Sorted by date Results 235 - 259 of 399
I know how you're feeling...Spring is here! Mountain Bluebirds have returned. Robins are prominently flying around town. A few early-season bugs splattered on my windshield on a recent drive. The weatherman has even forecasted some early rain with a possibility of some rolling thunder. Within the next couple weeks, the ice will be off the lakes and lawns and trees will be sprouting new green growth. And as with previous years, social media and personal conversations will be filled with people...
Over the last few months, watershed students young and old experienced a variety of Blackfoot Challenge program work first-hand. In the following paragraphs we'll guide you through their journey, each step of the way woven with our mission to "coordinate efforts to conserve and enhance the natural resources and rural way of life in the Blackfoot watershed." Through place-based learning, our ridge-top to ridge-top conservation efforts permeate not only the landscape in which we work, but student...
One attraction to the many homeowners who have purchased lots on the Double Arrow Ranch is the extent and variety of the common areas. These are lands owned by DARLOA, the homeowners association, and are available to all residents for their enjoyment. Since association common areas are also open to the public, this is a benefit to the wider Seeley Lake community. It’s one way the Ranch adds to the attractiveness of our valley. Let’s take a look at some of these common areas in more detail, and then learn about a possible swap for some cou...
SEELEY LAKE - Recent cold snaps have been instructive about the role weather plays in Seeley Lake's winter air quality. Since the wood stove change out program of 2012-2014, Seeley Lake winter air quality has varied with weather patterns and temperatures. Immediately following the change out program, winter air quality in Seeley Lake improved, with far fewer days exceeding the 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate than was observed before the change out....
In late February, the U.S. House of Representatives moved to save the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), approving a sweeping package of public lands bills that includes a measure to permanently reauthorize the program for the first time in its 54-year-history. The package, approved by the Senate earlier in February with near-unanimous support, puts an end to the cycle of expiration and renewal LWCF has suffered in recent years. The fund last expired in September, prompting a bipartisan group of lawmakers to push for permanent...
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Lake ROCKS is thrilled to be building non-motorized, multi-use recreation trails near Placid Lake State Park in the Hill-16 recreation area. We cleared more than two miles of old logging roads last fall and will continue our work this spring and summer. Funding will allow us to construct three and a half miles of new connector trails, vastly improve the logging road trails and to construct three trailhead parking areas. [You can help promote our grant application at the end...
We've been experiencing an active residential market in Seeley Lake this winter with five homes currently under contract. Not bad for the dead of winter in Seeley Lake! Experts agree that the market is softening for buyers, but will it be a full-on buyers' market? In Seeley Lake, it depends on the price range. The demand for houses in Seeley Lake under $300,000 is currently strong. All five homes presently under contract are listed under $300,000. There are only eight active residential...
The North Fork Blackfoot River is one of the most important spawning and rearing streams for migratory bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in the Blackfoot River watershed. Private landowners, watershed groups and government agencies have worked tirelessly for decades to address limiting factors throughout the lower sections of the river. Today, all major diversions on the North Fork have fish screens, resulting in full connectivity for migrating trout. Furthermore, many water conservation...
Your chances of stepping into the role as "caregiver" for a family member, are greater than you might think. According to the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, it is estimated that over 44 million caregivers have provided informal or unpaid care to an adult or child in the last 12 months. These family caregivers averaging 49.2 years old, have often provided care for family members for three or more years, an average of 13 days each month and helped with personal care, food preparation,...
I didn't write this as an expert on land management and wildlife issues, or as a representative of any organization. I did write it as someone with strong concerns about where society as it relates to those issues is headed, and as an area resident who would like to meet others for informal discussions about the issues presented. As I was growing up I always thought it to be pockets of humans surrounded by wild.Now I sadly see it's pockets of wild surrounded by humans. In the 1960's when I major...
All of us see logging trucks going through town, know folks working in the woods and see active logging around Seeley Lake. Reactions to active or recent logging are varied, depending on the experiences of the person reacting and the prescription being met on the ground. Like it or not, all property owners have rights and their land management objectives may not match the objective of someone observing the logging activity. Big Larch Campground would be a good example of that. What about those who might not like what they see, how do they know...
Let's take a look at what happened across Montana in 2018 in the battle against Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS). More than 100,000 watercraft were inspected at 35 watercraft inspection stations across the state. Clearwater Junction continues to be one of the busiest. Sixteen out-of-state watercraft with invasive mussels were intercepted. AIS monitoring crews surveyed 1,450 sites on 250 unique waterbodies for invasive plants and animals. One new population of faucet snails was found in Lake...
When a federal judge returned grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone area to the threatened species list in September, he cited the bears' fragmented range in the lower 48 states as one of his justifications. It is hard to call a species recovered, he argued, when it is isolated from other wild populations, as Yellowstone's grizzlies are. Earlier this month, two conservation groups took an important step to ending that isolation. Twenty miles west of Missoula, near the confluence of western...
Beginning in 1933, the Forest Service began an intensive winter game study in the South Fork of the Flathead to determine the number of big game, forage use, snow depth, temperature, migrations, etc. Within a few years the study included the Swan and Middle Fork drainages. Forest Service ranger Henry Thol was in charge of the local winter game patrol in 1935. He was a rugged outdoorsman in his 50s who was experienced in mountain travel. Assistant ranger 27-year-old Norman Schappacher spent much...
ANNUAL REAL ESTATE SALES CONTINUE TO TREND UPWARD THROUGH 2018 The year of 2018 has seen great success in home sales in both Seeley Lake and Condon. The local market is maintaining a great balance and generally is not tipped in favor of either buyers or sellers being at a negotiating advantage. Summer is generally the "selling season" and May through September is when a majority of the sales in the valley close. Tourism numbers in Glacier Park have tripled over the past four years, and we have...
It may seem far away now, but we all remember the wet, chilly days of last spring and the water that seemed to be everywhere as streams overflowed when the snow melted. Those conditions made it challenging for the trumpeter swans that, with help from many concerned landowners and others, have been trying to make a comeback in the Blackfoot Watershed. At least one nest site was under water for weeks, making it impossible for the swans to nest. And eggs or young cygnets in other nests may have...
There is an incredible array of animal tracks and sign to be discovered in nature. Some are obvious and some are very subtle. Footprints, droppings, scrapes on trees and foraging sign are just a few things that can provide clues about an animal species' presence and how it uses a given area. Learning and honing animal tracks and sign skills is an art that challenges the human sensory system and requires no technology. Tracks can be found any time of the year on many substrates (snow, dust,...
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,...
Missoula Electric Cooperative's (MEC's) community solar program, "Solarshare," provides members the opportunity to acquire renewable solar energy from cooperative-owned solar arrays. Community solar programs, like Solarshare, are a smart and simple way to enjoy the benefits of solar power without the installation or maintenance costs of a home installation. The Solarshare program reflects MEC's commitment to developing locally-sourced renewable energy programs. Today, MEC's portfolio is...
KALISPELL - A Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologist has identified an innovative approach to investigating illegal fish introductions and his research is being published in an international peer-reviewed scientific journal. Sam Bourret, a fisheries biologist based out of FWP's Region 1 office in Kalispell, was the lead author of a manuscript titled, "Using forensic geochemistry via fish otoliths to investigate an illegal fish introduction." The findings will be featured in the November...
Do it for kids, do it to have fun yourself, do it to build community! ROCKS (Regional Outdoor Center for Kinetic Sports) has always focused on what is best for kids, community and outdoor recreation. "We are excited to add another economic driver that benefits our residents in addition to the many more obvious benefits of our plan," explains ROCKS President Jim McLean. Ice Rink advocates began meeting only a year ago and already have secured a plan to build a temporary ice rink on the Seeley...
Autumn is here and the Seeley Lake Ranger District is finalizing summer seasonal fieldwork. The upcoming winter season presents a shift in focus but a steady pace of work continues. This update is meant to keep you informed of what is occurring on your National Forest. The summer operating season began with responding to spring flooding events affecting many roads across the Seeley Lake Ranger District. In addition, the treatments recommended in the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) assessments were completed. These treatments included...
Double Arrow Ranch is proud to share a name that has a long history in the Seeley Lake area. Once called the Corbett Ranch, the land that makes up today’s residential community was part of a purchase in the late 1920’s by Jan Boissevain and George Weisel. They founded the Double Arrow Ranch as a guest ranch, with the first paying guests arriving in 1930. In the following decades, the ranch served as a working cattle ranch. In 1958, CB and Helen Rich purchased the property for their outfitting business. The subdivision of the ranch for res...
On May 24, 2018, the Missoula Board of County Commissioners approved an updated version of the 2005 Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). The update was a collaborative effort of Missoula County Office of Emergency Management, Frenchtown Rural Fire District, Montana DNRC, US Forest Service, BLM, Missoula County Community & Planning Services, Missoula County Fire Protection Association (of which Seeley Lake Rural Fire District is a member), the Nature Conservancy, City of Missoula Development Services, Missoula City Fire Department, Missoul...
Thanks to public meetings, growing partnerships and many conversations with local residents and business, The Nature Conservancy has learned a great deal in the four years since acquiring 117,000 acres of land in the Seeley-Swan area. Time and time again, we are reminded that conservation and community go hand in hand. Sustainable conservation needs a healthy community and healthy communities need conservation. We know that when problems come up and issues need to be addressed on the landscape, the only way they get solved is when people work...
