MEDA -Montana Economic Developers Association

• Has Montana passed a water tipping point?

  A discussion about the complex and contradictory state of water rights in Montana, explaining water as a dwindling resource, the drawn out process of water adjudication, and what the future may look like.

• We’d appreciate it if you would consider becoming a MATR Sponsor, Supporter or Donor.

  Thank you for your interest in helping MATR continue it’s mission! MATR is supported solely by individual donors and companies and organizations that advertise on the site.  We welcome your participation if you believe, with us, that Montana is an enviable place to live and work.

• The Opportunities in Rural Economies Economic Development Organization Capacity Building Grant application is now open.

  The Opportunities in Rural Economies Economic Development Organization Capacity Building Grant supports EDOs in strengthening their ability to provide outreach to their communities for economic development.

• Montana Department of Commerce Weekly Roundup

  The Weekly Roundup is a summary of events, news and information important to Commerce’s constituents this week. Click on any topic for more information.

• Business Attraction News from the Montana Department of Commerce

  Montana’s 406 JOBS Strategy: Building the Workforce Behind America’s Outdoor Industry: Guns, Ammo and Gear

• Forest Service proposes logging next to Glacier National Park

  The project is being expedited under an April 2025 executive order using emergency authority, which shortens the review process and limits public input, even though only about half the area qualifies as high wildfire risk—an approach conservation groups strongly oppose.

Montana’s Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority

• Why the First 3 Months of 2026 Will Decide the Future of US Passenger Rail

  Three events likely to occur in the first 90 days of the year will have major impacts on U.S. train travel.

Northwestern Energy

• NorthWestern Energy to Host 2026 Integrated Resource Plan Meetings in Great Falls, Missoula, Helena and Bozeman, Montana

  The IRP is a long-term planning study that evaluates how NorthWestern Energy can meet Montana customers’ electricity needs over the next 20 years under a variety of future scenarios, while balancing reliability, affordability, and risk. It provides a transparent analysis of potential scenarios to guide future decisions.

Great Falls Montana Development Alliance

• GFDA Top Ten for 1-18-26

  GFDA has earned the 2026 Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid, our seventh consecutive year earning the highest level of transparency for American non-profit organizations. Transparency is one of our core values.

• Proposed growth policy for Great Falls, Montana emphasizes city’s core over urban sprawl

  With the city far from bursting at the seams, the draft policy aims to identify areas ripe for small-scale, infill development.

• GFDA FY2025 Annual Report

  We are excited to release our GFDA Annual Report for FY2025, detailing some of the successes and impact we helped make happen, recognizing clients and partners, and thanking the GFDA Investors who make it possible for us to do what we do!

Montana Business

• Sharks! in Montana? Sharktana is coming.

  In what can only be described as cinema bravely asking “why not?”, a local award-winning filmmaker is unleashing Sharktana, a Bitterroot-based movie where a cozy ski town’s cheerful holiday festival is rudely interrupted by sharks exploding out of snowy mountain slopes.

Regional Economic Development

• Wyoming County approves construction of what could become the largest data center in US

  Project Jade could eventually use the same amount of electricity as produced by 10 nuclear power plants.

• Wyoming lawmakers give young people more reasons to leave – Which states want to attract them?

  Punishing UW, gutting Wyoming Business Council are mistakes by power hungry budget-cutters.

Montana’s American Prairie

• ‘The Last Stand’ by Michael Punke (The Revenant) – The Battle to Save the Buffalo – The American Prairie Reserve

  This is an outstanding history of the American buffalo especially when considering the current efforts to thwart the work of the American Prairie Foundation to develop what could be our next National Park for all.

  Michael Punke’s The Last Stand tells the epic story of the American West through the lens of the American bison and the man who saved these icons of the Western

• Bureau of Land Management revokes Montanan’s American Prairie bison leases – Governor Gianforte Praises BLM Decision

  In its 2022 record of decision approving American Prairie’s Montana bison grazing plan, the BLM noted that bison grazing is permitted on leases it administers in Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

YOUR MONTANA CAREER

• Employment Opportunities & Procedures in Billings, Montana

  Why Billings? Billings is a dynamic and beautiful community of over 112,000 residents nestled between the Yellowstone River and a nine-mile long cliff face known as the Rimrocks, Billings is the largest city in Montana and the Northern Rocky Mountain Region.  Billings has a longstanding reputation for being well-managed, and the community has consistently supported a professionally-operated and innovative local government.  Billings serves as a regional center for commerce, transportation, energy, healthcare, entertainment, and education. Billings is located on the high plains in south-central Montana, giving it more abundant sunshine and less snow than in the mountains to the west.…

Montana’s 21st Century Education Initiative – “You Should Care…”

• San Francisco goes all in to pay for private tutors for 1,500 more city students

  Amid a national and turbulent debate on how to boost lagging literacy skills, San Francisco is putting its money behind a simple effort that seems to be generating the kind of jaw-dropping results often promised with education reforms, but rarely seen.

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