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Thirty five years ago ...

Thursday Sept. 14, 1989

McNeely is new pastor at Blackfoot Parish

The Blackfoot Parish voted this past Sunday to call Richard I. McNeely to be its new pastor. He will assume pastoral duties the first of October and will reside in the Parish Manse on Riverview Drive in Seeley Lake.

Most recently, Rev. McNeely has been the interim pastor of the Libby Presbyterian Church, and prior to that served as an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Missoula. He has been active in the work of Glacier Presbytery, having served on the committee on Ministry and presently serving on the Committee of Mission.

He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church on March 12, 1989, though he had been ordained in another denomination prior to that time. He taught Bible and Christian doctrine in Biola College for over 20 years, and served as a chaplain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, retiring last year after 25 years of reserve duty.

Rev. McNeely received both a masters degree and doctoral degree in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in Higher and Postsecondary Education from the University of Southern California.

His wife, Gretchen, is a professor of nursing at Montana University’s College of Nursing on the Missoula Campus. They are parents of three children and grandparents of seven.

Rev. McNeely will succeed Rev. Lynn Hodges who has been interim pastor of Blackfoot Parish for the past five months, and Rev. Chris Williams, who resigned at the end of March, will become a chaplain in the U.S. Navy.

The Blackfoot Parish is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and is composed of three congregations in Potomac, Ovando and Seeley Lake. The three congregations have separate Sunday services (8:30 a.m. at Potomac, 10 a.m. at Ovando and 11:30 a.m at Seeley Lake). The congregations also have separate bible studies and Sunday Schools, but come together several times during the year for parish meetings. The Parish Council is composed of two elders from each congregation, a clerk, a treasurer and the pastor.

Read this and more at: https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/1989-09-14.pdf

Twenty years ago ...

Thursday Sept. 23, 2004

Hunting allowed on Nature Conservancy lands in the Blackfoot

The same access for hunting, personal wood-cutting and recreation on former Plum Creek timber lands in the Blackfoot watershed will be allowed under their new owner, The Nature Conservancy.

This year, the conservancy has purchased 42,927 acres of former Plum Creek timber lands in and around the Blackfoot Valley. The conservancy will temporarily own and manage these lands while the Blackfoot Challenge, a collaborative group of local landowners, works out a community-supported plan for their re-sale, with conservation safeguards, to public and private buyers.

The lands involved are in the following general areas: Marcum Mountain, Monture West, Ovando Mountain, Tupper Lake, Alice Creek, Bear Creek, inholdings in the Blackfoot-Clearwater game range, lands north and south of Lincoln and Nevada Creek.

Some of these areas are covered by block management area rules. They include Ovando Mountain, Sunny Slope, Marcum Kershaw Mountains and Shanley Creek.

For more information about block management, check the hunting section of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks website or call Region 2 Block Management Office in Missoula (406-542-5530) for Block Management maps, which include permission information and area rules.

All former Plum Creek lands now owned by The Nature Conservancy are posted with specific public use regulations. In all cases, walk-in access for hunting, non motorized recreation and personal use firewood gathering of dead or down wood is allowed.

For more information, contact Steven Kloetzel, the Blackfoot land steward for the National Conservancy of Montana, at 406-793-0038.

The Nature Conservancy is a non profit conservation organization that conserves critical habitats for plants, animals and natural communities.

Since 1979, the Conservancy’s Montana chapter, based in Helena and with six community-based programs around the state, has worked with landowners to conserve over 481,300 acres of land in Montana.

Read this and more at: https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/2004-09-23.pdf