Makoshika State Park in line for share of $1.25M Dinosaur Tail grant

GLENDIVE — Makoshika State Park and the Frontier Gateway Museum are co-beneficiaries of a $1.25 million state grant award that will ultimately support 12 communities across Montana.

The Montana Department of Commerce named seven projects that will each receive $1.25 million in Tourism Development Grant funding, including the Foundation for Montana History for various projects along the Montana Dinosaur Trail. This grant is formerly known as the Pilot Community Tourism Grant, which Glendive received in 2025 for projects currently ongoing.

According to Charlene Porslid, president and CEO of the Foundation for Montana History, the $1.25 million award will initially support employing a coordinator for the Montana Dinosaur Trail; limited facility improvements at the Old Trail Museum in Choteau and Great Plains Dinosaur Museum in Malta; and the purchase of 3D printed replicas of fossils found in the area that were taken to museums in California and overseas.

These projects must be completed by June 2028.

Years three, four and five are when Makoshika State Park and the Frontier Gateway Museum in Glendive may see some of the grant, as there is an opportunity for an additional $1.5 million in Tourism Development Grant funding if the projects are completed in the first two years.

The Foundation for Montana History could receive $2.75 million by 2031 that will improve the 14 facilities and amenities along the Montana Dinosaur Trail.

“All of the money is intended to go to all of these little places,” Porslid said.

“Connecting those individual facilities and promoting them is key to getting people from the Museum of the Rockies and Bozeman to Jordan to Glendive to Ekalaka,” she added. “I think for Montana that’s huge ... We love to bring people to communities in Montana so they can see history happening, dinosaurs being dug.”

The employed coordinator for the Montana Dinosaur Trail, Porslid noted, is intended to bring some consistency to marketing and communications with the public about different events and activities along the trail. Such work has historically been done by a volunteer promoter based in Helena.

“With a dedicated person and $2.75 million, think what we can do,” Porslid said, adding the goal is to continually improve promotion of the Montana Dinosaur Trail beyond the potential $2.75 million grant. “We see this as more than a five-year project.”

At this time, there are no identified projects for the local facilities on the Montana Dinosaur Trail, but Makoshika State Park Manager Riley Bell is confident the Foundation for Montana History will receive the additional $2.75 million for any projects planned by June 2028.

“I have no concerns that we won’t get years three, four and five,” Bell said, adding that is the period in which he and FWP are looking to have some local projects funded through the Tourism Development Grant. “We have some ideas, but we just have to make sure we’re following everything.”