Week of July 18, 2024
Week of July 18, 2024
For the last two years, the Seeley Lake community has been impacted by the Salmon Lake Construction Project. Until it is scheduled to end this fall, the construction company is making efforts to support the Seeley Lake community. Kiewit has done that in a variety of ways. The company donated to the Seeley Lake Community Foundation the last two years. In 2023, it put money towards the Change Your Pace Fourth of July fireworks fundraiser. This year, it contributed to improvements on the Nordic...
Mike Fowler brought a small temperature sensor with him from Seattle to a presentation he was a part of held at the Foundation Building in Seeley Lake. On that Wednesday, with outside temperatures in the nineties, Fowler said his sensor showed 78 degrees in the Foundation Building. Fowler is the sustainability integration leader for Mithun, an architectural firm in Seattle. He and other members of his team came to Montana in May to tour five schools to start thinking about potential design...
Christina Hartmann had teaching on the brain as a career path from a young age. She always played school with her three younger siblings, where she was the one in the role of the teacher and made sure her siblings were organized into various parts to conduct the role play. In high school, she was asked to be a teacher's aide in a kindergarten class. She worked with a non-verbal student for two years, and was inspired by how she was able to see this student's lightbulb moments from the gains...
Alpine Artisans' Loon and Fish Festival returns for our 24th year on Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday, July 19-21 in downtown Seeley Lake. The festival is a celebration of art and nature in the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys highlighted by a community art show and sale featuring the work of over 25 local artists from the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys. Held in the Foundation Building in Seeley Lake, the show features marquetry woodwork, jewelry, paintings (all media), copper bowls,...
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been acquiring land in the Blackfoot Valley from the Nature Conservancy (TNC) since the early 1990s, when it owned 40 acres in the Blackfoot Valley. Today it manages nearly 44,000 acres, with more to come. Currently, the BLM is developing a Travel Management Plan (TMP) for managing access on the bureau's land in the Blackfoot watershed in order to develop a recreational use plan, manage the forest resources and restore Reserved Tribal Treaty Rights on...
When water levels drop and stream temperatures rise, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks restricts fishing hours to protect the state's sport fisheries. Hoot owl restrictions prohibiting fishing between 2 p.m. and 12 a.m. began July 13 in the Clark Fork River Basin including the Blackfoot, North Fork of Blackfoot, Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers. Additionally parts of the Big Hole, Gallatin, Jefferson, Madison, Ruby, Smith and Sun Rivers have restrictions. Yellowstone Park has closed the Madison,...
The 21st Annual Blackfoot River Cleanup invites all families and fishing and boating enthusiasts of Northwest Montana to Johnsrud Park to float, wade, fish and feast — while helping to purge our regional treasure of trash — on July 27, 2024. As one of Montana’s most storied blue ribbon streams, the Blackfoot is beautiful and wild, yet easily accessible for recreational use. To maintain the Blackfoot’s pristine condition, our community relies on an annual grassroots cleanup effort. Started in 2004 by the Pfister family of Potomac,...
Thirty-five years ago ... Thursday July 20, 1989 Four wrestlers in national meet, Schwarz takes third Four area wrestlers represented Seeley Swan and Montana in the AAU/USA Grand National Wrestling Championships held July 7-9 in Billings. Competitions consisted of the best wrestlers from 38 states and Canada. These following young men are to be congratulated for their efforts and dedication to the sport of wrestling: Third place Tyler Schwarz Seventh place Jacob Baker Eighth place Pat Morin 15th place Ariah Baker Schwarz and Jacob and Ariah...
Last week, water temps in the upper Bitterroot crept into the low and mid-60s and the East Fork and West Fork held in that range. Insect hatches are abundant at those temperatures, trout of all species feed actively, the angler can have a great day and all can appear to be well. But that was last week. This week and for the foreseeable future, day temps in the 90s will push water temperatures skyward by mid-day. As I write, hoot-owl restrictions, no fishing from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m., have been...
Congress must do more to protect vulnerable patients from the Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) who threaten access and put smaller, local pharmacies out of business. Living in Seeley Lake my husband and I, as well as my elderly mother-in-law, all rely on our local pharmacy to access the medications we need. The last thing any of us needs is to lose access to our local pharmacy because of the unfair policies being pushed by PBMs to control patients and boost profits. As you may know, the all-too-common underhanded business practices allow PBMs...
The Sunday after the Fourth we learned that our “You Are Loved” rainbow flag had been stolen from the church, along with the pole and mounting bracket. The flag’s symbolism is very broad. It encompasses our response to God’s call to love all people, all races, colors, nationalities and our LGBTQ+ siblings, friends and neighbors. We have no idea who might have done this, nor why. Perhaps it was someone who really liked the flag and decided they had to have it. Perhaps it was someone who disagreed with what it stood for and wanted it...
With cloudy skies threatening rain, the Clearwater Valley Bear Smart event kicked off the Dogtown Bear Fair on Sunday, June 29 hosted at the home of Cheri and Steve Thompson. More than 100 neighbors gathered from the Dogtown community for a delicious picnic and to learn about bear behavior and safety tips from several organizations. Gathering together with friends made for a fun way to learn and explore all things bear. Here are a few highlights from the fair: Are you smarter than the average...
It’s been just over six months since I started as the editor of the Pathfinder. I wanted to write here to explain a couple of things, introduce a new intern and offer some gratitude. As I’m sure many of you have noticed, our office hours and responsiveness in some ways have been wacky. We’ve been without a working computer for a month, which has made our office manager’s job quite difficult. I’ve been so grateful to Jessi for continuing to do as much as she possibly can without a computer. As of last week, we have a new computer,...
The Summer Reading Program is in full swing. If you haven’t already signed your kiddos up, there’s still plenty of time to join in the fun. We kicked off this year’s program with the All Under One Roof Road Show on June 20. Many thanks to the Seeley Lake Elementary School’s Outdoor Education program for partnering with the public library to make this event a success. Kids participated in fun events with the spectrum Discovery Area, Families First, MCAT, UM’s Living Lab and additional...
