The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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The Matt King House was moved last week to the property where it will be reassembled on the east end of Lincoln's Main Street. Work on a foundation for the building is expected to begin soon, and efforts are underway to find logs large enough to replace those that rotted over the last century. The Montana History Foundation awarded the Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society a grant of $10,000 earlier this year to effort to re-build the historic ranchouse. Funding for the...
The Alliance for Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council filed suit challenging the Willow Creek Vegetation project June 14, 2019. Less than two weeks earlier, on June 3, they had filed a nearly identical lawsuit against the North Bridger Forest Health Project near Bozeman. The two case were consolidated Aug. 20, 2019. In the lawsuit, AWR and NEC argued the Willow Creek project didn’t qualify for a Categorical Exclusion under HRFA and claimed the project violated the Endangered Species Act because it didn’t analyze the eff...
More than 20 volunteers turned out to help with the annual Lambkin Park cleanup June 6. "This is probably the most I've ever seen," said new Ponderosa Snow Warriors President Ron Zarr. Past President Steve Tjaden, who has been a fixture at pastclean ups, made the same observation. PSW treasurer Bonnie Christian said they usually see only a handful of helpers. Zarr credited an effort to get the word out, both in person and o...
After six years of work, the Helena–Lewis and Clark National Forest released the draft record of decision and final Environmental Impact Statement for their 2020 Forest Plan Thursday, May 21. The updated plan will replace the two current Forest Plans adopted in 1986 for the then-separate Lewis & Clark and Helena National Forests. They were consolidated in 2015 and the new plan addresses land management across 2.9 million acres of National Forest arrayed in an extended 'L' from the Continental Divide near East Glacier south to...
The old Mike Horse Creek Road is closed while the last of the remediation work in the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex is completed during the next two months, but it will remain a public county road for access to public land once work is done. The road remains intact from Highway 200 to Shaue Gulch, but the river crossing to the intersection with Meadow Creek Road was removed as part of the clean up. Four-wheel drive vehicles should be able to cross the river using a hardened...
Heavy spring rains and runoff had the nascent Blackfoot River churning through its new channel near the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex Water Treatment Plant Thursday, May 21. Just upstream, the river formed at the confluence of Bear Trap and Anaconda Creeks. Downstream, water filled the reconstructed side channels and wetlands as the last of the major work to restore the headwaters of the Blackfoot River got underway, with excavators moving woody debris and compost along the...
Lincoln American Legion Post 9 held a short Memorial Day ceremony Monday, May 25. The ceremony, a 21-shot volley followed by the playing of Taps and the flag raising, drew more than a dozen onlookers, including veterans and family members. Post 9 held the short ceremony in lieu of their standard ceremony at the Community Hall due to concerns about COVID-19. The ceremony was originally planned for the historic cemetery in Lincoln Gulch, but was changed due to roadway...
During the late summer of 1959 a peculiarly-shaped building rose on the east end of Lincoln's main street. Sporting a design that looked like a square sheet pinned down on opposing corners, yet ready to take flight, Lincoln's Community Methodist Church soon became a landmark for travelers between Missoula and Great Falls. Technically called a hyperbolic paraboloid , the uniquely mid-20th century building soon became affectionately known as the Flying Diaper. This week marks...
Lincoln Assistant Fire Chief Derek Perez enlisted his sons Ryan and Emmett to draw the winner of the raffle for the Henry Golden Boy rifle during a Facebook Live stream, May 15. Juanita Kelly of Helena won the raffle. The fire department's online auction fundraiser, held this year in lieu of the Fireman's ball, begins today, May, 20 and runs through May. 30. The auction will be open to the public on the Linvon Volunteer Fire Rescue Facebook page....
Bonnie Shown, president of the Lincoln Cemetery District Board, said the May 16 cemetery cleanup was the first in two years. Flooding, high water and road work prevented the board from coordinating clean ups in 2018 and 2019. Shown said most of the people who showed up for the cleanup were board members or people with family members buried in the cemetery....
The 2020 Voter Survey on Public lands, a bi-annual University of Montana survey of opinions and attitudes toward the importance of public lands, included a question about the Lincoln Prosperity Proposal (formerly the Lincoln Valley Public Lands Proposal) that showed it had an unexpected level of statewide support. The survey shows nearly 72 percent of respondents generally support the Lincoln-area legislative proposal. Twenty-three percent were generally opposed to it. "We...
A bald eagle launches out of the top of a cottonwood near the Lincoln River Park, just south of town Monday morning, May 1....
The phased re-opening of the state following the COVID-19 related stay-home order has forced Lincoln Volunteer Fire Rescue to cancel the 2020 Lincoln Fireman's Ball. Gov. Steve Bullock has eased restrictions as part of his three-phase reopening plan, but with the phases determined by cases, monitoring, contact tracing and other metrics, rather than by set dates, it's unclear when the event could be held. Phase 1, which began last week, limits gatherings to only 10 people....
A nascent idea to sublease a part of the Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance building to the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office for use by deputies has prompted the Lincoln Hospital District to take the idea to the residents of Lincoln for input. Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance President Aaron Birkholz broached the idea with the hosptial district board during their April 28 meeting, and LHD treasurer Karen Frank-Plumlee discussed the issue last week at the May 1 Lincoln Government Da...
In recent stories regarding the COVID-19 response, we may have implied that the orders originating from Lewis and Clark Public Health were effectively orders from the Lewis and Clark County Commission. To clarify, Lewis and Clark Public Health Officer Dendra Niemann works for the City-County Board of Health, not directly for the county. The Board of Health is comprised of representatives from the Helena City Commission (Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins); the East Helena City Council (Scott St. Clair); the County Commission... Full story
Construction of the Lincoln Skatepark began at Hooper Park last week after the project unexpectedly received $150,00 in funding. The funding – a $100,000 donation from Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament’s Montana Pool Service Foundation and a $50,000 donation from the Montana Skatepark Association – came as a welcome surprise to the Lincoln Skatepark Committee, a group of Lincoln school students who have been committed to the creation of the facility since 2018. “It came to my atte...
Lincoln election judge Bonnie Shown reminded area residents they will have to mail in their ballots for the upcoming June 2 primary election. Shown, speaking briefly at the May 1 Lincoln Government Day listening session, said residents who receive absentee ballots often drop them off at the Community Hall polling place, but she said they won't be able to do that this year, since there will be no local polling this year due to COVID-19 related restrictions. "We won't be here,"...
Who's tired of hearing about coronavirus? The last few weeks have been a challenge for everyone, with so many stories, so much uncertainty and myriad updates from every corner revolving around COVID-19. We hope the reopening of the state will inch us toward something resembling normal, and we're looking forward to covering stories that aren't centered around coronavirus. Nevertheless, we recognize we're far from seeing the end of the pandemic, and we may see restrictions...
Lewis and Clark County Commission Chair Susan Good Geise will be in Lincoln Friday, May 1, for the first Lincoln Government Day meeting since COVID-19 restrictions impacted local meeting schedules. With the continued closure of the Lincoln Library, the meeting is scheduled at the Lincoln Community Hall at 10:30 a.m. Giese opted for the in-person meeting to ensure she can hear from Lincoln residents who may not have access to online meeting services. She said the community...
Lewis and Clark County adopted a modified version of Gov. Steve Bullock’s guidelines for easing restrictions related to COVID-19, following Bullocks’ April 22 announcement of a three-phased approach to reopening schools and businesses statewide. Bullocks stay-at-home and school closure directives, issued in mid-March, expired April 24. “Once we begin to reopen, we want to be able to stay open. Our personal responsibility to protect those around us –particularly those most vulnerable –remains just as important as any time duri... Full story
PureView Health Center received $503,000 in funding for COVID-19 response as part of the CARES Act signed March 27. The money is in addition to their regular funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. According to HRSA, the extra money provided to health centers is to "support the detection of coronavirus and/or the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19, including maintaining or increasing health center capacity and staffing levels during the cor... Full story
As the COVID-19 pandemic has worn on, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has done an about face and is now recommending face coverings and masks for not only medical personnel and patients, but for workers dealing with the public and even average Americans, particularly in hard hit areas. As coronavirus patients began to mount last month, demand for masks soon exceeded supply, and it fell to people with a knack for sewing to fill the void. In the Upper Blackfoot... Full story
April 8 Update.- As of April 15, we haven't heard of any additional updates. please let us know if anything has changed. Thankss always, if we missed anyone, have included inaccurate information or if there are updates we missed, please let us know by a calling 362-4131, emailing us at [email protected] or contacting us via Facebook messenger. Governor Steve Bullock issued a directive April 7 extending the stay-at-home directive and other directs related to COVID-19 until April... Full story
With a history spanning more than 130 years, the Canyon Creek Store has survived depressions, recessions, epidemics, pandemics and sundry blizzards and nearby forest fires. The store, which is also reputed to be the longest-serving post office in Montana, checks a lot of boxes when it comes to being essential in a COVID-19 world, providing postal service, gasoline and groceries for residents of the rural area northwest of Helena and travelers from the Upper Blackfoot. This... Full story
There are no known cases of COVID - 19 in the Lincoln area yet, but as the number of cases increase throughout Montana, Lincoln's emergency medical services are changing how they respond to calls in preparation for the likelihood coronavirus will come to the Upper Blackfoot Valley. "A trauma call, anything, we have to treat them as if they have COVID-19," Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance President Aaron Birkholz said. With only about a half dozen EMTs available to respond to calls... Full story
