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SEELEY LAKE – The Montana Department of Natural Resources & Conservation (DNRC) Southwestern Land Office – Clearwater Unit announced Tuesday, March 14 that the environmental analysis for the Elbow Gravel Pit has stopped and the development of the pit will not be going forward. LHC, Inc., the contractor that approached DNRC for the use of the land, has found an alternative source of gravel for the repaving project from mile marker 16 to 32 on Highway 83. In a letter dated March 14, Clearwater Unit Manager Kristen Baker-Dickinson thanks tho...
LINCOLN – Trails connecting communities to each other, people to the community and dollars to the local economy were the main discussion points at the day-long Southwest Crown Regional Trails Check-in Feb. 28 in Lincoln. The check-in was a continuation of the conversation that was started at the initial Southwest Crown Regional Trails Summit May 2015. It allowed groups to reconnect and share information about what projects are being worked on, learn from one another and to be more efficient i...
SWAN VALLEY – David Moskowitz is a biologist, expert wildlife tracker, photographer, author and outdoor educator. In Montana shooting photos for his Mountain Caribou Initiative project, Moskowitz was invited by Swan Valley Connections to share some of his findings at the Swan Valley Community Hall March 9. While not advocating any specific solution, Moskowitz said his goal was to help illuminate a really complicated ecological and cultural story. The story of the mountain caribou is i...
SEELEY LAKE – It wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day in Seeley Lake without the Seniors Center Annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner, Silent Auction and Cake Walk. Even though the celebration fell March 11, nearly a week before the actual day, the traditional corned beef, cabbage and Irish stew prepared the nearly 100 attendees for St. Patrick's Day March 17. "Overall I think everyone had a very good time," said Senior Center President Boyd Gossard. "It was a good dinner, good cake walk and auctions and eve...
Amidst continued news coverage of the debate on public lands, Montana’s lone Democrat in Congress, Senator Jon Tester, has announced a bill to create two new Recreation Management Areas totaling almost 6,000 acres. Within the two new Otatsy and Spread Mountain Recreation Management Areas, timber harvest, permanent roads and mining are prohibited and motorized access is limited. The areas which remain open for snowmobiling are not areas of desired snowmobile use because of their low altitude and limited snowfall. Motorized recreationalists h...
Once again we see the horrors of puppy mills, with 38 dogs found last week. Will you please stop this terrible cruelty by calling your Representative and Senator and ask them to vote ‘Yes’ on House Bill (HB) 570, the bill that is in the House and Labor committees and requires licensure and inspection for pet breeders. Please call 406-444-4800. When someone answers tell them you want them to vote yes on HB570 and leave a message for our Representative Mike Hopkins to please vote yes. I have called Hopkins twice and have not received an ans...
Sunshine Week, the annual celebration of government transparency, kicked off on Sunday. This year, opinion journalists might be tempted to turn critical eyes toward Washington, D.C. The recently departed Obama administration never delivered on its promise to be the most transparent in history and the new Trump administration seems to have an equal or even greater taste for secrecy. Heck, last year saw public records and the proper – or improper – handling of them help decide the pre...
SWAN VALLEY - Local real estate agent John Keller spoke to the Swan Valley Regional Planning Committee (SVRPC) Thursday about his research and thoughts on Land Use in the Swan Valley. Keller told them that the Swan Valley doesn’t need land use designation. He said the valley is set up now for future growth without further zoning and regulations imposed by Missoula County. The SVRPC asked Keller to speak to their task of editing the Land Use Element of the draft growth plan. The committee is concerned with how to word the draft plan so that t...
SEELEY LAKE – Pure Montana Tales presents Double Bill Film Program at 7 p.m. Friday, March 17 at the Seeley Lake Community Hall. “Our Last Refuge,” a 20-minute film and a 60-minute documentary “Bud’s Place,” will be shown. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. “Our Last Refuge” tells the story of the Badger-Two Medicine and the decades-long struggle to protect this sacred homeland of the Blackfeet Nation from oil and gas development. Jack Gladstone will be available for questions and answers following the film. “Bud’s Place” tells the st...
As the seemingly endless winter snows begin to turn to rain and our valley snowmelt begins to fill our streams and wetlands, it finally appears that spring is here. A winter like this one is an uncommon event, maybe occurring once every 10 to 20 years. For some of the wildlife in the Blackfoot watershed these events can be life giving times of plenty. For others, it can be a struggle to survive with many losing the battle. The winners tend to be those species with adaptations for deep snows and...
Hard to believe that despite all the snow coming down, spring run-off and ice-off are right around the corner. We received some good news this week on the mussel front. The grant application submitted jointly by Swan Valley Connections, Clearwater Resource Council, Blackfoot Challenge and Missoula County Weed District was approved for the full $72,000. This grant from Montana DNRC will provide funding for monitoring, outreach, and prevention from Swan Lake to the north, down the entire Seeley-Swan Valley and east to Coopers and Browns Lakes....
Last week, Part I addressed how the market has rebounded for Pyramid Mountain Lumber Inc. in Seeley Lake giving them more raw material to work. While the future is looking bright for Pyramid, they are facing a challenge they were not expecting: lack of employees. SEELEY LAKE - Twenty years ago, Pyramid Mountain Lumber Inc.'s sawmill and planer ran 80 hours per week. Production time has now decreased to 40 hours at the sawmill and 60 hours at the planer per week. Chief Operations Officer Loren...
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Swan Search & Rescue (SSSAR) volunteers suited up in their Ice Commander suits and went for a swim at the inlet of Salmon Lake March 11. This was part of their continued training to be prepared for the best response to the worst cold water emergency. SSSAR Chief Gerry Connell said the volunteers train once a year for cold water rescue. They prefer to use the inlet of Salmon Lake when it is open because that eliminates the need to shovel snow and cut a large hole in the ice....
This last Friday, House Bill 2 (The State Budget) passed out of the Appropriations Committee and is on its way to the House Floor for debate. At this point in the process, it looks to be in good shape. We all knew going into this legislative session that the budget was in a bad place and that there would be a lot of work to do to bring it back in line with revenues. That meant that really tough choices had to be made and they were. Subcommittees went through each other and their own sections of...
After uncertainty about how the upcoming special congressional election would change the makeup of the Montana Legislature, the nomination of Democrat Rob Quist and Republican Greg Gianforte means it’s back to business as usual at the state Capitol. Multiple legislators had announced their intention to run for the vacant congressional seat after former Rep. Ryan Zinke was nominated and then confirmed as U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Sen. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, and Reps. Amanda Curtis, D-Butte and Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings all vied for t...
SWAN VALLEY - In 1947, Rich Nelson joined the United States Navy Reserve on the advice of a Navy recruiter visiting his high school in Seattle, Wash. War was about to break out on the Korean Peninsula, and young Rich took the recruiter's advice. After attending basic training in San Diego, he was assigned to a destroyer escort in Seattle. Rich later transferred to submarines in Tacoma, Wash. He described sub school as two phases, both at Hunters Point, San Francisco. Picking his "boat"...
SWAN VALLEY - Jack Gladstone, dubbed "Montana's Troubadour", performed with Swan Valley Elementary (SVE) students Sunday, March 12. The concert was a part of the 2 Valleys Stage 2016-2017 concert series. Gladstone, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, illustrates Native American culture with music, lyric poetry and narratives. He is well-named a troubadour as he has traveled with his music to 46 states, Canada, Europe and Japan. Gladstone met with SVE students the week before the March...
POTOMAC - Potomac 4-Hers are performing an old Finnish Folktale entitled "The Hunter and the Old Woman of the Woods" March 18 at the Greenough/Potomac Community Center for the 71st Annual 4-H Drama Festival. The plays begin at 10 a.m. The play was written by Elaine Lindy and Wendy Lees. The 4-H members chose the story because it was about nature. Parts include a Goddess of the Woods played by Leah Nelson and an Old Woman played by Corbin Weltzein. In Northern Finland, where the play takes place, live people known as the Saahms who have lived...
A bored teenager might be forgiven for saying, "After 7 p.m., Seeley Lake is dead as a doornail." But what exactly is a doornail, and how did it become the epitome of dead things? In the Medieval period and probably even earlier, a doornail was a hand-forged, iron nail with an extra-large head. Such a nail was hammered into a door consisting of vertical wood panels braced on the back by horizontal cross boards. The doornail was long enough that even after passing through both pieces of wood the...
SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Fire Hall turned movie theater Friday, March 10 complete with burgers, popcorn and a big screen. Around 60 children and their parents attended the event hosted by the Missoula County Sheriff's Office and the Seeley Lake Fire Company. Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Sunderland coordinated the event. His intent was to give young children in the area something to do on Friday night. "Outside of outdoor activities there is no hang out for the kids," said S...
It was 24 years ago March 11 that a beautiful young lady flew to Anchorage, Alaska, to meet me to embark on the wonderful life-long journey together that we call marriage. I believe my wife Missy is the best gift God has given to me outside of life itself and the gift of eternal life through the forgiveness of sins offered by His Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. I thank God every day for the gift of a godly wife who I can call my best friend, companion, lover and mother of my kids! And I thank Missy for being willing to love me in spite of my...
Have you ever wondered how certain Montana places, rivers and towns got their unusual or just plain unfathomable names? Thanks to the incoming railroad across the top of the state, towns along the Hi-Line were named by the ingenious method of having a blindfolded railway worker stop a spinning globe with his finger and whatever it pointed to became the town's name. Hence the cosmopolitan flair given to communities like Malta and Glasgow. How about the Yaak? Well, it's an Indian word, most likely...
KALISPELL - The public is invited to the annual Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex (BMWC) public meeting Saturday, March 18 starting at 10 a.m. at the Seeley Lake Community Hall. “This is a great annual opportunity to meet with the National Forest Wilderness Managers and Montana Fish and Wildlife staff,” said Deb Mucklow, Spotted Bear District Ranger. “This is an annual meeting to talk about managing wilderness. All of the participants will be encouraged to interact with the managers present and have time for one-on-one questions. In addit...
