North Fork beavers cause a problem

We have had just about everything in the last two weeks. Three nights well below zero accompanied by a half foot of snow. This was followed by way above normal temperatures, up to almost 60 degrees F on the North Fork. And rain! We were soaked for two-plus days. This caused the potholes to breed and multiply on the North Fork Road to the point that drivers either slowed or risked damage to their vehicle.

The aging culvert at Holcomb Creek was stuffed full by a hard working beaver, causing the creek to flow down the ditch and then into the road. On Thursday and Friday, the Flathead County Road Department arrived on the scene. They removed the old culvert and put in two new ones which fixed the immediate problem. As important, they did a lot of digging above and below the new culverts as well as the ditch along the road. Altogether, this should provide a long-term fix and maybe fix the annual soft spot just south of the creek crossing.

I did not hear of or see any sign of hunter success during the warm spell. Personally, I passed up a nice four point mule deer buck. Didn’t want to risk spoiled meat at 50 degrees nor make a quick trip to town to protect it.

Anyway, there is plenty of hunting season left. On Friday it started to cool off and by 4 p.m. the rain was mixed with snow and the temperature had cooled to 35 degrees. Saturday morning it was down to 33 degrees with a steady snowfall. Weather forecast is for even colder and more snow so maybe winter is here—and hunting will be good.

Election voting is over. As usual I won some and lost some. As usual, so did the Democrats and the Republicans. Difference was the Presidential election was so close it took days to decide. As I write this (Saturday morning), Biden has just been declared the winner. Now we will have weeks of recounts and claims of fraud. The Republicans will argue like the Democrats did in Florida twenty years ago. In the end I predict there will be no change in the results but the acrimony will delay any hope of unifying the country.

As an old U. S. History teacher, I do have faith in our country, its people, and our Constitution.

We have weathered many a crisis in the last 250 years and we will weather this and the Covid virus at the same time. Not only weather but emerge stronger and hopefully better than ever before. At least that is what I think. Larry Wilson's North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.