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SWAN VALLEY - Nearly 60 community members attended a Swan Valley Community Council meeting Tuesday, May 21 to express their indignation about the concessionaire's plans to phase out community day-use passes to Holland Lake entirely by 2020. The decision to provide the Swan Valley Community Foundation with 200 community passes this season and none in 2020 was made during a private meeting between the Holland Lake concessionaire, Parting Waters Adventure Inc. and the United States Forest Service...
SEELEY LAKE – More than 50 veterans, their families and visitors attended this year's Memorial Day Ceremony at the Seeley Lake Memorial Garden May 27. While veterans in attendance were thanked and honored with applause, the focus was on those who answered the call to service and paid the ultimate price. Barbara Knopp, president of Seeley Lake Veterans & Families, shared the story of "The Table of the missing soldier." The table honors the men and women who died serving in the US Armed Forces. T...
LAURAL MONT. - The Seeley-Swan Girls won the State Class C Championship while the Boys took second at the State meet May 23-25. The Girls victory came by a wide margin with 90.33 points, nearly doubling second place Charlo's 48 points. The Girls were strong from start to finish winning the first event on Thursday and the last event on Saturday. On their way to the Championship the Girls took home more than a dozen medals including 4 individual gold and 1 relay team gold medals. Terra Bertsch...
SEELEY LAKE - The Loon and Fish Festival returned after a six year hiatus and restored its roots at the Seeley Lake Community Hall Memorial Day weekend. "I love the fact that we have so many artists that have such a diversity of their work," said Jenny Rohrer, Alpine Artists Inc. program manager. "This is the one time where you can see all the work from the artists." But the festival wasn't always like this. The last few renditions of the Loon and Fish festival were hosted at the Seeley Lake...
SEELEY LAKE – The annual antler hunt on the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, known locally as the Game Range, opened May 15 and has become increasingly popular. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Wildlife Biologist Scott Eggeman said there were no incidents this year, however, he has heard concerns about the congestion and safety along Highway 83. Eggeman said they estimated more than 500 people and more than 200 vehicles came out for the opening day on the Game Range. There were m...
It's been a ride here, friends. A good one... I've decided to hang up the reins for now on my column "Cowgirl Ramblings" and turn the page on this chapter of my book. My life is a little busy, my words are feeling a bit redundant and things have changed enough for me over the last couple of years, that I just feel it's time.... time for new beginnings, fresh ideas and untried goals. Seeley Lake and the surrounding communities, Ovando, Condon and Potomac, will always be home - the place where...
MISSOULA – The University of Montana honored 50 high school juniors from across western Montana for their outstanding math skills during a banquet April 11 at the University Center. Seeley-Swan High School junior Kara Good was among those recognized. This was the first year UM offered this award. High School math teachers were asked to nominate one junior who demonstrated five qualities in mathematics: Curiosity, creativity, persistence, understanding and joy. While high-achieving students c...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Elementary School is shuffling staff for next year. The school board received two resignations and Superintendent Chris Stout shared about internal transfers and the need to hire a new second grade teacher at their May 20 board meeting. The board accepted resignation letters from second grade teacher Erin Lynch and kindergarten teacher Robin Beckett. With the kindergarten position open, Stout approved first grade teacher Sheila Devins’ request to transfer back to kindergarten. Second grade teacher Rachel Bemis wil...
Last year, 12.4 million out-of-state visitors contributed over $3.7 billion in travel spending to Montana’s economy, according to a recent report from the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana. The latest report finalizes preliminary estimates from January with new fourth-quarter tourism data. The new data showed that Montana tourism in the summer months generated more than half of the year’s tourism dollars. Forty-six percent, or 5.7 million visitors, traveled to Montana in the third quarter of the year, Ju...
SEELEY LAKE – Everyone is invited to join the Seeley Lake Historical Society for the movie "Timberjack" at the Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Visitor's Center June 1 at 7 p.m. This is another in the Historical Society's series of movies filmed in Montana. "Timberjack" is a story of two competing logging operators in love with the same woman. Thrill to the performances of Sterling Hayden, Vera Ralston and David Brian, ably supported by Adolphe Menjou, Chill Wills and Hoagy Carmichael. The s...
SEELEY LAKE – In the past month, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks euthanized a black bear and grizzly bear in the Seeley Lake area. There is another collared young male grizzly, named Stevi, in the area that has been in trouble in the past. Bear managers ask the public to lock up all attractants to keep the bears out of trouble. Koppen captured, tagged and relocated the black bear in the Mission Mountains last fall. He said when he released it last fall it was healthy. It returned to the area t...
MISSOULA - After 46 years in the logging business and 35 years as owner of Salmon River Wood, Inc. out of Missoula, Joe Fraser had a few parting words at Pyramid Mountain Lumber's contract logger/landowner/log seller meeting May 3 in Seeley Lake. When Fraser started logging, he equated it to a rite of passage from a boy to a man. "It was a man's job. Young guys then wanted to be men. If you took it up and you were reasonably good at it, it gave you a chance to excel in an environment that you th...
Each spring, there's a subset of grizzly bears that act like teenagers cut loose from home for the first time. With mother bears turning their attention to mating or younger cubs, the two- or three-year old sub-adults start getting ignored and kicked out. Parentless for the first time, these young grizzlies walk into a world of stimuli that they're still learning to interpret. It can be a dangerous time. It was two of those freewheeling subadult grizzlies that a boater recently filmed swimming...
BILLINGS, MONT. – Tara Lea Ogden, 42, died from injuries sustained from being struck by a vehicle while walking home to her apartment on May 4th. She was pronounced dead at the hospital early May 5th. Tara was born to Ronald G. Ogden and Nicki L. McPhee Hals July 25, 1976. She was raised in Seeley Lake and attended grade and high school there. She finished her senior year and graduated in Unalaska, AK. While in Seeley Lake she helped raise, train and cared for 30+ sled dogs at her father's k... Full story
When you read this, it will be after this year’s Memorial Day. However, as I write, the day has not yet come, but I was reflecting a bit on what Memorial Day is all about. As you may or may not know (I had to look it up), Memorial Day started after our nation’s civil war in 1868 by Major General John A Logan, the commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. He started it, calling it “Decoration Day” as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. In 1971, the US Congress established it as a federal holiday...
SWAN VALLEY - The Swan Valley Elementary School Board discussed issues of school safety, facility maintenance and the road sign at their board meeting Wednesday, May 22. In terms of school safety, the board considered possible renovations to the school to create a single portal entrance near the school’s office. According to Board Chair John Mercer, the board has discussed a single portal entrance for a few years but nothing has materialized. The board motioned to create a committee of board members and elementary staff to begin c...
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley-Swan High School students and area community members performed at the SSHS spring music concert May 10. The SSHS choir performed songs including "Pacem, Dona Nobis Pacem," originally written by Mary Lynn Lightfoot, and "Homeward Bound," originally written by Marta Keen. Audience members were also treated to "Memory" from the Broadway show, CATS, performed by Lane Mackie-Wendel and Korinne Treser. Songs were accompanied by pianist Shauna Anders. The band, which consisted of...
POTOMAC – Thirteen Potomac athletes took to the track at the Meet of Champions (MOC), May 21 and set several new personal records and finished in the top three. Coach Beth Copenhaver said she was proud of the team and they had a great season where each student worked hard and improved. This year the Potomac Pioneers track and field team included 18 athletes including six eighth graders. Copenhaver said this year they really focused on the mindset of trying and responsibility. "My goal was to h...
SEELEY LAKE – It was another record-breaking year for the Seeley Lake Elementary Eagles track and field team. Not only was the school record book rewritten in several events, the eighth grade boys 4X400 set a new Meet of Champions (MOC) record May 21. Head coach Brett Haines said it was a successful season with a really strong eighth grade class. In the past, the Eagles have had close to 50 athletes participate in track and field. This year there were only 30 students that finished the track s...
Swan Valley Bear Fair, June 1 SWAN VALLEY – Join Swan Valley Bear Resources for their annual Bear Fair Saturday, June 1, from 12 – 4 p.m. at the Swan Valley Community Hall (Hwy 83, MM 42.5) in Condon. Come learn about living in bear country from bear management experts, professionals and organizations! Enjoy children’s activities and presentations, including one by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks grizzly bear management specialist Tim Manley. The event is free and open to all! Enjoy free snacks & beer until gone. For more info, visit www.s...
SEELEY LAKE - After serving the community for half a decade, Dr. Todd Fife will leave Partnership Health Center's Seeley Swan Medical Center next month. Since joining the clinic in 2014, Dr. Fife has helped hundreds of area patients as a family medicine practitioner. He and his wife, Michelle, plan to move to Florida to be closer to their grandchildren. His last day at the clinic will be Wednesday, June 5. Community members are invited to attend a going-away celebration from 3 to 5 p.m. that...
