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Covering the Bitterroot Valley – “Where Montana Begins!” – Established 1985 – Locally Owned & Independent
’ ! l a c o L t a t s e B ‘The
Volume XXXVI, Number 47
JUNE
25TH AND
26TH Wednesday, June 9, 2021
www.bitterrootstar.com
Hamilton council hears from RML
Living the high life
by Nathan Boddy
Local mountaineer Mario Locatelli releasing fourth book Mario Locatelli. by Nathan Boddy For fifty years, the Bitterroot Mountains of western Montana have been scaled, skied, hunted and traversed by a high mountain creature whose pseudonym says it all: “The Montana Mountain Goat.” Mario Locatelli, local mountaineer and author, has not allowed his status as octogenarian to dampen his desire to share his stories. His forthcoming book, “From Italy to Hamilton,” only
awaits final touches and production. With hopes that it will be available for purchase by late summer, Locatelli expressed that he is not selling the book for profit. “I’m going to donate everything to the Salvation Army,” he says. “I’ve got plenty of money for the rest of my life.” Mario Locatelli’s books aren’t the only way people in the Bitterroot know him. Having served for two decades in the Ravalli County Search
and Rescue and spearheading the ‘Mountain Goat Marathon’ for charitable fundraising, Locatelli has played an integral role in exposing people to the splendor of the Montana high country. In the forward to Locatelli’s 2010 book, “Hiking With Mario in Montana’s Bitterroot Mountains,” George Corn wrote, “It’s hard for me to think of the Bitterroots for very long without thinking of Mario.” See LOCATELLI, page 13
Dr. Marshall Bloom, Associate Director of the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML), was a guest speaker at the Hamilton City Council on Tuesday, June 1. His presentation was given to familiarize the Council with a series of developments that will begin on, and adjacent to, the RML campus over the coming years. Dr. Bloom shared architectural renderings of a new vivarium, new information and way-finding signage for the main RML entrance on 4th Street, a rebuilt water line on Baker Street, as well as plans for and new segments of fencing to be constructed on the lab’s west and south sides. Per the normal operating procedure for RML, lab neighbors will be updated by mail as projects move forward. Dr. Bloom’s presentation also gave a generalized history of RML’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 17 months. Dr. Bloom stated that the first reports of a new pneumonia virus from Wuhan, China was reported by the Washington Post on December 30th, and by January 15th of 2020, Rocky Mountain Laboratories had submitted proposals to do research on the new coronavirus. “That was well before the first case of coronavirus was identified in the United States,” says Dr. Bloom. “We were really ahead of the curve on that.” According to Dr. Bloom, RML was already planning for the impacts of the pandemic by February, anticipating disruptions to supply lines, availability of gloves, N-95 masks, etc. By late summer, RML had begun doing voluntary, asymptomatic testing of RML staff. “As of today, we’ve done more than 3700 tests of our employees. We don’t have that many employees, of course, but a lot of people get tested weekly.”
Testing for the virus on RML’s campus has not been the only focus, however. “As soon as the vaccine became available, we realized we should make plans to vaccinate our staff,” Dr. Bloom said, adding that, as of June 1st, 2021, “the vaccination uptake among the scientific staff is over 95%. That tells you that, the people who know the most about this are the ones who are lining up for the vaccine.” Dr. Bloom went on to report that several programs traditionally hosted by RML, including summer and high school interns, as well as tours and visits of the lab, will remain unfilled this summer on account of the ongoing pandemic. In later agenda items, the Council filled three positions, appointing Jessica Randazzo to the city Zoning Commission, Carmela Browns to the Bitterroot Public Library Board of Trustees, and Councilor Kristi Bielski as the Council’s new representative to the North Hamilton Urban Renewal District. Lastly, two rezoning requests received their second and final readings, adding slightly over four acres of residentially zoned land to the City of Hamilton. While none of the immediately adjacent landowners were present for the second reading, Kent Barbian spoke in opposition to the zoning changes by posing the question, “Who does this benefit?” Michelle and Steve Robinson of Hamilton made comments in support of one rezoning, saying, “We do support the zone request to become residential high density because it would be selfish to not do so. There’s a great need in our community for people to have a place to live.” The couple went on to express their hope that traffic safety, especially given proximity of the Claudia Driscoll Skate Park and the high volume of youth in the area, be kept in mind during any development.
Work on forest climbing management plan begins Protecting nesting golden eagles and peregrine falcons a major concern by Michael Howell Stevensville District Ranger Steve Brown hosted the first in a series of planned public meetings in the Bitterroot National Forest’s effort to produce a forest-wide climbing management plan. The first meeting focused primarily on the impacts that recreational climbing can have on cliff nesting raptors such as golden eagles and peregrine falcons. Brown said that fueled by growing populations of visitors, climbing activities, like most other recreational activities on the nation’s forests, are increasing. Along with that increased use comes increased impacts to the
terrain and to the animals that inhabit those forest ecosystems. He said some places around the country are getting “loved to death.” He said climbing activities were increasing rapidly here in the Bitterroot and the agency wants to “get out ahead of that.” Brown emphasized that the development Peregrine Falcon. of a climbing management plan had to involve a high level of public participation and a transparent process. He said unless all parties understand the reasons behind the management plan they won’t buy into it and if they don’t buy into it is
not going to work. “We want to promote sustainable climbing into the future while minimizing impacts,” he said. Brown noted that the effort to create a forest wide climbing management plan is not starting from scratch. Conflicts between climbers and other forest users came to a head a few years ago on some of the most popular climbing canyons in the valley. In Mill Creek canyon there was controversy and conflict including threats and actual acts of sabotage. New ownership along
Kootenai Creek at the forest boundary and a continually expanding use of the property by climbers also called out for attention. He said it was obvious that the Forest Service needed to take some sort of action. A moratorium was placed on installation of any new bolted climbing routes and an intense effort was begun to communicate with all the users in the area to establish some sort of rules. Brown said the results of those conversations has been very productive and the high level of cooperation and communication has been encouraging. “We have a track record of demonstrated success there,” he said, “and I want to build on it.” He said engaging the public in this kind of stewardship process was crucial if they were going to move forward with effective management rather than simply resorting to enforcement. He said moving forward programmatically to set some ground rules for the whole forest was the best way to proceed. Brown said the process in forming the plan See PLAN, page 12