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SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake Elementary junior high gathered in the snow and sleet Dec. 19 as Missoula Electric Cooperative installed a new 45-foot pole and osprey nesting platform on the corner of Riverview Drive and Highway 83. The effort was a partnership between SLE junior high science teacher Patti Bartlett Gladstone and her students, who have been taking an in-depth look at ospreys and businesses Missoula Electric Cooperative and Pyramid Mountain Lumber. Bartlett Gladstone was one of five t...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley-Swan High School seniors took to the stage Dec. 13 to debate the resolution "The Forest Service should manage fires by letting them burn." While both sides presented convincing arguments with supporting evidence and facts, the team opposing the resolution won the debate. Everyone in the audience had the opportunity to comment and choose which side they felt won. This was the fourth annual debate in Dr. Kathleen Pecora's senior English class. The students chose the r...
SWAN VALLEY – "There is so much more to education than what is in a lesson plan," said first-year teacher Jamie Matthew. Matthew joined the Swan Valley School teaching staff this year after working as a paraprofessional at SVS since 2013. She hopes that her third, fourth and fifth-grade students will get a well-rounded education that helps them become better people and contributing members of the community. Matthew grew up in Seeley Lake. She married her husband Jonathan in 2004 and moved to t...
SWAN VALLEY – From an early fascination with John Wayne, Missouri native Rebecca Ramsey couldn't believe that people really lived that way. Now more than three decades later, Ramsey is quick to call the Swan Valley home after being hired as Swan Valley Connections new executive director. Ramsey is originally from St. Louis, Mo. She first came to Montana in 1984 with her grandparents when she declared "I'm moving to Montana!" Ramsey received her Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications with a...
Does anyone remember anything from the summer of 2017 besides the Rice Ridge Fire? Think back. There was plenty going on in Seeley Lake before fire season: Fourth of July, The Bob Marshall Music Festival, the Change Your Pace Challenge, farmers markets and all the usual festive activities we're known for. Seeley Lake Elementary's Outdoor Program kept up our tradition of getting kids outdoors throughout the summer too, and although we scrambled to rearrange and reschedule due to evacuations and s...
SEELEY LAKE – After two years of planning and organizing, the In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival finally came to fruition Sept. 8-10. Sponsored by Alpine Artisans, Inc. (AAI) and spearheaded by AAI Program Director Jenny Rohrer, the event encompassed literature, fly fishing, pollution, wine tasting, fire, geology, breakfast, the United States Forest Service, a gala dinner, stories and memories. The theme running through it all was the Blackfoot River. In 2015, the Maclean Festival highl...
SEELEY LAKE – When a book begins "In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing," it is a safe bet the book is going to contain a lot about fly fishing. When that book is converted into a movie, it becomes necessary to show someone casting and catching fish. In addition, the fly fishing needs to look completely authentic. John Bailey is the one who brought that degree of perfection to the film "A River Runs Through It." Baily owns the Dan Baily Fly Fishing shop in L...
Morning Update: The Waters of Seeley Lake have been reopened for recreation today. There is a tentative meeting planned for Ovando Friday night but may be postponed due to incoming weather. Fire size remains the same as yesterday because cloud cover did not allow an infrared flight over the fire last night. However, fire growth did occur yesterday around the fire area due to winds gusting to 30 MPH. The reported acreage from yesterday was 155,900, it is 40% contained with 778 fire personnel on...
ANNOUNCEMENT: Due to extreme fire conditions, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) lands in western Montana are temporarily closed to all public access until conditions improve. TNC joins private timber companies, Weyerhaeuser and Stimson Lumber Company, in closing their western Montana lands to all public recreation, due to extreme fire danger. RICE RIDGE FIRE MORNING UPDATE: The Rice Ridge Fire grew to more than 109,000 acres and has merged with the 10,000 acre Reef Fire to the north east. The new...
First, as a representative from Missoula County Fire Protection Association, our thoughts and prayers go out to the communities of Seeley Lake, Kozy Korner and Ovando for the trying times people are going through with the Rice Ridge Fire. We as an agency realize that we are going to be in this extended fire season for a little bit longer than we thought. Conditions are to remain hot and dry and that only creates more of a possibility of more wildfire ignitions. We as communities CAN make a...
Rice Ridge Fire Morning Update: Community Meeting tonight, Sept. 7 at 6 pm at the Mission Bible Fellowship Church. There will be a meeting Friday Night, Sept. 8 at 6 pm at the Ovando Elementary School Gym. The Rice Ridge fire only added about 1,000 acres yesterday. It is now up to 120,759 acres, is 5% contained and has 725 fire personnel working the fire. YESTERDAY: The inversion did not lift over the fire area, so no aircraft could be used due to lack of visibility caused by the smoke....
Rice Ridge Fire Morning Update: Today will be the last day the Fire Information board at Rovero's is staffed. The Fire Information Board at Valley Market will continue to be staffed by Rice Ridge Fire information officers along with Missoula County Sheriff's department representatives. A community meeting will be held tomorrow, Aug. 31st at 6pm, location to be determined. The Rice Ridge Fire grew more than 2,000 acres yesterday. It is currently 32,222 acres and 18% contained. There are 658 fire...
Morning Fire Update for the Rice Ridge Fire: Greg Poncin's Northern Rockies Type 1 Incident Management Team assumed command of the fire at 6 am this morning. There is a community meeting tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 5 at the Ovando Elementary School Gym at 6 pm. The Rice Ridge Fire grew 7,000 acres yesterday and is now more than 108,000 acres. YESTERDAY: Yesterday the Rice Ridge fire and the Reef fire grew together towards the north within the Bob Marshall Wilderness adding the majority of increased...
It’s painful to watch the national news. Partisan politics rule the day. The times when you made decisions by taking into account the best interests of your neighbor feel all but gone. We used to come together as one nation, indivisible and chart out a course that we all could agree on. We used to meet in the middle. And in rural Montana, we still do. We have all seen the magic that occurs when diverse interests and stakeholders put their differences aside and focus on their commonalities. That’s the real Montana - not Republicans, Democrats, L...
SEELEY LAKE - Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 2, aerial operations on the Rice Ridge Fire near Seeley Lake were shut down due to a civilian drone flight. A local resident spotted the drone and U.S. Forest Service officers were able to identify and contact the man. He was not arrested at the time but will likely be charged. “At this point it’s an open federal investigation,” said Federal Officer Tyler Robinson. The incident is under shared jurisdiction, and the Forest Service is working with a special agent with the Federal Aviation Administratio...
Tom Skerritt and other members of the creative team from Robert Redford's film, "A River Runs Through It" will highlight the three-day In the Footsteps of Norman Maclean Festival Sept. 8-10 in Seeley Lake and Missoula. Released in 1992, "A River Runs Through It" won an Oscar for cinematography (Philippe Rousselot), Oscar nominations for its direction (Robert Redford), musical score (Mark Isham) and screenplay (Richard Friedenberg), and created an explosion in the popularity of fly fishing in...
SEELEY LAKE – Hundreds of people showed up for the fourth Rice Ridge Fire community meeting at the Seeley Lake Elementary school Thursday, Aug. 10. The country is now in Stage 5, the highest level of preparedness for wildfire and all resources are on maximum alert. The Rice Ridge Fire is still the number one priority fire in the nation. Fire operations are focused on establishing control lines on the north, west and south edges of the fire. The team is not putting resources on the east flank. T...
A public meeting will be held on Sunday, Aug. 6 at 6pm at the Seeley Lake Elementary School. A fire information booth will be staffed at the Valley Market on Highway 83 from 10am to 6pm. Photo courtesy of Mark Melvin. The Rice Ridge Fire is 7,740 acres as of this morning at 5am, a growth of nearly 800 acres from yesterday. The fire is 10% contained and has 9 crews, 23 engines, 2 helicopters, 4 dozers, 4 water tenders and overhead personnel totaling 370 firefighters. 2 helicopters are assigned...
"Those are the fun ones," I thought to myself as I looked at the photo of the Florence Fire sent to the Pathfinder by pilot Scott Newpower the morning of July 19. Those small fires that were less than a couple acres were fun. I put in some long, hard hours of work with incredible folks for a day or two and then we went home and onto the next fire. I miss it...spending four summers as a firefighter on the Seeley Lake Ranger District and six additional seasons between Minnesota, Alaska and...
At A Glance Length: Trailhead to the Lake - 0.25 miles. Well-established trail around the lake, 1.9 miles. Elevation: Trailhead: 4,950 feet; Lake: 4,800 feet Directions: Turn east off Highway 83 onto the Morrell-Clearwater Road north of Seeley Lake. Drive three miles and take a left at the US Forest Service Road #4270 Clearwater Lake Loop Road. Follow for another three miles to the trailhead. Since the road is a loop, continue from the trailhead to the north seven miles until reaching Highway... Full story
SEELEY LAKE - Everyone cleaned up their cars, trucks and donned their red, white and blue for the annual parade in Seeley Lake. The event started with a fly over by a C-130 from the 120th AirWing with the Montana National Guard. Seeley-Swan High School junior Chloe Robbins sang the national anthem from the announcer's stand and everyone cheered. The celebration continued with nearly 50 entries in the parade. Everyone enjoyed getting candy and goodies from the parade participants. “Old F...
SEELEY LAKE - Everyone cleaned up their cars, trucks and donned their red, white and blue for the annual parade in Seeley Lake. The event started with a fly over by a C-130 from the 120th AirWing with the Montana National Guard. Seeley-Swan High School junior Chloe Robbins sang the national anthem from the announcer's stand and everyone cheered. The celebration continued with nearly 50 entries in the parade. Everyone enjoyed getting candy and goodies from the parade participants. "Old Fashioned...
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...
SEELEY LAKE-A line of 10 mules, interspersed with the occasional ranch hand on horseback, wound its way down the trail into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The mules each carried a large canvas covered pack on either side of their back-enough supplies and food to last four days. The first pack trip of the season was underway. Several hours earlier, at 7:10 a.m. Gail Theard and her family from North Carolina arrived at the Rich Ranch to start their trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Jack Rich,...
SEELEY LAKE - Students and teachers from a Washington, D.C. suburb spent the first week of their summer vacation in Montana at the Rich Ranch. The middle school classes at the Bullis School, an independent, private K-12 school in Potomac, Md. takes an annual trip every summer. Last year they visited the Florida Keys. This year 11 students and two teachers spent six days, June 11-16 at the Rich's Montana Guest Ranch to experience small-town America and the Wild West. "For them to choose Montana...
