Tourism season is almost upon us, Montana. Lots of out-of-staters are going to be bugging you about your favorite fishing, hunting, and camping spots. Should you spill the beans?

Growing up in Montana can be a blessing when it comes to the great outdoors. We have some of the most spectacular recreational areas on the planet in my opinion. Many of these places are family secrets passed down to generations or "hidden gems" only the locals know about. Should you be sharing them with tourists or transplants coming to Montana?

Now I can't tell you what to do here, but I can tell you most of these places are secret for a reason. With the influx of people moving here, we can clearly see the impact on the Montana that we once knew. It seems like towns/cities like Bozeman and Whitefish are basically gone. Unrecognizable to long-time Montanans. Bozeman was named one of the  "World's Greatest Places" in 2023. TIME MAGAZINE! If you didn't think that town was gone before, well it is now.

Slowly we are seeing are favorite camping places being taken over. A local Montanan cant even book a camping spot at their favorite place as they are already sold out. How is this ok? If you start spilling the beans about your favorite outdoor spot, I can almost guarantee you won't be able to enjoy it in the years to come. Most of these places are special because they are a secret. Loose lips sink ships and also can directly lead to your favorite picnic spot being turned into a condo complex for rich Californians.

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Now, I know tourism is a big Montana business. Montana Public Radio states that Montana received around 5 Billion dollars in tourism money last year. That outpaces most states by a large margin. I know these are funds that keep local businesses and economies alive, and without them, we would have a really hard time surviving as a state. What I can tell you is before we were "found out" we still got along just fine, and we did it without sharing all of our Montana secrets.  If you want to (try) and keep Montana a best-kept secret, do just that. Keep it a secret.

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