Outdoor news
Weed roundup
The North Fork Landowners Association will hold their fifth annual Robin Cox Memorial Weed Roundup meeting and barbecue at Sondreson Hall, north of Polebridge, on Wednesday, July 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The featured speakers will be Tris Hoffman, from the Forest Service, Dawn LaFleur, from Glacier Park, and Steve Robinson, from the county weed department. For more information, call Valerie Cox at 406-570-7734.
Naturalist hike
The Flathead-Kootenai Chapter of the Montana Wilderness Association will host a hike to Stanton Lake in the Great Bear Wilderness on Saturday, July 26. Participants will meet at the south parking lot of the Alberta Visitor Center in West Glacier at 9:30 a.m. The walk will be led by Ellen Horowitz, an outdoor educator, writer and naturalist at the Glacier Institute and Flathead Valley Community College. For more information, call chapter field director Amy Robinson at 406-730-2006.
Off-highway vehicles
Flathead National Forest recreation program manager Becky Smith-Powell will talk about off-highway vehicle use during a no-host breakfast at the Night Owl/Back Room Restaurant in Columbia Falls on Friday, July 25, at 7 a.m. OHV riding is permitted in three areas — the Hungry Horse motocross area, the Wild Bill OHV trail and the ATV trail above Ashley Lake. Seasonally-open Forest roads also offer hundreds of miles of riding opportunities. Those who plan to attend or have questions can call Wade Muehlhof at 758-5252 or e-mail him at ewmuehlhof@fs.fed.us.
RAC proposals
The Flathead County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) is currently requesting project proposals for possible funding from federal grant dollars through Title II of the Secure Rural Schools program. About half the funding will be granted to road, trail and watershed projects. Previous projects have included forest thinning, tree planting and forest health activities; road improvements and dust abatement; noxious weed control activities; trail improvements; recreation and maintenance projects; and enhancement of wildlife and fish habitat. Project forms are available online at https://fsplaces.fs.fed.us/fsfiles/unit/wo/secure_rural_schools.nsf/RAC/Flathead+County. Deadline is Aug. 15. For more information, call 758-5252 or e-mail ewmuehlhof@fs.fed.us.
Koessler Lake limits lifted
The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission approved removing the angling creel limits for Koessler Lake, about 12 miles into the Bob Marshall Wilderness in the headwaters of the South Fork of the Flathead River, through Aug. 31. As part of the South Fork Flathead Westslope Cutthroat Conservation Project, Koessler Lake will be treated in September to remove hybrid trout and then restocked with pure westslope cutthroat trout next summer. For more information, call 752-5501.
Science and history day
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park will host the 11th annual Waterton-Glacier Science and History Day at the Falls Theatre in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta on Tuesday, July 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The event is free of charge. Topics are presented in a non-technical manner. Themes include aquatic resources, history, social research and wildlife, and topics this year include harlequin ducks, hair snares for grizzly bears, native plant gardens, alpine stream insects, the Sofa Mountain fire, wolverines and ice patch archaeology. For more information, call 406-888-5827 or 403-859-5127.
Smith’s roundup
For the sixth consecutive year, Smith’s Food & Drug Centers in Columbia Falls and Kalispell will sponsor “Round-Up for Glacier” through July 27. All donations will fund field trip transportation to Glacier National Park for local schools with limited travel budgets. Smith’s Neighbor to Neighbor Program will provide a matching grant of up to $3,000. This year’s goal is to raise $10,000, which will fund field trip opportunities for 2,000 students from surrounding school districts during the 2014-2015 school year.