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The Blackfoot Watershed Recreation Planning Workshop held at the Ovando gym Dec. 3 drew 15 participants. This meeting presented a summary from the six community meetings held in Bonner, Potomac, Ovando, Lincoln, Helmville and Seeley Lake in November. Marley Held-Wilson, Blackfoot Challenge recreation coordinator, welcomed everyone and reminded participants of the ridgetop-to-ridgetop concept of management that the Blackfoot Challenge introduced at the community meetings in November. December's m...
It was a cloudy but still day when Cowboy Claus rode into town for the 27th Annual Christmas Fest in Ovando on Nov. 29. Visitors were treated to a craft show in the gym, wagon rides by the Henrekin family from the gym to the town square and the Stray Bullet, Blackfoot Angler, Ovando Museum, Red Shed and Blackfoot Commercial Company welcomed visitors with gift items as well as standard fare. Chili and fry bread were served from the Hoosegow (original jailhouse) and Gingerbread houses and fire...
The "Harry Morgan Story" was recently published by the Ovando Historical Society and written by Sheri Ritchlin, Ovando resident. Harry Morgan was one of the first game wardens in Montana. He served in northern Powell County and parts of Missoula and Lewis & Clark Counties from 1913-1946. Ovando was his home base while game warden. An interview with Harry Morgan in the 1960s by Deer Lodge High School history teacher Thelma Wells served as the foundational research for the book. Since then...
Nearing the end of his 18-state book tour to introduce "Becoming Little Shell, A Landless Indian's Journey Home," Chris La Tray, Métis author and Montana Poet Laureate, presented his new book at the Alpine Artisans Open Book Club on Nov. 9 at the Swan Valley Community Center. La Tray read from his new book, shared poetry and answered questions from the crowd. The book tells the story of La Tray's growing up around Huson and discovery of being Chippewa, and the history therewithin. While growing...
If anything says “community spirit” it’s a $2,000 bid for one dozen phantom eggs. Traditionally Norma Hughes, 95-year-old Ovando resident, has brought two dozen eggs to the Ovando Harvest Dinner. The eggs are a high seller, earning $1,700 in 2023 to support the Ovando Sew and So club in its community projects. This year’s auction on Nov. 8 was a little different as a fox got into Hughes’ chicken house recently and killed all but two hens. Hughes sent a note to the Harvest Dinner explainin...
The Blackfoot Challenge has long hosted international groups to the Blackfoot Valley. Through a cultural exchange grant, a team of seven Blackfoot Challenge staff and a former Natural Resources Conservation Science Powell County District Conservationist were able to travel to Slovenia and Croatia in October to meet with colleagues with no expenses paid by the Challenge. "We have hosted groups from many parts of the world here in the Blackfoot," Randy Gazda, Blackfoot Challenge vice-chairman,...
Members of the community gathered at Seeley-Swan High School to celebrate Halloween. Businesses and families were represented at Trunk or Treat as they handed out candy and a carnival put on by the high school drama elective was a change from last year's haunted house. While Trunk or Treat usually takes place in the parking lot of Seeley Lake Elementary School, this year it was hosted at the high school. Seeley-Swan High School drama teacher Katy Pellet said this was so Trunk or Treat could be...
With fishing access sites overflowing in the summer, drought pressure on the rivers, more garbage, increased weeds along roadsides and packed eateries, it's obvious there's more traffic in the Blackfoot watershed. Over the past few years the Blackfoot Challenge, a local watershed stewardship nonprofit focused on the Blackfoot River drainage, has been hearing more concerns about and interest in growing recreational pressures in the Blackfoot Valley watershed. Meetings have been held in...
Convoys of cattle trucks will soon be trundling loads of cattle along Highway 141 and Highway 200, moving cattle from mountain pastures to home ranches and hauling weaned calves to feedlots across the Midwest. Selling calves marks the fall rotation of cattle ranching in the Blackfoot Valley and throughout ranching country in the United States. It's payday for ranchers as they ship off their main commodity - beef calves - to feedlots. Cattle receipts of $1.8 billion dollars in 2021 rank cattle...
The 22nd annual Tour of the Arts on Oct. 12-13, put on by Alpine Artisans, gave local people and visitors a chance to visit working studios, galleries and museums from Condon to Lincoln. Sixteen local artisans in the Seeley-Swan and Blackfoot Valleys had their crafts on display and often showed their production processes to attendees. Martha Swanson, from Ovando, demonstrated the steps of bowl making during the tour. The Swansons had several finished bowls on display despite losing one of their...
Scientists along backroads in the Blackfoot Valley have been seen holding up radio telemetry antennas. Instead of tuning into their favorite station, they could be dialing in a sharp-tailed grouse, part of a massive reintroduction plan. Sharp-tailed grouse were once the most abundant grassland bird in western Montana, as they are east of the Continental Divide today. For unknown reasons, the flocks began declining in the 1940s and the last known sharp-tailed grouse sighting in western Montana...
Recently Justin Iverson, a Potomac rancher, was invited to go on an international agricultural trade trip to Japan. The purpose was to build relationships, study the Japanese market and explore opportunities for U.S. red meat. As a member of the Montana Beef Council, a beef marketing group, Iverson was part of the 21 member team of beef, pork, soybean and corn representatives, hosted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation, which markets U.S. meat worldwide. The Tokyo office hosted the group of indus...
In a recent Montana Supreme Court ruling, the temporary restraining order against LHC, Inc. a company that applied for an opencut mining permit for mining gravel on Highway 83 near Elbow Lake, was rescinded. The decision was made due to a technical difference between the state Supreme Court and District Court Judge John Larson, who originally set the restraining order in July 2023. The restraining order was applied for in the Fourth Judicial District Court, which includes Missoula County, by Protect the Clearwater, a local grassroots group form...
The Helmville rodeo opened its sixtieth rodeo on Sunday with a special appearance by the Patriot Parachute Team skydivers floating into the arena with parachutes and a Betsy Ross flag. In addition there was an appearance by U.S. Congressional Representative Ryan Zinke, who shared an address about Helmville that he will be making in front of Congress soon. "Sometimes in Washington D.C. people forget about our values. Here our values are pretty simple. We love Montana, we love the great outdoors,...
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park bear specialists are in charge of collaring a certain number of bears for research purposes. In 2016, a male grizzly nicknamed Walking Bear was captured and collared northeast of Ovando. This month that same bear was implicated in the deaths of four calves on summer pasture northeast of Ovando. Grizzly populations have been increasing in Montana over the years and the effort to delist the bears from the endangered species list has gone in and out of court...
T-shirts emblazoned with the famous Clearwater cow hang on racks in the new Cow Store n' More that's taken up residence in the old bar behind the convenience store at Clearwater Junction. Speciality coffees, soft serve and Big Dipper ice cream and Montana made gifts and books fill the refreshed space. A soft opening happened on Aug. 23 and the grand opening is planned for Labor Day. "We had a branding party for local ranchers to bring in their brands and brand the new bar counter for the coffee...
Tiffanie Zavarelli had zero restaurant or bartending experience when she and her husband, Ryan, were sitting in their car in front of a bar in Ovando, pondering taking it over. It was 2019 after a family Christmas party at the Double Arrow Lodge in Seeley Lake and the couple were in the Trixi's Antler Saloon parking lot looking out at Ovando Mountain. Ryan's mom and stepdad, Cindy and Ray Francis, wanted to sell Trixi's a few years back and they approached Ryan and Tiffanie to see if they...
John Maclean stood next to a rather old looking cabin outside of Seeley Lake and reminisced. It used to be a wonderful place for him and his sister to play. Six-foot piles of sawdust would leave traces in their hair, clothes and teeth. It also served as a summer landing spot for his father, renowned writer Norman Maclean. "It looks like it's old," John's niece said after seeing the ice house earlier this spring. "The jokes on her," Tom Attard, owner of Burlyman Creations and contractor for the...
The Nevada Creek 4H Club has 13 kids going to the Tri-County Fair in Deer Lodge this year. Two of the members are brothers living between Avon and Helmville. Michael and Payton Goettle live on the family ranch and have both animal and craft projects in 4H. Michael, age 15, is continuing with his breeding beef project. The star in his project is BB, a heifer he was awarded in 2022 through the Rocky Mountain Stockgrowers Association Investment program. BB is now two years old and Michael will be...
Ovando School celebrated its centennial on Aug. 3. Nearly 60 past students, community members and teachers gathered to reminisce at the schoolhouse and visited the Ovando Museum to see class photos and memorabilia collected over the years. Last spring students in grades four through eight interviewed some of Ovando's citizens about the Ovando School. The interviewers asked the 10 participants what they liked about the school and what was important about it. Overwhelmingly interviewees said the...
On July 30 at 9 p.m. Ovando and Helmville volunteer firefighters as well as Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation firefighters from Sperry Grade in Greenough responded to a structure fire on Woodworth Road. “The structure was completely engulfed when we arrived,” Monte McNally, Ovando Volunteer Fire Department Chief, said. “The strategy was to get the heat out of the fire and keep it from spreading.” DNRC crews sprayed down the perimeter of the property to prevent spread into nearby forest and fields while Ovando and Helmvil...
Yoann Destremau pulled into Ovando after cycling in the rain for hours. Soaked and exhausted he visited the Blackfoot Angler and found out about dry overnight lodging for bikers around Ovando. The morning of July 30 he was happy to have a cup of coffee in his hand and blue skies overhead for a chat outside the Stray Bullet. Currently Destremau is on his third international bike tour. He left Victoria B.C. on July 8 and plans to arrive in Patagonia in two years. He carries everything he owns on...
Potomac Valley 4-H members Cooper and Ella Hathaway have been feeding and training their sheep Buddy Alexander Lambilton and Fiona for the Missoula County Fair since purchasing them in April. For the past three years Cooper, age 12, has taken hogs to the fair. This year he moved into lambs in order to get more practice handling livestock in preparation for possibly taking a steer in the future. In addition to showing livestock Cooper participates in 4-H Shooting Sports/Shotgun. The shotgun...
Locals were surprised and angered to see a boatload of trash deposited at the transfer station outside Ovando on July 19. And on the morning of July 23 a load of trash was found spilling out of the dump and the large gates were broken. That trash had food-related components and was considered a bear attractant. Locals contacted Justin Williams, Ovando Rural Disposal District representative and president, and he arranged for cleanup that day. "We have a fairly good lead to who may have been...
From the prairie potholes of northeastern North Dakota to the Blackfoot Valley, new Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist Lee Tafelmeyer has already had a varied career in wildlife biology. "I grew on a cattle ranch, hunting and trapping and developing a passion for the outdoors, wildlife and ecosystems," Tafelmeyer said. "A family vacation trip to Yellowstone as a youngster played into my interest in the Rocky Mountains and wildlife." When college entrance forced the beginning of...
