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SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Reads is a biweekly podcast hosted by Carrie Benton, Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) library tech and Haley Haines, SSHS Paraprofessional & Family Resource Coordinator. The podcast highlights the Missoula Public Library 2023 reading challenge, "Missoula Reads." "Our podcast is about books, we're total nerds and we love books," said Benton at the beginning of their introductory podcast. "We want to promote the library, the reading challenge and the equipment that's available f...
Shortly after Christmas, Kris Davis, Seeley Lake, saw her dog barking at something rolling across the snow in the yard. As Davis investigated, she saw a well-traveled floating Chinese lantern had landed, with a child's handwriting on it. The marker inscribed message said, "I miss you and I love you, love Amelia." "I had the feeling that this lantern was a little girls' memorial to someone she loved," said Davis, who has experienced her own losses. "I don't know who Amelia is or who she lost,...
OVANDO - Three basketball games are scheduled in Ovando for the first time in ten years. The 2022-23 season of the Blackfoot Valley Basketball League welcomed the Ovando Colts with 12 players for the "B" and "C" squads. For the last ten years Ovando and Helmville have had a co-op team that met in Helmville as neither community had enough kids for full teams. The basketball collaboration between Ovando and Helmville began in 2013 when Brady Stone was invited to play in Helmville when Ovando did...
What was going on last week with that crazy cold weather? Was it an Alberta Clipper, Bomb Cyclone, Winter Storm Elliot? A record low temperature on December 22 of -48 degrees in Potomac and the third coldest day since 1959 recorded at Lindbergh Lake had people scrambling for extra layers, more firewood and wondering how the outside animals could handle it. Satellite reports from the National Weather Service (NWS) showed -53 over the ponds along Hwy 200 east of Ovando. "December 22 was -35 at the...
HELMVILLE - Everyone participated as Helmville School performed many musical numbers and two plays, "The Littlest Christmas Tree" and "A Dickens of a Christmas" December 14 at the Helmville Community Hall. Music opened the evening by K-2 students playing "Jingle Bells" on xylophone keys. "Jingle Bells" was also performed on guitars by the 5-6th graders. "Carol of the Bells" was played 5th grader Nate Spatig on his guitar. Lucas Spatig 8th grade, played "Angels We Have Heard on High" on the...
“It was the craziest year on record with black bears in many places in Region 2,” said Jamie Jonkel, Wildlife Management Specialist, Region 2 Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP). Due to environmental conditions, there was a food failure for black bears in most of Western Montana. “It was one of those food failure summers that we see every 7-12 years,” Jonkel said. “Sometimes it’s a hard winter for the deer population. This year it was a hard summer for black bears.” Ten or more bears were still known to be wandering around East Missoula and...
OVANDO - "Dear Mrs. Claus" was the name of the play performed Dec. 19 at the Ovando Gym. "How do reindeers fly? Why does Santa wear red?" and other pressing questions were flooding Mrs. Claus' mailbox just before Christmas. Mrs. Claus turned to the elves expert advice to send answers with help from Buddy, her Personal Elf Assistant. A musical showcase began the evening with students performing music accompanied by Matthew Nord, of Tangled Tones Music Studio, Missoula. Nord has been teaching the...
By Jean Pocha OVANDO Life size painted figures of Ovando's leading historical citizens have recently been placed around Ovando by Ovando School students. The project is part of the school's Montana history curriculum. In collaboration with the Ovando Museum and art teacher Ms. Mitchell, the students put up the figures around Ovando in mid-November. "Part of our social studies curriculum is understanding where we came from, and how events, people and places have shaped our communities today,"...
By Jean Pocha OVANDO - "What can we do to get people to stop in Ovando," mused Howard Fly, then owner of the Blackfoot Commercial Company(BCC). During the morning coffee hour at the BCC in early 2000, Fly and others brainstormed activities that would help extend the business season in Ovando. The day after hunting season ends marks the beginning of a long, quiet period until the spring thaw. "We wanted something that would give us a boost at the end of the season," said Peggy Fly, Howie's wife....
By Jean Pocha A young snowy owl is in rehabilitation and will be spending the winter at Wild Skies Raptor Center in Potomac. The injured owlet was discovered September in a field near Utqiagviv (Barrow), Alaska, unable to fly. The owlet is the youngest of six chicks in a nest that Owl Research Institute (ORI) monitored in the summer of 2022. ORI in Charlo, Mont., has been monitoring Snowy Owl activity in Alaska since 1992, and Wild Skies Raptor Center has been rehabilitating raptors since 2010....
By Jean Pocha Water quality concerns in the community will be determined following a project approach that Water and Environmental Technologies (WET) will use to collect and analyze information, shared Bill Decker, Sewer Board General Manager at the Seeley Lake Community Council meeting earlier this month. “WET proposed a three-phase approach to resolving Seeley Lake’s wastewater issues. WET committed to working side-by-side with the Sewer District throughout this process to develop a practical situation that is both economical and appropriate,...
By Jean Pocha The RV dump station at Clearwater Junction has been closed since spring 2019, with no foreseeable opening, the Seeley Lake Community Council and members of the public heard at their regular meeting on Nov. 14. For repairs or rebuilding to happen to the RV dump station at Clearwater Junction, the Montana State Legislature will have to vote to appropriate funds at the next session, January 2023, stated District Ranger Quinn Carver. County Commissioners have written a letter to Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) asking for the dump stati...
By Jean Pocha “I started this craft show so Seeley people could get some nice, fun crafts and so local vendors had a place to display their wares,” said Carrie Darrah, organizer of the Seeley Lake Winter Craft Show on Sunday, Nov. 20. “Roads are good and it’s a beautiful day; I’m hoping for a good crowd.” “Overall, vendors were happy with sales today,” Darrah commented after the show. Vendors had wares including books, pottery, sewing, high-voltage wood burned products, photography, wreaths, local authors and pet products. Lunch was avail...
By Jean Pocha "It would be unprofessional to taste that," said local auctioneer Kevin Ertl as a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake was paraded by him at the Annual Sew and Sew Club Harvest Dinner held in the Ovando Gym on Nov. 12. "People helping people is our motto," said Angela Williams, Sew and Sew Club President. "There's no sewing involved these days; the Harvest Dinner is our annual fundraiser. Funds are used to help community members in need and to address local community needs. We...
Ovando Outdoor education classes held in the area provide hands on experience within the natural surroundings children encounter regularly. Blackfoot Challenge hosted two educational events this fall, the Annual Youth Field Day near Ovando and a Bear education event in Lincoln (see related story in this week's Pathfinder). The Annual Field Day on Sept. 15 taught fourth- through eighth-grade students facets of interacting with the natural world they live in. Stations were laid out on a half-mile...
Hooper Park in Lincoln was a hot spot for bear studies Sept. 28. Living safely in bear country was taught through four stations covering safe camping, guardian dogs, bear identity and personal safety. Eighty K-12 Lincoln students attended and rotated through the stations. "With more bear activity and more people getting out exploring, we're trying to find ways to keep people safe, keep bears wild and minimize conflicts," said Elaine Caton, Education Coordinator for Blackfoot Challenge, who...
By Jean Pocha, Pathfinder Correspondent GOLD CREEK Emerging technology and forest product utilization was the focus of the forest tour in the Gold Creek area Oct. 25. More than two dozen people observed the Tigercat Carbonator 6050 make biochar out of slash piles as part of forest thinning and fuels reduction work done on land managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service and private landowners. Land managers discussed biochar production in the...
By Jean Pocha, Pathfinder Correspondent SEELEY LAKE -- Native plants had their first summer in the Clearwater Resource Council's (CRC) Native Plant and Pollinator garden. Bearing up under the hot summer, with exceptional care from volunteers with daily watering taught organizers many things. "Thanks to Ginger Williams and other volunteers we were able water the plants nearly every day, which I think also kept the plants super happy and healthy," said Miske. "The success of the plants seemed to...
By Jean Pocha, Pathfinder Correspondent DEER LODGE -- Helmville district boundary line changes met with approval at the County Commissioners meeting Monday Oct. 24 in Deer Lodge. The increase in the town district by one-half mile to the North and South and one-eighth mile to the east had no resistance or further public comment, according to Amanda Cooley, Powell County Planner. In addition, zoning updates were discussed that hadn’t been revised since 2011. An amendment was added specific to cell phone towers that want to expand the cell t...
By Jean Pocha, Pathfinder Correspondent GREENOUGH -- Locals were surprised and amazed to see and hear ten Lamborghinis parked at the Clearwater weigh station and traveling along Hwy 200 and Hwy 83 last week. Lamborghini Club America chose Paws Up Green O accommodations for their annual luxury driving event. The Clearwater Weigh Station lot provided a convenient staging space for the unloading and loading of cars for two days of driving to Helena and Kalispell. "They got gas here every day and...
(Story Edited by Jean Pocha) LINCOLN -- Seventy-five years of sled dogs and sled dog racing in Montana was celebrated Oct. 8 with the dedication of a permanent bridge on the Race to the Sky route over Beaver Creek outside of Lincoln. The bridge will provide multi-use access to trails connecting Lincoln and Seeley Lake. The dedication honored the history of The Race to the Sky, co-founder Jack Beckstrom and Camp Rimini War Dog. The Race to the Sky, originally known as the Governor's Cup, was deve...
OVANDO - Eurasian Lynx research team "LIFE Lynx" members from Slovenia and Croatia visited the Blackfoot and Seeley-Swan Valleys Sept. 11-18. They compared their large carnivore research, investigated community forests and shared their research with area schools through the Blackfoot Challenge Education Committee. The collaboration between LIFE Lynx and the Blackfoot Challenge began in 2015 when Executive Director Seth Wilson went to Slovenia for work on large carnivore projects. Wilson...
OVANDO - Riding to school got a new meaning for Ovando School's third through eighth grade students Aug. 29 - Sept. 1. Thanks to the Rich Ranch, students and teachers rode nine miles into Leota Park for a backcountry Outdoor Ed trip. Bill and Dena Hooker accompanied the group and stayed with them in camp to provide meals and backcountry lessons. The Ovando School alternates their annual Montana history trip between a museum-based trip and an outdoor education-based trip. This year was the...
OVANDO - Powell County Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) is introducing a Targeted Implementation Plan (TIP) for addressing wildfire hazards from biomass accumulation in private forested areas in North Powell County. The project will be active in fiscal years 2023 - 2026. According to the North Ovando Fuels Reduction Targeted Implementation Plan, recent changes in weather patterns are creating longer fire seasons and dryer fuel conditions, causing fires to increase in number, size...
DEER LODGE- Nevada Creek 4-H Club members brought home several Cream of the Crop, Champion Showmanship and Champion Market Animal awards from the 2022 Tri-County Fair in Deer Lodge. The Club also won the Overall Herdsmanship Award for keeping their barn areas tidy and cleaned up, plus special notice for working well together and getting their work done. The Tri-County Fair is the culmination of months of breeding, feeding and training animals, developing and practicing skills in crafts and honin...
