The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 148
If you've been around in the Blackfoot long enough, there's a good chance you've heard the words "Murphy right" or "Milltown right" thrown around. If you're an irrigator in the watershed, you've probably been affected by one or both of these instream water rights. Due to recent changes in water law, any surface water rights with a priority date junior to 1904 could be called in a drought year if flows in the Blackfoot River are low enough to warrant restrictions. Luckily,...
The Lincoln Community Hall wishes to thank all who have returned their membership 2021 letters and encourage other citizens to consider joining the Hall if you have not already done so. The Hall relies on community support to maintain the building and ensure its availability for a multitude of community events. Due to its status as a 501c3, all donations, which include memberships, are tax deductible. Rental fees are generally less than comparable event locations in other west...
In spite of a worldwide pandemic and all the associated changes to human life that have gone with it, I'm happy to report that our Trumpeter Swans have kept calm and carried on with normal swan life in the Blackfoot. Although we only had six pairs of swans attempt to nest this year (following eight attempts in 2019), five of those nests were successful, hatching a total of 20 cygnets. And all 20 cygnets survived to fledging (flying) age! One hundred percent fledging success...
In our Nov. 26 issue, we looked at the murder of John Smoot, a man from Blackfoot city murdered in McClellan Gulch on Christmas eve, 1867. Blackfoot City is often referenced in the stories of Lincoln's early days, but we realized that not many people today may know much about it. It was an important hub for miners en route the the Upper Blackfoot, but by the turn of the 20th century, it had effectively faded from Montana's history. This story appeared in the Melstone...
MISSOULA – The State of Montana Fish Guidance Board, which includes Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) and the Departments of Environmental Quality , and Public Health and Human Services , has updated the fish consumption guidance for all species of fish on a 148-mile stretch of the Clark Fork River and tributaries in western Montana in response to new research results. Guidance now recommends avoiding consumption of all species of fish from the Clark Fork River's confluence...
"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...
Paul Steven Roos left this world in the early hours of November 10, 2020, seven weeks after the discovery of advanced and aggressive cancer. Paul passed away with family at his side in his Lincoln home. Paul was born on June 30, 1942, to Maxine and Donald Roos. He spent his early days in Lincoln where he felt the strong pull of the woods and streams of the Blackfoot Valley. Paul married his high school sweetheart, Kay Vandeberg, in August of 1961, a year after their graduation...
I’ve been writing about gratitude for the past couple of weeks. We’ve also experienced a lot of loss in Lincoln over the last several months. Like many others, these losses have left me feeling incredibly sad. Rather than focus on the sadness, and probably because I’ve been hyper-focused on being grateful, I thought I would offer my own tribute to some of those we’ve lost who have impacted me along the way, and to remind myself and others not to focus on the loss, but rather t...
LINCOLN - The Montana Department of Transportation would like to announce and invite the public to comment on a proposal to replace the bridge on Dalton Mountain Road that crosses over the Blackfoot River in Lewis and Clark County. Proposed work includes removing the existing bridge and constructing a new bridge. The roadway approaches will also be reconstructed as needed to match the grade and width of the new structure. The project is tentatively scheduled for construction...
"The planted larch trees are burnished gold. What a wondrous forest they have become." -Tomonari The western larch, or Larix occidentalis, is also known as the western tamarack or hackmatack. Montana is home to a second species of larch, the Larix lyallii, also known as the subalpine larch, the alpine larch, and the woolly larch, but these usually grow at a higher altitude than the western larch. Larch trees are known as deciduous conifers, meaning that although they may look...
(U.S. Senate) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester’s made-in-Montana legislation, the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, received a big boost when the U.S. Forest Service signaled it would work to achieve the goals of this collaborative proposal during a hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act is the result of more than a decade of collaboration from local stakeholders who know what’s best for their communities and how to best manage their public lands,” said Test...
Lincoln's gold mining tradition, dating to the gold mining boom of the 1860's that led to the establishment of the town, continues today as the Blackfoot River Chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America share their knowledge and experience. About 34 club members took part in a search for gold during their monthly meeting Saturday, Sept. 19. The members met up for their meeting at the club's claim on Poorman Creek, where they spent the day processing material from...
A Wonderful Trip Suggested For the benefit of those who would enjoy the wonderful Montana out-of-doors to the limit, the Rod and Gun Club sug-gests a motor and fishing trip of a hundred miles, outside the area of the Helena National Forest, which embraces imposing stretches of country south and southwest of the capital, and a great tract east of the Missouri River to the Big Belt Mountains. The suggestion for a full day's trip has the Big Blackfoot country as the objective,...
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...
The Upper Blackfoot Mining Complex re-opened to the public this week as the last of the major restoration and reconstruction of the headwaters of the Blackfoot River drew to a close at the end of July. While the main roads in the area are open to the public, Dave Bowers, UBMC project manager with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, and Steve Opp, Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Minerals and Geology Program Manager, hope people respect the effort that has...
Local volunteers got together July 17 to pull weeds and perform maintenance at the Lincoln Community River Park on Stemple Pass Road. Weed control is one of the biggest challenges in the park and needs ongoing attention. This is where volunteers and park goers alike can be of assistance. While volunteer days are often scheduled on short notice due to the weather dependency of weed spraying, park goers can help by pulling weeds and disposing of them while they are visiting the...
Sediment washed down from Monture Creek gives the Blackfoot river a split personality at Scotty Brown Bridge Friday, July 25. Heavy rains that fell in the mountains late last week loaded Monture Creek with plenty of extra mud and sediment, splitting the waters of the Blackfoot River in two below the confluence. Clear, green-hued waters of the main river flowed along the south bank, while the mocha-colored waters from Monture Creek ran along the north bank....
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...
Missoula - Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking input on a proposed fisheries conservation project on the North Fork Blackfoot River that would establish a conservation population of native westslope cutthroat trout upstream of North Fork Falls. FWP will host an online meeting Wednesday, July 22, beginning at 6:30 p.m., to discuss the proposal, answer questions and take comment. The proposal calls for first reducing the number of hybrid trout above North Fork Falls to the...
Capt. Meriwether Lewis made the first written record of the Blackfoot River valley in July 1806 .On July 6 he and his half of the Corps of Discovery passed through the area that is now home to the towns of Ovando and Lincoln. July 6, 1806 Set out a little after sunrise passed the creek a little above our encampment. [probably Monture Creek] East 14 M. to the point at which the river leaves the extensive plains and enters the mountains these plains I called (the knob plains)...
With progress being made toward reconstruction of the historic Matt King House, it seemed like a good time to take a look at what 'Goldpans and Singletrees," the history of the Lincoln area published by The Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society in 1994, has to say about the man . On the edge of some tall pines, one-half mile north of Highway 200 lies some of the richest farm land in the Lincoln valley, its fields irrigated by Spring, Keep Cool, Sucker, and Liverpool...
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...
As part of a larger effort to revitalize the look and feel of Blackfoot Challenge materials, we are excited to unveil our new logo. Early in 2019, the Blackfoot Challenge's Outreach Committee began the process of updating our iconic logo. As the primary symbol of our identity, we felt our logo was due for a refresh – a new look that brought us into the current era while still maintaining a connection to the past. After more than 40 different styles and nine rounds of edits, w...
