Growth, a moose-eating grizzly and a new school — 2022 in review

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Here’s a look at some of the top Hungry Horse News stories from 2022.

Growth: The real estate market in Columbia Falls continued to be a hot topic, with more housing units either finished, under construction, or in the planning stages. Developer Mick Ruis all but finished a condo/commercial project on Nucleus Avenue and is working on a second one. The Columbia Falls city-county planning board rejected a large subdivision called River Highlands just east of the Flathead River, but OK’d a big one that’s part of Meadow Lake Resort’s final plan, much to the chagrin of neighbors. Now the developers of River Highlands have come back with another plan with fewer units, but neighbors still have the same concerns. It seems that the city of Columbia Falls will eventually end up east of the river, where all bets might be off for future development all the way to Columbia Heights.

Reservations: Glacier National Park announced it would expand its reservation system in 2023, requiring reservations at all the major entrances in the summer of 2023. What effect this will have on the tourism economy remains to be seen, but even with reservation systems in place on the Going-to-the-Sun Road and Polebridge in 2022, park visitation looks to still be around 3 million.

In sports news: MatCat junior Justin Windauer won the state A wrestling championship at 138 pounds. Sydney Mann officially signed with Division I Nicholls State to play softball. The Wildcat soccer team won its first state A title in 17 years, going undefeated on the season. Junior forward Kai Golan had a hat trick in the victory and coach O’Brien Byrd was named state A boys soccer coach of the year. School District 6 OK’d baseball after the Montana High School Association sanctioned the sport. The Wildcats take the field this spring.

In school news: A small group of folks complained about the Columbia Falls school district teaching classes on “social and emotional learning.” They claimed that subject was better taught by parents, but the Hungry Horse News sat in on some classes and they seemed rather mundane. Conservatives that ran for the school board lost election bids.

In school construction news: The new Glacier Gateway School was completed in mid-December, with teachers moving into the building over Christmas break. Students will start classes at the school next week.

In business news: Darwon Stoneman and his family and partners sold the Glacier Raft Co. and its property to Pursuit Glacier Park Collection. The Izaak Walton Inn, owned by Brian Kelly, sold to Loge Camps for $13.5 million.

Gas prices zoomed just before the summer tourist season to $5 a gallon and diesel fuel went over $6 a gallon, but by December, the price for regular gas was back down to $2.95 a gallon. In other words, summer drivers got it stuck to them again this year.

In election news: Republican Ryan Zinke squeaked through a tight primary and general election to win Montana’s first congressional seat. Zinke beat Democrat Monica Tranel by four percent in the general election. Zinke, a former Montana congressman and Secretary of Interior wasn’t always popular with folks in his own party. In statewide races, Republicans took supermajority control of both the state House and Senate. Locally, Braxton Mitchell easily won re-election over Democrat Andrea Getts in the House District 3 race.

In housing news: There was a troubling trend in Columbia Falls.

Speculators and new homeowners were pushing out longtime renters and converting rental units to vacation rentals. That, in turn, was part of the cause of a drop in enrollment at Glacier Gateway School, as families had to move because there was no place to live.

In weather news: It was a topsy-turvy year. The wet, cold spring led to flooding in June, as Trumbull Creek spilled its banks and flooded bout a dozen homes along Highway 2. Meanwhile, the Going-to-the-Sun Road didn’t open over Logan Pass until July 13, one of latest openings ever because of deep snows and bad weather. Once we rolled into July and August valley rains were sparse and the huckleberry crop failed, so bears roamed the streets eating garbage and wildfires bloomed. The biggest was the Elmo 2 fire along the west shore of Flathead Lake that ended up more than 20,000 acres in size and burned down several homes and structures. The first half of October was the warmest ever, while the second half was cold and November was the fourth coldest ever. Dec. 22 saw record cold of 33 below zero. January through March ’22 were fairly uneventful.

The area lost some notable personalities in 2022. Former Hungry Horse News owner and editor Brian Kennedy died while climbing Dusty Star Mountain Glacier National Park with climbing partner Jack Beard. The community lost Don Dorlarque, a longtime community volunteer. Lyle Ruterbories, a former ranger at Kintla Lake who worked until he was just shy of 98, died at 102 years, two months in December. The Columbia Falls Fire Department also lost a veteran of the force when Joe Smith died in June. He was a dedicated volunteer and often the first person to enter an inferno, fellow firefighters recalled.

The most read story online in 2022, was none of the above. It was a story about a grizzly bear killing one of two twin calf moose in front of the Many Glacier Hotel while people recorded video of the event in from the safety of the Hotel’s balcony. The cow moose chased the bear away when it tried to eat the second calf and at one point, the bear ran into and broke one of the hotel’s windows.