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It’s fall, y’all! Now you can make fun of pumpkin-spice-latte lovers all you want. I’ll take it, but even the most grinch-y fall foe probably loves the changing of the leaves.
Whether it’s the golden hues of cottonwoods and aspen, the butterscotch blush of larch or the ruby red of maples, the natural world comes alive in a whole different scheme of color for a few short weeks before we settle into winter. And if you’re wanting to get out and peep some leaves, we’ve got you covered.
I have been on the hunt for the best fall forecast. Both explorefall.com and More Than Just Parks have proven reliable, and are forecasting peak foliage across most of the state this weekend.
According to these trackers, the best places to spot the splendor will be in northwest Montana, particularly the Cabinet Mountains, Kalispell and the Flathead National Forest, as well as other parts of western Montana, including the Lolo National Forest, Mineral County and Missoula.
If you haven’t been already, you’ve just missed the peak for Glacier National Park, the Gallatin National Forest and southwest Montana, particularly the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest area, but leaf watching is still forecasted to be good through the weekend!
The More Than Just Parks map lets you put in your zip code and get a summary of the best places to see fall color near you. Keep in mind: Just because a peak period has passed doesn’t mean there’s no more color to see, and elevation plays a role. So, while you may have missed the maples, the larches are on the way.
The map can tell you that level of detail, too! I, for one, am just starting to see the larches turn in the mountains outside Missoula, despite our river corridors being in full orange hue these days.
Screenshot from explorefall.com.
Happy viewing!
—Ellis Juhlin
Following the Law ⚖️
Earlier this week, people unlawfully arrested by federal immigration officials in Montana asked a federal district court judge to stop authorities from conducting such arrests across the state.
In their complaint, filed Sept. 25 against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the plaintiffs allege that federal agents violated people’s rights and are “routinely ignoring” the obligations of the law. They allege that immigration officials have arrested people without warrants and held them in poor conditions without conducting requisite individualized flight risk assessments, and that federal agents have pressured people to sign documents allowing their removal from the U.S.
“Since at least April 2025, defendants have been illegally detaining noncitizens in Montana without adequate procedural safeguards,” the complaint reads.
The plaintiffs, represented by Upper Seven Law, have asked the court to declare the defendants’ “policy and practice” unlawful and to vacate the policy.
Upper Seven filed the complaint days after U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris ordered the release of at least 24 immigration detainees in a separate but related class action lawsuit.
“Federal law strictly limits federal agents’ authority to take away people’s freedom, including in the immigration context,” Upper Seven litigation director Molly Danahy said in a statement. “When the government ignores those limits, it fundamentally infringes on our liberty.”
The government’s response to the complaint is due by Oct. 7.
—Nora Mabie
Your Two Cents (Custom Logo, 2 Pennies)
Coming up on Oct. 13, Montana Free Press and NonStop Local Missoula will host a livestreamed debate with Montana’s 1st Congressional District U.S. House candidates Aaron Flint and Sam Forstag. The debate will take place in a Missoula studio, without a live audience, and while MTFP’s Tom Lutey and NonStop Local’s Bradley Warren will have questions of their own, of course, we know that you do, too.
How to ask, you ask? There’s a form for that. The sooner you fill it out, the better the chance we can put your question to the candidates.
—Brad Tyer
Public Comment 🗣️
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality began soliciting public comments this week on a proposed well for a proposed data center in Yellowstone County.
The comment period closes Oct. 29, the department said in a press release Tuesday. DEQ’s website has a copy of the well application, the environmental review and information on how to submit comments.
The well would supply the Big Sky Campus with up to 150,000 gallons a day during construction and 20,000 gallons per day for drinking water once operational, developer Quantica Infrastructure has said. The water, which would come from an aquifer deeper underground than the one most locals use, “may also be used” to cool servers in the data center’s closed-loop system, according to the press release.
The project, about 30 miles northwest of Billings, has generated broad public scrutiny, with dozens of opponents crowding into county board meetings in recent months to demand the county act to stop or limit the development. The county maintains that a 2025 state law, the Right to Compute Act, stymies its traditional regulatory authority.
Regulations that apply to the data center include well testing for water quality and quantity, according to the press release. DEQ would test quality, and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation would test for quantity, it said.
Other regulations that might apply include additional water or air quality reviews, which would be conducted by DEQ; a water rights review, which would be conducted by DNRC; and zoning, which would be completed by Yellowstone County, the department wrote.
—Phoebe Tollefson
Verbatim 💬
“We could go a dollar a gallon higher, we could go a dollar a gallon lower. I have no idea which of those it’s going to be.” —Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, on what Montanans can expect from diesel prices in the months ahead.
According to GasBuddy, the average price of diesel in Montana was $6.21 on Friday, nearly 74% higher than a year ago, after climbing sharply since the U.S.-Iran conflict began earlier this year.
De Haan said the increase has been driven largely by disruptions to the global diesel supply. Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries have halted Russia’s diesel exports, removing roughly one in nine barrels from the market, while the U.S. conflict with Iran has disrupted shipping and refining in the Persian Gulf. At the same time, U.S. refineries have little spare capacity to make up the difference as many are entering their fall maintenance season.
The consequences extend well beyond the pump. Farmers have little choice but to keep running diesel-powered equipment, while trucking and rail freight also depend on the fuel.
Eric Belasco, an agricultural economist and professor at Montana State University, said farmers often have limited ability to pass higher fuel costs along to buyers because they sell into competitive commodity markets.
“So a lot of them end up eating the cost at the farm level,” Belasco said.
Relief is difficult to predict. De Haan said diesel prices are unlikely to decline meaningfully until at least some of the geopolitical disruptions affecting global fuel supplies ease.
— Jacob Olness
News of the News 📰
The Anaconda Weekly Review printed its first edition this week. The nonprofit publication replaces the Anaconda Leader, a twice-weekly newspaper that closed in June.
The Review is staffed by four former Leader employees, including publisher James Rosien and editor Kasey Edge-Faur. The publication is named after Anaconda’s first-ever newspaper, which began publishing in the 19th century.
“In their first edition, they had as their tagline, ‘a paper for the people,’ Rosien said. “And I thought, yes, that’s exactly right. That’s what this is.”
Rosien has a habit of reviving Anaconda history. The nonprofit that operates the Review is called the Anaconda Community Media Company. The acronym is a nod to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which played a foundational role in establishing and shaping the southwestern Montana town.
The paper is printed in Anaconda via a Fujifilm Revoria Digital Press, which Rosien said the Leader’s former owner sold to the Review at a “generous” price. The Review has about 600 print subscribers. Another 60 are online-only.
“I wanted it to be locally produced, locally funded,” Rosien said.
Rosien ultimately hopes 2,000 people will subscribe, which would be about 25% of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County residents.
The Review’s first front page features a story about the 90th anniversary of Anaconda’s landmark Washoe Theatre, written by Edge-Faur.
Also in newspaper news this week, Lee Enterprises acquired the Great Falls Tribune from the USA Today Co. With the acquisition, Lee now owns a paper in almost every major Montana city, including Helena, Missoula, Billings and Butte.
—Zeke Lloyd
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
- Photographer Matt Calaraco and reporter Zeke Lloyd couldn’t get enough of the sheep scene during Reed Point’s Great Montana Sheep Drive last month. This week, they share a ewe’s eye view.
- For Mountain Journal, veteran bear-beat reporter Rob Chaney unpacks how a seemingly minor rule change could unravel longstanding environmental protections.
- Great Falls reporter Matt Hudson tracks a major change in Montana’s news-ownership landscape: Lee Enterprises’ purchase of the Great Falls Tribune.
On Our Radar
Lauren — Good morning, bakers, and welcome back to the Lowdown. The best show on TV, which should have been in the NYT’s top 100 shows, is back: the Great British Baking Show. I’m quite religious about how I consume this delicious show. Let me set the scene. I start my Saturday slow, rising only when my body feels ready. I make breakfast, and usually bake something. I put my phone in a separate room, grab my knitting, and then and only then will I sit down with my steaming cup of coffee, wrapped in a blanket, as cool fall air blows through the window, to watch.
Ellis — Me again, MTFP’s resident fall fan. This weekend, to accompany me on my leaf-spotting adventures, I’ll be making this pumpkin chai latte. Chai plus pumpkin puree and maple syrup is downright irresistible. I’m sure you could do a similar mixture with coffee or a shot of espresso. I’m just a tea fan myself. Is it delicious? Yes. Is it cliched? Yes. Do I care? No.
Zeke — Red and orange foliage has formed beautiful leafy arches over Helena’s roads. In search of the perfect soundtrack for a drive around town, I found my way back to Frank Sinatra’s “It Had To Be You,” which was featured in the 1989 classic “When Harry Met Sally.”
Brad — One of my favorite things about moving, which I just did, again, is imagining all the new furniture I (absolutely don’t) need. Which is how I ended up, again, at Margie’s Vintage in Helena. Which is, in turn, how I learned that Margie’s is now hosting a used-record rack stocked by Missoula’s Slant Street Records with LPs that I, again, absolutely don’t need. The record that I most did not need to own this week is the Sonny Clark Trio’s 1957 debut, which nonetheless sounds spectacular in its new home.
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This week’s Lowdown is edited by Nick Ehli and Brad Tyer, with additional copy editing from Mara Silvers.