2017: Top Ten Stories

Here’s a look at the top 10 stories of 2017:

1 Crowds. Glacier National Park saw record-setting crowds in 2017. It was great for the economy, but not so great for solitude in the region’s heralded Park. Through November, Glacier recorded 3,292,245 visitors, including 1 million in July alone. July visitation was the highest ever for any western national park. Because of the crowds, Glacier routinely turned away visitors to places like Many Glacier, Kintla and Bowman Lakes, where parking was limited. It also even had a few days where people couldn’t get into Two Medicine. The Logan Pass parking lot also filled early — oftentimes before 9 a.m. Local businesses said they had a solid summer despite wildfires, our next top story...

2 Wildfires choked the region with smoke as Montana saw a historically bad wildfire season. The largest fire was the Lodgepole Complex near Jordan at 270,723 acres. The largest local fire was the Rice Ridge Fire, which burned near Seeley Lake and deep into the Bob Marshall Wilderness at 160,170 acres. All told, major wildfires in Montana burned about 1.3 million acres in 2017, according to the Northern Rockies Coordination Center. That’s more than the historic fires of 2000 (949,817 acres) and 2003 (736,809 acres) and 2007 (778,079 acres). The largest local fire was the Sprague Fire in Glacier National Park which brings us to our next top story...

3 The Sprague Fire and the loss of Sperry Chalet. On Aug. 31 about 6 p.m. Glacier National Park announced that the main dormitory at the Sperry Chalet burned down in the Sprague Fire, despite a “valiant” effort by six firefighters on the scene. The fire had been growling around the chalet for more than a week. On Aug. 31, it was stoked by high winds and while the Park initially said it started from inside the building, a firefighter on the scene told the Hungry Horse News that it started under the eaves. The chalet was opened in 1914 by the Great Northern Railway and was one of the most historic and iconic structures in the Park. Along with Granite Park Chalet, Sperry Chalet was one of the two remaining backcountry chalets in Glacier, both operated by Belton Chalets, Inc. The chalet has since been stabilized and the hope is the stone shell of building will survive the winter. Montana’s congressional delegation has supported rebuilding the chalet. An investigation into the cause of the fire is due out sometime this year. The Sprague Fire also burned several high-use trails, including the Gunsight and Snyder Trails. The fire capped out at more than 16,000 acres and forced the closure of the Sun Road for more than month on the Park’s west side. It didn’t go out until snow and cold came to Glacier in November.

4 The jail, or lack thereof. One of the hot topics in Columbia Falls was whether or not to build a new county jail at the former Plum Creek “Cedar Palace” site. The idea initially drew some support from city leaders, but the general public had other ideas, namely they didn’t want it in Columbia Falls. After a parade of opposition, Flathead County Commissioners voided a $2.6 million buy-sell agreement with Weyerhaeuser for 24 acres of open space and the office complex.

5 City growth. The city saw a host of new business in 2017. The old Park Merc building, owned by developer Mick Ruis, was remodeled and became home to the JIM and the Yoga Hive. The old First Citizens Bank is now Hellroaring Crossfit, another fitness business. Ruis also built two apartment buildings in downtown and bought the old Bandit Bar, which he then sold to restaurateur Pat Carloss, who has started to remodel it, with plans to open it next spring.

6 Cyberattacks. Cyber terrorists threatened Columbia Falls schools, students, staff and faculty after they hacked into school Columbia Falls servers. The attack came in the form of vile and threatening text messages forcing law enforcement to shut down the schools for three days — eventually across the entire county in September. It later evolved into an attempt at extortion, as the hackers threatened to release sensitive information on school students and staff they stole from school servers. The FBI worked with local law enforcement on the case, which eventually garnered national attention. The hackers, which called themselves the TheDarkOverlord Solutions, asked for a $150,000 ransom, which wasn’t paid. Law enforcement and the school didn’t think the hackers were local, or even in the U.S. and they posed no immediate threat to the school.

7 National monuments were big news on the land management front. In December, Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke recommended national monument status for the 130,000 Badger-Two Medicine region south of Glacier National Park, while President Trump, in turn, ordered that national monuments created by former President Barack Obama in Utah be shrunk. The shrinkage of the Utah monuments is significant. Bears Ears Monument would be shrunk from about 1.3 million acres to roughly 228,000 acres, while Grand Staircase would be shrunk from 1.9 million acres to about 1 million acres. While Zinke claimed the national monument shrinkage had nothing to do with energy interests, the Washington Post, citing documents it obtained, clearly show that Energy Fuels Resources lobbied the Trump administration to shrink the Bears Ears monument. The company has a uranium processing plant not far from the monument boundary and claimed there could be uranium deposits in the monument boundaries. Several conservation groups have promised to sue the administration over shrinking the Utah monuments, including clothing company Patagonia.

8 The Flathead National Forest released its final draft of a new Forest Plan for the 2.4-million acre forest. The new plan is a blueprint for management of forest lands for the next 10 to 15 years. The last plan was written in 1986. The latest plan took four years to write. It includes about 190,000 acres of recommended wilderness and calls for about 27 million board feet of sawlog harvest on the forest each year.

9 It was a great year for Columbia Falls High School sports. The girls basketball team broke a 34-year long drought, winning the state A championship in March with a 73-50 victory over Hardin in Butte. It was the first title since 1983. The girls had a 23-1 overall record. Peyton Kehr was named MVP, scoring 22 points in the victory. Kehr threw up in the wastebasket in the opening minutes of the game, then went on a tear. The Columbia Falls football team won its first ever state championship, beating Hamilton at home in November, 26-14. This was only the third championship game the school has ever played in. They lost in the “fog bowl” in 1970 to Havre and last year they fell short to Dillon. The boys went 9-1 on the season.

10 Weyerhaeuser started tearing down the old plywood plant in Columbia Falls, marking the end of an era. But a new one may have started as the company sold the old sawmill and planer to developer Mick Ruis and Stargazer Land and Cattle. Stargazer is owned by Sherry Lesar. Her husband, Dave, is president and chief executive officer of Halliburton Energy Services. The couple paired up with Ruis and SmartLam, which will hold a longterm lease on one of the buildings. SmartLam makes cross-laminated timber panels used in construction of buildings, bridges and other structures. The company expects to employ about 75 people when production reaches full capacity this year.