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What defines a “Local Market Expert?” A local market expert has extensive knowledge of the properties in their market and is able to explain how current market dynamics are impacting prices. Every community and market is unique and it takes a local expert to help you navigate the complicated process of buying or selling real estate. A local market expert will understand the lifestyle of the community and what it’s like to live there. How can a local market expert benefit your real estate transaction? FOR SELLERS Most agents use compa...
I didn’t write this as an expert on societal, cultural and political issues or as a representative of any organization. I did write it as someone with strong concerns about where our country as it relates to those issues is headed. A Place for All… There couldn’t be a more appropriate title for this Pathfinder column. Thank you Andi and Nathan Bourne for your inclusiveness. The past two weeks have brought reflection. Listening to and reading the tributes given to Senator John McCain, I clearly hear their common theme: civility. And if I may a...
Each year we receive questions from the public about beavers. Some of those questions come from frustrated landowners wanting to know how to remove beavers that are causing flooding problems along irrigation ditches or at culverts along road crossings. Others are interested in learning more about beavers and curious about whether their property would benefit from the busy rodents. This dichotomy of feelings towards beavers is not unusual and certainly something that FWP has experienced with other wildlife species. It is true that in some...
Getting a start on managing the vegetation on your property can be challenging and expensive. Missoula County Weed District's Grant Programs were established to help guide landowners through the planning process as well as offset some of the cost associated with improving the vegetation on one's property. The Landowner Grant Program was established in 2002, since the program's inception Missoula County Weed District has assisted hundreds of landowners in Missoula County at decreasing the...
The Seeley Lake Elementary Outdoor Program recently wrapped up another fun summer of outdoor adventure and place-based learning. The 10-week long Adventure Club was led by Gus Batchelder, a graduate of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), and Ibby Lorentz, a recent Seeley-Swan High School graduate. This summer, SLE student participants in the program enjoyed kayaking and paddleboarding on the lakes in and around Seeley, hiking our many trails, mountain biking and taking part in the...
Hello! My name is Bonnie Medlin and I’m a nutrition educator with the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in Missoula County. EFNEP is a free program designed to reach limited resource families! We have had the privilege of working at Seeley Lake Elementary in the first, third and fifth grade classrooms for many years. EFNEP also teaches adult classes by partnering with a variety of agencies. These classes teach easy meal planning, tips for stretching your food dollar, tips for increasing physical activity and tasty ways to eat health...
I would like to take this opportunity to thank this community of Seeley Lake for the warm welcome that my wife and I have received since our arrival. We are enjoying our new home and the many welcoming smiles from literally everybody that we meet! This community has been served by the Seeley Lake Rural Fire District since 1984. During this time there have been many opportunities to share our support to you by providing the fire protection and emergency medical care that you deserve. We have public functions such as the pancake breakfast and...
While the unusually wet spring was beneficial to native and desirable grasses and wildflowers, many weed species took advantage of the excellent growing conditions as well. Annual mustards with yellow blossoms were abundant this spring and early summer. While "weedy" and too many "obnoxious", these plants are not regulated by the Montana Department of Agriculture, or "noxious". Three weed species that are regulated and required by law to control are perennial pepperweed, whitetop and hoary...
SWAN VALLEY - In upper Swan Valley the first schools were built in 1918 when a group of residents petitioned the Missoula County Superintendent of Schools requesting that the district be split at the Swan-Clearwater watershed divide. The Swan River watershed retained the School District #33 while the Clearwater watershed became School District #34. Three one-room log school buildings were constructed near three tributaries of Swan River: Smith Creek, Rumble Creek and Elk Creek. To accommodate as...
West of the Mississippi…? In Montana…? In the last year, I have heard the phrase Clearwater Chain-of-Lakes many times by local residents. I’d never heard it used prior to last year. The phrase is always followed by some superlative like “the biggest in Montana” or the “last west of the Mississippi” or ??? Lots of question marks. Anyone who knows me knows that I do my homework. I won’t repeat such a superlative without first verifying that it’s true. Since I’m very much in favor of any claim that will help support the special nature of our lakes...
MISSOULA – Three grizzly bear cubs orphaned in Montana in June will have a new home. We can only hope they don't mind cold winters and the sound of French. As conservation biologists embarked on an exhaustive search to prevent the cubs from being euthanized, a message board post by Stuart Strahl, board chairman of the Missoula-based Vital Ground Foundation, led to an adoption agreement for the cubs with Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Felicien, a facility in Quebec, Canada. The zoo features large native h...
Our Wildlife in the West students recently went fishing at Upsata Lake but they didn't want to catch anything, except maybe some plankton, aquatic insects or algae. Motored gently about in a small skiff by volunteer Barry Gordon, and led by Blackfoot Challenge's Caitlin Mitchell, we hand-reeled in a white, three-foot net on a hundred-foot rope. Shaped like a wizard's hat, our net yielded just a little draft of fluid the color of weak green tea, which we promptly conveyed into a 250mL plastic...
At Missoula Electric Cooperative (MEC), we often tout the many benefits of purchasing all of our power from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). However, it is the members of MEC who truly benefit from this relationship and its access to what is arguably the greatest collection of energy generating resources in the world – the Federal Columbia River Hydropower system. The Federal Columbia River Hydropower system is a collection of dams controlling and harnessing the power of the Columbia River Basin which begins at its headwaters in British C...
In the spring of the year when rivers are running high and muddy, it might surprise you to learn that's also the time when westslope cutthroat trout start to move upstream-some migrating over 90 miles to get where they need to spawn! In the Blackfoot Watershed, we have two different species of native trout, westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout. Making sure these fish can navigate through those many miles is one focus of Big Blackfoot Chapter of Trout Unlimited. What are some of the...
The peaceful grandeur contrasted against the wild beauty here in the Seeley-Swan Valley is enough to convert a visitor into a full-blown Montanan. Seeing my first elk, identifying the numerous birds that call the valley their home, meeting friendly locals, hunting for wild morels and playing in the colorful wildflowers have all been highlights of my time spent here so far. Deciding to move to Montana was one of the easiest decisions of my life. Living nearly twenty-one of my twenty-four years in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, I felt the plainness of...
In 2004 when the Missoula County Weed District initially mapped the infestation of yellowflag iris that had recently been reported to us on the Clearwater River between Salmon Lake and the Blackfoot River, we faced a daunting challenge: 10 miles of river, both banks heavily infested and nearly 83 acres of dense thickets peppered with yellowflag iris. The yellowflag iris was already beginning to fill-in shallow bays on Elbow Lake, degrade wetlands and river bank habitat on the Clearwater River...
Lead is cheap with a long tradition of use in fishing tackle. Many western societies have eliminated it in paints, gasoline, solders and in shot for waterfowl hunting. Despite this, lead products continue to be used for angling. Although lead is toxic to all wildlife, birds hold lead objects in the gizzard rather than passing it through their system, making them particularly at risk. Lead poisoning is a leading cause of mortality in adult common loons. One recent New Hampshire study found that...
A Note from Charles Having known of the Blackfoot Challenge for more than a decade, and interacted with the group a bit in my time working in the Crown of the Continent, I was excited to be offered the directorship of one of the most exciting and innovative cooperative conservation organizations anywhere. The last few months have been a wild ride as I've raced to get up to speed on everything the organization does. The hospitality I have received and warm welcome, coupled with opportunities...
SEELEY LAKE - Happy spring! The Seeley Lake Ranger District is in full swing getting ready for a LOT of good work happening this upcoming field season on your National Forest. Sharing this information is important as it may impact you as you plan your summer activities. The majority of the work that we are proceeding with for the upcoming field season is directly related to the fire season of 2017 and the winter snow accumulation. Spring was slow in coming to the Clearwater and Blackfoot watersheds this year and in combination with the...
The Double Arrow Ranch Land Owners’ Association (DARLOA) and its landowners have made fire safety and preparedness a priority and will continue to do so. We all learned valuable lessons from the Jocko Lakes fire 10 years earlier and the Rice Ridge Fire last summer. First and foremost, we learned that being good neighbors and being there for, caring for and helping one another in a time of crisis/challenging times, is one of the most (if not the most) important attributes and values of any community. During the Rice Ridge fire, we were in near-c...
The Missoula City-County Health Department continues to look for strategies to address the high wood stove smoke levels that occur in some Seeley Lake neighborhoods. This past winter we launched a pilot project to look at an alternative wood-based fuel source (manufactured wood fuel logs) to see if it would be effective at reducing smoke emissions and if it would fit the home heating needs of Seeley Lake residents. Manufactured wood fuel logs are made of compressed sawdust or wood chips with or...
From the Introduction to 100 Classic Hikes MONTANA, by Douglas Lorain: "If you mention Montana to an avid hiker living almost anywhere else in the United States, the reaction is usually a big smile, a wistful sigh, long stories about a much-treasured vacation to this glorious state, and a comment like, "Now that's God's country." Those of us fortunate enough to live here completely understand this reaction because we can personally attest that it's all absolutely true. The state is glorious,...
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...
As the houses start to pop out of the snow banks this spring, the Seeley Lake real estate market is set to take off! What this Means for Sellers: We all know that the best time to sell anything is when demand for that item is high and the supply is limited. Listings are scarce in Seeley Lake and buyers are abundant! Today, because of the tremendous lack of inventory, sellers can expect a great price for their home; keeping in mind that a "great price" doesn't mean "overpriced!" Sellers can...
It has been a longer than usual winter for most of the Blackfoot Watershed and as mud season transitions us from winter to spring we'll take the opportunity to review the past year. Before I dive into the recap of the past season I wanted to take a moment to remind folks that with spring around the corner please remember that bears will soon be returning to the valleys. Now is the time to start bringing the dog food and bird feeders inside, securing your garbage, and generally being mindful of...
