by Leah Grunzke

Get hands-on experience collecting native grass and wildflower seeds at this month's Community Garden Event. We'll learn the tricks and techniques of gathering wild seeds with Bryce Christians of Native Ideals Seed Company, and practice propagating native shrubs by root cuttings. You'll be able to take home native seeds to plant, or buy bargain-priced native wildflowers, grasses and shrubs ready to plant in your garden!

by Glenn Ferren

This is the sign posted in the Lolo NF for a Thief:

So you stole my new game camera…

I expected hunters in this area, but I didn’t expect a hunter hunting something to steal – a Thief!

So you are not really a hunter, just a low-life bum that steals stuff when no one is looking.

by Kathy Weber

(Washington, D.C.) - Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus is bringing the nation’s top health care official, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, to Missoula on Monday for a rural health care discussion with health care providers, patients and parents to discuss health care in rural communities. Baucus is looking forward to hearing from folks in Missoula and offering them an update on the latest health care developments in the U.S. Senate.

by Tod McKay

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the “Big Blowup” which occurred August 20-21, 1910, when a cold front with gale-force winds blew dozens, if not hundreds, of lightning fires across rivers and mountains burning nearly 3 million acres of national forest in Idaho and western Montana. The fires of 1910 touched individuals, families, firefighters, Army personnel, communities, and indeed people worldwide.

by Jim Brown

On August 20, 2010, the Montana Wool Growers Association participated in the meeting called and organized by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Helena on forming a wolf management coalition.

Given the damage done by reintroduction of the gray wolf to the sheep industry, MWGA feels it is necessary for the Association to participate in such a coalition.

MWGA supports the quickest means of delisting wolves – this is because the longer wolves are listed, the more wolves will be on the landscape and the more damage wolves will do to our sheep operations.

by Boyd Hartwig

West End, Mineral County – Work to ready the Dominion Creek Trestle and Tunnel for public use as part of the Route of the Olympian has continued over the last several weeks, with workers removing ballast boxes from the old railroad grade to prepare it for new decking. The ballast boxes were part of the original construction and were used to hold in place the dirt and gravel that made up the bed of the railroad grade. New decking, made of glue laminated timbers, will now be placed on the trestle. That work is expected to begin in early September.

by Jed Link

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT) on Tuesday released the following statement following the release of 14 additional pages pertaining to the Department of Interior’s clandestine plans to declare millions of acres in Montana to be National Monuments.

“While I’m glad the Department of Interior has finally released these pages, I can certainly understand why they wanted to keep them a secret. A single sentence acknowledging the benefit of public input won’t appease Montanans when the rest of the document lays out plans to circumvent that input if it doesn’t fall in line with the pre-constructed plans of unelected Washington bureaucrats. The new pages make a disturbing case for bypassing Congress with a unilateral Presidential designation of National Monuments. This was the worst-case scenario, and it’s no longer hypothetical.”

by Rose Davis

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in cooperation with state and local partners and several Montana and Idaho communities are presenting a weekend of events to commemorate 100 years since the Fires of 1910 and that year’s August 21st and 22nd firestorm called the “Big Burn”.

MDT advises travelers to be prepared for minimal delays and reduced speeds

by Lori Ryan

The Montana Department of Transportation would like to inform motorists that Frontier West of Missoula will begin working on the I-90, Alberton Interchange project Wednesday, August 18th. Construction will consist of rehabilitation of the interchange bridge by milling and overlaying the existing surface. Project completion is slated for late September.

by Andrea Helling

In the name of transparency, Senator Jon Tester has posted to his website all pages of the U.S. Interior Department’s draft “Treasured Landscapes” document, part of which was leaked earlier this year.

The entire 21-page draft memo, released Friday, is available online at http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/...s_Memo.pdf .