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Thank you Greenough/Potomac QRU and all Emergency Responders: Our Greenough/Potomac Volunteer Fire Department (GPVFD) and Quick Response Unit (QRU) volunteers are always available for their community. They deserve high five, thumbs up, pat on the back recognition. Thank you to all emergency responders and to the GPVFD and QRU for everything that you do, big and small. Thank you for being on call year round, day and night. Thank you for helping others in all kinds of weather. Thank you for driving carefully and for being someone our children...
POTOMAC - Potomac hosted its second annual Craft Show Dec. 8 at the Potomac Greenough Community Center. Crafts at the event included wreaths, fudge, scarves and hats, wine holders, knives, canned jams, quilts, potholders and more. Potomac youth resident Hilde Hamilton played the violin as people shopped. Potomac eighth graders also helped with the effort. Hazel and Owen Tyler offered wild rice soup at their Paws Up Safe Home and home made knife booth. Each vendor kept their profits. The fee for...
Ladybugs are not 'bugs' but actually beetles in the order Coleoptera and swarm on or around mountain peaks. Common species in the Blackfoot Watershed include the convergent lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens. This lady beetle gathering can be a regular occurrence. For many years this phenomenon has been seen worldwide as well as in Montana. Called 'summit ladybugs', the different lady beetle species can be found in different alpine locations by the hundreds, thousands or even ten thousands....
POTOMAC - Bikers, walkers, runners and scooters bundled up for Potomac School's annual Bike-a-Thon Oct. 17. More than 90 students, teachers and parents and siblings participated in the all-day event. Students gathered pledges prior to the event. Three laps around the school was a mile. The students rode 1,361 total miles. They raised $6326.05 that will go towards educational programs including art and theater. Sixth grader Corbin Weltzien rode the farthest tallying 46 miles and raised...
POTOMAC - More than 40 people attended the first annual Potomac Fall Carnival presented by the staff and students of the Explorers Program. The event took place Friday, Oct. 26 at the Potomac/Greenough Community Center. The focus of the event was to help raise funds for the Eighth Grade Capstone Trip. They raised $150....
POTOMAC - Coached by teachers Christi Taillefer and Ashley Olsen, 17 Potomac Pioneers turned out and played for the volleyball season. The coaches said the season went well and that the players demonstrated a drive to work together as a team. "The players invested the time and energy to develop a positive working dynamic," said coach Olsen. There were nine players on the A team and 10 players on the B team divvied up between fifth- eighth graders. Two players played both A and B. The B Team...
POTOMAC - Christianna Taillefer co-teaches in the mornings in first through third grades for Math, Geometry and Algebra at Potomac School. During the afternoon she is a Paraprofessional. She also helped coach girl’s volleyball and helps teach Explorers. “Teaching is my passion,” she said. “I love sharing my knowledge with others.” Taillefer was born in Oregon but spent the majority of her life in Tennessee. She graduated from Montana State University Billings in 2014 and holds degrees in Kinder...
POTOMAC - Jen Vogel is Potomac School's new special education teacher. Her dedication for teaching and working with students with special needs stems from a love of her students and their families. Vogel is originally from Florida and moved to Ohio to attend college. Vogel attended The University of Dayton and graduated in 2002 with a Masters in Theology and Bachelors in Religion. She then met her future husband Chris while working for a defense contractor. She and Chris married and then began t...
Bears are not the only large predators that come in close to homes. Mountain lions are strong predators who live a secluded existence, following their prey and hunting day to day far and wide throughout Montana. Felis concolor is a large American feline and means cougar, catamount or panther, more commonly known as the mountain lion. They range from Canada to South America and are common predators throughout the Swan, Clearwater and Blackfoot watersheds. According to the Montana Chapter of Wildl...
POTOMAC - Ashley Olsen is the new second and third grade teacher at Potomac School. Olsen looks forward to learning and growing in the classroom, deepening her teaching knowledge and meaningfully shaping her students' lives through poetry, reading and song. Hailing from Minnesota, Olsen began her schooling at Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Religion in 2011. She moved from Minnesota to Montana in 2012 and has lived in Western Mo...
John "Ike" Wallace is known to his new students at Potomac School as a teacher of multiple strengths who feels humbled each time he walks into the classroom. He said he enjoys the challenges that come with teaching. Wallace graduated from Missoula's Hellgate High School in 2009. He proceeded to graduate from Montana State University in 2014 with a B.S. in Elementary Education and a Minor in K-12 Reading. At Potomac School, Wallace teaches English language arts to sixth grade, math to seventh...
POTOMAC - Along with new and returning coaches, staff and students, Potomac School has hit the ground running with improvements and ideas both inside and out. New custodian Greg Stevens completed building repairs and paint touch up as well as bleacher repair and landscaping. In the athletic field the bases are set and ready for action. Security measures include entrance and playground cameras. This year the school’s front entrance is locked at all times. Access is by a buzzer system to provide a more secure entry to the main building, said P...
POTOMAC - Potomac's Bridger Hall journeyed 4,889 miles to Germany where he wrestled and experienced the German culture. Hall has been wrestling for more than 10 years and enjoys it. "I like wrestling because of the discipline it has given me and it gives people a work ethic and teaches them to work for what they want," Hall said. This August, at age 16, Hall participated in an exchange wrestling program between Montana and Germany. Every other year Montana and Germany rotate their wrestling...
MISSOULA - Potomac Valley 4-H Club had 17 members for the 2017-2018 4-H year. Members brought awards and many ribbons home from the Western Montana Fair as well as top awards including Luke Wilson Grand Champion Poultry, Gavin Kelly Top Leathercraft Award, Haley Helena Top Novice Dairy Goat Showman, Kyla Nelson Judge's Choice Award for Vet Science and Outstanding Sheep Herdsman, Emmett Zander Horse Packing Award and Sydney McDaniel was awarded a $1,500 scholarship from Missoula Southside Lions....
Local 4-H clubs are preparing for the 2018 Western Montana Fair Aug. 6-11 at the Missoula County Fairgrounds. This is the opportunity for 4-H members to share their projects that they have been working on for the past 4-H year. Potomac Valley 4-H Club members Gavin Kelly and Haley Helena are taking projects including leather craft, vet science and food preservation. For more than 500 years these skills have been important to daily life. This was Kelly's second year taking leather craft and food...
POTOMAC – Low spring temperatures combined with above average moisture had both positive and negative impacts on local crop growth. Missoula County crops were slow to start growing from lack of sunshine and it's warmth for germination and growth. However, area livestock producers saw native grasses flourish in summer pastures with the June moisture which is good for grazing. In June, Potomac received more than four inches of rainfall. The moisture was above normal according to unofficial data f...
As the patriotic holiday approaches, many rural families are preparing for traditional Fourth of July affairs. Picnics, fishing, camping, rodeos and of course, fireworks. While some animals tolerate the noise and lights well, others can become afraid or hurt. Animals' ears are more sensitive than humans. Because animals don't understand where the noise is coming from, they can exhibit frantic behavior and run off. Nationwide, Animal Control reports a 30 percent increase in lost pets from July...
POTOMAC - The Blackfoot Rendezvous made more than $2,500 from the day-long event. It will help fund the Potomac School Explorers Program. Supporters were pleased to see such a great turnout of hardy folk in the rain. Parent Tom Brown said, "I would like to personally say thank you to everyone that was able to come and enjoy the day. You made our first Blackfoot Rendezvous a huge success."...
POTOMAC - Resignations, the contract with the Potomac Greenough Community Center (PGCC) and Explorers funding were the main topics of discussion at the Potomac School Board meeting June 11. With five resignations at the end of this school year, Potomac School administration is filling staff positions. Custodian Randy Ruff, Explorers Coordinator and Supervisor Crissina Quinn and teachers Raynee Pace, Starla Dugger and Kristy Pohlman resigned. Pace accepted a teaching position near Bozeman and Pohlman and Quinn accepted teaching positions in Seel...
POTOMAC - Graduating kindergarten and eighth grade students were "champions of the night" according to Potomac Principal John Rouse June 6 where more than 90 people attended the annual event to celebrate the milestones. Teacher Karry Betson taught the Kindergarten class. The students sang the 'Addams Family' song after receiving their diplomas, then made their way off the stage through the doorway of streamers. The eighth graders walked calmly into the crowd and then shifted gears into...
POTOMAC - Like clockwork from May to June, small brownish birds with long legs and long beaks are seen on fence posts and in wet grasses near water around Potomac. The 'snipe hunt' has been told as a fool's errand by pranking people. It has also been spoken of in Native American legends and portrayed as a colorful bird in the movie 'Up' as well as mentioned in an autobiographical children's novel. The local Wilson's Snipe is a type of sandpiper bird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a species...
With the snowmelt on warm slopes, certain parasites are hidden amongst growing foliage. Ticks are out and seeking blood to survive. Male and female American Dog and Rocky Mountain ticks can be found within the region. According to MSU Extension, the most common tick in the Blackfoot Watershed is the Rocky Mountain tick, Dermacentor andersoni. The American dog tick, Dermacentor variablis, can also be found. Most ticks go through four life stages: egg, six-legged larva, eight-legged nymph and...
POTOMAC - Springtime is a good time of year for property owners to look ahead to fire season. Creating defensible space through fire mitigation can not only protect homes but establishes a healthier forest. "This term [fire mitigation] is often used to refer to work being done to prevent high intensity fire and leave property and values with a fighting chance in the case of a fire being nearby," said Zachary Bashoor, a forester who owns Bashoor Land Management out of Missoula. "The key to fire...
SALMON LAKE - The island log home retreat on Salmon Lake is under new ownership, becoming the property of the Montana Education Benefits Foundation (MEBF) at the Resort at Paws Up. The "Island Lodge" will open for guests Memorial Day Weekend. The island namesake, Sourdough Island, comes from Dave 'Sourdough' Madson who found his way to the island circa 1918 where he was put in charge of netting squawfish for the Fish and Game Department. According to the Seeley Lake Historical Society, Madson's...
Survival of the species with rabbits is successful. Every 28 to 31 days, five to 10 blind, pink, slightly velvety and squirmy rabbit kits are kindled, or born. If unregulated breeding occurs, one pair can add 120 rabbits to their habitat in a year. Female rabbits, called does, are able to be bred at five months. Reproduction is ensured by the evolutionary trait of ovulating while pregnant. Usually lactation slows or prevents ovulation in some mammals. According to Eastgate Veterinary in...
