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Mush! Mush!

Photographer Scott Poniewaz followed mushers this week as they finished the 20th annual "Race to the Sky" -- a 350-mile long dog sled race and a Montana tradition. Scott was on hand to capture the stories of the winners, the veterans and the rookies alike.

Click here or on the photo to see his stunning photographs and listen to interviews and the sounds of the race coming to a close. [more]

Race to the Sky dog sled race

After warm weather created poor snow conditions last year and the race was cancelled, John Barron, a musher from Helmville, Mont. was set to defend his 2004 title and managed to mark another tally in the ‘W’ column at the 20th annual “Race to the Sky� dog sled race Tuesday night. Barron, however, has no time to rest, since he has his eyes set on the Iditarod that will kick off in less than four weeks. “I’ll lay the guys off for four or five days, then go back to training. This is a good training run for them,� an exhausted Barron said after the race. [more]

Food on the Front Lines

Wildfires are a bit like war -- soldiers and firefighters alike toiling day after day, far from home, dirty, tired and worn.

But in reality, what do firefighters searching for hot spots in Montana have to do with the foot soldiers in Afghanistan on the long-forgotten search for Osama Bin Laden?

Indeed, they are two kinds of soldiers fighting different battles worlds away. But researchers from the U.S. Army and University of Montana are finding that they do have something in common: Both are working in highly stressful environments and need a diet that keeps them energized and alert. [more]

Economy Meets Environment

Tom Darin, Public Lands Director and staff attorney with the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, points at an area on the map near the headwaters of the Greys River south of Jackson and reminisces about an epic day of fishing he had there. “We must have caught 75 Cutthroat,” he said, “not one non-native fish.” His organization is looking to protect fisheries like the Greys from being disrupted by timber sales, oil, or development that could affect it and 18 other river ecosystems.

The proposal, which would protect about 430 stream miles on 19 rivers of the Snake River headwaters under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, is the first of its kind. Of the nation's Wild and Scenic designations, the Snake would be the only one to involve an entire watershed.

To be sure, it is a mammoth political, environmental and social undertaking. But the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance isn't alone in its fight. The proposal has garnered the support of an entire economy -- businesses and organizations who realize that the health of the Snake is directly tied to their survival. [more]

Firey Pics

Holly Maloney, Assistant Superintendent of the Lolo Hot Shot crew, supervises ignitions on the burnout operation above the Mead Ranch to combine the West Mountain and Tarkio fires. Maloney has been with the crew for 18 years.

Fires are always more poignant visually and that proved true for us as we
covered the I-90 Fires west of Missoula in the past few weeks. New West photographer
Scott Poniewaz captured the photos and developed a gallery for your enjoyment.
Click more to get to the gallery, then you can click on each image to view the larger version and captions.

Shelter Deployment

Photo by Scott Poniewaz/New West

Monday afternoon, the Missoula media put on their finest Nomex, packed their camera bags and grabbed their reporter's notebooks to take a field trip to the site where three firefighters had to deploy their fire shelters last Wednesday during the blow-up on the I-90 fire.

Mike Oliver, Information Officer for the Shelter Deployment Investigation Team, guided the trip to the site. Apparently, the two dozer bosses and a dozer operator were turned back half way up the escape route to a pre-determined safety zone about 1.8 miles up the road. They decided to turn back to the area pictured and began clearing as much of the growth as possible to reduce fuels and widen their safety zone. They had about one hour to do the work before the fire reached them as it climbed the steep hillside. One of the fortunate things in this area was the steepness, which pushed most of the heat above the deployment area, especially when it hit the zone that had been carved out, which made a pocket of cooler air that further protected the firefighters, who were unharmed. The powerlines visible in the distance were the BPA. lines that ended up surviving the blaze with little effect on the power supply or physical damage.

Since it is rare that firefighters find themselves in fire shelter deployment situations, the team is investigating what they did right and what may have worked better to educate other firefighters. According to Information Officer David Schmitt, they are planning to put a presentation together with pictures of the area to let firefighters on the fire know what happened and educate them on these types of situations. Most of the details won't be released for months until the final report is published by the investigation team.

Back Home

George and June Pease finally had an opportunity to return to their West Mountain home Friday night after fire officials determined the fires that had threatened their home the past week and a half were under control.

“Even when you go out of town on vacation for a few days, it's always great to come back home,� George said. [more]

Kootenai Fire

The crews on the Camp 32 fire, located 9 miles southwest of Eureka, Mont., have begun to make substantial progress with some fortunate weather. Fire Information Officer Chris Wyatt said, “The crews are getting a handle on it. We also had some rain here this morning.�

The fire is at 900 acres, with just 30 percent contained, but the crews are close to securing it, which will allow evacuees to return by 8 p.m. Wednesday. Fire officials expect to have the blaze 100 percent contained by Thursday night.

The fight is a combination of air and ground efforts with more crews in to help out today. There are three helicopters assisting the suppression efforts and the total number of personnel on the fire is 271. “With the temperatures down and the humidity up, a lot of progress should be made today,� Wyatt said. [more]

Wildfire

The Tarkio Fire, on the west side of the I-90 Complex near Alberton, gained some momentum yesterday after spotting occurred across Nemote Creek. The fire is moving into logging slash, which could mean a quick advancement to the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) power lines. Information Officer Trish Hogevorst says the fire was beginning to run into the slash Wednesday and crews were trying to get after it before it advanced too far. They were also trying to re-secure their fire lines after the spotting. This fire is the difficult one to control at this point and, while it is still three miles from the power lines, it could advance quickly, making it more threatening than the West Mountain Fire.

Update: According to Fire Information Officer Pat Cross, at approximately 4:20 Tuesday, the Tarkio fire pushed over containment lines on the north and east ends into a steep and grassy area and has been moving quickly. They hope to catch the fire again once the winds die down, Cross said.

It is moving quickly toward the BPA's power lines and Cross estimated it would reach the lines in two hours at the rate it was going this afternoon. They began dropping retardant from air tankers and helicopters in an effort to protect the lines and towers. At this point, Cross said they needed to "keep the heat down and make sure the power lines and towers are kept safe." The large plume of smoke looming over the north end of the West Mountain fires was from the Tarkio fire, which was spotting a quarter to a half mile ahead of the main blaze. This was forcing crews to pull off parts of the West Mountain blaze due to the spotting and heavy smoke. "At this point we still need to figure out what the fires have done," Cross said. Last he had heard, crews were going to be camping out tonight to get an early start in the morning.

"We're sending our night crews out soon. Hopefully they will be able to recover some of the fire as soon as things die down a little later tonight,' added Cross. [more]

Trippin' With Scott

Alright, so this week’s Trippin’ with Scott isn’t necessarily the most hardcore adventure and I can’t even say I’m the only one that has done it or know how to do it, but its pretty darn hot out there and Lolo Peak was a brutal climb in the heat the other week. The temperatures have been hanging in the 90’s and about the only way to enjoy weather like this without air conditioning is to sit back on an inner tube with a tallboy of Pabst Blue Ribbon. [more]