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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
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Established 1985 - Locally owned & independent
Volume XXXIV, Number 23
Making spirits bright... and stomachs full
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Commissioners quiz consultant on natural resource policies By Michael Howell
Back Country Horsemen volunteers and students fill boxes for the holiday dinner boxes for Pantry Partners. Jean Schurman photo.
115 W 3rd, Stevensville 777-3928
The Ravalli County Commissioners questioned Marty Gardner last week about his work as a consultant helping a couple of counties in Idaho revamp their Natural Resource Policies. Gardner was hired to help both Idaho and Clearwater Counties to update their policies as a tool in collaborating with the local National Forests as those forest plans are being revised. Commissioner Chris Hoffman said that the commission was “looking for a little guidance in the revision of our Natural Resource Policy.” Gardner told the commission that he worked for the Forest Service for over 30 years and that his background was in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the forest planning process. He said the biggest problem with forest planning for the public was the process itself. “The public struggles to understand the Forest Service,” he said, and as a result is ineffective
in communicating its concerns. He said the same holds true for the county government. He said the key to having an impact in the process was to speak the same language as the people you are dealing with, in this case the U.S. Forest Service. Gardner described the local county government’s role in the forest planning process as one with a special seat at the table. He said, under the rules, local government must be consulted and its plans and policies plans should be taken into account when plans are being made on the forest. Gardner said that he helps counties put their natural resource policies into the same language, using the same definitions as the Forest Service, so the counties concerns can be easily understood by the agency. According to the rules of the process, he said, forest plans must address local concerns related to economic and social sustainability as well as impacts on custom and culture. “This opens the door to counties, not to dictate the
outcome of the process, but to become more effectively involved.” He said a properly constructed Natural Resource Policy, that is a cooperating agency with a plan, carries a lot of weight in the planning process. “It almost amounts to being able to submit an Alternative to be considered in the NEPA process,” he said. Although it can’t displace the Forest Service’s scoping process, a good Natural Resource Policy can have an impact on the process. He said the sooner the county got involved in what the local forest was planning, the better. He said then they could even help shape the formation of original Alternatives and be sure that theirs are recognized and included. Carlotta Grandstaff, representing Bitterrooters for Planning, expressed concern about some of the language that she read in a document from one of the Idaho counties. She called the language polarizing and divisive to the point of being
Food bank makes sure folks have a holiday meal First Riverside Crossing By Jean Schurman
Every year, the week before Christmas, volunteers from Pantry Partners and the Back Country Horsemen gather at St. Mary’s Family Center in Stevensville to make Christmas brighter for many families in the north valley. In addition, several students from Stevensville and Florence were also volunteers. They gathered to put the Christmas food boxes together. People who are clients at Pantry Partners sign up for these special holiday boxes. They indicate the size of the household which ranges from one person to a family of nine. Of the 281 boxes assembled last week, about 200 of the boxes go to families with children. Karen Sanchez, board chairman of Pantry Partners, said that this year was the first time ever that all of the turkeys and hams were donated. Usually Pantry Partners has to buy some to fill out the boxes. In addition to a ham or turkey, there are canned goods, carrots, onions, celery, a dessert, and almost everything needed to cook a Christmas dinner. Sanchez said that almost two-thirds of the non-perishable items came from direct
See NATURAL RESOURCE POLICY, page 3
cooperative cottage completed By Michael Howell
Karen Sanchez, board chairman of Pantry Partners, keeps track of the volunteers, the food and the receiving families during the annual food box giveaway last week. Jean Schurman photo. donations at Super 1 Foods. Not to be outdone, Burnt Fork Market also donated hundreds of bags of goods for the boxes, about $2,000 worth. Stevensville students brought in 4,585 pounds of food for the Pantry last week and even put it all away. The number of boxes going
Bird Count scheduled
The 54th annual Stevi Christmas Bird Count is scheduled for Saturday, December 29 and help is needed. Experience is helpful, but not required. Field observers will meet at the Stevensville Ranger Station between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m. to form small teams and get area assignments. Birders who live in the Count Circle (anywhere within 7.5 miles of the Ranger Station) can opt to count the birds on their property. Both types of counters are critical to a successful count. You don’t have to spend all day counting birds, any time you have is helpful. Bird counters on last year’s Stevi CBC found 13,017 birds of 82 different species. For more information contact Deborah Goslin at 214-7879 or dagoslin3@gmail.com
to clients is down this year, which is exciting to Sanchez and the volunteers. Over the past year, Pantry Partners has provided emergency food boxes to 2,865 households from north of Victor Crossing to Florence. There are 8,402 individuals living in these households. The majority of these came only once or twice to the Pantry. Others have needed food assistance six or more times. The Pantry serves an average of 221 households each month. They have distributed over 181,000 pounds of food in 2018. “We couldn’t do this without the community members who make sure our families have what they need to celebrate Christmas,” said Sanchez.
It’s been a long time coming but the door of the first completed cottage at Riverside Crossing Active Adult Cottage Cooperative in Hamilton was open to the public last week for a walkthrough before the new residents move in. Paul Travitz, Executive Director of the Ravalli Council on Aging, was obviously proud of the new home. It is the fruition of a vision that Travitz carefully and patiently nurtured for a long time before actually putting anything into the ground. Then came the groundbreaking last spring and now the first of 55 planned
cottages is ready for occupation in Montana’s first cooperative housing project. The design for the housing project is based on the Pocket Neighborhood concept developed by architect Ross Chapin. A number of cottages is grouped together around an open space that is shared. Cottages range in size from 684 square feet to 1,817 square feet. Travitz said the open house was packed on Saturday. Attendance on Sunday was a little lighter. He said the most difficult hurdle was getting people to understand the cooperative ownership model. No one owns an individual home outright in the project. They buy into the
777-9915
See RIVERSIDE, page 7
An open house was recently held in the first cottage to be built in the Riverside Crossing Active Adult Cottage Cooperative in Hamilton. It is the smallest of the seven pre-designed cottage types available ranging from 684 square feet to 1,817 square feet in area. Michael Howell photo.
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whole development by purchasing a $50,000 stock certificate in the company which is owned and operated by all the cottage residents. The $50,000 goes towards the cost of the cottage which varies on the size of the cottage chosen. After they move in, residents pay a monthly fee that covers the cost of property taxes, maintenance of the grounds and the cottage, a stipend for utilities, the cost of lawn care and snow removal and other amenities. Members determine monthly charges, rules and regulations, and community policies. “It’s an unfamiliar way of
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