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SEELEY LAKE – Commercial morel harvest season ended on the Rice Ridge Fire July 7. Seeley Lake District Ranger Rachel Feigley said the season went well with significantly more personal and incidental pickers than commercial pickers in the area. Feigley said the area designated for commercial picking was based on input received from the community. It was limited to the area of the fire that burned west of Richmond Ridge Road, Forest Road #4353. “Community members were interested in a post-fire economic recovery based on recreation tourism and...
Good neighbors deserve recognition. The Montana Neighbor Awards wants to celebrate good neighbors and is soliciting nominations for its annual awards. Deadline for nominations has been moved to June 14. The Montana Neighbor Awards is a working group made up of conservation organizations from around the state including Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks, Montana Association of Land Trusts, Montana Farm Bureau, Artemis Common Ground, The Nature Conservancy of Montana and Montana Council of Trout Unlimited. Awards are based on four criteria: cooperatio...
With abundant snow, this has been an outstanding season for winter recreation around Seeley Lake. We are grateful to all of the people and partner groups who have made this a safe, successful and fun season on The Nature Conservancy’s lands. From skiers to bikers to snowmobilers and more, we are working with many different groups to plan for recreation all across this landscape. We want to thank the Driftriders Snowmobile Club for a great season of working together. The club groomed hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails, managed closures, c...
SEELEY LAKE – The repair efforts on the Liberty Fire are nearly complete with only a few roads still needing work in the Gold Creek area. The Nature Conservancy Resource Advisor for the Liberty Fire Steve Kloetzel said the number one goal for TNC was collaboration with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to get the work done to stabilize the area following the suppression actions. He has been happy to see carnivore use in the burn area has not changed since last s...
SEELEY LAKE – Part I of the report on the March 7, 2018 public trails meeting gave the results of the resident and visitor survey conducted in 2017 by the Clearwater Resource Council (CRC) Trail Advisory Council. Part II presented the views of local business owners and a discussion on partnerships between land managing organizations and special interest user groups. Part III presents the Trail Advisory Council's recommendations derived from the surveys, as well as suggestions for how to p...
SEELEY LAKE – Part I of the report on the March 7, 2018 public trails meeting gave the results of the resident and visitor survey conducted in 2017 by the CRC Trails Advisory Council. Part II presents the views of local business owners and discussion on partnerships. Part III will present recommendations derived from the surveys, and suggestions for how to proceed in the future. In addition to the survey information submitted by residents and visitors to Seeley Lake, the Seeley Lake Trails A...
SEELEY LAKE - This past summer, the U.S. Forest Service's Northern Region experienced one of the hottest and driest fire seasons on record, with 36 fires that burned ~710,000 acres on National Forests in Montana and Northern Idaho, heavily impacting local communities and landscapes. As a result, recognizing the scope of the fires this year, Regional Forester Leanne Marten saw the need for an expedited approach focused on safety and formed a Regional Post-Fire Response Incident Management Team (I...
Last week, The Nature Conservancy staff from Washington state joined Montana staff to look at the forests burned this summer by the Liberty Fire, which affected roughly 7,000 acres of the land recently acquired by the Conservancy. Dozens of local contractors and crews from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and U.S. Forest Service have been working for weeks on rehabilitation efforts, including repair of roads and firelines. We are grateful for all of the good work and long days that have gone into this effort and...
SEELEY LAKE – Bull Creek Forestry's reputation of good forest stewardship, and respect for both the land and the people they work with is known in the area. Now Montana Wood Products Association recognized Owner Leelyn Cahoon as the "Logger of the Year." Leelyn was also named "Western Region Outstanding Logger" by the Forest Resources Association's Western Region and Stihl Incorporated. While Leelyn was surprised and honored by the recognition, he quickly pointed to his employees as the r...
Swan Valley AARP Meeting, Oct. 2 SWAN VALLEY - The Swan Valley AARP will meet at noon Monday, Oct. 2 at the Swan Valley Community Hall. A potluck lunch hosted by Russ and Larrine Abolt will begin at 12:30 p.m. At 1:30 p.m., Joe Pecora, a Cowboy Poet and former Condon resident, will read some poetry and tell some stories. The public is invited. New Date for “Be Our Guest” Event SEELEY LAKE - The date for the Sparrow’s Vine “Be Our Guest” Fundraising Banquet has been changed to Oct. 19 to accommodate the guest speaker. The event begins at 6 p.m....
Community Handbell Choir Fall Season Begins SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley-Swan Mountain Bells, a local community handbell choir, will kick-off the fall season Tuesday, Sept. 26. New members are welcome. Anyone who is curious is encouraged to give the group a try and see how you like it. Members are expected to be able to read music. The choir practices Tuesdays in the music room at Seeley Lake Elementary school. Set up begins at 3:15 p.m., practice is from 3:30 – 5 p.m. and then members should allow time to take down. Director Joann Wallenburn d...
Red Cross Blood Drive, Sept. 20 SEELEY LAKE – Mission Bible Fellowship will be hosting a Red Cross blood drive on Wednesday Sept. 20 from 11:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. People can register at www.redcrossblood.org or download the Red Cross app. Residents Asked to Help with Study on the Smoke Impacts, Sept. 20 SEELEY LAKE - The University of Montana, in conjunction with the Missoula County-City Health Department, is seeking help from Seeley Lake residents in learning how the smoke impacted their health and the barriers for finding clean air that e...
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...
Morning Update: The Rice Ridge Fire remains 122,843 acres because no infrared flight occurred over the fire last night. The fire is 5% contained and there are 801 fire personnel assigned to the fire. The cost is up to $35 million. Currently there are 1,719 structures threatened based on more accurate data from the Missoula and Powell County Sheriffs' offices. There is a RED FLAG WARNING TODAY FROM 2 pm TO 9 pm FOR WINDS 10-12 MPH, GUSTING OVER 20 MPH. YESTERDAY: A spot fire ½ mile from...
SWAN VALLEY - The Housing Element, the fourth of seven elements of the Swan Valley Growth Plan, was addressed and edited at the Swan Valley Regional Planning Committee meeting Aug. 16. The committee completed six sections of the element. The committee discussed the addition to the opening paragraph of the fourth element. The original wording said that the market price of housing has surpassed the ability of many residents to own or rent. Many communities have established programs to help close the gap which can be important to the economic deve...
A property that helped turn Montana's North Fork Flathead River Valley into a conservation stronghold is changing hands but remaining wild. The Vital Ground Foundation has teamed up with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and new landowners on a conservation easement protecting 142 acres of forestland and wildlife habitat known as Polebridge Palace. On the pine-strewn benches above the North Fork Flathead, the area will remain a haven for grizzly bears, Canada lynx and other sensitive wildlife, as wel...
In the past decade, we have made significant progress in making the Seeley/Swan more resilient to the effects of wildfire. This has been accomplished by conducting fuel reduction treatments on hundreds of acres of private land, where cost-share funding has helped landowners reduce the risk of wildfire on their forested lands. Adjacent to these treatments and often outside the Wildland Urban Interface at higher elevations, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the US...
SEELEY LAKE - More than 60 people came together for a volunteer work day at Fawn Pond on July 23. The Nature Conservancy hosted their sixth annual Revive and Thrive event to celebrate conservation and recreation efforts and create a new trail. Fawn Pond, a few miles west of Seeley Lake, now has a new mile-and-a-half nonmotorized trail around it. The trail includes a new bridge over Fawn Creek, which will replace a culvert downstream that has been impeding fish flow. This combination of...
SWAN VALLEY - Maria Mantas, the executive director of Swan Valley Connections for the last four years, will be retiring this fall. "A good executive director keeps the family together, keeps the team together," said Mantas. "I call myself the head cook and dishwasher." Before her stint with SVC, she worked for the Nature Conservancy as the Science and Stewardship Director, and was a plant ecologist for the Flathead National Forest prior to that. "I've spent about 30 years doing conservation...
Asphalt Millings Pile Continues to Grow – No Current Legal Issues SEELEY LAKE - The millings pile south of Seeley Lake has grown considerably over the course of the Highway 83 construction. There are currently no violations with the site. The contractor is required to find a place for millings. Frank Tabish, project manager for the construction, said that LHC contracted with John Richards Construction to dump the millings on the site. The site is located on private property. The property is located near Morrell Creek which raised some c...
SWAN VALLEY - The Swan Valley Regional Planning Committee voted to add appendices to the draft growth plan at their meeting June 14. The committee also discussed and edited three sections of the Land Use Element. Despite Chair Ken Donovan’s objection to including appendices in the draft plan, he and the rest of the committee voted to include appendices. Donovan was concerned it would make the document redundant. Committee member Diann Ericson compiled the additions to the appendices from text the committee eliminated from the draft plan. E...
The Nature Conservancy (TNC), along with our partners at the Blackfoot Challenge and Five Valleys Land Trust, invite members of the community to celebrate restoration and land protection with our third-annual "Revive and Thrive" event on Sunday, July 23. It's a chance for people to lend a hand sprucing up a favorite, or even not so well known, spot on TNC's Clearwater Blackfoot Project land. This year we'll be working on a new loop trail at the headwaters of Fawn Creek, not far from Seeley...
SEELEY LAKE – The reality of wildfires burning more frequently with higher intensity and across larger areas was the hot topic Thursday, April 27 during the Era of Megafires event in Seeley Lake. Guest speaker Dr. Paul Hessburg shared the story about why he feels megafires (fires larger than 100,000 acres) are happening. Instead of fear, his mission was to incite a call to action and a feeling of power to change the way wildfires affect people's homes, neighborhoods, towns and the landscapes tha...
GREENOUGH – It is calving season in the Blackfoot. Sunset School students had the opportunity to learn about the calving and ranch operations at the Paws Up Ranch from Ranch Manager Kyle Kelley and his wife Leigh on April 26. Students took a hay ride through the 'fresh' calving area where the calves are less than one week old, toured the calving barn and bottle fed a calf and lamb. This is the second year Sunset School has visited the Kelleys whose daughter Claire attends Sunset School. Leigh o...
