Glacier Park plows run into 25-foot wall of snow at Big Bend from previous avalanche
Glacier National Park snowplow crews continued to work in the Big Bend area of the Going-to-the-Sun Road over the past week.
Lazy Day Trailer Park residents evicted
About 24 families living at the Lazy Day Mobile Home Trailer Park were served eviction notices on April 14.
Commission considering city self-governance
The Columbia Falls government review commission plans to hear from an expert next month on whether the city should consider having self-governing powers.
Deer Park looks to replace ‘67 Quonset hut
Deer Park School is hoping to replace an aging and unsafe Quonset hut and its old teacherage/office with a new 5,000 square-foot building. There’s a long list of problems with the 57-year-old Quonset hut. Years ago it used to be an inadequate gym. Now it houses the school’s music and art classrooms and the building isn’t in any better shape, just older.
Deer Park looks to replace ‘67 Quonset hut
Deer Park School is hoping to replace an aging and unsafe Quonset hut and its old teacherage/office with a new 5,000 square-foot building. There’s a long list of problems with the 57-year-old Quonset hut. Years ago it used to be an inadequate gym. Now it houses the school’s music and art classrooms and the building isn’t in any better shape, just older.
Seized Weyerhaeuser MDF oil pump causes fire
Columbia Falls firefighters responded to a fire in the hot oil room of the Weyerhaeuser MDF plant early Thursday morning.
Glacier National Park plows to Big Bend
Glacier National Park plow crews are about three miles from Logan Pass on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Consultant: City still has opportunity to address housing needs
Columbia Falls is at a key point in its housing situation, consultant Wendy Sullivan told the city planning commission last week.
Columbia Falls skate park opens to great reviews
Otto Anderson had a bike helmet and a skateboard he picked up for 8 bucks at the thrift store. Still, he was loving the new skate park in Columbia Falls, which opened earlier this month.
Glacier withdraws plan to put bull trout in Gunsight Lake
Glacier National Park and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have withdrawn a plan to stock native bull trout into Gunsight Lake, an iconic high mountain lake in the park on the east side of the Continental Divide.
County OK’s high water gate at Blankenship
The Flathead County Commissioners Thursday approved an encroachment permit for the Forest Service to put a gate up on a county right-of-way on the southwest side of the Blankenship Bridge near the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.
Hikers and bikers can go as far as the Loop on Glacier Park's Going-to-the-Sun Road
The good news is hikers and bikers on the west side of Glacier National Park’s Going-to-the-Sun Road can now go as far as the Loop.
Public invited to meetings on proposed high school remodel
The Columbia Falls School District 6 board is inviting the public to a series of meetings this month and next to look at the particulars of a remodeling of the high school.
Steed named FWP Region 1 supervisor
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has a new Region 1 supervisor in Amber Steed, a longtime biologist with the agency.
Fern bill would offer $200 million in tax relief
State Sen. Dave Fern said Friday he expects the state Legislature to get some sort of property tax relief bill passed by the end of the session. He also said a bill he sponsored that gives middle class taxpayers a significant income tax break has passed the Senate and is on to the House.
Featured quilter has been sewing all her life
Therese Stempin has never been very far away from a sewing machine. Her mother bought her a Necchi machine when she was in the third grade.
Opinion: Eggcellent
So the wife got these eggs that were supposed to be fertilized, chicken eggs that is. A friend has hens and roosters and apparently lives in a place where both are copacetic with the neighbors, or at least in a place where the neighbors can’t do anything about it, which is to say they live near Eureka, whose motto, I think, is “anything goes.”
Glacier National Park plows to Crystal Point, Sun Road open to hikers and bikers as far as Avalanche Creek
Glacier National Park plow crews have made it to Crystal Point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, but the road this weekend will be closed at Avalanche Creek to hikers and bikers due to avalanche danger.
Sidney man reaches plea agreement in Alaska griz killing
A Sidney, Montana man pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy in the case of an illegal grizzly bear killing in Alaska.
Eagles in distress or just in love? We’ll never know
When Anne Scott-Markle heard a bald eagle flapping in a big ponderosa pine near her rural Columbia Falls home last Thursday, she thought something may have been amiss.
CRMP Comments: Many folks want more river protections, not less
The proposed action for the Comprehensive River Management plan for the three forks of the Flathead River drew 1,241 comments. Some common themes have emerged, as many people urged the Forest Service and Park Service to consider the health of the rivers, fish and wildlife more, not less, particularly in wilderness areas like the South Fork of the Flathead in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Middle Fork in the Great Bear Wilderness.
New owner of iconic Two Medicine Grill in East Glacier Park a familiar face
Five months into owning a restaurant and Matt Lyson is going to do just fine. Lyson bought the Two Medicine Grill in East Glacier Park last fall from longtime owner Mark Howser.
Baseball has a lot of young talent
Despite losing eight seniors, the Columbia Falls baseball team still has a solid core of athletes this year, looking to make their mark on the conference and with any luck, the postseason.
Notes from Ranger Doug
I’ve had the pleasure over the years of getting correspondence from longtime Glacier National Park ranger/naturalist Doug Follett. He would either mail or drop by poems and notes to the office.
Mixed results from city survey; as a third of respondents don't live in city limits
Columbia Falls has some work to do in some areas, but is adequate in others, according to a recent survey.
A barking fox and other tales from Freezout Lake
Sounds. That’s the thing you leave the Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area within your head if you’ve spent the night there.
Recent storms boost snowpack to 99% of median
A late winter storm has boosted the Flathead River Basin snowpack to normal. As of Monday, the snowpack was 99% of the median, though some sites remain well below normal and others higher than normal.
Late riser? Glacier National Park's Sun Road advanced reservations easier to get than one might think
Advanced reservations to enter the west side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road don’t appear to be going as fast as they have in previous years now that Glacier National Park has instituted a timed entry system, particularly for reservations that are later in the day.
Veterans inspire youth to research critical code talkers
Once a week or so youngster Aspen Smith visits the Montana Veterans’ Home in Columbia Falls with his mother Lehnora and he plays cards with veteran Ed Day. “He cheats,” Day joked.
The Making Place looks to set up shop at Uptown Hearth
The Making Place, a nonprofit collective of artists, craftsmen and designers is expanding its presence in Columbia Falls with plans to lease the entire third floor of the Uptown Hearth building.
Softball season starts this week in Polson
The Columbia Falls girls softball team has a new face at head coach this year, as longtime assistant Rick Lawrence takes the reins.
Opinion: Snowbirds return
The juncos are back in Glacier National Park. The affable birds nest in shallow burrows in the ground and are some of the first birds to return to Glacier each spring, along with the varied thrush, which have arrived as well.
City taps distinguished Navy veteran as new city manager
Columbia Falls has a new city manager. The city council recently selected retired Capt. Eric Hanks, a distinguished Navy veteran, to lead the city.
Appeal filed in Glacier Park home case
The Flathead Conservation District and Friends of Montana Rivers and Streams have filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of a home built on private land along the banks of McDonald Creek in Glacier National Park.
Zinke says Going-to-the-Sun Road plowing should be on schedule
Judge also rules most probationary employees be reinstated
Montana Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke announced Friday that Forest Service and Park Service probationary workers that were fired earlier this year under cuts by the Trump Administration will get their jobs back, at least for the time being.
Young at heart: Kenneth Young reflects on life, his faith and his family
Kenneth Young is a decorated veteran. A longtime preacher. And was a gifted athlete in his youth.
Ruis going full steam ahead on CFAC property
Developer Mick Ruis said he’s already been hosting potential businesses interested in developing at least part of the former Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. site.
Glacier Park’s poet passes away
He was a poet, a storyteller and an educator, entertaining every one from young tourists to the future president of the United States.
Columbia Falls police officers recognized for life saving efforts
Two Columbia Falls police officers were recognized at the March 3 city council meeting for saving lives while on duty in separate incidents.
Photos: Glacier Gateway puts on the Pied Piper
Glacier Gateway students put on the Missoula Children's Theater production of the "Pied Piper."
Wage increases haven’t kept up with rents, study finds
A recently commissioned housing study for Columbia Falls found that about 23% of households in the Columbia Falls area (59912 Zip code) and 36% in the city limits were renters.
Court ruling will stay after Forest Service drops appeal of lawsuit over road management
The Forest Service recently dropped an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court in a case that has been in the federal courts for years over road management on the Flathead National Forest.
Most employers say housing is a problem
Housing also plays a big role in employment and some employers say they may leave the area if things don’t improve, a draft housing study commissioned by the city of Columbia Falls found.
City manager candidates down to two, interviews Friday
The Columbia Falls City Council will interview two finalist candidates for the open city manager positio
Housing study paints picture between haves and have nots; Separately, Ruis closes on CFAC property, which could change the housing landscape
A draft housing study commissioned by the City of Columbia Falls found that the price of houses here has far outpaced an increase in wages for most residents and without some sort of subsidy, home ownership is simply out of reach for many in the working class.
In Glacier National Park, a rally for public lands and the people that work there
Kellie Ileto stood at the edge of the Going-to-the-Sun Road Saturday as it enters West Glacier holding one sign that said, “Only you can stand up for National Parks, National Forests and State Trust Lands” and another that said, “Why? Federal employees who protect them were fired.”
City looks to add another police officer for DUI patrols
Columbia Falls will look to add another full-time DUI and patrol officer to its ranks.
North Fork timber sales see no bids
Some of the timber sales in the Frozen-Moose project up the North Fork failed to get any bids, Glacier View/Hungry Horse District Ranger Rob Davies said during the Feb. 14 interlocal meeting.
Hughes, Hall of Fame coach from the ‘70s, dies peacefully at Polson home
Columbia Falls Hall of Fame coach Harold Hughes died peacefully on Feb. 21 in Polson.
National Weather Service issues flood watch for low-lying areas
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch from Saturday night into Monday. The mainstem rivers aren’t expected to flood unless water builds up behind ice jams, but smaller streams and low-lying areas could see some flooding, the weather service is warning.