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 enter...