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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!”
’ ! l a c o L t at
June 29th, 2019
s e B e h T ‘ June 28th & 29th!
Volume XXXIV, Number 43
Established 1985 - Locally owned & independent
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Cody Omlid – building a local legacy Growing
conservation easements in the Burnt Fork
By Jean Schurman
If there’s one thing Stevensville’s Cody Omlid hates, it’s being idle. He says he has to have something going on all the time. From the time he was a young teen, he found ways to keep busy with sports, art and working. It was work that shaped his ideas of the restaurant business and it’s his drive to keep creating that keeps his businesses growing. Omlid was raised in Stevensville and graduated from Stevensville High School in 1986. He had a lawn mowing business when he was in grade school and then began working at the Fireside Sandwich and Pizza Shop when he was a sophomore. These two jobs influenced much of his early businesses. Omlid went to the University of Montana and graduated with a degree in teaching and one in business. But he says his best education has been his experiences in life. After graduation, he moved away twice, once to Seattle and once again to Denver. “But the best thing that ever happened to me was moving back home,” he said. Omlid went to work teaching at Stevensville School where he taught government and US history, three years in middle school and four years as a high school teacher. But with teaching, immediate results aren’t always seen, it’s more a matter of increments and Omlid likes to see immediate results. “I like the hand-on aspect of a restaurant,” he said. “And the adrenaline rush when you are super busy, that’s hard to beat.” While teaching, he began his landscaping business and that taught him that working for himself a lot of the time was
By Michael Howell
Cody Omlid is rebuilding Kodiak Jax in Stevensville and wants everyone to know the restaurant is still open. The signature bear he carved will remain. Jean Schurman photo. better than working for someone else. But he was always on the go, even though his creative side did get to design. In 1998, Sam Rivera decided to sell his business, Sam’s Deli. Omlid thought this would be a good opportunity. His father-inlaw, Jack Filcher, cosigned the loan for him and his first business was established, Kodiak Jax. Located at 514 Main Street in Stevensville, the building needed a lot of work as did the menu. Omlid enlisted the aid of fellow teachers to help with the remodel and added new items to the menu, including pizza. He made a deal with Super 1 – they had just opened their new store – to make his pizza dough so that his dough would always be consistent.
“At that time, there were four other pizza places in Stevensville, including two chains,” he said. Omlid began Kodiak Jax with a small menu and learned quickly what worked and what didn’t work. He expanded into sandwiches and salads when he realized that pizza was more of a nighttime order and not a lunchtime order. He also put his stamp on the building with some of his paintings and the large, carved bear outside. In fact, Omlid has carved several large bears that are around the various businesses. A few years later, Omlid and his brother, Luke, partnered up to establish Kodiak Jax II. At first the business was in Corvallis but they soon moved to Hamilton to the
location at 109 S. 1st. Although the pizza and sandwiches are the same, there is also a salad bar in Hamilton, along with a casino. The decor is much the same but Omlid said he doesn’t own the building so he’s not as enthusiastic about doing special things to the building. Once that business was up and running, he turned back to Stevensville for his next business, CJ’s Den. He partnered with Jon Vercruyssen, who Omlid said is great with customers and the casino. Omlid remodeled the old gas station into a restaurant that features everything from hamburgers and chicken to soup and salad, just no pizza. See LEGACY, page 3
Another conservation easement is winding its way through the county’s Open Lands Bond process as the Bitterroot Land Trust slowly adds to its long list of success stories in the Burnt Fork area of the Bitterroot. On April 15, the Ravalli County Commissioners gave conditional approval to a request for use of Open Lands Bond funds to pay a portion of the costs incurred in placing a conservation easement on 223 acres up the Burnt Fork owned by Doug and Janis Astle. The ranch is located on Cash Nichols Road about two miles east of Stevensville. The couple
has been involved in agriculture all their lives and plan to keep on keeping on in the Bitterroot. The ranch is composed of four separate parcels that have been combined into the easement. Five acres in the northwest corner have been left out for potential future development. There is a six-acre building envelope around the existing buildings. The rest of the ranch will continue to be used for crop, pasture and livestock production. South Swamp Creek cuts through the property adding riparian values to the deal. The Astles are requesting $215,000, or $995 per acre from the Ravalli County Open Lands See EASEMENTS, page 3
A view of the Astle Ranch, which is winding its way through Ravalli County’s Open Land Bond Program to perhaps become one of the latest conservation easements to be placed on the Burnt Fork, where OLBP funds have been used to help protect over 2,000 acres of land from future development.
Youth Conservation Expo held Stevi school bonds approved By Michael Howell
A whopping 52%, or, 3,908 out of the 7,523 registered voters in the Stevensville School District turned out to vote on two bond propositions in the recent election. Both bonds were approved. The $6,369,000 elementary school bond was approved by a vote of 1,596 to 1,243. The $14,169,000 high school bond was approved by a vote of 2,102 to 1,763.
The Bitterroot Mushers were a big hit with the kids at this year’s annual Youth Conservation and Education Expo at the Teller Wildlife Refuge in Corvallis. Brandi Williamson and her son Rhone (named after a Check Point in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race) and Sonya McLoney were on hand with their dogs to inspire Bitterroot Valley youth to engage in the great outdoors. Kids attending the Expo and visiting the various stations got a chance to win a scholarship to one of several summer camps around the state. Last year 166 scholarships were awarded. At right: If you saw Chloe Greek scramble quickly up the rock-climbing wall at this year’s Youth Conservation and Education Expo you would think that she had been climbing rock cliffs her whole life. But her only experience other than some tree climbing has been attending the Youth Conservation and Education Expo over the last three years. She hopes to tackle the real thing sometime soon. Michael Howell photos.
“What a great thing for the community,” said Stevensville School District Superintendent Bob Moore. After the defeat of a previous set of bonds at the ballot box, Moore saw the need to refine the proposals and align them more with the community’s vision. He said that’s where the survey that they had conducted by a hired consultant came into play. He said everything in the 20-year-plan was put back on
the table again and reviewed by the school staff. Then they had Hingston-Roach Group Inc. put this information out in a survey form to every household in the community. He said what came out of that was that it wasn’t so much a question about the amount of money being requested. These bond requests that just passed actually represent a $4 million
See BONDS, page 2
Stevensville School District Bob Moore is excited about the approval of the two school bond issues on the ballot and is eager to get on with the project. Michael Howell photo.