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The Seeley Lake Water District will increase rates for water users as the anticipated closure of Pyramid Mountain Lumber looms this fall. Per information from a notice sent out by the water district this month, the mill consumed 20% of the water the district produced each month and used about two million gallons of water monthly. The loss of that production for the district is expected to amount between $50,000 and $60,000 in total. The notice stated the mill intends to shut off its water supply at the end of the year, which is likely when...
Editor's note: Weekly deadlines are tough for providing quick, current information as it relates to the fire season. The Pathfinder's Facebook page (Seeley Swan Pathfinder ~ Seeley Lake, MT) is a good resource for information on new starts, fire conditions, restrictions and evacuation notices, as is mtfireinfo.org and the Lolo National Forest's Facebook page. We will publish updates similar to these as often as is necessary and useful. Weeks of persistent hot and dry weather, with a bit of...
This story was updated on July 24 at 10:27 a.m. to make clarifications regarding senior and junior water rights, and to correct that the main stem of the Blackfoot River has been placed under a hoot owl restriction, not the north fork. Like many other people who make or have made their living working the land, Denny Iverson saw this year’s drought coming. The winter was drier than normal in Montana and the snowpack didn’t build up well. On top of that, it was an El Niño year, which from decades of experience Iverson knows to mean drought in the...
From the prairie potholes of northeastern North Dakota to the Blackfoot Valley, new Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist Lee Tafelmeyer has already had a varied career in wildlife biology. "I grew on a cattle ranch, hunting and trapping and developing a passion for the outdoors, wildlife and ecosystems," Tafelmeyer said. "A family vacation trip to Yellowstone as a youngster played into my interest in the Rocky Mountains and wildlife." When college entrance forced the beginning of...
As a U.S. Marine and a veteran of the Vietnam era, I appreciate the service of all members of the armed forces, past and current. However, I am seriously disappointed and a bit disgusted with those members of the armed forces in Sheehy’s recent ad. They are standing against the man who has done the most for Montana veterans — brought us clinics, got care for those exposed to Agent Orange, etc. They are promoting what will be a very junior senator over a very senior and powerful one who has done good things for veterans and Montana and will con...
Tonight I am witness, to my surprise, to a waterski exhibition. We have stopped in Amsterdam, New York, on the Erie Canal, and apparently there is a very active waterski academy here. While entertaining, the jumpers and balletic skiers put up prodigious wakes, which rock us continually. Between that and the trains paralleling the Erie Canal every 30 minutes, it is an active place. We have traversed northeast Canada, crossed Lake Ontario and are now transiting the Erie Canal on our way back to...
James Clayton "Clay" Bohlman, a cherished soul known for his eclectic spirit and compassionate heart, passed away on July 13, 2024, in Fairbanks, Alaska. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Ron and Sandy Bohlman on October 16, 1968, Clay was a beacon of ingenuity and kindness throughout his 55 years. Clay's early life in Oregon and Montana laid a strong foundation for a man deeply connected to his roots. He graduated from Tigard High School in 1987 and went on to earn a college degree from...
The Seeley Lake Sewer Board was presented with conceptual designs from engineering firm Water & Environmental Technologies, or WET, for an anticipated sewer project and heard an update on earmarked money for the project from the federal government on July 18. Bill Decker, Seeley Lake Sewer District manager, provided the update about the earmarked money from Representative Ryan Zinke’s office for a sewer project in Seeley Lake. The grant application is making its way through the approval process within the U.S. House Appropriations C...
Seeley Lake, Mont., July 18, 2024 —The Seeley Lake Ranger District is pleased to announce that Seeley Lake Campground’s water system is repaired, and the campground and day use area opened July 19 at 8 a.m. Campsites are currently open for reservations on www.recreation.gov. Opening of the campground was delayed for the partial replacement of the waterline. However, during construction it was discovered that the remaining part of the water system also needed to be replaced. The Forest Service was able to modify the contract to have the add...
The Loon and Fish Festival was back in Seeley Lake over the weekend with music, art and food all in an effort to support local artists and students. Alpine Artisans, a group that encourages the development of the arts in the Seeley-Swan valleys, puts on the festival. Raffle tickets to support its scholarship fund, which provides money to high school students, were on sale from the start of the festival on Friday to a half an hour before it closed on Sunday. Sera Benton was an Alpine Artisans...
The Seeley Lake area is no stranger to wildfire and smoke. Both are a seasonal hazard here and can be unpredictable. We never know exactly where a lightning bolt will strike or a campfire will be left to wander, and often the smoke filling our valley comes from hundreds of miles away - beyond our control and reach. While there is a lot about wildfires that we individually cannot control, we can work to be prepared for the inevitability of their occurrence and effects. We know that it is not a...
Thirty-five years ago ... Thursday July 27, 1989 Five people escape serious injuries in head-on collision Early morning fog was a factor in a glancing head-on collision in Seeley Lake, where five people miraculously escaped serious injury. Three young Seeley Lake residents in a 1985 Ford Mustang collided with a 1975 Ford pick-up truck in the heavy fog around 8 a.m. last Friday. The vehicles collided halfway between the Valley Market and the One Stop Convenience Store. Joe Beatty, the driver of...
Our trout streams in western Montana or the Idaho Panhandle have a lot in common. Whether you fish the St. Joe in Idaho or the Blackfoot, Bitterroot, or Rock Creek in Montana, you'll find the same trout species, the same insect hatches, the same general topography, but with infinite local variations that can differ slightly as you move from one run to another on the same body of water, much less into a different watershed. It's theme and variation. Each stream has its own character, its own...
Public Services • Alcoholics Anonymous (AA): Mon, 7pm, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, www.aa-montana.org • Missoula County Treasurer: 2nd & 4th Thurs, 9:30am – 3:30pm, closed for lunch 11:30 – 12:30, Satellite Office, 3360 Highway 83N • Montana Veterans Affairs Division: 3rd Wed, 10am-2pm, Citizens Alliance Bank. 406-721-1288 for apt. • Potomac Food Bank: Second to last Sunday each month, 5-7pm, Potomac Greenough Comm. Center • Seeley Lake Caregiver Support Group: Third Tues, 1-2pm, via ZOOM. For log in info call Missoula Aging Service the Wednesd...
Local Government • Missoula County Commissioners Public Mtg, 2nd & 4th Thursdays, Courthouse Annex, Room 151, Missoula, 2pm. http://www.missoulacounty.us/government/administration/commissioners-office • Seeley Lake Community Council, 2nd Mon, 6pm, Seeley Lake Historical Museum & Visitors Center, 2920 Highway 83. For the agenda and virtual access visit the Facebook Page for Zoom link. http://www.missoulacounty.us/community/community-councils/seeley-lake-community-council • Swan Valley Community Council, 3rd Tues, 6pm, Swan Valley Commu...
Senior Menu For any area senior unable to afford the lunches, assistance may be available. Frozen meals are also available. Please call Ria Overholt with Missoula Aging Services at 406-728-7682 for information. The Mission Mountains Mercantile serves senior meals Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Please call 406-754-2387 by 6 p.m. the night before the meal to order. Visit the Mission Mountains Mercantile Facebook page for the menu. The Seeley Lake Senior Center (Sela Senci) provides congregate meals and delivers ‘meals on wheels’. Congregate mea...
Christina Hartmann had teaching on the brain as a career path from a young age. She always played school with her three younger siblings, where she was the one in the role of the teacher and made sure her siblings were organized into various parts to conduct the role play. In high school, she was asked to be a teacher's aide in a kindergarten class. She worked with a non-verbal student for two years, and was inspired by how she was able to see this student's lightbulb moments from the gains they...
When water levels drop and stream temperatures rise, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks restricts fishing hours to protect the state's sport fisheries. Hoot owl restrictions prohibiting fishing between 2 p.m. and 12 a.m. began July 13 in the Clark Fork River Basin including the Blackfoot, North Fork of Blackfoot, Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers. Additionally parts of the Big Hole, Gallatin, Jefferson, Madison, Ruby, Smith and Sun Rivers have restrictions. Yellowstone Park has closed the Madison,...
Mike Fowler brought a small temperature sensor with him from Seattle to a presentation he was a part of held at the Foundation Building in Seeley Lake. On that Wednesday, with outside temperatures in the nineties, Fowler said his sensor showed 78 degrees in the Foundation Building. Fowler is the sustainability integration leader for Mithun, an architectural firm in Seattle. He and other members of his team came to Montana in May to tour five schools to start thinking about potential design upgra...
For the last two years, the Seeley Lake community has been impacted by the Salmon Lake Construction Project. Until it is scheduled to end this fall, the construction company is making efforts to support the Seeley Lake community. Kiewit has done that in a variety of ways. The company donated to the Seeley Lake Community Foundation the last two years. In 2023, it put money towards the Change Your Pace Fourth of July fireworks fundraiser. This year, it contributed to improvements on the Nordic...
The Sunday after the Fourth we learned that our “You Are Loved” rainbow flag had been stolen from the church, along with the pole and mounting bracket. The flag’s symbolism is very broad. It encompasses our response to God’s call to love all people, all races, colors, nationalities and our LGBTQ+ siblings, friends and neighbors. We have no idea who might have done this, nor why. Perhaps it was someone who really liked the flag and decided they had to have it. Perhaps it was someone who disagreed with what it stood for and wanted it gone. W...
Congress must do more to protect vulnerable patients from the Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) who threaten access and put smaller, local pharmacies out of business. Living in Seeley Lake my husband and I, as well as my elderly mother-in-law, all rely on our local pharmacy to access the medications we need. The last thing any of us needs is to lose access to our local pharmacy because of the unfair policies being pushed by PBMs to control patients and boost profits. As you may know, the all-too-common underhanded business practices allow PBMs t...
It’s been just over six months since I started as the editor of the Pathfinder. I wanted to write here to explain a couple of things, introduce a new intern and offer some gratitude. As I’m sure many of you have noticed, our office hours and responsiveness in some ways have been wacky. We’ve been without a working computer for a month, which has made our office manager’s job quite difficult. I’ve been so grateful to Jessi for continuing to do as much as she possibly can without a computer. As of last week, we have a new computer, and Jessi wil...
