The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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Lincoln Class of 2018 graduates...
Whether you're tying on a salmon fly or threading a night crawler onto a hook, during Father's Day weekend, everyone in Montana can fish for free. "Montana is home to some of the finest fishing anywhere in the world. It'll be a great chance to get your family outside." said Martha Williams, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Helena. While the promotion allows anyone to fish without a license on June 16-17, all other fishing rules and regulations are in effect and...
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) is seeking applicants to fill several volunteer positions on the west-central Montana Region 2 Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC). The CAC is a general advisory committee that provides input and feedback to FWP on diverse issues-from wildlife and fisheries management, to access, state parks, outdoor recreation and law enforcement. The committee is designed to have a membership that represents a variety of west-central Montana communities and...
The end of this year's flooding may not be here just yet, but with it in sight, the question arose at the June 1 Government Day meeting about what residents should do with the sandbags they used to protect their property. Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council Chairman Bill Frisbee said volunteers in Lincoln filled close to 15,000 sandbags, which went out to the community here. Earlier in the meeting, the topic of sandbags came up when Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse expressed...
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking comment on its proposal to collect baseline information to help in planning for a potential native fish restoration project on the North Fork Blackfoot River. The proposal is outlined in an Environmental Assessment released by FWP this week. It calls for biologists to collect data this summer that would help them estimate current fish distribution and calculate the volume and placement of the fish toxin, rotenone, that would be require...
Makenzie Copenhaver (left) throws colored powder on Shanda Richards at the finish line of the Family Fun Day fun run while Lindsey Weisner and Hailey Corrigan laugh with Kylie Copenhaver. The 1-mile, 5k and 10k fun runs were the first event of the Fun Day organized by the Lincoln High School Social Entrepreneur class, Saturday, June 2. The fun run was developed as a fundraiser to help build the new Powerhouse Rec Center in Lincoln, which is set to open soon. The fun run...
Rural and agricultural areas of Montana and the nation face tougher and tougher challenges. Our hospitals are struggling; our schools operate with reduced state and Federal funding, and our infrastructure is deteriorating. Our friends in agriculture experience uncertainty, higher expenses, and farm bills that are being used as political footballs. Over the past months, a group of rural, ag-involved Montana Democrats have met to talk about what support for our rural, agricultural areas looks like. We believe that it’s time f...
Now in its 25th year, the Blackfoot Challenge is once again taking its monthly Board of Directors meeting on the road after several years of hosting the meetings at the Lubrecht Experimental Forest facilities. Last month, the Challenge hosted its board meeting at the Lincoln Community Hall, May 23. Next month the meeting moves to Seeley Lake's Community Hall, June 20. The travelling board meetings began earlier this year and are a throwback to the organizations earlier practic...
You don't have to be an ancient mariner to see we have plenty of water around us. People are filling sandbags, checking flood insurance policies or waiting for fields to dry up so they can plant. From a recreation point of view, too much water makes it difficult, impossible or downright dangerous to boat or float or fish. That leads to a lot of grumbling about something we have no control over. Life underwater is exciting, too, but sometimes in a good way and for different...
Each spring, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks receives several calls from people who have picked up deer fawns or other wildlife. FWP no longer accepts, holds or rehabilitates ungulates like deer, moose and elk because the animals often die from the stress of captivity, and because of concerns with the spread of disease. There are many cases in which good intentions lead to dire consequences. One spring in Miles City, a person saw a fledgling bald eagle hopping around on the...
Lincoln grade school students on a field trip made a surprising discovery at Snowbank Lake last Thursday when they spotted a dead swan floating along the shore. Elaine Caton, the Swan Restoration Program and Education Coordinator for the Blackfoot Challenge, who had helped organize three days of presentations for the 5th and 6th graders, was also on the trip to examine the fire's effect upon the landscape. The large bird was found floating upside down so Caton had hoped it...
The fires around Lincoln in 2015 and 2017 have left the landscape scarred with swaths of burned trees, but comparing them to the area of Copper Creek that burned in the devastating fires of 2003 provides an opportunity to see first-hand how landscapes recover from fire over time. Lincoln fifth and sixth graders spent last week learning about native plants and wildlife with the help of the Blackfoot Challenge, and capped things off with a field trip to do just that. "I just...
Picking his way across burned patches of hillside above Sucker Creek Road, Joe Lafountaine kept an eye out for the small gnarled mushroom that proliferate in recently burned areas. He was having a good day. "Oh, yeah, really good picking," he said. "Plenty to keep the family in mushrooms over the winter." Lafountaine, of East Helena, makes the trip up to Lincoln every year and said he spends quite a bit of time here at a cabin, but his trip last weekend with his sons was aimed...
A long, hard winter and heavy spring runoff exacerbated by the conditions left behind after last year's fires, which destroyed trees that absorb water and the surface vegetation that slows it down, took a toll on roads around the Lincoln Ranger District Forest users heading into the National Forest around Lincoln this summer may want to be on the look out for damaged roads as well as closures for repair work. "(On) pretty near any road, I can think of some damage on it," said...
In regards to the letter to the editor from Mike Mullens in the May 39th BVD: Mr. Mullens have you ever put on a rodeo? Do you know the cost involved with putting on a rodeo? The Lincoln Rodeo is not a huge money maker. Sometimes it barely breaks even. The club tries to maintain a reserve to cover the costs of the rodeo on years that are less than profitable. The Forest Service rented the grounds for a short time in 2015 and then again in 2017. The club did not receive anything close to $50,000 for this rental. The club has...
