Montana Free Press published more than 1,000 stories and newsletters in 2025. As we approach the turn of another year, we’ve taken a look back to compile some of our most read, most shared, most republished and highest-impact stories of the year.
MOST-READ STORY OF 2025: ‘Forest Service authorizes controversial land swap along the eastern portion of the Crazy Mountains’
Controversy over a long-debated land swap along the eastern flank of the Crazy Mountains north of Big Timber had been heated for years by the time the Custer-Gallatin National Forest authorized the exchange in January. Amanda Eggert reported that consultants hired by the Yellowstone Club could officially begin the title transfer process.
Credit: Amanda Eggert / MTFP
SECOND-MOST-READ STORY OF 2025: ‘Man detained after being pulled over by Whitefish police sues city, police department’
In April, Venezuelan refugee Beker Rengifo Del Castillo was arrested by Whitefish police, allegedly for a faulty taillight, and taken into federal custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Tom Lutey reported on Castillo’s lawsuit against the city and its police department.
THIRD-MOST-READ STORY OF 2025: ‘Anaconda angles toward self-reliance’
Reporter Zeke Lloyd reported on the former smelter town’s economic balancing act between a booming tourist trade and lagging light industry. His story drew a readership four times the town’s population.
FOURTH-MOST-READ STORY OF 2025: ‘Four dead in shooting at Anaconda bar, search for suspected shooter continues’
In early August, MTFP reporters Zeke Lloyd and Eric Dietrich contributed to Associated Press coverage of one of the largest mass shootings in Montana history at the Owl Bar in Anaconda.
FIFTH-MOST-READ STORY OF 2025: ‘Talented individuals’ laid off from agency will find ‘countless’ opportunities outside of government
Amanda Eggert’s February reporting on the Trump administration’s Forest Service layoffs generated high interest among readers in Montana, where the agency’s parent department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is the largest federal employer. News of the layoffs and continuing coverage of a federal labor board’s reinstatement order both landed among the year’s most-read stories.
Credit: Amanda Eggert / MTFP
SIXTH-MOST-READ STORY OF 2025: ‘Montana community divided by Mormon doctrine, land rights and tithing’
Residents of the tiny Bitterroot Valley town of Pinesdale, founded decades ago by a splinter group of fundamentalist Mormons, sued for the land they say rightfully belongs to them. The church maintained it was never theirs.
Credit: Nathan Boddy / MTFP
SEVENTH-MOST-READ STORY OF 2025: ‘The city of Big Timber is set to sell millions of gallons of its water to Crazy Mountain Ranch’
The city of Big Timber’s plan to sell millions of gallons of city water to irrigate the private golf course at Crazy Mountain Ranch resort drew many readers — as did a follow-up story about the town’s vote to nix the sale.
MOST-VIEWED STORY ON INSTAGRAM: ‘For the first time, Montana officially celebrates Indigenous Peoples’ Day’
Local and informal Montana celebrations of Indigenous Peoples’ Day have taken place in Montana for years, but 2025 marked the first such celebration as an official state holiday.
MOST-SHARED STORY ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ‘State approves Big Sky Resort plan to turn wastewater into snow’
Big Sky Resort’s newly approved plan to turn treated wastewater into skiable snow became our most shared story of the year on Instagram.
Credit: courtesy of Big Sky Resort
MOST-REPUBLISHED STORY IN MONTANA MEDIA: ‘Landowner looks to appeal corner-crossing case to U.S. Supreme Court’
It’s a testament to corner-crossing’s impact on Montana’s cherished land-access landscape that MTFP’s most-republished story of the year concerned a potentially precedent-setting legal appeal located in the neighboring state of Wyoming.
BONUS: MTFP’S BIGGEST-IMPACT STORY OF 2025: ‘An addiction program was supposed to help nurses. Then one took her own life.’
In September, reporter Mara Silvers broke the story of a Montana nurse who died by suicide while participating in a state-mandated addiction-recovery program for medical providers. That story helped prompt the state labor department’s reassessment of the program, which was followed by program administrator Maximus’ announcement that it will withdraw from its contract with the state in the new year.
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