Earth Day volunteers upgrade Montana City fire-safe demonstration garden

Volunteers spent Earth Day at the Tri-County FireSafe Demonstration Garden in Montana City, where fresh upgrades turned a seasonal observance into a hands-on lesson in wildfire protection. The garden sits at Montana City Volunteer Fire Station No. 1 and is built to show what defensible space can look like around homes in Lewis and Clark County.

Tri-County FireSafe Working Group describes the site as a free public Firewise Demonstration Garden, the first of its kind in the area. It now features more than 150 species of fire-wise plants, gravel pathways and a pavilion built from ignition-resistant construction materials, giving visitors a visible example of how landscaping and building choices can reduce ignition risk before a fire starts.

The project grew out of a partnership between Tri-County FireSafe and the Montana City Volunteer Fire Department in 2022, and its local relevance is hard to miss. The fire department says it serves a population of just over 3,000 people across about 35 square miles from two stations, a reminder that a small volunteer district can still anchor a major public-safety effort. Lewis & Clark County’s fire-preparedness page also points residents to Tri-County FireSafe resources, folding the garden into the county’s broader wildfire-safety network.

Tri-County FireSafe says its work in the tri-county area, including Lewis & Clark, Jefferson and Broadwater counties, dates to 1984 and grew out of the North Hills Fire that same year. That history gives the Montana City garden more weight than a typical landscaping display. It is part of a longer campaign to make wildfire mitigation concrete, local and visible.

The garden’s practical lessons are straightforward. Lois Olsen, who leads the Tri-County FireSafe Working Group board and the garden project, said homeowners should keep the 0-to-5-foot area around a home “lean and green and clean.” KTVH coverage of the site said the garden also includes fire-resistant and drought-resistant plants, sheet metal roofing and fire-resistant deck material, all of which give homeowners examples to copy when repairs or yard work come due.

The pavilion adds another layer of local memory. It was dedicated as the Sonny Stiger Memorial Pavilion in honor of Everett “Sonny” Stiger, a well-known Montana wildland fire expert who died on Oct. 19, 2021, at age 86. His wife, Beverly, and his daughter and son-in-law, Michelle and Rocky Infanger, unveiled his plaque, tying the garden’s future-facing work to a lifetime spent on wildfire readiness.

For homeowners in Montana City, Helena and the surrounding wildland-urban interface, the message from the garden was plain: safer yards start close to the house, and the next fire season is shaped by the choices made now.