Outreach gatherings continue to spread the word

Protect the Clearwater hosted two gatherings April 27 at the Seeley Lake Community Foundation building and May 1 at the Montana Natural History Center in Missoula.

Both events were aimed at raising awareness about Protect the Clearwater's mission to safeguard Montana communities, waterways and ecosystems from the environmental threats posed by expedited permits for open cut gravel mines.

The April event was a family friendly open house, featuring kids activities with drawing pages, edible aquifers, live music and free hot dogs and hamburgers. PTC held the event to thank those in the community that understand the work of the organization. In addition, PTC's leadership hoped to create awareness and engagement with people who haven't found out what PTC is about.

"We want to help everyone understand that the reason we don't want the gravel pit is because of the impact on wildlife and water," Terry Martin-Denning, PTC board member, said. "We're not against gravel mining, this is just not the place for one."

The rainy day drew over 50 people who enjoyed the free food, music and conversation. Two bands played: Mark Williams and his group from Seeley Lake and Beth Youngblood and KD Dickinson from Missoula.

Edible aquifers were made by layering ice and Sprite as the aquifer underground. Marshmallows and cocoa puffs represented gravel in the aquifer and the confining layer of clay was made up of ice cream. Chocolate sprinkles represented the soil layer and colored Crystal Light or Kool-aid stood in for the pollution. More Sprite as rain was added over the top to demonstrate how pollution makes its way to the groundwater.

On May 1 a trivia night was held in partnership with the Montana Natural History Center in Missoula. Erin Vielbig of MNHC has hosted several trivia nights for MNHC. Libby Langston, Cindy Holder and Lori Watson, all Elbow Lake residents, worked with Vielbig to organize the event. The room at MNHC could hold 30 contestants and it was filled by reservations, with a waiting list.

"I spoke for 10 minutes to explain what PTC has been doing," Langston said. "Then it was all about having fun with the trivia game."

Teams of four to six people were formed and questions were posted on a screen. Teams whispered and giggled among themselves to decide on their team answer and wrote it on a piece of paper.

Questions included identifying a larch ball, describing why weasels would jump around and what a large group of loons is called.

After each round of 10 questions, the papers were collected and answers tallied. After the four rounds, the team called the Grey Jays was declared the winner. Each player was invited to the front table to select a door prize during the final tallying. The winning team members each won a gift certificate from Big Dipper Ice Cream and all participants received a PTC sticker.

Another Open House will be held Saturday June 8 at the Seeley Lake Community Foundation building. Free hot dogs and hamburgers will be served.