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MISSOULA - Increasing voter turnout is one of the challenges facing the Missoula County Elections office. In an effort to get more people to participate in the election process, the elections office is utilizing outreach and voter education. Maintaining an active voter status not only saves voters time but also helps save taxpayer dollars at the polls. In the 2014 November Federal General election, Missoula County had 85,905 registered voters but only 42,607 ballots were cast, a 49 percent turnout. In 2016, residents in the Swan, Clearwater...
GREAT FALLS - The first wildfire of the season in the Bob Marshall Wilderness was reported Saturday morning, April 9. The Elk Hill Fire was estimated at 1,086 acres on April 11 and 40 firefighters were staffing the fire. It appears to have been human caused from a warming or campfire but is still under investigation. The Elk Hill Fire is located on the Rocky Mountain Ranger District, Lewis and Clark National Forest. When the fire was first reported its estimated size was 500 acres. By the end of...
In Spring many animals have their young. Female chickens, called hens, hatch their young (chicks) from eggs. Whether newly hatched by a hen, in an incubator or purchased from a feed store or hatchery, chicks need care. Hens will protect their chicks until the chicks have matured enough to imitate chicken behavior. If the chicks come from another source and do not have a hen, people become the mother hen for them, talking to the chicks, keeping them protected and warm by using a brooder box....
LINCOLN - For a couple long weeks in April 1996, Lincoln was the epicenter of the biggest news story in America. The FBI arrested Theodore J. Kaczynski here April 3 in connection with the Unabomber bombings that had targeted universities and airlines for 18 years and reporters from around the country flocked to Lincoln. For two weeks, until Kaczynski was transferred from Helena to California, they camped out in Lincoln or called anyone they could, trying to dredge up any nugget they could on his...
New rules related to overtime pay being proposed by the US Department of Labor (DOL) are cause for concern in Montana’s nonprofit community. The changes will cause significant increases in payroll costs and inevitably leading to a reduction of services to nonprofit clients and patrons. Under current DOL rules, employers, including nonprofit organizations, may designate employees who are in administrative and professional roles as salaried, “exempting” them from hourly wages and mandatory overtime. To qualify, those employees must make at least...
SEELEY LAKE – Spring is here and the Seeley Lake Ranger District is interested in providing some flexibility to the existing Motorized Vehicle Use Map (MVUM) on roads designated as closed Dec. 1 – April 30. “We want to allow the public some level of early access where roads are open and dry and where resource damage will not occur while at the same time recognizing we have limited capacity to check conditions and install/move temporary signs,” said Seeley Lake District Ranger Rachel Feigley. The MVUM is part of a national effort to display...
For Dave who inspired me to share this tale. For Ruth who made it happen. A number of years ago while in Michigan I received a call from a dear friend Ruth. It seems Ruth who owns a family farm had located a very hard item she needed for the farm. The item was located in N. Wisconsin. The issue was that Ruth hates driving long distances and asked if I would accompany her and do the driving. "Sure," I said, "Whatta we going to get?" "Oh, I found a Duck Plukker up there on Craigslist. I want to ta...
MISSOULA – The West Central Montana Avalanche Center posted their last regularly scheduled avalanche advisory for the season Saturday, April 2. Additional updates may be posted if conditions warrant. Snowmobile trail grooming on the Missoula Ranger District on the Lolo National Forest and the Powell District on the Nez Perce- Clearwater National Forest has ended for the season. Roads that were closed to wheeled traffic during the grooming season may again be open in some locations. Recreation specialists are also advising snowmobilers to s...
MISSOULA - Judge Karen Orzech announced Tuesday, April 5 that she will be retiring effective July 8. The Board of County Commissioners will make an appointment to fill her position until a successor is elected at the 2016 general election in November. “It has been more than an honor, but a true pleasure, to serve the citizens of Missoula County as Justice of the Peace for nearly 18 years,” Judge Orzech said. “My judicial philosophy is to serve the public with kindness and respect while effecting a positive change in their lives by applying the...
In the vast Greater Yellowstone region, there's growing recognition of what some call "the grizzly economy." It's not a bearish attitude but rather bullish enthusiasm for recovery of an iconic Montana species, Ursus arctos horribilis, and the fact that grizzlies, as assets, are now worth far more alive than dead. The shift from viewing grizzlies solely as liabilities is actually a radical historical departure, generations in the making, from a past in which bears were thoughtlessly cleared from...
Submitted by Brian Sweeney, Communications Director with the Western Environmental Law Center, Taos, N.M. MISSOULA – On April 4 the federal district court for Montana rejected a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to deny protections for wolverines in the contiguous U.S. The court ruled the Service improperly ignored science and violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A broad coalition of conservation organizations challenged the Service's refusal to protect imperiled w...
BOZEMAN - Snow at higher elevations and rain in the valley yielded near to above average precipitation during March in all but one Montana River basin, according to data from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). “The additional moisture increased most basin snowpack percentages this month to near to above normal, while the Sun-Teton-Marias continued to be overlooked by the passing storm systems,” said Lucas Zukiewicz, NRCS water supply specialist. In the Rocky Mountain Front, this year’s lack of snowfall has resulte...
When World War II started with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Michael Milochik was attending high school in Aliquippa, Penn. Mike, like most of his classmates, had never heard of Pearl Harbor or Hawaii. He admitted that his main objective in life at that time was chasing girls around the city swimming pool in warmer weather but things were about to change. With his country now at war, Mike realized that he was ready to leave home and serve his country but he would have to wait...
SEELEY LAKE - Taelynn Mae Darrow was born April 8 at 12:14 p.m. to parents Tawney Spence and Kelly Darrow of Seeley Lake. She weighed 8 pounds and was 19.25 inches long. Proud grandparents include Troy Spence and Mark and Laurie Darrow of Seeley Lake and Karey and Rich Hedgecoke from Kellogg, Idaho....
SEELEY LAKE – If Jack from Team A is running neck and neck with Jill from Team B and they are 50 yards from the finish line, Jack’s coach might yell, “C’mon, you can do it. Pull out all the stops.” But why is Jack’s coach yelling about stops, when clearly his intent is for Jack to go, in fact to increase his speed. The origin of the phrase, pull out all the stops, actually has nothing to do with racing. It has to do with playing a pipe organ. Miles Hoffman’s “The NPR Classical Music Companion” calls the organ a hybrid instrument, a con...
BIGFORK - The weather was beautiful and warm for the Blackhawks as they hit the greens Thursday, April 7, for their second meet of the season. Six Blackhawk golfers headed out to improve their game and they did. The boys finished in seventh place at the Bigfork Invitational with a team score of 376. Junior McKinley Nicholas, the Blackhawks' number one golfer, led the team, Thursday, with his score of 85. Close behind were seniors Jacob Haley and Joshua Cahoon who added their scores of 91 and 93...
The Seeley-Swan Blackhawks had a pair of track meets last week. The team headed to Corvallis April 7 for the Florence/Darby Invitational and then was off to the Bigfork Invitational April 9 in Bigfork. Both events attracted class A, B and C schools. The Lady Blackhawks pulled off a third place victory in Corvallis and tied for second in Bigfork despite having some of their top athletes out for spring break. Alex Bohlman led the Ladies, taking first in the 100-meter, first in the javelin and...
Seeley Lake Community Trail Update SEELEY LAKE - Snowbanks have become a rare commodity on the local Seeley Lake community trails. The trails were not unscathed but didn’t suffer a great deal of blowdown from the big blow last fall. However there are a few trees that will need cut from the trails by our volunteer clearing elves this spring. Anyone wanting to exercise their chopping or sawing skills are welcome to take a walk on the west side trails or around the high school. They are easy to hop across if you want that kind of exercise. The n...
