Guest Post

By Carlotta Grandstaff, Coordinator, Bitterrooters for Planning The headline in the April 10 issue of the Star, “Subdivisions in north valley facing deer problems,” got it backwards. Allow a rewrite to more accurately identify the problem: “Deer in north valley facing subdivision problems.” To be even more accurate, deer, elk, moose and bear, not to […]

By Jane Lambert, Founder, and Vocal Supporter of 3-H, Stevensville Many of you will remember my letters from last year, warning of the dangers Hoary Allysum has for horse’s health. They are many, and they are serious when ingested either in hay or in the pasture. Our roadsides are covered with it—the mowing has done […]

By William Frankenberger, Stevensville I am a retired professor of Soil and Environmental Sciences. I live on a farm (45 acres) in Stevensville. In the past, I have used Roundup to kill weeds on our gravel roads. I have always been hesitant in using Roundup because of its nonspecific poisonous action in the environment. It […]

By Niall G. Clancy, Hamilton MT and Logan UT As I wrap up a master’s degree in ecology, I’ve had time to look back on all the teachers I’ve had over my 19 years of schooling. There have been many fantastic teachers and professors who have impacted the way I think, view the world, and […]

By Barb Cestero, Tracy-Stone Manning, Kayje Booker, Dave Chadwick For decades, Montanans have sought a path towards resolving the management of more than a half-million acres of public lands designated as wilderness study areas (WSAs). These are places so special that Congress set them aside in 1977 until it had time to decide what their fate should be. […]

By Michael Hoyt, Corvallis Late Friday morning, May 24, 2019, it was announced that the U.S. Forest Service, the USDA agency which has always operated Job Corps centers would stop that management at the end of the current (government) fiscal year, September 30, 2019. The current administration in Washington transferred the Job Corps program from […]

By Judy Hoy, Stevensville This letter is to businesses that depend on sales of products for livestock and pets and/or of hunting and fishing supplies and related items. If you also sell pesticides, especially those that have been shown to kill and maim domestic animals, beneficial insects and other wildlife species and to harm humans, […]

By Frank Novotny, Victor I got a good laugh from Mr. Ward’s letter “bummed out”. I just wonder how bummed out he would be had we elected a foul-mouthed Communist instead of a successful businessman. He fails abjectly to understand that the Democrat Party had adopted 70% of the Communist agenda way back in the […]

By Barry Mills, Stevensville I was listening to a news program this morning that has a political bias that I happen to agree with, but in the ensuing interview the interviewer was so abrasive that made the interviewee seem sympathetic. I’m feeling like I’m walking on eggs, especially, in my daily life in Stevensville, with […]

By Dianne Hansen, CEO, Partners In Home Care, Inc., Missoula As a hospice CEO and lifelong Montana resident, I see daily the difficulties our most vulnerable neighbors face as they traverse our complex healthcare system. It is not an understatement to say that navigating care is complicated for nearly anyone who juggles doctors, prescriptions, insurance and more […]

By Frank Machek, Stevensville I read with interest Dennis Hicks’ letter regarding the legal and moral issues relative to abortion.  His references to the Lincoln-Douglas debate and the Dred Scott ruling, which denied the rights of citizenship to the black race, were particularly relevant to his thesis and conclusion that Roe v. Wade is abortion’s […]