Sorted by date Results 335 - 359 of 399
Alvin Eugene “Gene” Miller “made his appearance into the world” in 1936 during an, “… early November blizzard that blew into the Flathead Valley.” His parents were Joe Miller and Mabel Kauffman Miller. “In the spring of 1939 grandfather Kauffman had bought a place near Condon. My parents and I moved there to take care of the place and raise cattle. It was the Hull homestead, so we always called it the Hull Place.” Smith Flats School Gene attended the Smith Flats School from 1941 – 1950. The log cabin school sat about a half mile from the count...
SEELEY LAKE - The 2016-2017 winter has been a cold snowy affair for western Montana. Because of the colder-than-usual temperatures, people are burning more wood to heat their homes and the temperature inversions are more persistent than in recent years. These factors have contributed to a large number of days over the particulate standard. So far this winter, the Seeley Lake air monitoring station has measured 32 days over the national ambient air quality standard for particulate matter in the...
As residents of the Swan Valley, most of us agree there is one thing we all value in our landscape, water. Most people living here draw their drinking water from wells, which people brag about being "the best tasting well water anywhere." You can't walk through the woods without eventually running into one of Swan Valley's thousands of wetlands which attract dozens of wildlife and bird species. There are hundreds of miles of streams, wild and unimpeded, supporting populations of westslope...
As a mother of four kids myself, I've been guilty of the common complaint that "kids these days" just don't play outside or have opportunities to explore and figure things out on their own like we used to when we were kids. They're so often plugged in, over scheduled or over managed. I feel lucky to have grown up in Montana in a simpler time, before the internet and social media, when our parents nudged us out of the house in the morning and called us back in for meals. What happened in between...
REAL ESTATE TODAY The past year has seen real estate sales in the Seeley, Swan and Blackfoot valleys on a run with dramatic increases in both land and home sales. Although the number of both homes and land that has sold has increased dramatically, price appreciation is a steady 2.5 percent. The current market is very healthy and represents a rising market environment that has led to investors and buyers gaining confidence and returning to purchase local real estate. Active inventory of homes...
New Year's resolutions are typically made with great deliberation and conviction - especially after devouring that second piece of Aunt Betty's famous double chocolate fudge cake Jan. 1 at 10 p.m. In your mind, the guilt of having crossed that calorie laden line one too many times, necessitates a lifestyle change. The first step is recognizing that an acquired habit has somehow challenged your sense of self-control. You make plans for the dieting to commence at promptly 7 a.m., Jan. 2. Not all...
Seeley Lake Regional Outdoor Center for Kinetic Sports [ROCKS] is pleased to announce that John Morton, Hall of Fame Olympic Biathlete, will participate in the Peter Hale Memorial Race to be held Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 in Seeley Lake, Mont. Morton is very familiar with Seeley's ski trails. He knows the existing Seeley Creek Nordic Trails system well and worked on the proposed Fawn Creek trail system that is bringing such excitement to the regional ski community. "We are looking forward to John's...
As snow finally blankets the valley, the quiet and cold gives us time to reflect on the last year. 2016 has been an incredibly busy year for The Nature Conservancy in Montana, including for those of us who work on the Clearwater-Blackfoot Project. In almost two years since acquiring the 117,152 acres that comprise the Clearwater-Blackfoot Project, the Conservancy has been working hard to address urgent conservation needs and to understand the landscape as a whole. Projects of this scale always have an element of uncertainty but our work with...
As District Ranger for the Seeley Lake Ranger District, I’ve been sharing with you, through the Pathfinder, some of the details of the project work that the Seeley Lake Ranger District (RD) is involved with and what that provides to the community of Seeley Lake and the American public. In this edition, I wanted to share some information about one of the things that makes the Seeley Lake RD unique and successful in its ability to get work done on the ground: its designation as a Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP) l...
With the holiday season upon us, there is no better time for a discussion of cyber security. According to the National Retail Federation, consumers are forecasted to increase online spending by seven to 10 percent, or as much as $117 billion for the months of November and December. In recent years, news stories have abounded detailing data breaches by large retailers, government agencies and health care providers. It is a fact of modern life that more of us are spending more of our waking time online. In addition to the increased amount of time...
Thanksgiving greetings from your partners at the Blackfoot Challenge. Please read on for a few updates on what we've been up to. We hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Trumpeter swan restoration program marks a milestone this year The Blackfoot Challenge has been working with a host of partners to restore trumpeter swans to the Blackfoot watershed since 2003. We are excited to report that 2016 has seen the most pairs of trumpeters in the Blackfoot, the greatest number of nests...
SEELEY LAKE - There are still lots of challenges nationally for the housing market. However, 2016 is shaping up to be one of the best years for housing in a decade and the SEELEY LAKE real estate market is no exception. It’s been the “Perfect Storm” to be a BUYER or SELLER in the Seeley Lake residential real estate market in 2016. WHY? FOR BUYERS: Interest rates are still at all time, historical lows. Even though home values have continued to increase this last year, thanks to declining interest rates, it actually COSTS the same in princ...
I recently attended the 2016 Watershed Symposium in Billings. The theme of the program was Improving Conservation through Partnership. In many cases, partnerships were between local non-profit watershed groups like the Clearwater Resource Council and agencies: FWP, USFS, DNRC, DEQ, USFWS – and even more alphabet soup. The Clearwater Resource Council partners with many of these agencies that enable us to work here in the Seeley-Swan valley. To get right to the point of this article, our most v...
SEELEY LAKE - At times, it may feel and some may have the perception that the Double Arrow Ranch is a separate community in and of itself, but the Double Arrow Ranch is very much a part of the Seeley Lake Community and further building on the relationship between Double Arrow Ranch Land Owners Association (DARLOA), its residents and the community of Seeley Lake will only improve and build on what we are so fortunate to have. Some facts about the Double Arrow Ranch: It is, by all means, a large subdivision in Montana given that statistically...
I didn’t write this as an expert on land management and wildlife issue, 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. Gentrification of the West I’m from Nevada. My Dad was born and raised on a ranch in the Smith Valley area of Nevada that my grandparents owned. When Dad came back from World War II, he wanted nothing to do with the ran...
Merlot or Syrah? French roast or Colombian? A grizzly bear might not know the difference, but that doesn't mean wine and coffee can't make a big difference for the iconic species. Look no further than two western Montana businesses, Missoula's Ten Spoon Vineyard & Winery and Whitefish's Montana Coffee Traders. Each contributes daily to the long-term survival of the grizzly bear through business partnerships with The Vital Ground Foundation, a Missoula-based land trust dedicated to conserving...
SEELEY LAKE - With the abundance of wood and no natural gas pipeline in the area, many businesses and residents of Seeley Lake use wood stoves as an affordable heating option. Unfortunately, winter wood stove smoke emissions are the main reason Seeley Lake exceeds a national air pollution standard for particulate matter (specifically, PM2.5). PM2.5 is particulate matter in the air with a diameter of 2.5 microns and smaller. The National Ambient Air Quality Standard for PM2.5 is 35 micrograms...
Margaret MacDonald visited her Aunt Isabelle and Uncle Dr. Robert Gordon in August 1905 at the Gordon Ranch. In a letter to her mother, Margaret eloquently described a horseback ride to a mountain pass Margaret refers to as Gordon Pass in the Kootenai Mountains, present-day Holland Pass in the Swan Mountains. The current trail, USFS trail # 42, ascends the face of the Swan Range above Holland Lake; the approximate route Margaret and her companions followed in 1905 leading to Sapphire Lakes, just over the pass. The current trail is a steep...
Weed management is highly impacted by high temperatures combined with low and variable precipitation. Hot weather and drought affect the germination, growth, hardiness and competitive ability of both desirable plants and weeds. Many weeds, once established, need very little water to survive. Perennial weed species such as spotted knapweed, field bindweed and Canada thistle have extensive, deep root systems and are able to “mine” water. Perennial weeds and other plants also have the ability to establish a dormant state for some time during wat...
During the 2016 fire season in western Montana, many residents have been directed to evacuate their homes because a wildfire is fast-approaching. For many residents in the Roaring Lion area near Hamilton, homes were lost completely and our thoughts are with them as we write this letter. We live in the same communities, and will be there to do our part as first responders in times of need. Like many homeowners all across the country, our families are ready for potential evacuation. There are some who have not made adequate preparations yet but...
At Swan Valley Connections (SVC), we care deeply about conservation, stewardship and education for people of all ages. Swan Valley Connections is the result of the merger between Swan Ecosystem Center and Northwest Connections, two non-profit conservation/education organizations founded in the 1990’s by visionary leaders and dedicated staff who knew the value of creating and building partnerships to get work done. We have a history of helping people come together to partner and find solutions to problems through having productive and r...
Bears are well known omnivores. They are animals that eat both plant and animal matter including insects, plant matter, berries, tree cambium, fish and red meat. At the North American scale, a high degree of available foods appear on the bear menu. Large salmon runs or even whale carcasses are available along the Alaskan Coast. Caribou range Northern Alberta. Huckleberries, whitebark pine, deer and elk litter the Rocky Mountains. Composition of diet has been shown by to affect physical size, reproductive potential and survival. Specifically for...
Seeley Lake Elementary's (SLE) Outdoor Program immerses students in our local heritage, culture, landscape and outdoor adventure, using these as a foundation to study language arts, social studies, science, math and other subjects across the curriculum. Fortunately, we have the support of community members and local experts who willingly contribute to the program and enable us to offer diverse, well-rounded educational and recreational experiences. Hopefully, this spring and summer Outdoor...
THE BIG WOW The real estate market in Seeley Lake is booming. Perfect financial times have caused several factors to affect the market in a big way. Interest rates for home loans are at all- time lows, the stock market is near all-time highs, home equity is increasing with rising property values nationwide and buyer confidence is high. These factors have resulted in a lot of available cash and ability to borrow cheap money. There has been a total value of $39 million worth of homes sold or placed under contract since August of 2015....
Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is an invasive grass that is widespread in Missoula County. This grass is a winter annual, meaning the seeds germinate in the fall and the plant overwinters, taking advantage of late fall and early spring moisture at a time when most of our native plants are dormant. This growth characteristic of cheatgrass gives it a competitive advantage over many of our native species and can be particularly problematic when trying to reseed disturbed areas. Cheatgrass also is an...
