Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Page One News at a Glance

Rescued donkeys arrive in the Bitterroot

Gravel pit proposal draws concerns

Two more ‘open lands’ projects approved

Commissioners support recycling grant application

Rescued donkeys arrive in the Bitterroot

By Michael Howell

About 30 donkeys and a miniature horse were brought to the Bitterroot Valley for veterinary care last week by a coalition of Montana animal rescue groups that have stepped in to handle the disposition of over 1,000 large animals, including around 700 llamas, over 100 horses, two bison, two camels, emus, sheep, goats, and cattle, that currently reside north of Hot Springs, Montana at the Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue.

According to Jane Heath, Executive Director of the Montana Horse Sanctuary, who was on site helping Wednesday, her group joined with the Montana Animal Care Association of Corvallis, the Montana Office of the Humane Society of the United States located in Billings, and the Western Montana Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation of Corvallis to make the donkey rescue operation possible.

Heath said that the operators of Montana Large Animal Sanctuary and Rescue, Katherine and Brian Worthington, had lost the support of a major funder and were unable to pay an outstanding hay bill for $40,000 and had run out of food for their animals.

Phyllis Ruana of the Montana Animal Care Association of Corvallis said that she got a call a week ago Saturday and went up to Hot Springs to survey the situation. She said that it was immediately evident that food was the most desperate need for the 1,000-plus animals being kept on the 400-acre place. Then, she said, they began to survey the animals to try and assess the condition of their health.

“We saw right away that the donkeys were in the worst shape,” said Ruana. Their hooves had not been tended to properly and had grown extremely long and curled, like elf shoes, virtually crippling many of the animals. Some tried not to move, others had learned to hobble along on their heels in an obviously painful and unstable fashion. Ruana said that with close to 30 donkeys to contend with, it was obvious that they needed to take the whole group somewhere that would be more accessible for the number of volunteers and professionals that would be required to address such a huge task.

Shannon Alexander, of Western Montana Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation of Corvallis, helped arrange the affair that took place at a ranch east of Corvallis last week.

Ruana said that there were some horses that were not in good condition due to neglect of their hooves as well, but that those problems were not as severe as what the donkeys were suffering. Farriers, from the Bitterroot and from elsewhere around the state, were hired by the Montana Office of the Humane Society of the United States. According to Wendy Hergenraeder, from the Billings Office of the HSUS, her organization would continue to be involved with the situation at Hot Springs until all the animals could be relocated.

Alexander said that the coalition of animal care groups aimed to find good permanent homes for all the animals at the Hot Springs facility, including the donkeys that were brought to the Bitterroot.

Anyone interested in adopting a llama may contact Phyllis Ruana, President, Montana Animal Care Association at MACAusa@aol.com. If you would like to provide a permanent home to a horse, contact Jane Heath, Executive Director of Montana Horse Sanctuary at ht@mt.net. If you would like to adopt some farm animals, such as emus, sheep, goats or cattle, contact Susie Coston, National Shelter Director, Farm Sanctuary at scoston@farmsanctuary.org. If you would like to adopt two bison, two camels or some emus, contact Dave Pauli of the HSUS at wildquests@aol.com.

Anyone interested in donating to the upkeep and care of the donkeys may donate by sending a check to Western Montana Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation, P.O. Box 1168, Corvallis MT 59828. Indicate “For the Donkeys” on the check.

Gravel pit proposal draws concerns

By Michael Howell

A proposed gravel pit on a property off of Alpenglow Road south of Stevensville went before the County Commissioners last week. Under state law a property owner may remove up to 10,000 cubic yards of gravel from a pit under one acre in size without getting a permit. Operations over one acre in size and removing over 10,000 cubic yards of material requires an open pit mining permit from the Department of Environmental Quality. Although the proposed gravel pit is not large enough to trigger the DEQ permitting process there was a need to get a floodplain permit as the land in question is in the designated floodplain.

According to Ravalli County Floodplain Administrator Eric Anderson, such a request in the floodplain would ordinarily be handled as an administrative decision by his office. Gravel pits in the floodplain are specifically allowed by county regulations. But in this case he had received protests from every other landowner along the road and felt he should exercise the option of passing the permit request on to the County Commissioners.

Anderson said that the property owned by Scott Mucha’s family was familiar to him from previous dealings. He said that the Mucha property, like most of the properties located along Alpenglow Road, a dead end lane off of Bell Crossing, are in the designated floodplain. When the floodplain regulations were changed in 1998 the new regulations prohibited any residential structures in the floodplain. A mobile home on the Mucha property was ‘grandfathered’ in. But at some point the mobile home was removed and, according to Anderson, the Muchas were notified that under the new regulations they had only six months to replace such a “non-conforming use” or they would forfeit the right to replace the structure. That deadline passed.

“After that the Muchas started looking at other options for use of their property,” said Anderson. He said that there was some discussion of placing rental storage units on the property and the neighbors began to discuss adopting some voluntary zoning provisions that would prevent it. That project never came to fruition. Instead the request for a permit to take gravel from the property, creating a pond, was submitted to the floodplain office.

Anderson said that at the meeting before the commissioners it was noted that gravel pits are specifically allowed in the floodplain under the current regulations; however, among the review criteria for issuing a floodplain permit there is the criteria that requires consideration of the “compatibility of the proposed use with existing development and anticipated development in the future.”

Anderson said that some of the neighbors claim that a gravel pit is not compatible with surrounding uses of the land. But Mucha claims that no gravel will be left on the property except for short term; the long term aim is to have a pond. Mucha said that there are at least five other ponds that have been constructed by homeowners along the road. He sees his pond as fitting in perfectly with those surrounding uses. Commissioner J.R. Iman agreed.

Mucha said that his project was a small operation planned with a single contractor to take small amounts of gravel as needed in the contractor’s building projects until the pond was formed.

Neighbors expressed concern that the operation would grow beyond what was being claimed now. They also expressed concern about the wear and tear on the road, which is a private roadway and maintained by the homeowners. They were also concerned about noise and dust as well as the added traffic and the effects upon the viewshed.

It was agreed that Mucha would bring back to the commission, at a meeting scheduled for December 27, a written account of his plans for operation of the gavel operation and planned mitigation efforts.

Mucha said that he was confident that he could address the neighbor’s concerns and was willing to put it in writing.

“But I am not going to sign any stipulations that would take away my rights to develop the property any way the law allows,” said Mucha. “We are not going to lock into something that restricts our rights. What we do may not be what everybody wants, but it will be legal.”

Two more ‘open lands’ projects approved

Two conservation easements approved in Burnt Fork area

By Michael Howell

The Ravalli County Commissioners, last Thursday, December 16, unanimously approved funding the purchase of two separate but adjoining Conservation Easements near Stevensville in the Burnt Fork drainage and along Sunset Bench through the county’s Open Lands Bond Program. The two easements together would place about 717 acres of agricultural land and wildlife habitat along a one-mile stretch of the lower portion of Sunset Bench and across the bottom land of the Burnt Fork drainage as far north as Middle Burnt Fork Road under protection from future development…forever. The deals do hang upon the approval of further funds from the federal Farm and Ranch Protection Program, however. Both parties are seeking funding from that program to complete the deals.

The 363-acre easement across the top edge of Sunset Bench and running down into the bottom is on land belonging to Jim and Sharon Shroeder. It consists of 13 separate parcels which they acquired from three separate owners in 2007.

The Commissioners approved using about $185,000 from the Open Lands Bond Program, amounting to about $514 per acre, to purchase the future development rights. The Shroeders would receive about $134,000 with the other $51,000 going to the cost of creating the easement which includes a baseline study of the property, complex appraisals, legal fees and lots of documentation. The Shroeders reserved 25 acres of their land for future family development.

The adjoining easement approved for funds from the Open Lands Bond program belongs to Dan and Debbie Severson. It consists of six separate parcels, not all contiguous, but in the same area extending north of Sunset Bench across the Burnt Fork drainage. The deal would place 354 acres under a conservation easement. The Seversons retained eight acres of their property for future family development. The land has been farmed by the Severson family for generations.

The Commissioners agreed to fund the deal to the tune of $634 per acre for a total of about $225,000. The Seversons would receive about $166,000 with the other $59,000 going to the cost of the project.

Gavin Ricklefs of the Bitterroot Land Trust, who helped the Shroeders and Seversons process their applications, said of the Shroeder property, “This is a very high visibility project. It preserves a mile of skyline along Sunset Bench.” He said the easements ensure that two major agricultural operations in the area will continue for generations to come and that significant wildlife habitat including riparian area along three streams make the adjoining easements “emblematic of what the voters were approving when they voted to approve the Open Lands Bond Program.”

“We are hoping that these two easements are going to serve as a catalyst for further easements in the neighborhood,” he said.

Commissioner Carlotta Grandstaff said that she wished they would serve as a catalyst in her neighborhood as well.

Commissioner J.R. Iman called it “an awesome project” that represented “what the Open Lands Bond Program was all about.”

Commissioner Greg Chilcott echoed Iman, saying, “This is exactly what we envisioned when the Open Lands Bond Program was passed.” He said it was valuable open space that many people drive by on a daily basis. It would also preserve a lot of land in agriculture at the same time.

Commissioner Jim Rokosch thanked the Shroeders and Seversons for their efforts and thanked them on behalf of the citizens for helping to ensure the preservation of certain values that will benefit all members of the public in perpetuity.

Several members of the public made favorable comments about each of the proposals. The Planning Board recommended approval by a 10 to 0 vote on each application. The County Commissioners unanimously approved both requests for funding in separate actions.

Commissioners support recycling grant application

By Michael Howell

The Ravalli County Commissioners on Friday, December 17, reached consensus on passing a Resolution of Support to aid in the efforts of Ravalli County Recycling, Inc. in future grant applications.

Ravalli County Recycling, Inc. is a non-profit corporation set up under the auspices of Bitterroot Resource Conservation and Development. It is the offspring of a Recycling Task Force that was established by the County Commissioners to help restart a recycling program in the valley following the closure of Ravalli Services Recycling Center.

The new non-profit organization is working closely with volunteers from the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) to receive and process various recyclables including paper, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles at the Fairgrounds.

Sharon Bladen of RSVP said that the program at the Fairgrounds had so far transported over 4,500 pounds of recyclables from Ravalli County to Missoula.

Doug Soehren of RSVP told the Commissioners Friday that “the activity has been very successful and consistent encouragement has been received from the recycling public.”

Fairgrounds manager Deb Rogala said she wanted to commend the group for what they were doing. She said that the set up at the Fairgrounds was working well. She said the process was streamlined, the grounds were being kept incredibly clean, and there were no problems.

“We’re getting good feedback, the general public is thrilled,” she said.

Soehren read a letter to the Commissioners stating that the organization was working with various other recycling participants including two recently started local pick up services, Pacific Recycling, Ravalli Services, Habitat for Humanity and other private and public entities, including the City of Hamilton.

The letter went on to state that several grant opportunities had been identified that could help the organization’s efforts, including several grants due to be offered at the beginning of the year by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Some of the grants being offered are for mobile or fixed recycling equipment. He said there was also a $100,000 grant coming up for a centralized recycling facility with some labor costs included.

“You’ve got a consensus here to pass a Resolution of Support,” said Commissioner Greg Chilcott.

A date was set to consider such a Resolution on December 28, 2010.