Yellowstone River Ranch

08/06/2024

The storm that just passed had a lot of close lightning strikes. Please keep your eyes open for fires. Often when trees are hit, they smolder all night and burst into flames the next day.

07/23/2024

If you were to receive an evacuation order, how long would it take you to prepare? Do you have important documents digitized or in one place so they can be gathered quickly? Use the 6 P's to help you organize your go-kit and prepare for disasters. Sign up for alerts and listen to your local officials.

12/16/2023

Landowners, there is a Facebook group called YRR Residents that is open for you to post notices yourselves.

12/04/2023

I've been asked to let everyone know that there is a new letter regarding the road conditions on the YRRLC.com website.

11/10/2023

Good morning. As those of you who live here will have noticed, Winding River Rd has been graded. PLEASE help the road remain smooth. Driving at or under the speed limit, and using 4 wheel drive all the time while on the ranch will be a real help.
Also, please don't plow unless there is a serious snowfall, and be sure your plow has skids or wheels to keep the plow from scraping the road and removing gravel. After the last snow there were obvious piles of gravel shoved off Owl Canyon Rd and in places on Winding River Rd.
There will not be funds available to grade again until next year, so it's up to all of us to drive gently.
If you are building please make sure your contractors are respecting the roads and using 4 wheel drive, especially when hauling equipment.
If you see someone driving way too fast or plowing without skids, please say something to them.

08/18/2023

Stillwater Train Derailment Press Release
Reed Point, Montana (August 16, 2023) – 12:00pm
Cleanup teams reached an initial river cleanup end point at 136 miles downstream from the incident site, just below the confluence with the Bighorn River. As outlined in the Guidance for End Point and Treatment document, cleanup efforts on the river will wind down when 3 or fewer actionable asphalt areas are identified within a 10 mile stretch of river. In the current final 10 miles of cleanup, a single actionable asphalt area was observed, therefore meeting the wind down criteria. River operations also must be scaled down due to low water levels preventing safe boat access to cleanup areas. Additional cleanup operations will resume during the summer of 2024.

While extensive cleanup efforts are scaling down, a local cleanup taskforce will remain in the area to respond to reports of asphalt material submitted through [email protected]. The public is encouraged to continue reporting asphalt material to this email box. This crew will specifically target actionable asphalt material, defined as asphalt material that can be safely removed without causing significant damage to natural habitat, such as removal of natural sediment and vegetation. If the reported asphalt material is not actionable, the taskforce will attempt to break it into smaller pieces and cover it with sediment to aid in the natural break down process.

To date, teams have collected approximately 231,700 pounds of asphalt material. The mass balance, or total volume, for the asphalt material that entered the river has been calculated at approximately 419,442 pounds of material. Therefore, crews collected approximately 55% of spilled material.

Anyone with information about oiled or impacted wildlife are encouraged to continue call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN) Response Hotline at 888-ASK-OWCN (888-275-6926).

As of August 15, eight snakes and eleven birds died after encountering the asphalt material; one snake encountered the material and was released back into the environment for 20 total confirmed animals impacted by the material.

The natural resource damage process to evaluate the damage caused to the environment due to this event will continue through the Montana Natural Resource Damage Program.
This will be the final regularly issued press release for the incident, but further press releases may be issued on an as-needed basis.
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08/16/2023

08/04/2023

Here's an unusual story:

Three women were injured, with one woman needing to be airlifted to hospital, after an otter attacked them while they floated down a river on inner tubes. The incident occurred on Wednesday evening at approximately 8:15 p.m. when the three friends were floating on inner tubes about three miles upstr...

07/30/2023

Dan received a call today that the picnic area gate was locked, so he spoke to the landowner. We do have a legal easement there, but it is still his land. He mows it and checks it regularly. He told Dan the reason he locked the gate was that in late June (before the train derailment) someone drove a vehicle into the grassy area that was soggy from all the rain we had. They apparently got stuck and left deep ruts, which you can see in the photos. They also tossed trash around, including empty liquor bottles.
We would hope this was not a landowner/resident. Respect for the roads and the easements, as well as your neighbors is absolutely neccessary.
Please keep your eyes open and contact Dan O'Neil, any other member of the Board or the sheriff if you see any suspicious activity there in the future.

07/21/2023

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/tar-balls-are-being-found-100-miles-downstream-from-yellowstone-river-train-derailment/ar-AA1ebw7v?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=93d0fff7f7824bf08466aaf4d973e840&ei=9

LAUREL, Mont. (AP) — Tar balls have shown up 100 miles (160.93 kilometers) downstream of a railroad bridge collapse last month that sent numerous tank cars carrying petroleum products plummeting into Montana's Yellowstone River, officials said Friday, as dropping water levels and rising temperatur...

07/20/2023

I am buying food for the picnic after the annual meeting, and would like to get the right amount. If you are planning on coming, and we hope you are, please respond here or in the YRR Residents group. As always, the ranch provides hamburgers, hotdogs/brats, bun, condiments, water, plates and utensils. Residents attending are encouraged to bring a side or dessert, and anything other than water that you want to drink.
This year Jerry & Lisa Bichsel have offered their home for the picnic. Their hospitality will be greatly appreciated, and it also saves the association the cost of tent rental and porta potty.
The picnic is a great place to meet new landowners, and to discuss ideas outside of the annual meeting.
For the Annual meeting at the Reed Point Fire hall, it would be appreciated if a few people brought camping/lawn chairs as we were short seats last year.

07/10/2023