The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 188
Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild received a new grant this year to help fund some facilities improvements and greater access to the park for visitors with special needs. The Treacy Foundation based in Helena provided a grant to help fund construction of a utility room next to the park's bathrooms, as well as a cement pad to smooth out the lip to get onto the current bathroom pads. "The Treacy Foundation has helped us in the past with the funding of these toilets....
When unusual weather occurrences happen, like snow storms in late May, it can alter the migratory paths of wildlife, and species may be found in places it is uncommon for them to be. Among birds, this is sometimes referred to as an irruption, where one or more species moves south out of their normal ranges in search of food. As happened in Lincoln this spring, birds may also be seen at lower elevations than their normal ranges. A few varieties of birds that aren't usually...
With the celebration of Mother's Day in May and Father's Day in June, Lincoln residents can look forward to the birth of ungulate babies during those same months. White-tailed deer, elk, and moose, which all range in the Lincoln area, give birth to fawns and calves in late May and early June. Deer fawns and elk calves are both born with spots, while moose calves are solid-colored at birth. The Montana range of white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, covers the entire state...
Local artist Annie Allen Clark's book, "Undulating La Roux," is due out this December from Sweetgrass Books, a division of Montana's Farcountry Press. "Undulating La Roux" will feature a variety of characters and quotes and is an all ages book, said Clark, who noted there are no swear words, and that kids will love the illustrations. "The characters from the book came from morning meditation journals that I have many, many of. Trace and I often talked about the fact that they...
Lincoln District Ranger Rob Gump addressed the dry conditions on the Lincoln Ranger District during Lincoln Government Day July 2 (see story Stage 1 Fire Restriction story), but also covered several other topics of concern to the Lincoln area, including conversations with the Lincoln Prosperity Proposal, noting that he was excited about opportunities for community funding. "I like to have that community connection where we're working with partners to figure out how to take car...
Gary Roberson, who taught history for Lincoln Schools, retired this year after about 15 years with the district. "I started back in 1992, and I worked close to ten years," said Roberson. "I went back to Virginia to help take care of my parents. Then we came back again, and I've been teaching these last five years." In addition to Montana history, U.S. history and world history, Roberson taught psychology, geography and government. He said he probably enjoyed Montana history...
A recent white paper published by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Heart of the Rockies Initiative features Lincoln as a case study for ways rural communities and conservation organizations can work together to accomplish shared goals. Published in May, "How Conservation and Recreation Groups Can Support Rural Communities" showcases four different rural western communities, including Aberdeen, S.D,.Montrose, Colo. and southeast Alaska. Erin Farris-Olsen,...
As summer returns to Lincoln, so, too, do off-highway vehicles. Proper operation of OHVs, particularly in town, can help ensure the safety of kids, pedestrians and others sharing the highway. For residents and visitors alike, rules governing OHV use can be confusing, with the laws set out in the Montana Code Annotated. Additionally, depending on where the vehicle is being used and the age of the operator, the requirements to safely and legally drive an OHV can vary. OHVs are...
In the last month, the Lincoln Senior Center has starting hosting some of the weekly activities that had been canceled during the pandemic. Dominoes has not yet returned, but pinochle and wood carving are both meeting weekly again. Pinochle meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings, and wood carving is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesdays. "We're encouraging people to start using the facility," said Kathy Reeves, who coordinates the pinochle evenings. "We are looking. If you want to...
Lincoln is set to have a banner summer, with events and activities scheduled most weekends through the end of August. Memorial Day weekend set the tone for the summer, with back-to-back ATV events on Saturday and Sunday. Other organizations and non-profits have their own events scheduled throughout the summer, making up for the string of cancellations that defined last year. The annual Community Spring Rummage Sale is this weekend, June 19 and 20, with more than 20 sales on...
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...
Lincoln students who completed the Montana History class in the 2019-2020 school year were unable to go on the class field trip to Yellowstone, which was canceled due to the pandemic. This year, those students were able to make the trip, and to explore other aspects of regional history. The three day trip took the six students who completed the class and hadn't yet graduated throughout Montana and into Wyoming. "It was busy, but we crammed a lot in," said Lincoln science teach...
Lincoln Schools administration learned May 3 they had been selected to receive funding from the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant for the POUNCE program. In June 2019, POUNCE program director Jackie Grantier received notice just one day before the end of the POUNCE program that the school had not secured the 21st CCLC grant for the next five years, according to a Blackfoot Valley Dispatch article. The grant structure had changed reporting requirements, and two of th...
Lincoln students in 3rd-8th grade competed in the Montana Battle of the Books on May 7. Battle of the Books is made up of three teams of three students each, with one alternate. Beginning in the fall, students on each team read 12 different books leading up to the spring competition. At the competition, students answer questions based on the books, but the questions don't always have obvious answers, so students work hard to read for detail. "It's kind of a funny thing when...
Hooper Park in Lincoln received an Arbor Day grant and additional funding from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. "Misty Edwards is kinda the county's liaison with the Park Board, and she knew they were interested in doing multiple upgrades for the park," said Ann McCauley, the Grants Administrator for Lewis and Clark County, who secured the grant and funding for the trees. The grant is offered annually for tree plantings as part of the DNRC's Urban...
Lincoln's Business Professionals of America students participated in the virtual State Leadership Conference in March with more than 1700 students from across Montana. Two of Lincoln's three high school teams placed in the top 20, and two students from the inaugural middle school chapter qualified to attend the National Conference. "Makena Copenhaver and Delia Tolan placed to go to Nationals in Human Resource Exploration, which was a pilot program for middle school," said BPA...
Lincoln's freshmen class plans to host a donation-based car and dog wash at the school June 4 from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The event is a social entrepreneurship project that will raise funds for the Lincoln Volunteer Fire Department. Each year Lincoln's freshman class plans a project to benefit the community. "They were incredibly responsible in their decision process," said business teacher Laura Allen-Bullis. "They had several class discussions about different organizations in town...
The Lincoln Valley Community Foundation endowment was established in 1996 and provides grants to local nonprofits. Money for the fund was originally provided as gifts from the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Phelps Dodge Seven Up Pete Joint Venture Mine, according to Jessica Stewart-Kuntz. Stewart-Kuntz is the Vice President of the Montana Community Foundation, which oversees the fund. The bulk of the money came from the LVCC, which had been raising money to build...
Lincoln Public Schools are taking their spring music concert outdoors this year. The concert is set to be held in the Hooper Park pavilion on May 19 at 6:30 p.m. All grade levels are scheduled to perform a combination of vocal and instrumental pieces. The fifth and sixth grade students will be performing using brand new ukuleles the school was able to obtain through funding made available due to the pandemic, according to Lincoln music teacher Darryan Gonzales. Kindergarten...
Despite receiving bipartisan support and passing through the House with at 60-39 vote on March 2, a joint resolution to support the designation the Montana Trail 406 was indefinitely postponed and declared "probably dead" on April 1 after failing to pass the Senate with a 23-27 vote. "Probably dead? I was shocked. I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. We had no inkling that that's what was coming," said local business-owner Laurie Richards, who helped establish Lincoln as...
The Lincoln Airport Foundation met April 16 to discuss several upcoming changes and improvements, as well as safety concerns and the return of the Lincoln Fly-In this summer. Through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and subsequent funding such as the American Rescue Plan, the Lincoln Airport is set to receive more than $29,000 to support a variety of projects. Additionally, Montana Aeronautics Division Administrator Tim Conway said the Yellowstone Airport...
Lincoln's newly formed Little League team began practicing just a few short weeks ago with nearly 30 players, and they'll play their first game April 19. Shane Smith, who had been driving his son to Helena to play for three years, said some parents and volunteers got together this spring to try to coordinate a Lincoln team. "It was just an idea we started throwing around to other people to see if we could get Little League started up here," said Smith, who is coaching the...
Jeff Hollingworth joined Hi-Country early this year as the new Chief Financial Officer and jumped in to join the Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce as secretary around the same time. At Hi-Country, Hollingworth's current project is to get everything entered into a new enterprise resource planning software that will help combine and share information across all of Hi-Country's departments. "That's mostly what I do during the day. Other than that, I work with Steve [Fehrs] a...
Every April, professional scientists and amateurs alike celebrate Citizen Science Month. Citizen science is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "scientific work undertaken by members of the general public, often in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions" and encompasses thousands of projects and experiments. Crowd-sourcing data isn't a new idea. The Christmas Bird Count, which is sponsored by the National...
Lincoln has a new smaller bus to help transport students. It joined the three larger buses last spring as part of the D&L Bus fleet owned by Laurie and Doug Richards, but has only made it on to the road this school year. "We were in the process of buying it before COVID hit. They were having to do some work on it. They got it done a month after we hadn't been in school. I said, we can't buy this bus and have it sitting, but that's exactly what we did. We'd been on the search...
