Proposed schedule changes at the garbage dump, Special Management Area updates and a forestry report on treatments at local campgrounds rounded out the Seeley Lake Community Council meeting on March 11.
Garbage dump schedule change
A proposed schedule change for the Seeley Lake Refuse Collection Site, or the garbage dump, led the Seeley Lake Community Council meeting.
A 2020-2023 study of the number of site visits per day showed that Sunday had the highest number of site visits at 37%, Wednesday 33% and Saturday at 30%.
The proposed new schedule would have consistent hours year-round, eliminating seasonal adjustments. Opening time would be at 8 a.m. on each of the three days the collection site is open — Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. This change would add 182 more hours each year at no extra cost to the users.
“A year-round schedule with consistent opening and closing times would allow contract management to better use site employees’ time and provide for additional open hours,” Kim Myre, Seeley Lake projects and operations coordinator with Missoula County Public Works, said.
The current schedule has different hours for winter and summer but the proposed schedule would be in place year-round: Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m
The comment period is one month and comments can be submitted to Myre by April 11. County Commissioners will hear comments and vote on the proposed schedule change for the refuse district collection site.
Contact Myre by April 11 with written comments at Seeley Lake Refuse District, PO Box 121, Seeley Lake, MT 59868-0121; by phone at 406-546-2581; or email at kmyre@missoulacounty.us.
Special management area overview
An overview of the Special Management Area in the Seeley Lake Sewer District was presented by Jeanna Miller, environmental health manager with Missoula Public Health. Miller reviewed the history and purpose of groundwater testing as well as future testing that will be done with transducers installed in monitoring wells to gather more data.
“The main point for the Special Management Area is that groundwater in Seeley Lake needs to be protected as a potential drinking water source,” Miller said. Rattlesnake Creek in Missoula is also in a Special Management Area for the protection of potential drinking water for Missoula.
Water levels in the 14 monitoring wells will be measured hourly with the transducers and results are recorded in real time. Surveying will be done this year by the health department to determine the water level in the wells in relation to the water levels in Seeley Lake.
Participants voiced concerns over existing sewer systems that fail, and how that would be handled. Miller assured people that no one would be denied a septic permit if their system failed.
“All sewer systems have a lifespan,” Miller said. “When they fail we would go through a review process and the landowner would need to replace their system.”
Bill Decker, manager of the Seeley Lake Sewer District, shared that talks with engineers from Water & Environmental Technologies, or WET, will be starting in hopes of developing options for sewer treatment systems.
Campground treatments
Closing out the meeting Quinn Carver with the Seeley Lake District Ranger gave an update on forest treatments, which include measures to improve forest health by using thinning and understory cleanup in local campgrounds. These actions contribute to fire protection in wildland-urban interface zones, or where wildlands meet human development, as well.
The Seeley Lake Campground treatment is done and the Monture Campground is in progress. A 200-acre treatment plan for Big Nelson Campground at Cooper’s Lake outside Ovando is in the planning stages and the comment period will open soon, Carver said.
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