My Page: Kellyn Brown
Snowmobiles in the Bob
Forest Service Irked by Wilderness SleddersIf you are going to snowmobile, stay out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Mission Mountains Wilderness and Jewel Basin hiking area, or expect to be slapped with up to a $5,000 fine.
A recent flight over the area, where snowmobile tracks were spotted, has prompted Flathead National Forest officials to release a friendly reminder: motorized use, including snowmobiles, has been barred in the areas for decades.
“There are several opportunities for snowmobile activity and it is disheartening to see these violations of designated wilderness and Jewel Basin,” Swan Lake District Ranger Steve Brady said in a prepared statement.
It appears, according to the Forest Service, that snowmobilers have entered the wilderness from Swan Valley, despite the area being clearly marked as closed. Thus, forest officials will respond with additional flyovers and patrols near key access points.
For more information about snowmobiling and winter recreation on the Flathead National Forest, call the Forest Service office at 406-758-5252.
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U.S. Forest Service
Tidwell Named Forester for Northern Region
The U.S. Forest Service promoted Tom Tidwell Wednesday to regional forester for the Northern Region, which includes more than 25 million acres of public land in Montana, Idaho and North Dakota.
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Biomimicry author to speak at UM
Montana Scientist To Engineers: Nature Knows BestFor answers to industrial-design challenges look outside the laboratory, past the pavement, past the edge of town, where the industrial world ends and nature begins.
That’s where Janine Benyus looks. And she continues to find answers for some of world’s biggest companies in unlikely places: on the leaf of a lotus plant; on the wing of a butterfly; in the home of a termite.
Benyus, of Stevensville, will lecture on biomimicry – a term she coined – in the Urey Lecture Hall, at the University of Montana at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13. There, the award-winning natural science writer and founder of The Biomimicry Institute in Missoula, will explain how industrial design can mimic nature; how the tiny bristles on a gecko’s foot not only allow it to walk on walls but inspire scientists to develop recyclable glue-free tape.
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MercyFlight goes down 15 miles from Gallatin Field
Three Confirmed Killed in Plane Crash Near BozemanA small commuter plane crashed late Tuesday night about 15 miles northwest of Gallatin Field Airport, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and the Great Falls Tribune are reporting. Three people on board the Benefis Healthcare MercyFlight – a pilot, a registered nurse and a paramedic – were killed.
The case is still under investigation and representatives at Benefis Healthcare in Great Falls would not release the victims’ names until their families were notified.
“We are devastated by the loss of our beloved friends, co-workers and members of our community,” Julie Hickethier, chief clinical officer at Benefis, told the Tribune. “This is a time of tremendous mourning for our entire organization.
The commuter plane reportedly left Great Falls en route to Bozeman at 9:15 p.m. for patient transport. At midnight, Gallatin County’s coroner confirmed the deaths of those on board.
