Category: News

Tristan Scott | Flathead Beacon

As the Flathead Valley grapples with challenges associated with the accelerated pace of population growth, and as a groundswell of newcomers adjusts to an evolving western landscape, a consortium of community leaders has joined forces to provide guideposts for newly minted Montanans and promote responsible land ethics in the region.

The guide to being a good neighbor is called “Living in Flathead,” an online resource that its architects describe as “dedicated to promoting responsible living, community connection, and sustainable practices in Flathead County.”

Tristan Scott | Flathead Beacon

Last spring, when the Montana Legislature fused the powers of two existing water-quality watchdog groups, the genesis of the concept was to form a single entity with broader geographic dominion. Although the legislative action was part of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s “red tape reduction” initiative, proponents saw the merger as an opportunity to broaden the regional scale of stewardship to encompass watersheds spanning Montana’s entire west slope.

For years, administrators for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) had been angling to expand and combine the powers of the Flathead Basin Commission (FBC) and the Upper Columbia Conservation Commission (UC3), conjoining the entities’ shared objectives with a single unifying tent-pole.

Under the new Western Montana Conservation Commission (WMCC), the horizon has expanded to include the Kootenai River, the upper and lower Clark Fork River and the Bitterroot River, as well as a host of other drainages and tributaries.

Katie Heston | Daily Inter Lake

The Western Montana Conservation Commission recently received $9 million in mostly federal funds to tackle water quality issues throughout the western part of the state.

Awarded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the money will help the commission work toward toxic pollution and septic leachate toxic reduction, and public education on the importance of water quality.