News

My heart is broken for Montana. I am currently evacuated from my home town of Seeley Lake. Even without the threat of fire burning my home, I wake up daily to smoke so thick it chokes. Hazardous levels for health start at 150 ppm. We have daily awoken to numbers never...

Source: Missoulian by KIM BRIGGEMAN [email protected] Rice Ridge Fire Balloons to Over 100,000 Acres and is Growing OVANDO — North into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, south toward Kozy Korner, but mostly east, the Rice Ridge fire is out of control. The fire that...

Source: Steve Daines, U.S. Senator Daines to Radical Environmentalists: Stop Blocking Forest Management Projects U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senator Steve Daines today released the following statement on the Friends of the Wild Swan (FOWS), Swan View Coalition (SVC), Alliance...

Source: Missoulian by Rob Chaney FLORENCE — Two federal cabinet secretaries joined two-thirds of Montana’s congressional delegation at the Lolo Peak fire base to decry the effect of lawsuits on firefighting. “We can’t do anything about the weather, but we can do...

Source: KPAX by MTN News HAMILTON - New evacuation warnings have been issued for residents in Ravalli County living near the Meyers Fire. Ravalli County Sheriff Steve Holton says the evacuation warning is for residents from Forest Service Road 5778 (Teepee Creek) to...

Source: Wood Business By Maria Church I had a conversation with a close friend recently that naturally turned to our jobs. I told her I’m proud to work with an innovative industry that’s helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Her eyebrow shot up.That reaction is not...

Source: The Forest Blog by Russ Vaagen Hot Weather Equals Summer Smoke August 2017 has covered much of the West with a blanket of smoke.  Although the media has been portraying this as coming from the BC fires, there are fires throughout the region and there are bound...

Source: The Forest Blog by Russ Vaagen Growing up in the Inland Northwest in the ’80s and 90s summers were great.  We knew fire was always possible, but it wasn’t a clear and present danger like it is now. In the last few years the summers as we knew them only lasted...

Source: Missoulian  RICK ROWAN [email protected] EVE BYRON [email protected] Lolo Peak firefighters are “trying to take control of the beast out there” but warned Thursday night that they expect more extreme fire activity on Friday. The...

Source: Treesource by Karl Puckett The harder we struggle against wildfires, the deeper we sink, like we’re in quicksand, says Mark Finney, research forester for the U.S Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station. “It’s called the fire paradox,” says Finney, a...

Source: Capital Press Mateusz Perkowski - Capital Press The U.S. Forest Service did not violate federal environmental law by creating a 20-mile-long firebreak to stop a Washington state wildfire, a judge has ruled. In 2015, a lightning strike in Washington’s...

Source: The Missoulian By TOM BAUER, Missoulian Montana's Wildfires Should Be Treated Like Natural Disasters The nation’s worst wildfires are burning in Montana. Thousands of acres have been scorched, and thousands more will be lost before the last flame is doused...

Source: KPAX.com MISSOULA - Wildfire smoke is continuing to impact the air quality across Western  Montana. While most of Missoula County had generally Moderate air quality Tuesday morning, thicker smoke is trapped in the Arlee, Lolo, and Seeley Lake valleys. Seeley...

Source: Missoulian MISSOULA — Evacuation orders are in place for some northwestern Montana residents after a lightning storm sparked fires southeast of Eureka in the Kootenai National Forest. Lincoln County officials say the evacuations were ordered at about 2 a.m....