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Bull trout in Holland Lake are unique yet vulnerable. Holland Lake harbors a “disjunct” core area population of bull trout meaning that bull trout spawn in Holland Creek and mature in Holland Lake rather than migrating to Swan Lake like most bull trout in the Swan watershed. In 2010, the US Fish and Wildlife Service designated the Holland Lake core area as critical habitat because it contains the features essential for bull trout conservation. They have very specific habitat requirements such as clean water with very little fine sediment in...
Hunting season has arrived! As hunters flock to the hills in pursuit of Montana’s treasured big game species, we want to take a moment to acknowledge the good work that was done in this spring’s legislative session for hunters, landowners, and conservationists alike. Wildlife issues have frequently been overcome with intense division in previous legislative sessions. 2023 was different. Various stakeholders that are often in sharp disagreement on wildlife and land management policies managed to set aside their differences and work col...
Every other year for the past several years the Seeley Lake Lions Club has produced and distributed free of charge to the community members a regional phone book as a fund-raising endeavor. Funds are raised through the sale of advertisements. This phone book covers Seeley Lake, Condon, Ovando, Helmville, and Potomac and includes the local phone numbers of residents. Over the past month the Seeley Lake Lions Club Phone Book Committee has been diligently working to verify our list of advertisers through emails followed up by personal contact....
Volunteers are the heartbeat of America! Throughout the history of our great country, volunteers have led the way to a better tomorrow. People who give, such as the founders of our country, giving hands in natural disasters or social injustices, to local people taking part in PTA, volunteers have left a legacy for the benefit of others. Never has there been a more critical time for good caring people to pitch in and help have influence on the values and conditions that affect you, your family, community, country, and world. Remember, all it...
The Legislature’s major zoning reforms to increase the supply of affordable housing in Montana have made a lot of news, but there was also another significant pillar of our pro-housing work during the session: cutting red tape. Excessive government regulations have been one of the barriers to meeting demand for housing. Every regulation also increases costs, making what homes do get built more expensive than they otherwise would be. The Legislature’s regulatory reforms touched on every economic class, from families with existing property, to...
There’s a lot of back-and-forth across the state right now about who is responsible for the property tax crisis that’s hitting homeowners in the wallet and making housing more expensive for all of us. Regardless of whether you own your home or rent it, sky rocketing property values in Montana are making it hard for all of us to find a place to live and afford to stay there. We’ve known that for a while now, and Governor Gianforte and the Republican supermajority in the state Legislature knew it too. They failed to act, plain and simple. Now,...
There have been dozens of news articles celebrating the historic pro-housing reforms passed in the 2023 Legislature. Many of those national stories call the package of legislation “the Montana Miracle.” While “miracle” may be a bit generous at this early stage of implementation, as the sponsors of two of the biggest zoning reforms, we’re happy to see Montana’s transformative approach to housing being recognized. Housing is one of our state’s most urgent and pressing needs. Home prices have escalated beyond the reach of average Montanans in...
I want to thank the Missoula County Commissioners and their staff for coming to Seeley Lake on Sept. 18 to talk about the future of this town and our “vision for the community.” The Seeley Lake Community Hall was packed, and County Commissioners heard from almost 100 residents that they care about the future of this place and valley and want to keep it clean, safe and community oriented. Commissioners and staff sat at tables to hear the concerns and dreams of residents for this place, and, at least, at my table, the most recurring theme was...
This “Thank You” has been a long time in coming. Through the hot line, various people learned that a flower bed I planted in memory of my sister-in-law, had been damaged by someone or something. That ignited the giving of donations from people known and unknown, in support of, and kindness and appreciation for the flower beds. That list of people is long and I thank each and everyone of you for your generosity and caring. I am not the only one who plants along Hwy 83. Thank you all for those flower beds that are planted with love and care. Tha...
The recent spate of headlines about grizzly bear attacks and human-bear conflicts highlights the need for the federal government to return management of grizzlies to the State of Montana. Grizzly bears are still listed under the federal Engendered Species Act despite their populations having been recovered, robust, and growing in both the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) and the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE) for years now. When grizzlies were listed on the Endangered Species Act, there was good reason for it, but the reality...
The Clearwater Resource Council (CRC) has reviewed the scoping notice for the North Seeley Wildland Urban Interface- Highway 83 Project #64580 proposed by the Seeley Lake Ranger District of the Lolo National Forest. The primary objective of the project is to reduce high intensity, stand replacing fire adjacent to private property and Highway 83 by thinning forest stands within the Wildland Urban Interface. This is appropriate considering the continuing risks of wildfire to the community of Seeley Lake. However, we found that the scoping...
As a past paramedic/firefighter I want to acknowledge another first responder that is rarely recognized or thanked. Recently one of our county newspaper articles had a thank you given only to the police, fire, and ambulance. We do not seem to value our tow truck drivers. They too face the horrors of every bad accident scene; get called out at all hours of the night and work in the worst weather, longer than the other 1st responders. More tow truck drivers are killed or injured every year on these calls than police or fire personnel. WHY?...
Congressman Zinke is fighting the battle against fentanyl by co-sponsoring a bill that puts Narcan- the overdose treatment for fentanyl-in hands of first responders. He’s done more work single-handedly in Washington D.C. since taking office to address the immediate health needs of the Blackfeet Nation than the entire Indian Health Service staff in the Washington D. C. and Montana Offices combined....
The 2023 legislative session wrapped up less than five months ago. Many bills don’t go into effect until October 1st of this year, January 1st of next year, or later. But several of the bills that became law this spring and summer are already having a noticeable impact in Montana. Perhaps the most stark example of this is prosecuting human trafficking. Before the 2023 Legislature, no one had ever been convicted under Montana’s old laws against human trafficking, with the outdated laws not providing law enforcement the tools they needed. That ch...
The federal Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 (CCCA) has been touted as a means to reducing the credit card interchange fees businesses pay to process credit card transactions. But as can often be the case, government schemes to intervene in free-market transactions inevitably create distortions, misaligned incentives, and unintended consequences. Unfortunately, the CCCA would create more problems than it purports to solve. Interchange fees aren’t just arbitrary costs. They cover a plethora of services: fraud protection, transaction f...
(Disclosure: Mullen is the owner of the Seeley Swan Pathfinder and several other local newspapers in western Montana. The Pathfinder is editorially independent from Mullen) Montana holds a special place in our hearts. It’s not only a place of breathtaking landscapes, rugged mountains, and endless horizons - it’s where I’ve built my life, my business, and where I’ve witnessed, time and time again, the strength and resilience of its people. I’m Jesse James Mullen, and I’m running to be your Secretary of State because I believe in Montana’s p...
It’s fairly common knowledge that Montana’s legislative branch of government is a citizen legislature that only meets in session for 90 business days every two years. While true, those facts often lead to misconceptions about the real nature of legislators’ work. In reality, the Legislature works year round. Being an effective legislator is much closer to full-time public service than a part-time job. Constituents regularly contact their elected representatives looking for assistance, asking about various laws, and pitching their ideas for f...
Democracy is about listening to people. To hear from Montanans, state Democrats this summer and fall are traveling across the state, holding well-publicized, public meetings to receive input directly from citizens about how their government can better serve them and help create opportunity for their families and businesses. Montanans deserve the chance to meet their citizen legislators face-to-face to discuss issues important to them, their families, and their communities. Our state has a long, important tradition of elected officials meeting w...
Health care policy is a perennially hot topic, and with good reason—it’s about the welfare of the people and how the nation takes care of its most vulnerable. When it comes to health care, few programs have been as transformative as Medicare Advantage, a public-private initiative that provides high-quality, low-cost health care for seniors and people with disabilities. In health care, consumer choice is paramount. While original Medicare offers a one-size-fits-all model that might not be optimal for every senior, Medicare Advantage plans provid...
During the past legislative session, the Montana Taxpayers Association was excited to support the Gianforte administration’s ideas that improved Montana’s tax systems and provided tax relief. We look forward to continuing that working relationship. However, unless the administration decides soon on the level of the State’s property tax collections, when tax bills go out this coming November the State of Montana could receive a windfall collection of 65 million dollars in ongoing property tax revenue. This windfall is in addition to the 22 mi...
Thank you for the article on the proposed expansion of Holland Lake Lodge and ardent opposition to the proposal to build a giant destination resort on the ecologically sensitive and pristine Holland Lake. We want to correct one portion of the article that says that members of Save Holland Lake agree that the U.S. Forest Service can keep its “process private.” Americans, Montanans, Save Holland Lake and others – like the Missoula County Commissioners – have urged the U.S. Forest Service, in order to restore trust in what has been a secreti...
Pharmaceutical patents are a key instrument that promote innovation in America. They provide a financial incentive for pharmaceutical companies to invest in research and development, and allow them to recover costs and make a profit once their medication hits the market. However, an alarming trend has emerged: companies are increasingly manipulating the patent system to create and extend monopolies on their drugs far beyond what is fair. This is not by any means what was intended when our patent system was created, and it has increasingly...
OK, armed and ready, I sat down with a computer, a postcard and letter from Governor Gianforte and two letters from his Revenue Department on how to get a property tax rebate. Logged on to website and bonk – What’s a geocode? Frustrated, I set the paperwork aside. Days later, thought I’d try again and Googled, “What is a Montana Geocode?” Good ole Google took me to a website with four pages of instructions on how to get the code necessary to complete an application for a tax rebate. Adding more paperwork to the pile, I found the 17-digit...
Across western Montana, people are being squeezed out of their homes and communities by rising prices. Teaching positions go unfilled – and no one is applying to fill them because a $40k salary - the high end of starting teacher salaries in Montana, doesn’t afford a home, even if you’re lucky to find a house for sale in rural places like Seeley Lake. The 2023 Montana GOP had a super-majority and a $2.9 billion surplus, thanks to federal democratic policies. Armed with power and money, the Montana GOP imposed a permanent tax increase on resid...
Matt Rosendale is the kind of proven conservative Montana needs in the race for the U.S. Senate against Jon Tester. As a group of committed conservative leaders and citizen legislators representing Montana, we are committed to our principles and the individuals who elected us. We are uniting our voices to encourage Matt Rosendale to enter the Montana Senate race. Congress has been drifting from our Constitutional principles for too long, leaving grassroots conservatives and everyday Americans feeling overlooked. The current bureaucratic party...
