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MISSOULA - At a virtual public hearing Jan. 7, the Missoula County Commissioners unanimously voted to table a resolution outlining the need for safety while operating all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) until further discussions can take place among commissioners and dealers. If there are any modifications or amendments to it, a second hearing will be scheduled. Missoula County Chief Administrative Officer Chris Lounsbury presented the resolution before the Commissioners. He said it came at the request of the Montana Association of Counties where it...
MISSOULA - "My favorite part is the joy and surprise on their faces to get something extra for the Christmas holiday," Missoula County Sheriff's Office Deputy Ryan Dunster said about handing out bicycles to local children for the past five years. "It is just a good thing, we are able to give back through this donor." This past holiday season, the Missoula County Sheriff's Office carried on the tradition of delivering bicycles to area children. According to Missoula County Sheriff's Office...
SWAN VALLEY - Swan Valley Elementary School went into fully remote learning after a member of the school community tested positive for COVID-19. Staff received the news on Thursday, Jan. 7 and subsequently closed the school that morning. Students and staff are scheduled to return to in-person learning Tuesday, Jan. 19. Following notification of the positive test, students and staff were sent home with the intent to return on Monday after a deep clean of the school. However, after Principal Ralph King spoke with the school board over the weekend... Full story
SWAN VALLEY – Turning 18 in 1966, the height of the Vietnam War, Ray Haera figured he had the choice of getting drafted or voluntarily joining the military. He figured he had more options if he took the voluntary route. Though his father had served in the Navy in World War II and his older brother was also in the Navy, Haera was not sure he wanted to go that route. On the other hand, Haera said, "Everybody I knew was getting drafted. I had so many friends in the Army and the Marines who had a...
SEELEY LAKE - The Seeley Lake Sewer Board has been granted an extension to respond to a lawsuit filed by a group of landowners. The lawsuit seeks to force the District to follow through with previously adopted resolutions to construct the proposed sewer, mandate connections and also to reimburse the plaintiffs’ legal fees. The lawsuit filed Dec. 15 and served a few days later gave the District three weeks to respond before the plaintiffs could request an entry of default judgment against the District for the relief demanded in the complaint. T...
MISSOULA COUNTY - The Seeley Lake Lions Club, Seeley Lake Regional Outdoor Center for Kinetic Sports (ROCKS), Veterans and Families of Seeley Lake, and The Potomac-Greenough Community Center will all receive grants of various sizes following a Missoula County Commissioner meeting on Thursday, Jan. 7. Missoula County’s Parks, Trails and Open Lands Program distributed $46,000 in matching grants to organizations throughout the county with the intent of improving local communities. The Seeley Lake Lions Club will receive $16,988 to put in a p...
HELENA—Winter is the best time to test your home for radon according to Paul Tschida, radon specialist for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s Radon Control Program. “Testing for radon when your doors and windows are closed typically provides the best results to determine ‘worst-case’ radon levels in your home,” said Tschida. “That’s why January is National Radon Action Month, during which the program encourages testing.” If test results are elevated, mitigation is recommended. Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas t...
HELENA – During his first press conference of 2021 Tuesday, Jan. 5, newly elected Montana Governor Greg Gianforte announced his plan to eventually rescind the statewide mask mandate after vaccines are distributed. He said that he is also waiting to receive legislation that will protect businesses, schools, places of worship and nonprofits from lawsuits so long as they "make a good faith effort to protect individuals from the spread of the coronavirus and follow clear public health g... Full story
As Montana schools sought to contain the pandemic last March by shutting their doors for the remainder of the spring semester, Flathead County Superintendent of Schools Jack Eggensperger began to notice an increase in the number of parents registering to homeschool their kids. The trend continued throughout the summer and into the fall, right up to the day in early October when his office recorded its official homeschool headcount for 2020. That figure was 1,567 students — more than double the 715 homeschool students recorded in October 2019. E...
The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) sale of 12,039 acres of former industrial timber land to the U.S. Forest Service will allow for more public access according to a press release. The sold area was part of a 2014 purchase representing the last industrial timber land in the Blackfoot. The land partially covers the Seeley Lake Ranger District as well as the Missoula Ranger District. The map was previously characterized by a checkerboard-like pattern representing public-private ownership created over...
One of the devastating side effects of COVID-19 is that many people have been forced to rely on food banks to help them "make ends meet." But exactly what ends are supposed to meet? Where does that saying come from? The first recorded mention of the phrase dates to a 1662 book by Thomas Fuller called "The History of the Worthies of England" (i.e., worthy men). Published posthumously, the book was the first attempt at a dictionary of national biographies. Though Fuller was studious about...
Seeley Lake Community Foundation accepting grant applications through Jan. 31 SEELEY LAKE - Non-profit organizations are invited to submit grant proposals up to $2,500 to the Seeley Lake Community Foundation (SLCF) for 2021 projects. Applications are due Jan. 31. The SLCF’s small grant program helps local groups fund community projects in the areas of: art and culture; community and economic development; basic human needs; education; and natural resources and conservation. “In this capacity, the SLCF strives to be a community resource and cat...
LAKE COUNTY - Lake County Commissioners unanimously voted to keep the Porcupine Dump site open for two days a week following recommendations from the Solid Waste Board during their Dec. 16 Commissioner meeting. The days in question have not been decided. Solid Waste Board Member Carol Field is canvassing area residents to determine which days are preferable. Once the days are determined, residents will be notified. The site will remain in its current location for the time being. Lake County’s Solid Waste Board originally recommended closing t...
SEELEY LAKE - Runners will be able to run the 42nd annual Snow Joke Half Marathon on their own terms this upcoming February. Run Wild Missoula helps put on the event. Interim Executive Director Ashley Cossairt said their decision to make the race virtual instead of in-person was so that they could avoid spreading COVID-19. "Given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic and the number of active cases in the state of Montana, we determined it was better to take a more cautious approach and offer...
SEELEY LAKE – Sitting around a table at the Elkhorn Café in the fall of 1999, Seeley Lake resident Stan Nicholson told Loren Rose and four other future board members that there were 28 nonprofits and quasi-government agencies in the Seeley Swan Valley. "They all needed a 'boost' and bake sales aren't going to cut it," Rose recalled Nicholson saying. "How can we raise serious capital for all those entities to flourish?" From this initial discussion and many more involving the community, the Se...
SEELEY LAKE - Playing in the snow with family was an activity many Seeley Lake residents enjoyed over the New Year including Kris Martin and her son Sam Welch. They built these two snow bears to help them ring in the New Year on Thursday, Dec. 31 at their home on A Street....
Do you ride all-terrain vehicles? The Missoula County Commissioners are holding a hearing Jan. 7 at 2 p.m. where they have been asked to approve a resolution “Outlining the need for safety while operating all-terrain vehicles.” The Commissioners have been asked to take two actions. First for the county to encourage and promote safe use of all-terrain vehicles, especially by children. Second for the county to endorse the following rules of the trail “to make safety a part of the plan for every ride and help reduce ATV-related deaths and injur...
SEELEY LAKE – According to the Missoula County Elections Office, there are a couple of changes to the voter registration process for property owners in the Seeley Lake Sewer District for the upcoming Bond election. The Feb. 23 election will be conducted by mail with ballots being mailed Feb. 3. Unlike most elections, Sewer District elections allow certain landowners the ability to register and vote in addition to the registered voters who reside in the District. There are several ways in which landowners may be eligible to vote depending on h... Full story
SEELEY LAKE - The next meeting of the Seeley Lake Community Council will be this Monday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. with an intriguing agenda. It will be held via Zoom. Instructions for sign-on are at the end of this release. The first speaker will be Bob Vosen, Missoula District Administrator with Montana Department of Transportation. He will cover a number of subjects, including banners on the light posts, flower boxes, memorial plaques and the Salmon Lake construction. Next will be Claire Muller, executive director of the Seeley Lake Community...
When it comes to communication about climate change, there's a lot of complexity to consider, said USGS scientist Dan Fagre. "The problem is that to really understand it, people need to understand the process," he explained. "It's sort of analogous to a lot of ideas out there about nutrition: people glom onto an idea but they don't really go a little deeper to find out what the underpinnings of that really are." Most scientists don't like to do outreach and communication, Fagre said, which can b...
Governor Steve Bullock announced Dec. 30 the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan has been updated to incorporate the new federal recommendations for allocation to critical groups in Montana and an estimated timeline. “As the first phase of Montana’s COVID-19 vaccination plan is fully under way, it’s inspiring to see that thousands of health care workers have already been vaccinated and that it’s now reaching staff and residents of long-term care facilities,” Governor Bullock said. “As we continue to focus on vaccinating those most vu... Full story
MISSOULA COUNTY – Missoula County Commissioners approved distributing almost $625,000 from the COVID-19 Small Business Job Retention Fund to 27 businesses impacted by the pandemic. The funding is intended to help businesses retain jobs for low- and moderate-income employees. Of the awarded grants, 58% went to food and drink industry businesses for a total of $365,000. Retailers received 12%, professional services got 10%, preschool and childcare employers received 10%, transportation services r...
Yurt at Seeley Creek Nordic Ski trails closed for season SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Creek Nordic Ski trails just north of town on Morrell Creek Road are groomed and ready for skiers. However due to COVID-19, the yurt at the trailhead is closed for the season. Flathead Audubon offers program on Montana fish, Jan. 11 Have you ever heard of a fish that doesn’t like to swim? Or how about the one so primitive and bizarre that it is surely a ghost from very ancient times? Flathead National Forest Fisheries Biologist Beth Gardner has picked out sev...
MISSOULA COUNTY - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently gave guidance to public health officials that would allow for close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases to reduce their quarantine times if they met specific criteria. The CDC says local public health authorities will make the final decision about how long quarantine should last, based on local conditions and needs. Following the CDC’s announcement of updated quarantine guidance, the Missoula City-County Health Department (MCCHD) immediately adopted a 10-day q... Full story
SWAN VALLEY – "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree...," and so the song goes counting down the days. This song took on new meaning this year at Swan Valley School as each day, one of the 11 teachers or staff were called down to the office following the song. They were given a t-shirt and gifts of recognition for their hard work thanks to the group that calls themselves the Amazing Walking Women (AWW) of Condon. On the 12th day the staff and s...
