Nestled in the scenic Yellowstone River valley along the Montana-Wyoming border, Gardiner, Montana — with its Old West facades, fly shops, and whitewater outfitters — serves as a year-round gateway to Yellowstone National Park. Its proximity to the northern entrance to the country’s oldest and arguably grandest national park fuels the town’s tourism-based economy. With a year-round population of fewer than 900 people, Gardiner is almost entirely reliant on the nearly three-quarters of a million visitors who pass through Yellowstone’s north gate each year. The summer season, the busiest and most lucrative time of year for most Gardiner businesses, was just getting into full swing this month. Seasonal workers from around the country were settling into their summer jobs. Hotels were filling up. Rafting trips were underway. Tourists were pouring in. On Monday, everything came to a screeching halt.
Author Archives: John S. Adams
John Adams began his professional career in 2001 in Idaho Falls, ID writing and editing for a variety of trade magazines. He covered topics ranging from potato and sugar beet farming to skate park and playground construction and maintenance. Adams started his newspaper career as the city government reporter for the Daily Jefferson County Union in Fort Atkinson, WI where he covered the City Hall, police, fire and local courthouse beats. In 2005 he joined the staff of the Missoula Independent in Missoula, MT where he worked as a staff reporter covering a wide range of issues including the environment, state and local politics and the troubled teen industry. In 2007 the Great Falls Tribune recruited Adams to head its statehouse news bureau in Helena. For the next seven years John covered state government and politics as the capital bureau chief. He also served as the Montana correspondent for USA Today.
In 2015 Adams left the Tribune and began work founding Montana Free Press. With Adams at the helm, Montana Free Press launched as an independent nonprofit in February of 2016. Adams now serves as executive director and editor-in-chief of MTFP. Adams hosted a weekly interview podcast in 2019 and 2020 called the MT Lowdown. In 2018 Adams' journalism was featured in the PBS documentary film, “Dark Money,” winner of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award honoring excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service.
