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SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley-Swan Mountain Bells handbell choir will begin practices for the new season on Monday, Sept. 12, from 3 – 5 p.m. at the Mountain Lakes Presbyterian Church north of Seeley Lake. Newcomers are welcome. Never rung a handbell before? No problem, we’ll teach you. If you think you might like to try it or just watch, stop in and join us. For more information, call Director Joann Wallenburn 406-370-2483....
No news is good news and there’s been very little news lately about AIS issues in Montana. That’s a good thing, but it’s not because nothing is happening. Some of what has been happening behind the scenes that you might be interested to know are… Missoula County became the first – and only, so far – county to create an AIS District. The AIS District functions about the same as the Weed District only the AIS District focuses on all species of aquatic invasives including plants, animals and pathogens. The AIS District Board is currently working t...
There are two pairs of candidates running for the two open seats on the Fire Board. Connie Clark and Gary Lewis are the incumbents. Kristy Pohlman and Alyssa McLean promise to bring positive change to the Fire Board. Do we even need change on the Fire Board? Yes, and here’s why. About four years ago, during an interim chief’s tenure, there were abnormalities with a callout that raised concerns within the corps of the EMTs. One EMT wrote up the incident and shared it with the Captain. Because the concerns were about the interim chief, the con...
Let's take a look at what happened across Montana in 2018 in the battle against Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS). More than 100,000 watercraft were inspected at 35 watercraft inspection stations across the state. Clearwater Junction continues to be one of the busiest. Sixteen out-of-state watercraft with invasive mussels were intercepted. AIS monitoring crews surveyed 1,450 sites on 250 unique waterbodies for invasive plants and animals. One new population of faucet snails was found in Lake...
West of the Mississippi…? In Montana…? In the last year, I have heard the phrase Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes many times by local residents. I’d never heard it used prior to last year. The phrase is always followed by some superlative like “the biggest in Montana” or the “last west of the Mississippi” or ??? Lots of question marks. Anyone who knows me knows that I do my homework. I won’t repeat such a superlative without first verifying that it’s true. Since I’m very much in favor of any claim that will help support the special nature of our lakes...
I thought I'd write an info-piece about what happened in 2017 and what's happening in 2018 regarding the invasive mussels in Tiber and Canyon Ferry (maybe!) and what we're doing locally to Protect Our Waters. But before I get into all that, I'd just like to throw out this caution to everyone, especially visitors who are not very familiar with our area. While the water levels are receding in our lakes and streams, they are still higher than normal, and many are very dangerous. Many streams are...
SEELEY LAKE - The Double Arrow Ranch Fire Safety Committee organized a community clean-up day in observance of the National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day May 5th. The committee was awarded a $500 grant from the National Fire Protection Association and State Farm to assist with the project. NFPA and State Farm sponsor the national Firewise Community program. The Double Arrow Ranch is a certified Firewise community and must host outreach events such as this each year as part of the...
SEELEY LAKE - Mr. Spence hit the nail on the head. There is a lot of false information regarding the sewer and his article in the April 26th Letters to the Editor is a prime example. His first question is “How is that [Placid Lake algae bloom] possibly caused by Seeley Lake septic systems?” No one who reads and writes English could honestly misinterpret my comments to make that claim. But those are Mr. Spence’s own words that, I believe, are meant to intentionally deceive the readers of this newspaper and the voters within the Sewer Distr...
SEELEY LAKE - We chose to move to Seeley Lake for the beauty of the mountains, the lakes and streams, the critters, the snow…The small town. Back then, the sewer, “to be or not to be,” was a topic of discussion – and it still is 16 years later and already had been for 10. No one can accuse the sewer board of acting too quickly! I paid attention from a distance reading newspaper articles and attending public meetings. What I have paid close attention to are our lakes and streams. With the decline of the timber industry, Seeley Lake has relied...
SEELEY LAKE - As we all know, Seeley Lake is a small, rural, unincorporated community. For fire and medical emergencies, we are served by a volunteer fire department. Our property taxes pay to outfit the department with equipment and gear, pay for employee salaries, volunteer recruitment, training and supervision. There are typically three paid employees: the chief, an office worker and a maintenance worker. Volunteer ranks are usually between three and four dozen. The volunteers are the heart and soul of the department. Let’s face it, if t...
At a recent two-day training session for watercraft inspection and decontamination in Kalispell, Whitefish Lake Institute gave a short presentation on the plan to protect Whitefish Lake. It has to be the Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Gold Standard in Montana. There are two public boat launches: one at Whitefish Lake State Park and one at Whitefish City Beach Park. From May 1 to Sept. 30, both launches will be open 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The launches will be physically closed during off hours. Onsite inspectors, many of whom were in the training cla...
It's hard to find anyone who is unaware of the invasive mussel problem in Montana. The positive finding of invasive mussels in Tiber Reservoir is resulting in significant effects on recreational boating across the state. As we are approaching ice-off and a new boating season, we need to be aware of and prepared for this 'new normal'. Following an open comment period, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission approved several rules related to boating in Montana in an effort to prevent overland...
As the state of Montana gears up for the influx of boats and watercraft that might carry invasive mussels, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) is working quickly to update measures that help prevent the spread of these species. FWP has proposed new rules that require inspection of all boats leaving Tiber and Canyon Ferry and decontamination at the discretion of the inspector, inspection of all boats entering the state and inspection of all boats crossing the divide into the western special management area. The open comment period for the...
Hard to believe that despite all the snow coming down, spring run-off and ice-off are right around the corner. We received some good news this week on the mussel front. The grant application submitted jointly by Swan Valley Connections, Clearwater Resource Council, Blackfoot Challenge and Missoula County Weed District was approved for the full $72,000. This grant from Montana DNRC will provide funding for monitoring, outreach, and prevention from Swan Lake to the north, down the entire Seeley-Swan Valley and east to Coopers and Browns Lakes....
As of 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24… Last Friday, Feb. 17 I learned that the Clearwater Junction boat check station was going to be moved north up Highway 83. On Monday the 20th, it was likely going to be eliminated altogether. As of Tuesday the 21st, it is going to remain at the Junction, but only check boats moving from west to east. Yes, that’s right: west to east. That’s because three new check stations will be on Highway 200 near Lincoln, US-12 west of Helena, and I-90 west of Butte to inspect boats moving from east to west. These new stati...
Since the November announcement of invasive mussels found in Tiber Reservoir, the state's response team has been working hard to assess the situation and develop plans for the upcoming recreation season. The information coming from the Mussel Response Incident Team has been changing daily. Finally, the changes have slowed down enough that a picture is starting to come into focus. I can tell you that boating and water recreation in Montana will be very different this year. Here's what I know at t...
The Clearwater Resource Council received notice that the larval form of the invasive mussels commonly known as zebra or quagga mussels have been positively identified in water samples from the Tiber Reservoir, east of the divide. Water samples from Canyon Ferry are giving inconclusive results. Until this finding, Montana was one of only five mussel-free states west of the Mississippi; the other states being Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming. The rapid response plan has been put in motion to assess the extent of the infestation and to determ...
I recently attended the 2016 Watershed Symposium in Billings. The theme of the program was Improving Conservation through Partnership. In many cases, partnerships were between local non-profit watershed groups like the Clearwater Resource Council and agencies: FWP, USFS, DNRC, DEQ, USFWS – and even more alphabet soup. The Clearwater Resource Council partners with many of these agencies that enable us to work here in the Seeley-Swan valley. To get right to the point of this article, our most v...
The deadline for this article is four hours away and I still can't decide which of many topics to write about. We live in a wonderfully diverse place which is only adding to my decision problems. I started with the intention of writing about the Western Spruce Budworm infestation that is going strong in our area, only to discover that Andi Bourne wrote a terrific article about it just last July. There isn't much more to add to her article except to stress that the best weapon against the wide...
