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GREENOUGH – Relaxed on her front porch, the newest Missoula County Commissioner Juanita Vero watches intently as two wranglers head out to break in two horses. A fourth-generation partner of the E Bar L Ranch in Greenough, Vero is responsible for one of Montana's oldest family-owned and operated guest ranches. After her appointment June 13 to fill the remainder of Commissioner Nicole Rowley's term, Vero is excited to be part of the team leading the forward momentum of Missoula County. With t...
The North Fork Blackfoot River is an iconic Montana River. Flowing through the heart of the Blackfoot Watershed, the North Fork is a stronghold for native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout owing to its crystal clear and ice-cold waters. Even if you don't cast a fly, you will find yourself mesmerized by the kaleidoscope of river rock framing the river bed. This river is not only important to trout, it is also very important to the landowners living nearby, many of whom are sixth generation...
This past spring, a teacher from Helmville School contacted us asking about an irrigation ditch behind the school that had some trout swimming in it. The kids were excited about "rescuing" the fish and putting them back in the river and she wondered if I knew anything about this particular ditch. After doing a little research, it turns out that this ditch was one we were already working with the landowners on with plans for a fish screen to be installed in the fall. Over the past 31 years,...
SEELEY LAKE- The Seeley Lake Community Foundation celebrated another year of finding community needs and finding funds to fill them Sunday, Aug. 12 at their annual fundraiser. This year it included a significant announcement, fundraising auction and the distribution of Change Your Pace donations. At the fundraiser, Loren and Pam Rose announced the sale of the building that houses Pam's business Deer Country Quilts to the Foundation for $215,000. According to Kevin Wetherell, a Foundation board...
SEELEY LAKE - Donate by Aug. 3 to the Change Your Pace Challenge to grow your contribution to Seeley Lake! The Change Your Pace (CYP) Challenge runs through 5 p.m. leaving only one more week to increase the power of a donation to your favorite local cause(s), with the help of the CYP Match Fund. The Seeley Lake Community Foundation’s third-annual Change Your Pace Challenge is a campaign for community-wide giving, celebrating the people and organizations that make our community great. 17 local organizations are participating this year, r...
In the spring of the year when rivers are running high and muddy, it might surprise you to learn that's also the time when westslope cutthroat trout start to move upstream-some migrating over 90 miles to get where they need to spawn! In the Blackfoot Watershed, we have two different species of native trout, westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. Making sure these fish can navigate through those many miles is one focus of Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited. What are some of the...
After the smoke cleared and before the snow arrived, the Blackfoot Restoration team was able to install a new fish screen in the Blackfoot valley, bringing the total to 32 screens. The new screen is located near Lincoln on an irrigation diversion off the Blackfoot River. The diversion has been in use for decades supplying water to hay fields. However, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks also discovered that the ditch used to irrigate was also full of native trout. This ditch is located in a very...
SEELEY LAKE — In the unincorporated communities around Seeley Lake, it is the efforts of many volunteer organizations that provide services and support in the areas of art and culture, education, community development, natural resources and conservation and basic human needs. It has been the goal and mission of the Seeley Lake Community Foundation to support those efforts. This year, the Seeley Lake Community Foundation raised $30,000 in matching funds to support fundraising efforts of 18 area non-profits in the 2017 Change Your Pace C...
SEELEY LAKE - Tickets are now on sale for the 2017 Maclean Festival in Seeley Lake and Missoula on the festival website: https//www.macleanfootsteps.com. When Alpine Artisans, Inc. founded a literary festival in 2015 to honor our notable home-town author, we chose the title “In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean” for a purpose. We recognized that Maclean’s novella, “A River Runs Through It” put Montana in the consciousness of fans nationally and internationally but it also influenced two generations of outstanding Montana authors. This second Fe...
by Elaine Caton (Swan Program Coordinator), Karen Laitala (Weed Coordinator), Zoe Leake (Intern), Sara Schmidt (Outreach Coordinator) and Jennifer Schoonen (Water Steward) Staying On Top of Invasives – The New and the Old This coming Monday, the Blackfoot Challenge and Powell County Weed District will host an update on invasive weed control strategies at the Ovando School Gym. Karen Laitala, Weed Coordinator for both groups, says she is pulling the event together in response to landowner i...
This year marks Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited's (BBCTU) 30th Anniversary. It's hard to believe it was back in 1987 when BBCTU held their first meeting initiated by a group of thoughtful landowners who were concerned about the state of the Blackfoot River. They had noticed a major decline in the fishery and for those of you familiar with the amount of focus this watershed receives these days, you may find it hard to believe that during those years, no biologists were out collecting...
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...
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...
As snow finally blankets the valley, the quiet and cold gives us time to reflect on the last year. 2016 has been an incredibly busy year for The Nature Conservancy in Montana, including for those of us who work on the Clearwater-Blackfoot Project. In almost two years since acquiring the 117,152 acres that comprise the Clearwater-Blackfoot Project, the Conservancy has been working hard to address urgent conservation needs and to understand the landscape as a whole. Projects of this scale always have an element of uncertainty but our work with...
For the fifth consecutive year, Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited (BBCTU) was privileged to host the Project Healing Waters (PHW) fly-fishing trip for three honored, military veterans from Montana, Idaho and Washington. Joshua Dockery, Joe Axtell and Tom Bowyer were selected by PHW to participate in this worthwhile trip. These three decorated veterans have completed multiple tours in Iraq, Afghanistan or Vietnam. BBCTU Project Healing Waters chairman and Army veteran Michael Pecora planne...
When The Nature Conservancy (TNC) invested in its Clearwater Blackfoot Project, we were looking to the future. But not just the future of the forest as a haven for wildlife and important waterways. We were also investing in the future of the communities who work and play on this land. The unique structure of the investment allows us time to study the landscape’s and the community’s needs. We hope that we will be able to find permanent conservation outcomes that help communities that have long lived and worked these lands develop a more cer...
SEELEY LAKE - The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with the help of partners and local contractors, are working on the Clearwater-Blackfoot Project, 117,152 acres of land acquired in the Blackfoot Valley from Plum Creek in October, 2014. This past week they were working with West Slope Excavation at Tupper's Lake, two and a half miles from Seeley Lake and two miles north of Placid Lake, in preparation for their annual Revive and Thrive Event July 24. Ever since the purchase of the Clearwater-Blackfoot...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Community Foundation (SLCF) is trying a new approach to how they financially support local organizations. The inaugural Change Your Pace Challenge offers 14 local organizations the opportunity to raise up to $5,000 from May 20-July 22. The funds raised will be matched by the SLCF for a total of $30,000 available match funding. The SLCF offers two grant cycles each year during which 501(c) 3 organizations can apply for up to $2,500. The grants are made possible throu...
SEELEY LAKE - Restoration work at the confluence of Trail Creek and Mountain Creek is nearing completion. The site is behind the Homestead Cabin on Double Arrow Ranch. The work is a result of more than 15 collaborators working to restore instream flows for Trail Creek and improve the irrigation system for the front nine holes on the Double Arrow Golf Course. After nearly 15 years of discussions between Double Arrow Enterprise and Double Arrow Land Owners Association (DARLOA), an agreement was...
