The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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Over the past several weeks I have thought a lot about the balance of life principle. Maybe a better way to frame that is so say life is full of uncertainty, both in us and others. So what do we do when things turn upside down and inside out? Do we throw up our hands and retreat to the alcohol cabinet? Or maybe it is the little pill that will soothe our troubled minds? It can be the weight room, shooting range, ATV trails, or the river. But even those things do not really seem to satisfy the deep longings of the wandering...
The Lincoln Community Hall turned 100 years old this year, and it is one of the last log public buildings of its size in Montana. The unique octagonal structure, first dedicated in February 1918, was built by the citizens of Lincoln to provide a centralized home for the social and spiritual well-being to a remote mountain community. That vision has continued today. The list of directors and caretakers over the years include a Who's Who of Lincoln history. They selflessly...
A proposed Rural Improvement District on the 4x4 Road east of Lincoln drew about 30 people to the Lincoln Government Day meeting Aug. 3, but with only one County Commissioner on hand it didn't qualify as a public meeting on the topic. An RID for the road has been in the works for several months after residents who use the road submitted a petition to create a district for soil stabilization and dust control on the 4x4 Road, which provides access to the county's 7 Up Ranch...
Recently, a group of media took flight with University of Montana professor Rick Graetz to take in the stunning landscape of the southern Crown of the Continent area, centered on Lincoln. This flight highlighted Graetz’s effort to map, explore, and include this landscape of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest into the coveted Crown of the Continent, which could bring an economic boost for Lincoln. With increased visitors to the area, that tourism influx could assist in cushioning and leveling out the historic b...
Work at the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex last week, nearly a year after the Montana Department of Environmental Quality suspended clean up efforts to determine, with the U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Natural Resource Damage Program, how to best use the $11 million remaining from the $39 million settlement with ASARCO in 2006. UBMC Construction Manager Shellie Haaland said Missouri River Contractors was awarded the contract for the removal and remediation work on the si...
Last week, the Trust for Public Lands held the last of three meetings aimed at designing a local trail system that makes walking and biking around Lincoln safer and more appealing. The trail planning effort stemmed from the LOR Foundation grant that also funded Envision Lincoln, and though it's a separate process, it's tied tightly to the vision for the community that was established in those meetings. As the Envision Lincoln organizational meetings drew to close, two of the t...
For two months this spring Lewis and Clark County road crews dealt with two rounds of flooding that took a toll on county roads. Although the water has subsided, County Public Works Director Eric Griffin told the BVD the damage it left behind and the time spent dealing with it will affect road maintenance projects throughout the county for the rest of the year. Recently, Griffin has been fielding calls from the Lincoln area residents concerned about roads being graded without...
As I stood at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers recently, I was again reminded of how lucky I am to live in Montana with its abundance of outdoor opportunities. A wonderful part of my job as director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is traveling around the state to enjoy public lands and check in on the resources we steward. Earlier this summer, it was my pleasure to participate in the dedication at the grand opening of the Confluence at Milltown State...
Fourth of July week signified three things this year: Our Nation's birthday, the official Montana start of summer and, this year especially, the official start of the fishing season for the Blackfoot Valley. With waters high and in flood stage an entire three months, they finally receded and cleared up enough by the first week of July to bring out the largest hatch of them all: the fishermen. The rivers have gone from barely a soul on them to, as reported to us just...
Annie Allen has spent the past couple years developing the property around her home on Blackfoot River Ranch Road into an art exploration site, hosting classes and get together for artists, students and kids at her studio there. Last weekend, Allen's goal of making the site a spot to reflect and relax among art and nature took another step forward with the help of Jennifer Thompson, an artist, teacher and art therapist from Helena. With the help of Allen and several other...
Personnel from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Montana Natural Resource Damage Program and U.S. Forest Service provided an update on the status of the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex mine waste cleanup operation during the June 19 meeting of the Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council in Lincoln. Work to clean up mine waste at the UBMC is expected to resume in July, after a nearly year-long delay that stemmed from a "disconnect" among state and federal...
Life is returning to the upper Beartrap and the Mike Horse. At a glance, the two narrow valleys that were once home to most of the mine waste in the Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex still seem like a barren moonscape of gray dirt, littered with downed trees and woody debris. A closer look reveals that four years of remediation, restoration and ongoing re-vegetation is paying off as native plants take hold along the reconstructed creeks and on the hillsides. Work to continue the...
Friday June 15th is being called the unofficial start of fishing the Blackfoot River. Word got out that the river had dropped over 14,000!!!! cfs in the last several weeks, with the water clearing at below 5,000 cfs flow. And the big news: the salmonflies were being spotted from Russell Gates on up the river. With that, rafters were lining up at Harry Morgan FAS to float down the river. Downside: at 5,000 cfs the river is still pretty fast and some were finishing their...
Wildlife officials captured three grizzly bear cubs east of Lincoln after a female grizzly was struck and killed on Highway 200 early Tuesday morning, June 5. Jamie Jonkel, the Region 2 Wildlife Management Specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said a passing trucker called in the report of the dead grizzly and three live cubs early in the morning. Pat Shanley, the wildlife biologist for the Lincoln Ranger District was the first person to respond to the call, at Jonk...
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...
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...
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...
Rain and hail hammers into puddles along main street during a storm Wednesday, May 16. According to Zach Muse, who recently installed a rain gauge provide by the National Weather Service, the area received .4 inches of rain in 30 minutes that afternoon. By the following morning the town had received .57 inches of water. To top it off, the lightning that accompanied the storm set fire to a tree in the Park Creek Fire area. Despite the recent high water and flooding, the rain...
The Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area will open at noon Friday, June 1 this year, instead of the regularly scheduled opening of May 15. Persistent snow, a slow spring thaw and extremely wet roads have prompted the extended closure, as well as the need to allow habitat bordering the WMA to thaw and green up to receive migratory wildlife that wintered on the WMA. The extended closure to all public entry pertains to that portion of the WMA bounded by Clearwater Junction on its southwest corner, generally lying north...
With the job of coordinating the initial Envision Lincoln meetings behind them, Trust For Public Lands representative Amy MacNamara began working with locals last week on the plans for a trail system for the town and nearby areas. Shortly after Lincoln was awarded the $100,000 grant from the LOR Foundation last year that funded Envision Lincoln, a priority identified by organizers is the need for a trail system around Lincoln that provides safe walking or bicycling routes for...
Recent high water in the Lincoln area impacted several parts of the valley as low and mid elevation snows melted, swelling the Blackfoot River and the many creeks in the area that feed into it. The recent flooding has prompted the Fores Service to close Sucker Creek rad at the trailhead north of town, as well as Nevada Ogden road in the canyon, where flooding from the Blackfoot River has swamped the Moose Creek Campground and washed out the road. Montana Fish Wildlife and...
A Lincoln man arrested for felony aggravated assault last month is back in jail after being arrested for violating a no-contact order with the victim. The arrest marked the second time in less than a week that Lewis and Clark County Deputy Sheriff Chris Joyce arrested Michael "Mick" Willey for misdemeanor offenses. Willey, who was arrested April 18 for allegedly punching a woman in the face several times, fracturing her skull and bones in her face, had been free on a $50,000...
With floodwaters still on the rise in the Upper Blackfoot Valley and a the likelihood of addital flooding in the coming weeks, Lincoln Fire Chief Zach Muse says it’s time for people to put past differences aside and help their neighbors out. “At this point we’ve got so many problems with the flooding; what is going on your property could be affecting the people below you or above you,” he said. “At this point we’re all in it together and we need to really work together to...
The May 4 Government day meeting lacked a quorum of commissioners, so Commissioner Jim McCormick hosted it as a listening session, but the meeting also served as a public hearing on the Treasure State Endowment Program grant application for the Dalton Mountain Road Bridge. County Engineer Dan Karlin and Karl Yakawich with Great West Engineering, the company that completed the Preliminary Engineering Report, discussed the application and the required environmental assessment....
The 19th Annual Blackfoot River Ducks Unlimited event was another resounding success The Blackfoot River Chapter of Ducks Unlimited once again filled the Historic Lincoln Community Hall April 21. The committee begins planning for the event in January to ensure attendees have a good time. New to this year’s games and raffles was Ernie Lundberg’s inspiration for the Keg & Growler Game. Back again this year was the Fishing Derby Game and the “Reed’s Cast and Blast” which sold out three times, earning $3,000. In all, more than...
