The Stevensville Town Council, at its August 9th meeting, reviewed a revised draft of a proposed well field agreement with developer of Twin Creeks subdivision, John Anderson, set a date for a public hearing to consider amending the subdivision conditions of approval to, among other things, reduce the size of the well field acreage donated to the town to about 4 acres, and set up a committee to look for alternative well field locations should the deal with Anderson, for whatever reason, fail to go through.

The Town has already approved the Twin Creeks Subdivision with a set of conditions to be met before the final plat may be filed. One of those conditions involves the transfer of a well, already installed, and 6 to 8 acres of land for a well field, to the Town at no cost. But that land transfer may not happen in time.

The problem for the town is that it has a pending grant and loan combination from Rural Development for the current water system improvement project, which involves abandoning the current water treatment plant and developing a replacement well field in town, that requires a change in water right through the DNRC process and proof that the town owns the land on which the wells sit.

Town Attorney Keithi Worthington asked the Council to agree to forward the draft which she had revised to RD for some feedback about the acceptability of the format. The format involves the town receiving a right of first refusal to purchase the well field land from Anderson should the subdivision not be completed.

“We are just looking for a way that we can guarantee to RD that we will get title to this property,” said Worthington. “We are just feeling out RD to see if the format will work, to assume we will get title even if the final plat is not filed.”

An amendment to the motion to forward the draft to RD was made by Councilor Dan Mullan to explicitly state that there was no binding language to any party being adopted, that they were only seeking feedback about the format. The amended motion was approved 4 to 0.

The Council then considered a motion by Councilor Pat Groninger to set up a committee to research alternative possibilities for locating the well field, should some unknown development preclude filing of the final plat. The committee, which will include the Mayor and Councilor Dan Mullan who sits on the town’s water and sewer committee, will work with engineers from PCI to determine other possible locations for the well field. That motion was also approved on a 4 to 0 vote.

Paul Forstig of Territorial Landworks presented a request from Anderson for the Town to amend the conditions of approval of his subdivision to reduce the size of the donated well field from 6 to 8 acres down to 4 acres.

Worthington said that there is no clear procedure on the books either in state law or in their own ordinances defining the process for amending the conditions placed on an approved subdivision. She recommended that the Town hold a public hearing on the issue prior to making any changes. The Council approved on a 4 to 0 vote to set a date of August 30 at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall to take public comment on the proposed amendments to the subdivision’s conditions of approval.

In other business the Town Council approved a request for reimbursement to pay invoices submitted by NorthWestern Energy for work on the gas main relocation project at the airport. The invoice for $195,000 is the last invoice to be paid on the project which was started on June 16 and has come to a successful conclusion.

Airport Manager Don Misovec told the Council that six years have passed since the Airport Board first started considering the project. An initial engineer’s estimate of the cost of the project came to $647,900. Following negotiations a contract was awarded for up to $440,000, but due to some cost savings along the way, primarily on materials, the final expense came to only $415,000. The town’s share of the last invoice payment, which is mostly covered by a grant, will come to $9,937 in matching funds.

Later in the meeting, under board reports, newly elected Councilor Dan Mullan, who sits on the Airport Board, told the Council that, after looking into the issue, it appears that the town’s relationship with the airport and the Airport Board is not supported by any documentation.

“It appears to have been a handshake kind of deal over 30 years ago with no record,” said Mullan. He recommended that the Council consider working with the Airport Board to fashion a Memorandum of Understanding, a set of rules, or something similar to govern the relationship.

“There needs to be some sort of agreement in writing,” said Mullan.

It was also mentioned that the airport manager, Don Misovec, who has been generously offering his volunteer services “since Lewis and Clark came through,” was not going to be around forever and that some consideration should be given to establishing a method for installing a replacement.

In other business the Council rescinded the vendor fees of $150 charged for the Northwest Honey Fest. It rescinded the fees on Creamery Picnic vendors at a previous meeting and rescinded these to be fair to all parties.

Mayor Barnett said that he was putting his foot down about issuing emergency special event permits for the Creamery Picnic Kiddie Parade. He said that, in the future, if the permit application wasn’t made in a timely manner, no emergency permit would be issued.

Police Chief James Marble said that the Creamery Picnic celebration went down without a hitch.

“The Creamery went pretty well,” said Marble. “We didn’t have to take anybody to jail.” He said that the few situations that occurred that could have developed into altercations were quickly defused. He said people getting disorderly were quickly approached by one of the six officers on duty and given the option to “go away or go to jail.” He said they chose to leave every time.

“We were able to stop things before they got started,” said Marble.

Marble did say that, aside from the picnic, there had been some felony criminal mischief at the high school that was being investigated and some good evidence had been collected.

Councilor Pat Groninger asked Marble if the revenue from police activity came through the department or through the court.

Marble said through the court.

Groninger wondered if there was a way to identify the codes that were being enforced that brought in the most revenue.

“Are there any codes on the books, at the state or in our ordinances, that we could use to generate more income?” asked Groninger. He wondered if there was an ordinance that could be attached to increase revenue.

In the public comment portion of the meeting Mel Cook stated that he and some of his neighbors on 3rd Street had registered a complaint with the police department about activity and conditions at a lot on the block across the street. He said there appears to be building going on, but there is a stop order in effect on any building.

Mayor Barnett said that the Town’s building inspector was making daily inspections at the site to check on the activity. He said the activity being noticed was not building but some work required to be done to render the site safe in the meantime. The Mayor said that the Police Chief and Building Inspector had been sent out to inventory property in Town that might be considered in decay or in need of clean up. He said that it was a long list and that, when he reviewed it, he thought that some of the properties “were not so bad.” He said that the Chief and inspector were told to make another survey and limit it to the very worst sites.

The Mayor directed the fire chief to do a fire inspection at the site and turn the results over to him.

Councilor Groninger, who lives across the street from the property in question, said in relation to the survey, “It’s time we clean it up. Period. We have an ordinance. No certain individual is being brought up here, we are all guilty of something.” He said that something needed to be done about the decay and the weeds in town, starting with the worst places.

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Pneumonia suspected in Skalkaho bighorn sheep

Skalkaho big horns showing signs of infection

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) announced last week that a pneumonia outbreak was suspected in another bighorn sheep population in west central Montana.

The latest occurrence of the nearly always-fatal respiratory disease was initially confirmed in necropsy results from five sheep that FWP Bitterroot area wildlife biologist, Craig Jourdonnais, collected last week from the Skalkaho population east of Hamilton. Other recent pneumonia outbreaks affected bighorn populations in the East Fork of the Bitterroot late last fall and in the Bonner area and Lower and Upper Rock Creek herds in January and February.

Once bighorns contract pneumonia they usually die within a few weeks. There are no known vaccines to prevent pneumonia in wild sheep, or medications that can be practically applied to prevent the death of sick individuals.

A university wildlife student, Chris Anderson, first reported signs of sick sheep in the Skalkaho area on a return trip from Rock Creek to Hamilton on Aug. 8. Anderson is helping FWP monitor the bighorn sheep populations that experienced pneumonia outbreaks late last fall and winter.

Jourdonnais responded and had observed approximately 100 sheep in the Skalkaho area so far last week. He shot eight sheep—four lambs and their adult ewes—that exhibited clinical signs or behavior suggesting pneumonia and was able to collect blood and tissue samples from five of these sheep for further analysis at the FWP wildlife lab in Bozeman.

“We’ve conducted several aerial and field surveys on this sheep herd since a pneumonia outbreak began in the neighboring East Fork herd last December, “Jourdonnais said. “But this is the first time anyone observed sheep with pneumonia-type symptoms in the Skalkaho herd. So far the disease doesn’t seem too widespread within the herd, but we’re keeping a close eye on it.”

On Monday, Jourdonnais said the situation was “a bit perplexing right now.” He said that after observing the sheep for a few days that it did not seem to be a normal pneumonia outbreak as no other sheep seem to be showing signs of any infection. He said that at this point the sheep he is watching are looking well and so are the lambs.

Jourdonnais said that the tactic has been to remove ill looking animals as they are spotted, but so far no more have been spotted.

“So far our observations are raising more questions than giving answers,” said Jourdonnais. He said that lab results from the tissue and blood samples taken from the ill sheep and lambs may provide an answer. Those results are expected in about a week.

FWP officials will spend the next couple days continuing to evaluate the extent of the potential outbreak and deciding the best response strategy.

Last fall, FWP undertook experimental aggressive campaigns to kill diseased animals from the East Fork and Bonner populations to try to protect healthy animals from exposure to the fatal disease. However, officials allowed the disease to run its course in Lower Rock Creek, due to the treacherous terrain and difficulty in finding and approaching the bighorns there. The disease also ran its course in Upper Rock Creek, where it was too widespread to try to control.

“Right now we appear to still have a lot of healthy sheep, and we’re hopeful that we can remove the sick animals and stay on top of this,” said Mike Thompson, FWP Region 2 Wildlife Manager.

FWP plans to contact the five successful applicants for bighorn sheep licenses in the Skalkaho Hunting District 261 and discuss these findings and how hunters can assist FWP in documenting any suspicious behavior in area bighorns.

The Skalkaho area is historic bighorn habitat, but bighorns had not been observed there more recently until 1973, one year after a reintroduction into the East Fork of the Bitterroot area. The herd grew, and was supplemented in 2000 with 27 animals from the Sun River herd. Jourdonnais counted 128 sheep in the Skalkaho herd from a helicopter on March 3 of this year.

There have been no known cases of humans or pets contracting pneumonia from wild sheep, but FWP cautions anyone who finds dead or sick bighorn sheep to leave the animal alone. FWP also encourages the public to report any observations of sheep exhibiting symptoms of an illness or strange behavior.

“Reports from the public were responsible for the first detection of pneumonia in most of our recent outbreaks,” said Jourdonnais. "These reports from the public help us determine how widespread the sickness is and give us a chance at catching it in its early stages.”

For more information or to make a report, call FWP in Missoula at 542-5500.

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Arrest made in spate of burglaries

A 21-year-old Hamilton man, Jonathan C. Tignor, was arrested Tuesday, August 10 and charged with committing a spate of burglaries at Hamilton businesses between July 26 through August 2. During that time burglaries were committed at Dr. William Suda’s office, Hair With Style, Elaine’s Engraving, Sam’s Spade and A Beautiful You Salon. Many items were stolen and an undetermined amount of cash was taken.

Hamilton Police Detective Stephen Murphey said that fingerprints were lifted at two of the crime scenes that matched some fingerprints on file belonging to Tignor. He said that based on that evidence a search warrant was obtained to search the residence where Tignor was staying. Murphey said that over 300 items were recovered in that search, many matching items reportedly stolen from the businesses.

Tignor was arrested without incident and, according to court documents, admitted to committing the burglaries. Several methadone pills and syringes were also found during the search of Tignor’s room.

Bail was set by Justice Court Judge Jim Bailey at $100,000.

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Bitterroot College needs assessment completed

By Michael Howell

In January of 2010 the Bitterroot College Program contracted with Maas Companies to produce a needs assessment report to better understand the post-secondary educational needs of the residents of Ravalli County and the Bitterroot Valley in order to create a plan for future growth and development of the college.

The plan and the projections are based upon the needs of the community within the context of demographic trends, economic trends as well as the educational opportunities currently available to county residents. It looks forward to the benchmark years of 2015 and 2025, but should be considered a dynamic (living) document that is updated and revised periodically.

The plan was developed using both quantitative and qualitative information. Both were important in order to develop a comprehensive view of the present and future educational needs of the community, and how best to meet these needs. The quantitative data included demographic, jobs, educational attainment and other data obtained from various sources. The qualitative data was gathered primarily from a survey conducted between February 1 and April 1, 2010. A total of 755 responses were received from a variety of stakeholder groups including students, educators, and community members.

According to Dan Rosenberg, of MAAS Company, the needs assessment originally had three parts, an internal environmental scan, a survey, and an external environmental scan, but as the project progressed a few other parts were added including future enrollment growth, future program instruction and future space needs.

The internal environmental scan examines the characteristics of the students attending the Bitterroot College Program (BCP). It also considers the other residents of the county who attend college at one of the other campuses of the Montana University System (MUS).

A few statistics uncovered in the internal environmental analysis include: Older students are less likely and less willing to travel to classes. And the average age of BCP students is 31.8 compared to the average age of Ravalli County residents attending the U of M College of Technology, which is 28.

Another interesting statistic that emerged in the study was that 63 percent of the Ravalli County residents attending the U of M COT were female, while 60 percent of those attending other campuses around the state were male.

Older people in Ravalli County are much more open to evening classes, while younger people are split between preferring morning and afternoon classes.

The report analyzes many other characteristics of Ravalli County residents responding to questions about their educational preferences and needs.

The external environmental scan is an analysis of the characteristics of the Bitterroot College Program’s service area population, its economy, and other educational opportunities.

The future projections provided in the last three chapters are intended to serve as a guide in decision-making and planning at the BCP. Projections of this type are impossible to make with absolute accuracy, according to the report; however, they are rooted in hard data and the consulting team’s more than 25 years of experience in educational master planning with more than 75 community colleges. The projections (and the supporting data and analysis in the Plan) will be used to assist in future program and curriculum development, outreach, scheduling, facilities development, and the incorporation of new educational delivery systems.

The BCP, which currently serves 74 residents, is predicted to grow to serve 440 by the year 2015 and 1,236 by the year 2025.

But, “Whether the BCP reaches 500 students in the year 2016 or 2018 is not the most critical piece of information. What is important is that the BCP will achieve a headcount of 500 students and long-range planning for facilities, funding and staffing must be put in place in time,” it states in the report.

Future space needs are also analyzed based upon these predictions. It is predicted that by the year 2015 the college would require up to 26,292 square feet to fulfill its function and meet its needs. By the year 2025 the needed space will be about 50,580 square feet.

The report concludes that there is a strong need for such a college with no practical alternatives in existence. The needs to be served, however, are very mixed and include the need to offer non-credit courses, career technical courses, courses planned for a transfer to a four-year college, and college prep or developmental courses.

“The County population will support a robust Community College,” said Rosenberg. “If you build it, they will come, if you offer programs they want.” He said that it was important for the BCP to be planning for future growth.

Anyone interested in highlights from the document may visit HYPERLINK "http://www.maasco.com/upload/bcp/" http://www.maasco.com/upload/bcp/ for an online narrated presentation.

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RAC restoration project planned for upper Three Mile Creek

By Michael Howell

In a cooperative effort involving the Ravalli County Resource Advisory Committee (RAC), the US Forest Service and Ravalli County Road Department, a reconstruction project designed to reduce the amount of sediment running into upper Three Mile Creek at the “Four Corners” intersection has been funded and the road work is slated to begin next spring.

Three Mile Creek has been included on the State of Montana’s 303(d) lists of impaired

waters since at least 1996, and is currently in the analysis phase for Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and a watershed restoration plan. It is one of the only streams listed as “non-supporting” for aquatic life, with high nutrient loads and siltation affecting the creek’s water quality.

This project proposal is a direct outgrowth of the existing Upper Three Mile/Ambrose Watershed Project funded in 2005 by the RAC, and a continuation of activities funded by two prior RAC grants in 2003 and 2005, both entitled Threemile Road and Watershed Sediment Reduction Project, which have been leading up to project implementation as initiated in this proposal.

The first, in 2003, was submitted by the Bitter Root Water Forum (BRWF) and the Bitter Root Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D). The second was submitted by Friends of Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge in 2005. The latest project was submitted by the Bitter Root Water Forum and will be coordinated by that group.

The program proposal states that the environmental goal of this project is to improve water quality and riparian and aquatic habitat for native fish and aquatic life in Threemile Creek by stabilizing stream morphology, reducing erosion, and removing sediment and nutrient sources. This environmental goal reflects the priorities of the Ambrose/Threemile Watershed Assessment completed in 2005 by Tri-State Water Quality Council with Montana DEQ 319 Grant funding.

The programmatic goal of this project is to develop a cooperative effort involving the Bitterroot National Forest (BNF), Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), Ravalli County and private landowners to jointly reduce sediment inputs to Threemile Creek from road runoff and unstable stream banks for approximately six miles of roads.

According to Stevensville District Ranger Dan Ritter, RAC has allocated $47,695 to the project, the US Forest Service is contributing $8,500 worth of equipment and personnel, and Ravalli County is contributing $23,662.

The focal point of the current project is the location where Three Mile Road intersects Three Mile Creek, known locally as “Four Corners,” which is the junction of four road segments: Three Mile County Road 900, Forest Service Road #640, the access road to FWP’s Three Mile Wildlife Management Area (which also accesses a private landowner), and a private ranch road.

According to the road assessment, road contours have become convex rather than concave, rutting is continuous over long road segments, road cut-banks are unstable and actively eroding at various sites, and material is being delivered to the creek by both sheet erosion over the road shoulder and channels created by the rutting of the road surface.

The current project covers about 800 feet of county roadway at the Four Corners intersection which will undergo major reconstruction involving a new road base and surfacing, a raised roadbed, construction of ditches and drainage swales.

County Commissioner Jim Rokosch, who serves on RAC, said that the dip at the Four Corners intersection was obviously the highest priority for addressing sediment issues where all three roads deliver runoff directly into the creek.

Addressing those issues is not a simple, easy, or inexpensive fix due to a number of factors.

As it states in the project proposal, the erosive nature of the native soils, the presence of cattle grazing, and the possibility of limited maintenance increase the potential for ditches to fill, relief culverts to plug, etc. and cause failure in the drainage system. For this reason, it is important that the road grade be modified at Four Corners to prevent potential runoff from entering directly into the stream. This solution is justified by the documented heavy sediment load entering this sediment-impaired stream at this point, and the heavy public traffic using this road to access both the Bitterroot NF and the FWP Threemile Game Range.

The roadway over the existing culvert will be raised approximately six feet above the current road grade and the road sloped away from the culvert to create low points in the three roads that are far enough away from the crossing to allow for natural filtration of any runoff prior to entering the stream. To accommodate the new fill the road width will need to be reduced to 16 feet at the culvert, and rock headwalls constructed at both ends of the existing culvert to contain the new fill. New signage warning of “One Lane Crossing” or “Narrow Road Ahead” will be installed.

“This will be a major feat of engineering,” said Ritter, who oversees RAC projects for the Forest Service.

Dave Shultz of the Bitter Root Water Forum said, “This is a great example of several agencies and a private landowner working together to make improvements that will benefit everybody and the environment. On this project the County has stepped up in a really big way and we are very appreciative.”

Other projects in the valley that have received RAC funding this year include:

• $14,000 for Sleeping Child Common Bugloss/New Invader Project

• $34,000 for Selway Wilderness MT Invasive Treatment Initiation

• $5,000 for Bitterroot Floating Weed Pull

• $18,000 for Shields Forest Trail #673 reconstruction

• $14,978 for St. Mary's Peak Lookout Stewardship

• $30,000 for Healthy Kids/Healthy Forest program

• $4,875 for Bitter Root Irrigation District Lost Horse Feeder Canal

• $15,000 for West Fork Bitterroot River Riparian Management

• $30,050 for Elk Productivity, Survival, & Recruitment Study in the Bitterroot Valley

• $8,474 for Biological Bark Beetle Control

Including the Three Mile Creek project, RAC has awarded a total of $228,940 for local projects in 2010. The money is provided through the Secure Rural Schools Act and is passed to the counties through the USFS budget.

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