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I didn’t write this as an expert or as a representative of any organization. I did write it as an area resident who would like to meet others for informal discussions about what is wild. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what I perceive as wild and where humans fit in that concept. When asked what “wild” means to her, Carol Havlik, retired game warden and law enforcement coordinator for Wyoming Game and Fish noted, “Wildness evokes the feeling I have when I’m in a place or see something that makes me comprehend how insignificant I am and ye...
SEELEY LAKE - The seeds for the Seeley Lake ski team we know today were unwittingly sown in 2009, when some Seeley moms who loved to ski wanted to get more local kids skiing on our local trails. One of our first organized outings involved scraping together ski equipment and hosting a family cross-country ski day at The Lodges on Seeley Lake. To our amazement, we had more than 50 Seeley Lakers -- parents, grandparents, toddlers and kids of all ages, show up to ski on the lake, most for their...
Conservation managers devote a considerable amount of time and resources to preserving wildlife populations and balancing other land management values. This is understandable given the complexity of gathering information on complex ecological process or responses of wildlife populations or individuals to management practices. Gathering sufficient information on a rare carnivore such as the wolverine can add greater complexity, because this species exists at low densities and predominately occupy remote, inaccessible habitat. Over the past six...
Wellness Checks. We’re constantly reminded of the importance of getting one. It is a preventative action that normally takes little time and effort to complete. The resulting peace of mind usually outweighs the dread of visiting your health care provider. There are times when you find yourself inventing at least a dozen excuses for putting it off for another month and then another… By putting it off, your routine check-up may suddenly become an emergency! Our fear of knowing, feeds our habit of not wanting to know. How many times have we sai...
In 1979, Len Kobylenski purchased the Buckhorn Camp and changed the name to the Mission Mountains Mercantile. To prove that fact is stranger than fiction – the only document to survive the devastating fire two years ago was the original Buy/Sell Agreement that he had signed. It was found under a pile of charred debris that somehow survived. Kobylenski was a banker during the 1970s, and spent almost all his vacations out west. He came to Montana from upstate New York for the first time in 1...
The Mission Mountains Mercantile, one of the upper Swan Valley's landmarks, was destroyed by a devastating fire nearly two years ago. Owner Len Kobylenski decided to rebuild and a new version of the iconic store has risen from the ashes. The old Merc was more than just a grocery store. It included a deli, an art gallery, a real estate office and a gas station. Visitors to the area were often amazed to find such a well-stocked store in the middle of nowhere. As a central part of the community,...
Have you ever been visiting other parts of the country, stood on the bank of a murky lake or stream and thought how lucky we are in Seeley Lake to have clear, clean water that surrounds us at every turn in this beautiful watershed? If so, have you ever wondered what our community is doing to sustain and protect our water quality into the future? If you haven’t, you should. 2017 was a wake-up call in many ways not the least of which is the obvious need to continue to reduce wildfire risks both in and around our community. But, in addition to t...
Grizzly bears are on the move. In the last year, we've seen more and more evidence of grizzly travel beyond the borders of original recovery zones. As the Great Bear reconnects its fragmented range, our conflict reduction efforts must follow in the animals' footsteps. That's why our 2017 Conservation Partners Grant Program extended Vital Ground's support to three new areas-the Mission, Madison and Big Hole valleys-while also continuing our efforts in the Swan Valley. Read on to learn about...
REAL ESTATE SALES REDUCED DUE TO LACK OF AVAILABLE HOUSING INVENTORY The past year has seen great success in home sales in both Seeley Lake and Condon. The market has great buyer interest and activity. However, lack of available inventory has resulted in some buyers staying on the sidelines as they are unable to find homes with the qualities and features that they are seeking. Median days on market for homes in Seeley Lake is currently 163 days, down dramatically from 266 days in 2016. The...
While the holiday season is certainly a time of generosity toward others, there are some who view this goodwill as an opportunity to separate you from your hard-earned money. While there are a great number of scams floating around, those involving perpetrators posing as utility employees are of particular relevance for Missoula Electric Cooperative (MEC) and its members. Below are some of the more common schemes which come and go around the country each year. Over the past several years, we have received reports of members getting phone calls...
During the holiday season, I often reflect upon the past year (and some of those significant experiences throughout my life). I suspect that many of you are like me, you are reminded of your blessings during the holiday season. But what about those special memories that arise from the negative experiences? We remember those times too and we relive the experiences by retelling and reliving them in our mind and conversations with family and friends. Two popular quotes come to mind as I write this; “The best laid plans, are laid to waste…” – Rob...
Happy Holidays from the Seeley Lake Ranger District! Thanks to the Pathfinder for allowing me this opportunity to provide an update on what’s happening on the Seeley Lake RD. As fall and winter arrive, I’m reflective of the historic summer of 2017 which is not one that anyone will forget anytime soon. It was challenging and difficult – for our family of firefighters, visiting recreationists, business owners and Seeley Lake residents. Now the fires are out and we are moving forward with post-fire activities. Regional Forester Leanne Marte...
After ten years at the helm of the Blackfoot Challenge, Executive Director Gary Burnett takes position with Heart of the Rockies Initiative Dear partners and friends, It has been my honor to serve for the past ten years as the executive director of the Blackfoot Challenge. I have learned so much from the landowners, board members, staff and partners with whom it has been my privilege to work alongside. It is with tremendous gratitude that I start a new chapter guided by lessons learned in the Blackfoot. I have accepted the executive director...
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...
With this summer’s highly unfortunate fire activity, evacuation warnings and orders, we all learned important lessons: Being good stewards and neighbors is far more important than promoting negativity, pointing fingers and being critical of others. What we experienced this summer as a result of the significant threats to property and life, was people putting their differences aside, neighbor helping neighbor and the entire community of Seeley Lake coming together to assist one another through extremely challenging times. As we move forward f...
Simply put, 2017 was the worst wildfire smoke season we have seen in Missoula County. Of course, anyone who lived in Seeley Lake during the Rice Ridge Fire already knew that. It's not uncommon for a community near an active fire to see heavy smoke, especially during periods of rapid fire growth. The smoke in Seeley Lake, however, continued to return and build, night after night, even on days that didn't see dramatic fire activity. The proximity of the Rice Ridge Fire and the valley's topography...
The first Europeans that arrived in Montana were not interested in mountain biking or sight seeing. They came to make money, fast. The determination to make money as quickly as possible without considering long-term consequences triggered a series of boom and bust cycles. Except for agriculture, boom and bust cycles characterized the Montana economy from about 1850 to 1950. We had a gold boom and bust, a silver boom and bust and the one we are reminded of most frequently today, the copper boom...
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...
Early in the 2017 Season Many markets in the country are experiencing a supply and demand problem with housing inventory, and Seeley Lake is no exception. Our major selling season usually runs from May to September. At the beginning of the 2017 selling season, we were already experiencing a lack of inventory. Buyer demand has been strong but our home inventory just hasn't been able to keep up with the demand. The lack of supply, coupled with a healthy demand, led some to speculate the we were...
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...
I didn’t write this as an expert on physiological or social processes, or as a representative of any organization. I did write it as an area resident who would like to meet others for informal discussions about the topics presented. Death. Is it the end? Or the beginning? Birth…death…rebirth This past summer I was particularly interested in the new growth that appears on dead and dying trees. This was fed by my many years’ fascinatation with a certain western larch snag, the top laying in decay on the forest floor. All along that crumbli...
The topic of wildfire raises the level of awareness of our forests. Some of this is good. People become aware and then they are compelled to act. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if they are going to act in the right manner. Wildfire in the West In the fire-prone forests of the Intermountain West, fire is part of life. These forests have adapted to survive regular fire intervals for centuries. Ponderosa Pines and Western Larch are prime examples of species that are specifically capable of withstanding significant fire. Unfortunately, some of our act...
The number of new genetic analysis techniques is rapidly expanding and many provide biologists the opportunity to uncover new information about Montana's fisheries and invasive species that threaten them. Among these new techniques are genetic assignment and analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA); both of which have been applied in Clearwater Basin lakes and streams. Environmental DNA (eDNA) simply refers to fragments of genetic material from different plants and animals that occur naturally in...
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...
SEELEY LAKE - It is interesting that the title to this article is also a good description of the Seeley Lake Trails Project purpose. Three years ago, a diverse group of people got together to talk about working toward a trail system in Seeley Lake. The one overarching theme that came out of the first meeting is that the trail system had to give something to every user group. That every person in the group had to be willing to fight just as hard for the "other" groups as for their own. We also di...
