Wilks brothers plan to open road on ranch

GREAT FALLS (AP) — Access to 50,000 acres of federal land in the Upper Missouri River Breaks in north-central Montana will be reopened to the public soon.

The road on the ranch owned by Dan and Farris Wilks has been closed since 2011.

But in a show of goodwill to Montana hunters and the Bureau of Land Management, Farris Wilks says the road will be opened from Sept. 1 through Jan. 1.

The brothers have proposed a land exchange with the BLM to consolidate their ranch holdings in Fergus County. The proposal is still pending review by the BLM.

The agency has said that one motivation for entertaining the land exchange is restoring public access to the BLM land.

Large part of western, central Montana ripe for fire growth

HELENA (AP) — A large part of western and central Montana is ripe for more wildfire growth.

Much of western and central Montana is under a red flag warning Saturday, including areas around Helena, Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, Great Falls, Bozeman and Billings.

Areas near Libby and Mineral were devaluated Saturday due to fires.

Fire managers are expecting another day of active burning that will test firefighters who are already stretched thin.

Most wildfires burning throughout western Montana grew on Friday.

The towns of Essex in Flathead County and Heart Butte on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation remain under evacuation orders.

A new fire was reported Friday in a remote area about 20 miles northeast of Bozeman.