Roseburg Forest Products in Missoula and Pyramid Mountain Lumber in Seeley Lake closed their doors (NPR), Montana Free Press reports that at least three dozen mills have closed in Western Montana since 1990, and that today, only six remain. (tsln). 

US and State Lawmakers in 2025 have been issuing new incentives attempting to reignite logging and mill industry through creation of  Bill 471 the Fix Our Forests Act (congress.gov) and other State issued incentives such as the of House Bill 876 creating a low-interest loan program for companies reopening a mill. Mills that want to stay in business are forced to make expensive upgrades to their mills in order to break even, many upgrades are beyond affordability. The state and the Feds are opening plenty of acres to logging however the outstanding confusion is are there enough mills to tackle all this new inventory available? 

Jul 11, 2025 HELENA, Mont. — Montana’s federal timber sales will increase to approximately 250 million board feet by 2034 under new legislation, building on the state’s historic commitment to harvest 100 million board feet annually through a landmark agreement signed in June. (Western MT News)

Mining

Montana was born from mining starting in the 1950’s when traders for the Hudson’s Bay Company discovered gold near present-day Deer Lodge. Nowadays, mining isn’t as significant as it was in the 1800’s yet it still remains Montana’s 3rd largest industry valued at $2.5B as of 2022. Today, a majority of Monana mines are owned by foreign entities

Columbus, Montana took a big hit in September 2024 when South Africa based Sibanye-Stillwater announced plans to lay off 700 Montana mining workers due in part to a dive in palladium prices. (Daily Montanan) 

Foreign Owned Mines

Montana produces a ton of cement which is all owned by foreign entities. Concrete products saw a 41.4% price increase from 2020 to 2025 (Accio) and construction materials costs jumped 40.5% since February 2020 (Construction Dive). Heres a list of some Montanas cement mines and who owns them: 

• Montana City Quarry – Ash Grove acquired by CRH Company in 2018 (Ireland)
• Threeforks Trident Quarry –  Holcim acquired by Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) in 2018 (Mexico)
• Townsends Indian Creek Plant – Graymont (Canada) 

Recent acquisitions 

In early 2025, WE Soda acquired Wyoming based Genesis Alkali, the largest US-based natural soda ash producer, for $1.425 billion. (We Soda)

At the time of writing this article, US Comex copper futures jump 12%, hit record high last week as President Donald Trump said he will announce a 50% tariff on copper (Reuters), if this tariff holds true, it should be of benefit to Montana copper mines such as Washington Companies Montana Resources and SandFire Resources Black Butte Copper Mine. With other hard commodities hitting record highs in 2025, will this open the doors to more mining operations?

Learn more about Montana mines and resources: www.blockbiome.com/making-sense-of-montana-energy-and-resources/

The Greystone groups tracks a bunch of construction material acquisitions: www.thegreystonegroup.com/transactions/

Wyoming Rare Earths

Wyoming Rare Earth articles have also been on the increase this year, in a way it’s been a perfect storm for them to emerge between America’s appetite for tech, security, and independence. 

April 22, 2025  Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin Joins Ramaco Resources Board (CSD)

May 27, 2025 Companies Say National Push Could Accelerate Need For Wyoming’s Rare Earth Minerals (CSD)

June 24, 2025 Wyoming and Montana took center stage at a congressional hearing Tuesday about fast-tracking rare earth processing in the U.S. New tech to extract rare earths from coal waste could help break China’s stranglehold on the critical minerals. (CSD)

July 11, 2025 First U.S. Rare Earth Mine In 70 Years Opens In Wyoming by Ramaco Resources. (CSD)

Oil 

In November 2024, Montana hit a 10 year high in crude field production at 85M barrels per day. Montana previously hit that benchmark in November of 2014 and again consecutively during the oil boom between March 2005-November 2008. (EIA)

Another big story in the oil refining space is Calumet Great Falls plans to produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel (“SAF”) with seed oils and tallow.

Jan. 10, 2025 announced today the closing of a $1.44 billion guaranteed loan facility with the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) Loan Programs Office (“LPO”). The loan will fund the construction and expansion of the renewable fuels facility owned by Montana Renewables, LLC (“Montana Renewables” or “MRL”), an unrestricted subsidiary of Calumet. (Calumet)

Technology

In this technology section, we mostly focus on the Department of Defence spend (since there is so much of it) diving deeper into the Sentinel Project, investment in quantum, and the expansion of data centers. 

DoDdy Money

The Department of Defence (DOD) has strong ties to Montana between the Malstrom Airforce Base, Innovation Partnerships, and educational investments. Montana is home to the 341st Missile Wing or the Malstrom Airforce Base which contains 200 missiles spread throughout a 13,800-square mile complex (Malstrom AFB) which is getting a large overhaul through the Sentinel Project aiming to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system  (AFGSC). This project has far exceeded its budget multiple times over where officials have underscored the logistical complexity of the project, not only in construction but also in keeping the current missiles on alert while slowly swapping them out for new ones. (MFP)

January 19, 2024 According to the spokesperson, the Sentinel program’s 2020 baseline program acquisition unit cost of $118 million per missile — the sum of development, construction and procurement — increased by “at least 37 percent” to approximately $162 million in 2020 dollars, prompting a “critical” breach that requires Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to certify the program to stave off its cancellation. (Breaking Defence)

July 8, 2024 Total program acquisition costs for a reasonably modified Sentinel program are estimated by CAPE to be $140.9 billion, an increase of 81 percent compared to estimates at the program’s previous Milestone B decision in September 2020. (US DOD)

Feb 26, 2025 The Lewistown area is actively planning for a period of growth that will result in increased traffic throughout the region. As part of the preparations for this expansion, the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) will replace 11 aging bridges through the Lewistown Area Bridges-DAR Structures Project. This project is a collaboration with the Department of Defense (DOD) and is partially funded through the Defense Access Road (DAR) program, which supports essential highway improvements for defense initiatives.(MDT Public Involvement)

June 24 2025 The assessment also notes that the Sentinel program alone accounted for over $36 billion of the $49.3 billion increase from 2024 to 2025 in GAO’s combined total estimate of major defense acquisition program costs, and noted that the first flight test now would not take place until March (FAS)

Quantum and Tech

On the note of DoD projects, the Dept of Defense also has ties with MSU and Montana, here’s a sample of some investments taking place. 

July 2, 2024 Economic Development Administration awards $41 million grant to regional tech hub focused on critical technologies for U.S. national security (MSU News)

January 15, 2025 Montana State University’s TechLink, a center focused on connecting companies with the U.S. Department of Defense to commercialize inventions from federal laboratories, is celebrating 25 years of service with the agency. (MSU News)

March 26, 2025 Montana State University students interested in crafting metals into machine parts will soon have access to a $2 million lathe that can cut spinning materials so precisely that its end products are measured in fractions of the width of a human hair. (MSU News)

Apr 17, 2025 A $26.7 million grant from the U.S. Air Force allowed QCORE to purchase two quantum computers, the first of their kind at any university in the U.S. (KBZK)

Data Centers

There’s been a few new data center projects in the works, still few in comparison to other states. Regulators such as the Montana Service Commission have concerns over these projects’ load requirements and are clashing with NorthWestern Energy, the Montana Chamber of Commerce and state lawmakers (MEIC). The State of Wyoming has been a recipient of many more data centers due to its proximity to cheap electricity, water, and lack of natural disasters. As of 2025. Wyoming has 16 data centers, operated by 11 providers. (Baxtel). One more notable development is the Micron semiconductor manufacturing plants construction outside Boise. 

April 28, 2025 Wyoming Is Perfect For Data Centers, So Why Do They Cluster Only In Cheyenne? (CSD)

June 18, 2025 Atlanta-based TAC Data Centers is proposing a 569-acre development adjacent to the AgriTech Park, north of Malmstrom Air Force Base and near the Great Falls Rainbow Power Substation 600MW data center (Data Center Dynamics)

June 5, 2025 The Data Center Development Gold Rush Has Reached Montana (MEIC)

June 12, 2025 Micron announces plans for a second memory-manufacturing plant in Boise spending an additional $30 billion, The Boise fab is scheduled to begin production in 2027. (Idaho Statesman)

Investment in Trade School 

Trade school has been gaining in popularity across the US and especially in Montana. Demand isn’t slowing down for any high skilled trade, especially electrical with the backlog of data centers and nuclear projects in the works. 

According to the National Student Clearing House Current Term Enrollment Estimates Spring 2025 Report, Public two-years that focus on vocational and trade programs are driving this significant growth. Enrollment at these institutions grew by almost 20% since the spring of 2020 to 871,000 students this spring. Enrollment at public four-year institutions grew 2.5% this spring, an increase of 183,000 students. Over 7.4 million students attended this type of institution in the spring, a 2.1% increase over 2020.  (Student Clearing House)

Dec 03, 2024 Montana apprenticeship program sets new enrollment record. The report, released during National Apprenticeship Week, found that 770 apprenticeships began in the first nine months of 2024. More than 680 businesses were offering apprenticeships to train workers, helping businesses fill jobs and overcome workforce shortages. (Montana Department of Labor & Industry)

Highschools and trades schools are doubling down

April 29, 2025 WyoTech Growth Spurt Continues With $48.2 Million, 137,000-Square-Foot Expansion. WyoTech’s waiting list is out to April 2026 for some programs. The demand is fueling yet another growth spurt for the Laramie trade school — a $48.2 million, 137,000-square-foot expansion set to open in 2027. (Cowboy State Daily)

May 2025 – Western Weld Academy of Gillette Wyoming hosted a 2025 Weld Comp, The Biggest Welding Competition in the Nation (WWA)

Jun 06, 2025 Bozeman Public Schools launches new construction trades program (KBZK)

July 06, 2025 Employment Boom: Wyoming Unions Say Thousands Of Electricians Needed. Jerry Payne with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 322 told Cowboy State Daily he has a project in Kemmerer that will need 540 electricians. His counterpart with Local IBEW 415, Truett Thompson, needs another 400 to 500 electricians. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, they say. (Cowboy State Daily)

Populations

Montana has been growing significantly especially since 2020. The Populations article goes over where people are coming from, how many, and a snippet about the unique dynamics of Bozeman.

Montana inflow and outflow

According to a Stacker article titled “States sending the most people to Montana” published February 22, 2024, Montana receives more residents from Washington and most Montanans moving out of state relocate to Arizona.

Total Montana Population Overview 

Flathead County has experienced the largest growth rate in the State of Montana. 

Data compiled by BlockBiome Research.

Mountain towns aren’t the only places that have been expanding, rural counties have shared in the significant growth over the last 5 years, note most of these faster growing rural counties are in the Western part of the state located closer to larger cities (World Population Review)

For additional resources on the Montana population, check out the Montana Department of Commerce population summary dashboard.

A Note about Bozeman

Attractive price points, remote work, untouched ski lines no more. Quality of life has downgraded some will say. Bozeman is a fun place to reside and even better if you have money. Folks that grew up here are often moving out of state or to surrounding towns where one can make a half decent living working middle class but these places are also getting more expensive such as Billings, Helena, Butte. 

The post covid construction boom led to a temporary glut of apartment units around the Bozeman metro stabilizing rents and freezing the real estate market. May 30, 2025 Vacancy rate in Bozeman could rise. Our current vacancy rate is 12.5% within Bozeman city limits. That ultra-low vacancy rate during the pandemic led many developers to break ground on new multifamily projects. But real estate takes time, and those same projects are just now being completed and brought to market. There are still over 3,000 units in the planning pipeline. We would anticipate that a lot of those projects would not be moving forward due to the current vacancy rates (KBZK)

A few Bozeman Predictions:

• Decrease in new remote roles and the call back to work will slow growth and cause some level of city retreat. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that around 27% of the U.S. workforce was working remotely at least part time as of August and September 2022, while a handful of academic surveys have suggested that the number is closer to 50%. (MIT) 
• Trustees of Montana property are incentivized to cash out upon transfer
• High vacancies should continue into the next few years but will eventually fill in
• Prices will never drop significantly since there’s stable demand to reside here and the valley is geographically limited

Derek Aspinwall founder of aspinwall.com came up with the slogan and released a billboard called “Make Bozeman Montana Again”. (CSD)

Infractructure 

Montana’s infrastructure wasn’t built for its current capacity in between the 2023 Yellowstone River train derailment to the ‘Catastrophic failure’ of siphon at St. Mary Canal. The 2025 Infrastructure Report Card downgraded Montana to a C- (IRC). Road, bridge, utility, trucking contractors and material suppliers should keep busy. Under the infrastructure layer we talk about general growing pains, water, and roads. 

Water

Plenty of water upgrades in the pipeline from water towers, treatment facilities, to irrigation. 

Jan 31, 2025 Belgrade building new water storage tank or tower as part of $30M infrastructure program (Belgrade News).

City of Billings West End Water Treatment Plant is expected to be operational by the end of 2026 (Billings Public Works)

Jun 25, 2025 The St. Mary Siphon failed June 17, 2024, repairs were completed Jun 25, 2025, this 90-inch siphon was a critical water supply to more than 110,000 acres of farmland and multiple municipalities across north-central Montana. (USBR)

Road Rage

Road construction is considered one of Montana’s annual seasons. There are plenty of repaving and painting projects occurring on a routine basis and most notably there is an extensive backlog of road expansion projects to better accommodate growing traffic counts. Montana really likes their roundabouts and double lane-roundabout interchanges. These intersection rebuilds are not easy or cheap to construct. In Spring of 2024, Governor Gianforte signed the SAFER Act to invest $100 million and leverage every available dollar to fix our roads and bridges. This project is the first of many to benefit from our historic investment to build a stronger future.” (State of Montana Newsroom). Road safety is always a huge priority for the State, there is a research group out of MSU called the Western Transportation Institute that researches road engineering and safety. 

1. Belgrade, MT – To provide long-term solutions to meet these needs, MDT plans to widen a half-mile stretch of the highly trafficked Jackrabbit Lane and construct a railroad underpass by Main Street as part of the Belgrade Urban project. (MDT)
2. Kalispell, MT – The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) and KLJ Engineering continue advancing the next phase of projects along the Kalispell Bypass. (MDT)
3. Big Sky, MT – Highway 191: Montana’s ticking time bomb of a road   (Explore Big Sky)

The public can keep a close eye on new road developments at https://mdtnews.mt.gov/news/, where the MDT does a fantastic job writing road project updates. 

Construction

Talking State wide permits, improved lot costs, suppliers, and builders. 

Permits 

Pre Covid, State wide permits averaged around 300 units per month peaking around 600 monthly units in late 2021 mellowing out to an average of ~400 monthly units post covid. (St. Louis Fed Permit) 

Lot Costs 

In February 2025, the Bozeman Build #51  researched improved lot prices across major Montana cities, here’s what we came up with. Price data was sourced from zillow. 

Construction becoming more Corporate

Both contractors and materials are pricey in Montana. Larger jobs will hire out of State labor to tackle larger subbed needs, if you drive around most larger developments, you’ll see plates from all over the States. In the early 2020s when things were booming, it was difficult to find people to do work and all the reputable contractors in the valley were beyond booked. This discrepancy attracted many contractors from out the wood works, diluting the Montana labor poo and decreasing quality. Building suppliers such as Kenyon Nobile, Simkins Lumber, Knife River, Town Pump, and Box stores did well. Some of the largest contracting groups in the area are not limited to Langlas, ARCO/Murray, Dick Anderson, Barnard, Rotherham, and Martel. Montana has also attracted several large scale out of state home builders including Williams Homes, Bates Homes, Sunrise Homes, and Hayden Homes. Also another unique trend over the last 3 years is the rise in multi family builds, actually exceeding the number of single family permits by multiples. 

Outdoors

A discussion about Montana wouldn’t be complete without a section about the great outdoors! Below we reveal issues over public land sales, water, and using technology to interface with nature. 

Public Land Sales

Last winter around January 2025, the USFS authorized a controversial land swap trading a block in the Madison Range for a block in the Crazy Mountains negotiated by CrossHarbor Capital Partners (MFP). A few months later in Spring of 2025, a larger land concern developed when the Big Beautiful Bill Act was drafted  05/20/2025 authorizing the sale of millions of acres of federal public lands across the West to generate revenue. (Congress.gov)

Senator Steve Daines carved out an exemption for Montana through a reconciliation process, (which allows senators to cut deals outside the view of public hearings and input) exempted the State of Montana from public land sales listed in the budget bill (Cowboy State Daily) which was a big relief to Montana residents. Other Western States are still nervous about what parcels go up for sale, it’s difficult to tell at the time of writing this article how this will unfold for other states. 

Water 

Water is for fighting over, right? There’s a few notable movements regarding water generation and rights. 

Late 2024 early 2025, the DNRC concluded a few feasibility studies to see if the state will consider if it wants to pursue cloud seeding. (KBZK)

May 2, 2025 Cloud-Seeding Feasibility and Preliminary Program Design for Southwest Montana (DNRC)

June 13 2025 Wintertime Cloud Seeding Feasibility Study Complete (DNRC)

Cloud seeding isn’t new to the West, Colorado, Utah and Idaho has been seeding since the early 1950’s (CWCB) (U DNR) (IDWR), and Wyoming started 2014 targeting the Wind River Range (WWDC)

Modernizing water rules

During the 2023-24 interim a Comprehensive Water Review Stakeholder Working Group was formed to develop a suite of water bills to be introduced in the 2025 legislative session. (DNRC) 

Senate Bill 178: Provide for Temporary Lease of Water Rights

House Bill 432: Exceptions to the Change Process 

House Bill 580: Clarify Water Right Abandonment

House Bill 681: Water Rights and Subdivision Coordination

Tracking Nature

We’ve noticed an increase in technology adoption in the category of “nature tracking” or the monitoring of natural systems with cameras, instruments, meters, coupled with user friendly interfaces. Adoption of map softwares such as OnX, Caltopo, Strava, and Gaia have led to more outdoor visits, discovery of previously secret spots and record numbers of search and rescue calls. Also, research is underway to identify more areas in the West in need of permitting systems. 

Sep. 24, 2024 – HELENA – DNRC Expands Montana Stream Gage Network The funding from the 2023 legislative session allowed the DNRC stream gage network to expand to a total of 76 real-time gages, moving Montana closer to the goal of 100 -state operated stream gages. As of mid-September, 23 new gauges have been installed with an additional 13 planned for installation over the coming year. (DNRC)

Nov 26, 2024 The Montana Department of Transportation has added 20 new Road Weather Information System (RWIS) sites so you can see real-time weather and road conditions. The agency recently added the new locations to the existing network for a total of almost 100 sites across the state. (Montana Department of Transportation RWIS)

February 10, 2025 More Than 200 Big-Game Migrations Now Mapped Across American West (University of Wyoming). Wildlife Corridors and Route Viewer mapping tool can be accessed at (Western Migrations)

Mar 21, 2025 Montana House preliminarily approves ‘River census’ study bill passed 67-32 in the House one day earlier, would require Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to produce a $2.7m report of all watercraft on 16 river stretches in the summer totaling 966 miles in the state. (KBZK)

Jul 4, 2025 Northwestern Energy has begun installing smoke detector cameras throughout their service area in Montana. These cameras aim to identify wildfires as soon as they ignite, using advanced AI technology. (Northwestern Energy)

Summary

Montana has been interesting to track over the last couple years and the above was a summary of noteworthy topics since the 2025 New Year.  If you liked this content, please check out the Bozeman Build Report at bozemanbuild.com delivering weekly Northern Rockies trade news and contact daniel@blockbiome.com for research and photography services. This article is brought to you by Blockbiome.com “Love for the Trades”

Thanks for reading, 

Daniel Zavadil

Spring 2025

Explaining Montana commodity, energy, and mineral supply chains.

Montana is known for its wide open spaces and beauty above the surface but few account for the geologic beauty below the surface. Above ground, as of 2022 Montana sold $6.2B of agricultural goods, $5.8B in travel, and $617M in timber products. Below the surface lay minerals and oil, a combined $4.4B industry that are used in industry and energy production which is the focus of this paper divided into three sections called commodities, energy, and minerals.

1. Commodities, explaining what hard/soft commodities are produced here, what is imported and exported, and how much of it. 
2. Energy, demand forecasts, US and Montana maps of where it comes and goes. 
3. Mining, coal, Wyoming, and Montana active mines.

The objective is to expand upon a personal understanding of Montana commodities, energy, and mineral supply chain and to educate locals about the resources around them. 

If you like this content or have a research idea,  please reach out, we also write a free weekly e-newsletter called the bozemanbuild.com covering Northern Rockies blue collar and business news. 

Enjoy – DZ

*We are not financial advisors or have any idea what we are talking about nor was this paper peer edited, these topics are complex, and change rapidly. We are not responsible for this paper. This information is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Please consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this information. 

PDF VERSION

Commodities

Before we look at a handful of graphs, economics, and numbers, let’s start with something kid friendly, an infographic geared more towards agriculture. In  2021, Montana had cattle receipts of $1.6B, Wheat $1.1B, Hay $430M, Barely $200M, and Lental’s around $100M. 

What is Montana producing and how much of it? 

Montana Import and Export 

In 2021, Montana imported over 1,900 products and exported over 1,300 products. These products were imported from over 112 countries and exported to 138 countries. Montana imported $6.5B worth of goods and exported $2B. Notice how we import much more than export? The State of Montana offers things like the STEP or State Trade Expansion Program to help our exports grow.

Montana Imports 

Montana’s top 5 imports are Crude Oil at $4.25B, Platinum Waste & Scrap $215M, Wood Products $160M, Urea $116M, and Natural Gas $97M.  Crude oil is imported to Montana to be refined into petroleum products. Montana has four refineries—three in the Billings area, and one in Great Falls— which have a combined crude oil processing capacity of 224,100 barrels per day— roughly 1.2% of total U.S. capacity.

Montana Exports

Montana’s largest exports are coal, copper. cattle , high tech and electrical energy. The State is also known for its quantum, photonics, and computer component manufacturing. 

Energy

Now that we have a basic understanding of what Montana buys and sells, let’s take a look at how this State is powered. With oil we demonstrate where it’s produced, refined, and distributed. With electricity we cover demand, generation, and transmission lines. Most of the energy maps below were provided by the Montana DEQ deq.mt.gov/energy/resources

Montana Oil Production

In September 2006, Montana hit a production record of 102,000 barrels per day and hit a low in 1999 at 38,000 BPD. As of February 2025, Montana produced 73,000 BPD, if all 73,000 barrels went through In-State processing, that would only make up 1/3rd of crude input while 2/3rd comes from Canada. Production ebbs and flows with the prices of gasoline.

Montana processes over 215,000 barrels per day (BPD) making up for only 1.2% of the US total production capacity.

Here’s a list of Montana refineries and their estimated production capacity, (Block Biome Research)

Town	Company	est. BPD
Laurel	CHS Inc.	60,000
Billings	Conoco Phillips Inc.	62,900
Billings	Par Pacific Holdings	64,000
Great Falls	Calumet Montana Refining LLC	25,000

* Exxon sold to Par Pacific in 2023

Here’s a list of Wyoming refineries and their estimated production capacity (Block Biome Research)

Town	Company	est. BPD
Sinclair	Sinclair Refinery	80,000
Cheyenne	HollyFrontier Refinery	52,000
Casper	Sinclair’s Little America Refinery	24,500
Newcastle	Par Petroleum Inc	14,000
Douglas	Antelope Refining	4,500
Evanston	Silver Eagle Refining	3,000

Montana Pipelines

As mentioned in the 2021 imports section, we import loads of crude from Canada (over $4.3B in 2021), this crude gets piped to all four of Montana’s refineries. Canadian oil or Western Canadian Select (WCS) is a heavy sour blend of crude oil that is one of North America’s largest heavy crude oil streams and, historically, its cheapest. Read more about the autonomy of Alberta Crude at OilSandsMagazine. The Petroleum in Montana map identifies crude product pipelines coming from Alberta South, some making a pitstop around Great Falls and Billings to be refined into something usable.

Montana Natural Gas Resources

The majority of Montana pipelines are owned by Northwestern Energy and WBI energy. These pipelines provide reliable natural gas to Montana towns and cities. There are six total natural gas generating stations across the State strategically positioned near the Bakken formation putting to work excess natural gas. 

Electricity

• Montana has the nation’s largest recoverable coal reserves, which is 30% of the U.S. total, and the state accounts for about 5% of U.S. coal production.
• Montana’s temperature extremes and small population contribute to the state’s residential sector having the highest per capita energy consumption of any state.
• In 2023, Montana ranked among the top 10 states with the largest share of electricity generated from renewables, about 50%.
• Coal-fired power plants provided the largest share of Montana’s electricity generation in 2023, accounting for 45% of in-state generation.
• Montana’s total natural gas consumption is among the five lowest states. About half of state households use natural gas as their primary energy source for home heating.

Quick Facts and chart from Quick Facts from the EIA MT

Electric Demand Projections

Published April 25, 202 was the Northwest Power and Conservation Councils 9th Power

Plan Demand Forecast claiming that demand for electricity in the Northwest could double by 2046. During the next two decades, demand could increase by between 1.8% and 3.1% annually, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council heard Tuesday. The projected growth will come primarily from companies building more data centers in the region, more electric vehicles on roads, electrifying buildings, computer chip manufacturing and the production of “green hydrogen” created by running an electrical current through water to split the molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

Electricity Maps App shows where electricity is flowing across the world and how it’s generated. 

Montana Electric Generation

We are fortunate to have a diversified set of energy generation sources across the State. 

Montana Transmission System

Northwest is the majority owner of Montana transmission lines. The interesting thing here is the eastern and western US power grid coming together at Miles City and Fort Peck. There’s currently a project in development called the North Plains Connector Project (NPC) which would would provide 3,000 megawatts (MW) of bi-directional transfer capability and connect the Western and Eastern Interconnections (also known as the western and eastern grids between Colstrip, Montana and Central North Dakota. 

Mining

Montana was born from mining starting in the 1950s when traders for the Hudson’s Bay Company discovered gold near present-day Deer Lodge. The first big strike took place near Bannack in 1862. In the next two years, gold was discovered at Virginia City and Last Chance Gulch in the heart of present day Helena. (Archives West). In 1880 Marcus Daly, an Irish immigrant, and a group of California investors including George Hearst, father of publisher William Randolph Hearst, formed the Anaconda Gold and Silver Mining Company to operate a mine near Butte, Montana. (Britannica Money). Nowadays, mining isn’t as significant as it was in the 1800’s yet it still remains Montana’s 3rd largest industry valued at $2.5B as of 2022. This section discovers some nuggets of knowledge about mining, specifically mining for energy (coal), Wyoming rare earth/uranium emergence, along with a comprehensive list of all active mines across the State of Montana

Mining for Energy

Montana produces primarily subbituminous coal from the Powder River Basin which  has a lower heat content compared to other U.S. coal basins, but it burns cleaner because of its relatively low sulfur content. Montana has the largest coal reserves in the country, estimated to be over 100 billion tons. Historically, total coal production in the state has averaged near 40 million tons per year Production has been moving downward since 2018 and dropped sharply in 2020 but has received increased support since the Trump Administration took office in 2025. Since 2025, coal is regained support from the feds.

• December 6, 2024 Republican attorneys general in 11 states, including Montana’s Austin Knudsen, filed a joint lawsuit last month against BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, claiming the organizations’ efforts to pressure coal companies to lower carbon emissions and respond to climate change amount to anti-competitive business practices. (Daily Montanan)
• December 13, 2024 – Montana, Wyoming sue feds to repeal Powder River Basin Coal Leasing Ban (Daily Montanan)
• March 14, 2025 Decision is a reversal from the Biden administration, will keep coal mining in southern Montana for at least another 16 years (Daily Montanan)
• April 08 2025 The Department of the Interior Moves to Restore Coal Industry (DOI)
• April 08 2025 Unleash American Energy signed (State of Montana Newsroom)

Wyoming Uranium and Rare Earths

The State of Wyoming has been interestingly investing more recently into nuclear energy mining especially since TerraPower made their Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1 announcement which is a Natrium reactor . 

• January 14, 2025  – TerraPower Awarded Pivotal State Permit for aNatrium® Plant  (Terra Power)

• April 7, 2025 – Eleven governors and their state energy offices are putting out ready-for-business signs to advanced nuclear energy developers under an initiative that taps into experts at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). 

• April 09, 2025 $30 Million Investment Bets On Glenrock Being Wyoming’s Next Uranium Hot Spot (Cowboy State Daily)

• April 16, 2025 Wyoming Rare Earths Could Be Processed At Retooled Plant In Utah (Cowboy State Daily)

• May 02, 2025 Gov. Mark Gordon signed a tri-state agreement with Idaho and Utah April 29, pledging to contribute to the growing industrial ecosystem supporting nuclear energy in those three states. (Cowboy State Daily)

Here’s a small handful of uranium and rare earth companies operating around Wyoming. 

Company	Mine	Material
American Rare Earths	Rare Earth Halleck Creek	REE
Energy Fuels Inc	Nichols Ranch ISR Mine & Plant	Uranium Processessing
Ramaco Resources	Brook Mine near Ranchester	Coal and REE
Peninsula Energy	Lance Project	Uranium Mining
Ramaco Resources	Brook Mine near Ranchester	Coal and REE
Rare Element Resources Ltd	Bear Lodge Project	REE

Montana Mining

Back to Montana, In 2024, Montana only ranked 30th or $1.13M for mineral production, Nevada was ranked 1st at $9.97B for reference. Montana’s principal commodities were cement, copper, molybdenum mineral concentrates, palladium metal, sand and gravel (construction). Below is an information map of Montana’s active mines as of 2012 published by Montana Tech. 

The following data table gives nonfuel mineral commodity production data for Montana extracted from Table 5 in the 2019 Minerals Yearbook Statistical Summary. Note that these figures are outdated and were generated from surveys. 

We synthesized this map categorizing active mines by those in active production and development. Please note that ownership and operation status can change frequently, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the list below. (Block Biome Research)

Region	Mine	Mineral	Company
NW	Troy Unit	CU, Ag	Genesis, Inc / Revett Minerals
NW	Walnut Placer	Au	Jim Williams, John Cochran
NW	Trout Cr Placer	Au	Dave Gull
NW	Calumet	Au	Shannon Anderson
NW	Misco Placer	Au	John Hageman
NW	Gem Mountain	Sapphires	Chris Cooney
NW	Garnet Mines	Au	Grant Hartford Corp.
NW	Weasel Cr//Douglas Cr Placer	Au	Jack Jones
NW	Wilson Cr Placer	Au	Gordon Jones
NW	American Gulch Placer	Au	Earl Stucky
NW	Ophir Placer	Au	Jim Durst/Clark Smith
NW	Pioneer Placer	Au	Golden Rule Mining
NW	Big Nugget	Au	Potentate Mining
Butte	Continental Pit	Mo, Cu, Ag	Montana Resources
Butte	Trident Quarry	Portland cement	Holcim Inc. now GCC
Butte	Threeforks Mill	Talc	IMRYS to Magris
Butte	Sappington Mill	Talc	Rio Tinto Minerals to Magris
Butte	Edgerton/Green Campbell Mine	Au, Ag	Rodney Parker
Butte	Treasure Mine	Talc	Barretts Minerals Inc./ Specialty Minerals, Inc.
Butte	Regal Mine	Talc	Barretts Minerals Inc./ High Divide Materials / 406 Minerals
Butte	Spring Gulch Placer	Au	Jim Crouch
Butte	Grasshopper Placer	Au	Paul Antonioli
Butte	Yellowstone Mine	Talc	IMRYS / Magris Resources Inc
Helena	Drumlummon Mine	Au, Ag	RX Gold and Silver, Inc /U.S. Silver and Gold, Inc
Helena	Scratchgravel Placer	Au	Bud Guthrie
Helena	Black Butte Mine	Fe	Sandfire America Resources America Inc
Helena	Montana City Quarry	Portland Cement	Ash Grove Cement
Helena	Indian Cr. Quarry	Burnt Lime	Ash Grove Cement / CRH Company
Helena	Hardcash Mine	AU	Reclaim, Inc.
Helena	Black Friday Mine	AU	Mark Runkle
Helena	Keating	AU	Pete Antonioli
Helena	Trident Quarry	Portland cement	Holcim, Inc /GCC
Helena	Golden Sunlight Mine	Au	Barrick Gold, Corp.
Helena	Mammoth	Au	Paul Antonioli/ Phil MacDonald
Helena	Pipestone Quarry	Stone, Railroad Ballas	Conda Mining Co. / Washington Companies
Helena	Golden Dream Mine	Au, Cu	Elkhorn Goldfields
Park	East Boulder Project	Pd,Pt, Rh, Cu, Ni, Co, Au	Stillwater Mining Co.
Park	Stillwater Mine	Pd, Pt, Rh, Cu, Ni, Co, Au	Stillwater Mining Co.
Park	Warren Limestone Quarry	Limestone	Montana Limestone Co. / Dakota Coal Company
Coal	Savage	Lignite	Westmorland Savage Corp.
Coal	Signal Peak Mine	Coal	Global Mining Holding Co., LLC
Coal	Rosebud Mine	Coal	Western Energy Co.
Coal	Absaloka Mine	Coal	Westmoreland Resources
Coal	Spring Creek Mine	Coal	Cloud Peak Energy
Coal	West Decker Mine	Coal	Decker Coal Co./Cloud Peak Energy
Coal	East Decker Mine	Coal	Decker Coal Co./Cloud Peak Energy

List gathered from MINES AND EXPLORATION IN MONTANA—2012 , ownership was looked up manually. Big thanks to Robin McCulloch, Mining Engineer at Montana Tech for putting together the map. 

Conclusion

In summary, Montana, Wyoming, and other surrounding States are fortunate to have a wide variety of natural resources to keep the lights on and the economy moving forward. It’s interesting to watch the market adapt based on market demands, pricing, and politics. It will forever be a revolving door. If energy consumption forecasts are true (double consumption by 2050), it will be interesting to see what the Feds, States, and power companies do to fill this need. 

That’s all for today folks, hope you learned a few new things about Montana natural resources! 

Contact Daniel Zavadil at daniel@blockbiome.com

The Bozeman Boom a perfect storm

In 2020 the coronavirus ran its course inspiring some to flee their home cities, attracted to the culture of freedom and lured to the open spaces, here they came!

This article was the result of my Bozeman migration trend curiosity coupled with a phone call conversation with my property manager mentioning they currently have record vacancies.

Today, snow’ll cover why Bozeman boomed, how many people are really here, what happened in the real estate/rental market from 2020 through 2024, vacancies, and what’s next? 

Migration

April 2024 Bozeman grew so large that it changed its classification from hidden gem to “metropolis”. The U.S. Census employs a unit called a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) which includes either (1) a city with a population of at least 50,000. Given this metropolitan definition provided by the U.S. Census Bozeman was officially reclassified.  As a result,  I-90 between Belgrade and Bozeman lowered the speed limits from 80 to 65. 

Bozeman wasn’t the only city that boomed. Take a look at the chart below comparing some key Montana cities. Over the last 5 years from 2019-2023, Billings grew 10.14%, Bozeman 17.04%, and Kalispell 22.78%.While the entire State of Montana welcomed an additional 62,689 residents growing 6.51% over that same timeframe, that’s enough to fill 2.5 Washington-Grizzly stadiums. 

Neilsberg – Montana Population by Year

The University student body population stayed relatively fixed and set a record Fall 2024 with a total enrollment of 17,144  up 895 students from the Fall 2020 enrollment of 16,249 

Year Fall Enrollment

2019 16,766

2020 16,249

2021 16,841

2022 16,688

2023 16,978

2024 17,144

Where’s all the out of staters coming from? 

According to a Stacker article titled “States sending the most people to Montana” published February 22, 2024, Montana receives more residents from Washington than any other state. 

Year	From __ to MT	Migration
2022	Washington	5,225
2022	California	4,660
2022	Oregon	3,691
2022	Colorado	3,440
2022	Utah	2,570

Stacker – States sending the most people to Montana

What States are Montans moving to or perhaps moving circling back to?

Year	Montana to __	Migration
2022	Arizona	4,455
2022	Washington	3,245
2022	Oregon	2,723
2022	North Dakota	2,496
2022	California	2,432

Stacker – Where people in Montana are moving to most

Why did people start flocking to Montana/Bozeman? What were the primary reasons? Lets focus on remote work, outdoor recreation, Yellowstone, coastal quality of life, and why not. 

Increase in remote work. As remote work continues to downtrend, will more remote workers leave and will this have an impact on the States population?

Coworking Mag

Spike in outdoor recreation.

Outdoor Industry Association – Outdoor Participation Trends Report 

• Yellowstone (American TV series) first premiered June 20, 2018. (wiki)
• Job boom in the construction, education, and tourism sectors. (Indeed) 
• Restrictive city covid policy, high taxes, crime, in larger cities was a call to action for many to get out of dodge and relocate to Montana
• Montana is cool, no source needed

Now that we covered the 21st century Montana pilgrimage, let’s find some bunks for these folks and figure out how the housing market and builders reacted. 

Here’s a snapshot of Bozeman’s 2x real estate market in less than four years. We have been stuck in a sideways trend since hitting a first peak in February of 2022. 

• How much higher will prices go? 
• At what price point is Bozeman deemed overvalued given the cost of living and quality of life it provides

(Bozeman Real Estate Group – Data provided by the Big Sky Country MLS)

What contributed to the Bozeman real estate price spike?

• Inventories of homes for sale continue to be extraordinarily low across the county, resulting in lower volumes of sales and escalating prices.
• Developable lots saw prices surge by 84% in 2021, due to high demand and continued low levels of new lot creation.
• Conventional mortgage rates averaged less than 3% during 2021 as the Federal Reserve Bank pursued a highly stimulative monetary policy. These rates are lower than anything experienced in the past 50 years.

(2022 Gallatin Valley Housing Report)

The Bozeman construction narrative or rant.

2020 sparked a housing boom in Bozeman, new units were erected in the West side of town faster than a badger can borrow, 19th avenue  became a primary artery through town,, downtown became a corridor for high end boutique shops and mixed-use developments, mom and pop restaurants were leveled making way for duplexes/ADUs, outdated homes in attractive neighborhoods selling for seven digits, a farmer plowing their field next to a 5 story apartment, and wow things happened fast. 

What’s happening in the building space?

Here’s the market’s reaction to Bozeman’s housing shortage in terms of units of production. The most notable trend is the decrease in single family builds and the increase in multi family builds that started around 2020 enough so that multi family became a tracked metric in the table below starting in 2021.

2023 Gallatin Valley Housing Report (GAR)

Between 2019 and 2020, multi-family building permits exceeded single family permits for the first time in Bozeman history, a trend likely to continue.  

2023 GAR Housing Report data – Figure 2.6 Permitted Housing Units, Gallatin County

2023 GAR Housing Report data – Figure 2.6 Permitted Housing Units, Gallatin County

Multi family glut coming home to roost in 2023 

Large quantities of multi-family units started to drive prices down for renters hitting a form of price stabilization transitioning from a landlords market to a renters market around the Fall of 2023. Here’s a few excerpts from Sterling Creadvisors in an article titled Big Changes in Bozeman’s Housing Market written March 13, 2024 regarding Bozeman’s current multi family inventory levels. 

“Bozeman’s multifamily vacancy rate inched its way over 7% in the 3rd quarter of 2023. Vacancy rates will likely continue to rise as 1,476 units are under construction in the market. Rents are dropping and concessions are picking up, as the market shifts from a landlord’s market to a renter’s market.”

“With a full development pipeline, the vacancy rate in Bozeman is expected to climb. How high the rate gets will depend on the delivery timing for the units under construction. Based on the recent pace of absorption, it could take more than 2 ½ years to lease up the units currently under construction. A continued drop in rental rates or an increase in demand could speed the process.”

“For developers and owners, particularly of new properties, it could be a difficult time. Ongoing growth in Bozeman and delays on projects in planning should allow for a return to more normal market conditions. But, for those who used underwriting assumptions based on the extraordinary conditions of 2020-2022, it may prove difficult to recover.” 

At what levels are rents projected to settle? 

The 2023 median rental price dropped significantly year over year topping off at $3,250 falling 23% from its February highs bottoming out around $2,500 by December 2023. Throughout 2024, the median rental rate remained stable between the $2,250 to $2,500 within range of 2023’s December lows. Bozeman’s rent at the time of this article written December 2024 hints at balancing out around the $2,250 price point. 

Zillow Rentals – Bozeman, MT Rental Market

Temporary glut in multi family units driving record vacancies

From 2010-2021 Gallatin Valley has maintained a vacancy rate below the 5% range bottoming out at 3% in 2019. ACS data indicate vacancy rates well below the 5-8 percent range considered healthy in Bozeman. – 2023 Gallatin Valley Housing Report

Record high vacancies in 2024

It’s not unusual to have vacancy cycles around Bozeman. October-Holiday is considered to be a pre-winter get outta town cycle and the second occurs in May when MSU classes adjourn (however May is much more friendly for filling units. The ERES published two numbers at the first half of 2024 in the ERES Market snapshot of Gallatin County report painted a clear picture of vacancy that goes beyond seasonality. 

• Though the current vacancy rate is notably higher than last year (at 13.1%) Q1 | 2024 
• The Bozeman multifamily market faces high vacancy rates of 15.6% Q2 | 2024

Bozeman has a few more years to work out its glut of multi family, people will continue to come and go and Bozeman will likely continue to grow. 

Gallatin County Population Projections through 2040

Envision Gallatin Growth Policy Study adopted September 21, 2021 

How will Montana fill in? 

It’s difficult to speculate on the future of Montana population growth however it might be easier to map out where these populations will expand around. The maps below show population density by square mile for US Census blocks for 1990 and 2020. Green indicates a density of between 1-25 people per square mile, purple from 25-500 people per square mile, and yellow is over 500 people per square mile. White spaces indicate no persons in the Census block. – 2024 MARA Demographic Report 

People will continue to be attracted to the State of Montana until the Yellowstone Caldera volcano is forecasted to go. Quality of life and traditional Montana values will change some as it embraces the gradual immigration of I generation frontiers.

Did you move to Montana in a rush? 

Or perhaps will the new immigration impacts diminish the quality of life to the point that North Dakota starts to look more attractive then Montana. 

Thanks for taking the time to read! If you liked this content, I stronglyI encourage you to check out the bozeman build report, a newsletter sent out every Monday covering Montana business and blue collar news, visit bozemanbuild.com to sign up for free. 

Daniel – Bozeman Build Author and operator of Blockbiome.com

I ran 24 miles of Bozeman Montana alleyway capturing Accessary Dwelling Unit builds across the City. This guide can be used as design inspiration. Want detailed plans? I’ll scout them out for you, reach out to daniel@blockbiome.com.

North Bozeman

North East Bozeman

South East Bozeman

South Bozeman

South West Bozeman

Hope you were inspired!

–Daniel Zavadil. Blockbiome.com

Commute, challenges, and captures working construction in Big Sky, Montana

June 5th 2024

Big Sky, Montana “The Biggest Skiing in America” having over 5,850 skiable acres coupled with some gosh darn big homes. A builder invited Block Biome to visit a his job sites, this article covers the experience from a builders standpoint discussing what the commutes like, 191 traffic counts, Big Sky Growth, and a construction gallery. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=k5nIvBzx-84%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26enablejsapi%3D1

Getting to Big Sky and historical traffic patterns 

There’s only one way in and one way out (technically 2 however the second is semi private). Some of the locals that commute this every day may challenge these drive times however this is what we pulled from Google as of June 5th 2024. Note – there is one construction zone south of Four Corners at the time of this estimate, one could shave 10 minutes off assuming no slow downs (which is not unique to Highway 191, thank you to all the service workers who keeps up with this stretch, and mad respect to everyone who commutes this daily throughout the year.

Highway 191 Traffic Counts

A vast majority of the traffic coming to Big Sky circles out within the same day either visiting for a ski day or commuting as a contractor. Block Biome did a traffic study morning of Wednesday April 10th to better grasp who travels to and from Big Sky. This data is available for sale however, we’re happy to share a chart displaying morning traffic counts.

After looking at morning patterns, let’s take a step back at the Montana Department of Transportation’s Traffic Count data for location A-043 just North of Big Sky Canyon Village located on Highway 191. Looking strikingly similar to the S&P 500.  

Big Sky Population Growth

What’s the significance in these traffic counts? First, it’s fun to compare drive counts to population figures and second is the fact that Big Sky is continuing to grow. According to the 2021 Big Sky Community Report, Gallatin had a +32.9% population change from 2010 to 2020 while Big Sky grew 89% over that same period. You think that’s a sharp growth curve.. Think again, between 2000–2010 Big Sky grew  89% and from 1990 to 2000 it experienced a growth of 800%.

Construction

Enough with the counts, let’s talk building. Construction and new builds around Big Sky has exploded since 2020, everything from new hotels, condos, modular apartments, to new homes. Robert, who has been a superintendent in Big Sky and around Gallatin Valley for over 20 years invited me to shadow for the day.

The top challenges builders face here are:

1. Weather
2. Having enough people
3. Managing expectations
4. Terrain 
5. Proximity to materials

We visited 3 different job sites taking a few photos in between, please enjoy the captures below divided into interior/exterior under construction, completed homes, craftsmanship, vehicles, and neighborhood.

Interior under construction

Exterior under construction

Completed Homes 

Craftsmanship

Vehicles

Neighborhood

Thank you for reading,

Daniel Zavadil – Block Biome Operator and Author of the Bozeman Build Report

There’s nothing like the sound of Magpies gawking and the unlocking beeps of Subarus in the morning. Late May 2024, the Crab apples and lilacs are in full swing, it’s almost time for a second lawn mowing to chop down the dandelion bloom, as summer is trying to overcome the long lingering Spring, I decided to go on a run one afternoon to capture the character of Cooper Historical District (the South West end of downtown Bozeman). Enjoy this read where we will break down the history, price points, and character of this area.

May 26th 2024

Area/Map

This was the Strava photography run route

History/Historical Districts

The City of Bozeman’s Community Development department identifies and was approved for 10 different historical districts including 45 different addresses added to the historical register from the Gallatin Valley High School, Carnegie Library, to residential addresses. For this article, we are sticking with the Cooper District

Here is a map of Bozeman’s Registered Historical Districts, for today we laser focused on the Cooper Park Historic District Nomination 1986

The Cooper Park Historic District, a large early 20th century residential area, contains about 250 diverse, one to two story frame houses with even spacing and setbacks, along level, tree-lined streets. The Bungalow style is clearly predominant in the district, though the eclectic Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles, promoted by early 20th century pattern books, are also well represented. Architectural features such as exposed rafter tails, truss brackets, bay and oriel windows, porches, and a variety of surface textures and roof types lend both a strong visual cohesion and a distinctly Progressive Era character to the district. – City of Bozeman Community Development Division

Most of the East/West roads running through this district were named after early influential settlers to Bozeman including:

Real Estate

Writing date being May 26th 2024, here are some sample listings from this district price source being Zillow.

Photography

Divided into four categories including:

1. New Builds
2. Art
3. Garage/ADU
4. Historical
5. Mediums
6. Basketball

New Builds

Art

Garage/ADU

Historical

Mediums

Basketball

That’s all, let me know which district should be covered next.

-Daniel Zavadil

Author of the Bozeman Build and Block Biome Media

The Electric semi-truck takeover. Talking history, recent news headlines, analysis, estimates, what truckers are saying, and economic of electric heavy class vehicles (semi’s) by Block Biome Research LLC.

May 30th 2024

I’ve been noticing an increasing number of articles about large companies buying fleets of electric semis which inspired me to write a brief take on what’s happening with the electrification of our trucks, discover where these trucks are coming from, hear what truckers are saying, and to run some numbers. I do hold a CDL and have driven diesel trucks only and am NOT an electric vehicle expert or a financial advisor.

Photo credits in order to Pepsi Co, Nikola Corporation, Freightliner Trucks, Kenworth Trucks, Peterbilt, and Volvo Trucks

Let’s get started by taking a quick look at our vehicle electrification history.

• 1832 – Robert Anderson develops the first crude electric vehicle
• 1886 – Montgomery, Alabama, established its electric streetcar system nicknamed the Lightning Route
• 1936 – The Rural Electrification Act was signed into effect
• 1940 – First electric bus delivered From 1940 to 1951 Scania-Vabis delivered over 120 bus chassis to Stockholm’s public transport company
• 1996 – GM releases the EV1
• 1997 – Toyota introduces the first mass-produced hybrid, the Prius
• 2022 – Tesla releases the Tesla Semi, along with everyone releasing their first model

Electric semi headlines have been making a very frequent appearance in the media, whenever someone orders a fleet, multiple media agencies will write an article about it. There’s also been a youtube craze about testing the durability and performance of the Tesla Cyber Truck as preorders are starting to fulfill Winter/Spring of 2024.

Here’s some samples of the headlines released within the Month of May 2024

• (May 30, 2024) fleetowner.com Sysco adds 10 electric trucks in Houston
• (May 29, 2024) trucknews.com Einride places Peterbilt’s largest-ever order of electric trucks
• (May 27, 2024) all-about-industries.com Large charging park for electric trucks opens in California
• (May 24, 2024) electrive.com New electric trucks coming to the USA
• (May 23, 2024) DHL Group DHL Group is expanding its charging infrastructure for electric trucks with stations provided by E.ON
• (May 23, 2024) Autoweek.com Toyota Unit Plans Electric Semi Later This Year
• (May 21, 2024) Yahoo Finance Tesla stock gains on electric Semi truck progress, updates
• (May 21, 2024) PR Newswire NIKOLA AND AiLO LOGISTICS ANNOUNCE ORDER FOR 100 HYDROGEN FUEL CELL ELECTRIC TRUCKS
• (May 16, 2024) REE Automotive’s P7-C Electric Trucks and Platforms Approved for $30,000 Incentive Per Vehicle in Massachusetts

The electric truck and semi race is on, let’s what the market has to offer, great job to Nextbigfuture for creating this chart

As of May 2024, how many electric trucks are actually out there?

• January 18, 2024- According to an Environmental Defense Fund analysis of the nation’s 12.2 million truck fleet, there are almost 13,000 electric trucks — which can be defined as Class 2B to Class 8 vehicles, or anything from a step-up van to a large tractor-trailer — on the road today.
• December 13, 2023 Electric truck deployments by U.S. companies grew five times in 2023 – EDF
• State of Charge: 2021 Electric Trends and Milestones – Freightliner

Has there really been a big uptick in electric semi-trucks or is it mostly media shilling?  R/Truckers (Posted March 2024)

• I’ve seen a handful pulling loads up and down 680 and one in LA. Its just a small amount sold to Frito and Pepsi for testing, they’re not commercially available yet.

• I’ve seen 1, it wasn’t a Tesla though I don’t think. It was in Portland, I think delivering chips.
• I’ve seen a lot of them. There’s a company called Kodiak that goes from Atlanta to Dallas on i-20.

What are truckers saying about electric trucks?

How do y’all feel about electric semi trucks? R/Truckers

• I think regular bev trucks will still make sense for shorter distances, as the battery weight can be smaller. Besides just higher density solid state batteries, single use batteries like aluminium air might be significant. Probably the only major replacement for diesel trucks will be hydrogen powered though.
• The Freightliner CEO even recently said in an interview (was trying to find it to paste here but cannot) that realistically, the tech to make it work for OTR just isn’t there, and won’t be for a long time. They’re focusing on local runs with it mainly.

Real-World Tesla Semi Range Data is In, And It’s Not Bad R/electricvehicles

• One of the trucks did over 800 miles on one day, also, current 10-80% time is around 55 minutes, and it keeps peak power during all that time, suggesting that the 750 kW chargers Pepsi has are the limitation and it could do much more Also, with this is mind, starting and ending the day at 10% means it could drive ~1150 miles in a day in a perfect scenario including charging, and since the maximum a pair of drivers can drive in 24h is 22h, even with the “slow” charge times there is barely any penalty in distance covered vs an ICE truck if you always charge on the rest time If charge times go to half an hour with more powerful chargers, you would charge almost exactly 2 hours to drive 22 hours, meaning there wouldn’t be any penalty vs an ICE truck – GhostAndSkater

Economics

(May 10, 2024) Depreciating electric trucks to scrap value – FreightWaves

No visibility on trade-in values contributing to cautious purchases. “Three years ago, the biggest risk around fleets adopting electric vehicles was the residual value and the [anticipated] life of those vehicles,” Mohr told me. “Every single fleet [was] depreciating these things down to nothing because we have no clue what they’re going to be worth.”

“Charging with electricity is approximately 2.5 times cheaper per mile than refueling with diesel.” Tesla

Semi’s appx achieve 7-10 mpg, lets just call it 8 mpg with diesel costing $3.57/gal  for simplicity sake costing $.45 cents per mile. Given Tesla’s “2.5 times cheaper” claim this would lower fuel cost down to $.18 cents per mile.

Brand new Peterbilt diesel trucks are around the $250,000 range while the brand new Tesla Semi is marketed at appx $200,000. Given the operational cost savings, electric might be the move for regional haulers to pre-order especially while certain states are handing out credits. At the same time, it would be prudent to sit back and wait a few years to learn from the early editions and to wait for costs to decline as more competitor manufacturers enter the market and more charging ports become available.

Forward Speculation

• More content will become available throughout the year demonstrating haul lengths, economics, and costs of these purchases

• Large fuel/convenience store chains will start building more electric ports for both small vehicles and heavy vehicles. 
• More states will offer EV tax credits or other incentives for early adoption
• 2024 ranges are 250-500 miles which will get better over time. Tesla by far has the best long haul E Semi product achieving up to 500 miles with a charge time being 30 minutes to an hour (that’s enough for a lunch break) 
• Fleets are looking forward to higher margins but it’s difficult to say if these will materialize. Higher margins will stem from fuel cost savings and payroll savings when autonomy becomes more widely approved
• Autonomous driving applications seem more fitting for long haul opposed to intracity
• EV mechanic specialists will be in increasing demand
• Battery waste and renewable materials recycling services will continue to grow
• FMCSA CDL requirements will likely remain the same 
• Other heavy equipment manufacturers to adopt BEV technologies applying this to other earth moving equipment
• Rare earth metals will remain in demand and internal regulations may become more relaxed to achieve higher levels of REM  independence
• Chips will continue to increase in demand and the US will continue to invest in domestically engineered and produced chips
• EV manufacturers and the US as a whale will need to find ways to hedge risk against EMP and solar flares which could be detrimental to supply chains and society if we are over reliant on technology and vehicles that are vulnerable to such events 
• Electricity costs will continue to climb as a result of increased power consumption used by data centers, EV’s, and domestic manufacturing combined with an increased cost of generating power using renewable sources
• Investment in sustainable power generation will decrease if nuclear is adopted especially at the advancement rate of fission technology

Enough speculation, here’s a list of resources and reports to learn more about what’s going on within the industry

Trends in heavy electric vehicles – IEA

Fact Sheet | The Future of the Trucking Industry: Electric Semi-Trucks (2023) – EESI

Run on Less Depot – US EV consumption data – ROL

Thank you for reading,

Daniel – Operator and Author of Block Biome Research and the Bozeman Build Report

June 3rd 2024

We adventured to Mexico March of 2024 seeking 18,490 feet at Pico de Orizaba, the third highest point in North America and the highest point in Mexico. The thing that caught my attention beyond the striking beauty of Pico was the masonry found in every street and alley of every village and city – that is what this is about. This article covers locality building practices, Mexico material and food costs, and a gallery in appreciation for its builders and architecture.

In the US and other developed nations we like to build in bulk or in haste to get the job done. In other places around the world, they might build brick by brick or in unison with what natural resources are available, hence a cabin built in the woods, an earth lodge in the prairie, and an adobe found in the desert. 

Top Residential Builder builders in the US of 2024

1. D.R. Horton – 90,777 (including 5,860 build-to-rent homes)
2. Lennar Corp. – 73,087 (including 977 condos and 558 build-to-rent homes)
3. PulteGroup – 28,603
4. NVR – 20,662
5. Meritage Homes – 13,976
6. KB Home – 13,236
7. Taylor Morrison – 11,495
8. Clayton Properties Group – 9,957
9. Toll Brothers – 9,597
10. Century Communities – 9,568

[ Source being constructiondive.com quantity is the number of 2023 closings ]

Building materials and fuel costs nearly the same as the USA

[Prices as of March 2024 in USD, also mentioned prices in Bozeman Build Report #4]

• Cinderblock – $0.48/USD

• Type 1 Portland Cemento 94lb bag – $12.59/USD
• Mid Grade Exterior Paint – $27.57/USD
• 6 pastries in rural Mexico – $2/USD
• 4 tacos in rural Mexico – $3/USD
• 4 tacos in Mexico City – $4/USD
• 1 gallon of 87 octane fuel (3.78 liters in a gallon) – $5.05/USD
• 1 gallon of diesel – $5.37/USD – OUCH!

Gallery covering masonry/tile, mosaics/art, buildings, churches, vehicles, and mountaineering

Masonry/Tile

Mosaics/Art

Buildings

Churches

Vehicles

Mountaineering

The things I appreciated the most above all else was was seeing everyone’s love for community, faith, pride in work, and gumption.

Thanks for reading and viewing,

Daniel – Block Biome Operator and Author of the Bozeman Build

May 15 2025

It all started with seeing a large quote difference between two local ready mix providers, this led me to call 198 ready mix concrete plants across the US curious to break down some pricing trends.

May 2024 USA Concrete PricesDownload

The constants:

1. Every quote was provided by calling dispatch requesting 10 yards of 3,000 psi 5 bag concrete with 3/4 rock or their comparable with NO additives delivered within the city bounds of the specific batch plant. Total price includes delivery, concrete, relevant city/state sales tax, everything involved to make that 10 yard pour happen.
2. This was a C.O.D order, I was getting quotes as little guy doing a one time pour, the prices that most contractors receive are likely discounted from the prices I was quoted.
3. Every state except Washington DC is the average of at least 3 quotes. States with larger populations or questionable price differences had more samples. Most quotes came from batch plants located in/outside larger cities also leading to a potential premium but not in all cases.
4. Quotes were gathered starting mid April ending in mid May 2024. No hot or chilled water fees were included in pricing.

Unique findings:

• Matt was overwhelmingly the most popular name we spoke with at Dispatch
• States with higher than average pricing is likely due to mix plants being owned by a small handful of larger companies
• Road Island is the most affordable State to purchase concrete while the District of Columbia is the most expensive State to purchase concrete
• There is very little correlation between local cost of living and cost of concrete
• Everybody wants to pour in the morning, you can often order afternoon pours in the same day while later week is more busy than early week.

Thank you for reading!