The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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The Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce worked with Heart of the Rockies Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture and the Montana Business Assis-tance Connection to host an Oct. 18 presentation on grants, loans and funding opportunities that rural businesses can take advantage of get up and running, or expand and improve. "One of the primary roles of the Chamber of Commerce is to provide access to valuable resources and to support economic development in the community," LVC...
For the past ten-and-a-half years I've seen Lincoln move from a town stuck in an economic rut to one that began to take control of its own destiny. The successful development of Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild showed Lincoln can do something new and unexpected and be more than just "stinkin' drinkin' Lincoln." People began look at ways to grow the economy beyond that, without making too many drastic changes to the community. Discussions that had been going on...
Sculpture season returns to Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild in September, featuring an artist originally slated to be here in 2020 and the return of an artists who was last here in 2019. Following a two-year delay, Northern Cheyenne artist Bently Spang will be here to create an installation reflecting his Native American culture. "We're real excited about him," said BPSW president Becky Garland. Spang was originally scheduled to create an installation during the...
How can Lincoln develop without losing its identity and changing into something the community itself won't recognize? That has been, in one way or another, the core conundrum in various efforts to make plans for Lincoln's future over the last 50-plus years. It remains at the heart of the upcoming effort to develop a comprehensive community master plan for the town. The recently formed Master Plan Steering Committee began the process of tackling that issue during a Zoom...
Editors Note: Full disclosure, I am a member of the steering committee for Community Master Planning, but I'm still out of local reporters to cover this. This isn't a press release or editorial. I've covered it like I would any other large community meeting. The first phase for developing a master plan for the community of Lincoln got underway at a Town Hall meeting at the Lincoln Community Hall Wednesday, March 2 that drew nearly 90 people. The purpose of the meeting was to e...
Believe it or not, there are occasionally times that I sit down to write this column, and I have no idea what I’m going to write about. It’s usually after a very long and crazy week, which was the exact definition of last week. There was a lot to do before my first in-person show of the year, where - in more than a year - I would be able to teach in person again. There also seemed to be something going on every night last week. Usually, I keep my schedule to a meeting or fun...
Envision Lincoln and the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce have been working with Lewis and Clark County and the Montana Business Assistance Connection to develop a comprehensive master plan for Lincoln. Earlier this month, Lewis and Clark County approved a request for proposals for development of a comprehensive master plan. The RFP will go out for bid to professional consultants who have experience in master planning for rural communities like Lincoln. But just what is a...
Lincoln's first farmers market in two years kicked off on June 4 with several booths and a steady flow of visitors at Valler's Market. The plan to start a Farmers Market in Lincoln originated with Envision Lincoln's Health and Wellness Action team in 2018. The market originally started in 2019 with funds from the Lincoln Council for the Arts, which served as the market's fiscal sponsor, and the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce. Jason and Tiana Valler, owners of Valler...
Master Planning Envision Lincoln continues to work on master planning. Lewis and Clark County and the Montana Business Assistance Connection were awarded two separate grants totaling $47,000 to fund development of a professional master plan. "The one thing we will have to do is a (Request For Proposal) for a contractor to develop a master plan," she said. A committee will develop the RFP based on templates used by other communities and then it will be submitted to the county...
Montana State Parks awarded a Recreational Trails Program Grant to the Lincoln Ranger District for construction of a trail segment identified by Envision Lincoln in the In-Town Trails Plan developed in 2018. It will be the first trails from the plan to come to fruition. A one-mile, figure-eight loop, the trail will be built on the15-acre parcel of Forest Service property adjacent to the east side of Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild. "It will connect the sculpture...
Editors Note: Rick Graetz with the University of Montana selected Lincoln to be the first town featured in a new series of community profiles in the 'This is Montana Community Vitality Program.' Graetz allowed the BVD to be the first publication to run the Lincoln article before it goes out for wider distribution. A limited human presence, single main street, towering ponderosa pine trees reaching up toward snow covered peaks, a lumberjack atmosphere, and a ranger station is...
The future of downtown planning and revitalization took a major step forward this week with the notification that Lincoln has been awarded a Montana Main Street Grant for $20,000 to help fund development of a master plan. Karyn Good, the lead organizer for Envision Lincoln, learned of the award Monday after receiving a call from Gov. Greg Gianforte's office. While the announcement came later than expected, she was fairly confident Lincoln had been successful. Her cautious...
Upcoming board opening, the pending launch of an interactive map website, op-portunities to promote and market Lincoln, and the future of Skijoring all came up for discussion during the Jan. 14 meeting of the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce. As the LVCC heads into 2021, the seven-member board will have three open board seats, due to expiring terms, with Bob Weatherston of the Three Bears Motel and Goldieknots' Tammy Jordan stepping down after last weeks' meeting. The seat...
Eight years ago, the idea of an international sculpture park in Lincoln seemed like a pretty crazy idea, but as 2020 – a notably crazy year itself – drew to a close, Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild added another feather to its cap as one of five honorees recognized with the Montana Governor's Arts Award. In a Dec. 29 press release from the Mon-tana Art's Council, Gov. Steve Bullock announced the awards, which are bestowed on individuals and organizations that "de...
Susan Good Geise ended her tenure on the Lewis and Clark County Commission Tuesday morning when Montana Attorney General Tom Fox swore in Tom Rolfe as the newest commissioner filling the District 2 seat she's vacating. Last week, Geise was looking ahead to the end of her time in office, and reflecting on her time with the commission. "Mostly what I am is profoundly grateful," she said. "Really, really grateful because I thought my time in politics was over. I had one last...
"If we can come to a broad consensus, that has the potential to give us power. A new kind of power that will let us figure out that maybe we can affect some change. It may take decades, it may happen a long time after I'm gone, but it begins with the first step and that's what this is about." Paul Roos made that comment in the spring of 2014 while talking about community movement he had been spearheading since the year before. Paul passed away Nov. 10 after a short battle...
The Lewis and Clark County Commission unanimously approved the application for a $20,000 grant from the Montana Main Street Program during the Friday Dec. 5 Government Day meeting held via Zoom. Although the grant would be for the community of Lincoln, Lewis and Clark County is technically the applicant, as the local government with jurisdiction over the town. If approved, the grant and $5000 in matching funds raised by Envision Lincoln will provide approximately half the fund...
The Lewis and Clark County Commission unanimously approved the application for a $20,000 grant from the Montana Main Street Program during the Friday Dec. 5 Government Day meeting held via Zoom. Although the grant would be for the community of Lincoln, Lewis and Clark County is technically the applicant, as the local government with jurisdiction over the town. If approved, the grant and $5000 in matching funds raised by Envision Lincoln will provide approximately half the fund...
Envision Lincoln is preparing to submit the first of two applications for grants that will hopefully fund a Downtown Master Plan for Lincoln. The community development organization had been working in collaboration with Lewis and Clark County, the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce, Heart of the Rockies, and the Montana Business Assistance Connection on a $20,000 grant application through the Montana Main Street program since August. The grant cycle opens Dec. 8 “We had kind of a final review of the application Wednesday. I...
The Lincoln Prosperity Group - formerly the Upper Blackfoot Working Group – hosted a Virtual Open House Oct. 19 to gather feedback on the Lincoln Prosperity Proposal from Helena-area residents. The event was the first in a series of virtual open houses planned over the next three months, to introduce Montanans outside the Upper Blackfoot to the collaborative plan for public land management in the Lincoln area. The open houses are part of the final push to refine the proposal w...
4 may go down in history as a generally abysmal year nationally, but locally the Lincoln Ranger District completed a series of enhancements to local outdoor recreational opportunities on the National Forest around Lincoln this year. "Some long-term projects got wrapped up this year," Josh Lattin, District Resource Specialist, told the BVD. Roger's Pass Although the COVID-19 pandemic impacted traffic on Continental Divide Trail this year, next year hikers will find an...
For Envision Lincoln to have a shot at a $20,000 grant it is pursuing through Montana Main Street for a Downtown Master Plan, at least a portion of the $4,000 in matching funds will have to be raised locally. Envision Lincoln began exploring the need for a professional Master Plan earlier this year, and chose to move ahead with the grant application following a July 30 Zoom meeting with Montana Main Street and the Montana Department of Commerce Community Development Division....
A $38,000 Rural Development Block Grant awarded to Envision Lincoln by the USDA is helping to fund additional planning for an in-town trails plan, as well as two contractor positions to support Envision Lincoln’s goals. Karyn Good, Envision Lincoln’s lead community coordinator, learned of the award July 8. She and Erin Farris-Olsen, the rural development director for the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, worked to prepares and submit the grant application through HOR on behalf of Envision Lincoln to help the organization dev...
Following a pair of meetings over the last month, the Envision Lincoln core team agreed to apply for a Montana Main Street grant to help hire a professional to develop a master plan for the community. The need for a master plan has become apparent since Envision Lincoln hosted an open house in February to discuss the in-town trails plan and to kick off the discussion of downtown revitalization. The core team first discussed the issue of master planning during a July 30 Zoom...
The Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council discussed a wide number topics at their July 21 meeting, including updates the Mike Horse road and restoration project to an Envision Lincoln grant award to COVID-19. Mike Horse Information provided to the UBVCC indicated construction work at the UBMC is nearing completion, and work on Mike Horse Road is finished, with a “heavily armored” ford in place across the Blackfoot River. According to the update read by UBVCC Chairman Zach Muse, the road “is still in place and trave...
