News you can use
News you can use
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The Milk River Watershed Alliance has released an educational video about the St. Mary Diversion Project, a more than 100-year-old system that supplied the majority of the water to the Milk River and the surrounding areas. "Water is the lifeline," Milk River Watershed Alliance Coordinator Deborah Clayton said. "If we don't have water, how can anybody survive, let alone a community or an area." The St. Mary Diversion was one of the first five projects the U.S. Bureau of...
Havre and Hill County Local Emergency Planning Committee Chair Hill County Sheriff Jamie Ross told the committee during its monthly meeting Tuesday that he had a contractor come in after its last meeting and install two antennas at the emergency operations center to allow better radio communication with other agencies. The courtroom at the Hill County Detention Center is designated for use as an emergency operations center in times of emergency. Ross added that the antennas will allow two radios to be attached if needed. The...
From Bureau of Reclamation BILLINGS — The Bureau of Reclamation is conducting safety investigations at Fresno Dam beginning in September into December, which will lead to some road restrictions next week. The various investigations are being conducted in support of Reclamation’s Safety of Dams Program and are designed to collect geotechnical data. The data analyzes the characteristics of the structure below the surface, including embankment and foundation characteristics, Fre...
Staff and wire report U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is hosting a public meeting in Chester Wednesday, Oct. 9, to update the public on recreation and resource management issues around Lake Elwel, also known as Tiber Reservoir, southwest of Chester. Topics of discussion will include information on fisheries and wildlife management, aquatic invasive species, recreation improvements and use of Reclamation lands. ”Reclamation considers public engagement important to understanding not only what is happening on our public lands, but a...
From Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks During a conference call Thursday, the Fish and Wildlife Commission lifted all fishing restrictions at Willow Creek Reservoir near Augusta. The department was recently informed that the Bureau of Reclamation and Greenfields Irrigation District need to completely drain the reservoir in order to complete maintenance and repairs to the dam infrastructure. During the drawdown, it is anticipated that some fish will be flushed downstream, and fish that remain in the reservoir will not survive...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., expressed his disappointment in a press release Wedensday after the Trump Administration announced its opposition to his bipartisan St. Mary’s Reinvestment Act, which would boost critical investments in the Milk River Infrastructure Project that thousands of Montana farmers rely on for access to reliable irrigation water. The St. Mary’s Reinvestment Act, introduced by Tester along with Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., would require the federal government to cov...
From U.S. Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation announces the opening of the Hungry Horse Dam Visitor Center for the 2019 summer season. The visitor center will open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning May 12 through Sept. 28. Exhibits about the history of Hungry Horse Dam and its importance to the Federal Columbia River Power System are featured. Hungry Horse Dam is located off U.S. Highway 2 in Hungry Horse. Directional signs located past the Hungry Horse/Glacier View Forest Service building indicate the...
A conservation local working group focused on two main issues during a meeting in Havre Wednesday, dealing with saline seep in Hill County and declining acreage in the Conservation Reserve Program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Hill County Conservation District held the working group meeting in the USDA Service Center on Second Street West. NRCS Biologist Josh Schrecengost spoke to local producers and officials during the...
A Rocky Boy business that helps tribes preserve and protect sacred tribal lands received a national award this week. National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, an American Indian business and economic development organization for Indian Country across the country, presented iResponse with the American Indian Business of the Year Award. iResponse CEO Alvin Windy Boy Sr. said he feels good about receiving the award and wants to grow his businesses to assist with tribes across the country. “We want to take iResp...
Bureau of Reclamation is looking into Options for plans to modify Fresno Dam on which the bureau intends to start construction within the next two to three years as part of its Dam Safety Program. "Reclamation is currently evaluating alternatives to modify Fresno Dam," Reclamation Montana Area Manager Steve Davies said. "It's not because of damage that is there. The dam is fine, it's safe, we are under normal operations. But as part of our dam safety program, we've determined...
With the federal government shutdown entering its third week, Fort Belknap Indian Community’s contingency plan went into effect Sunday, impacting workers and services at the reservation. “I really appreciate the cooperation and commitment that all my tribal employees have demonstrated during this shutdown issue,” Fort Belknap’s Chief Administrative Officer Delina Cutstherope said Friday. She added that she believes that the Fort Belknap community wouldn’t be as strong as it is and provide the services that is does without t...
The third government shutdown of 2018 has completed its first week and many agencies statewide are feeling the effects, including in north-central Montana. Fort Belknap Indian Reservation said that, without new federal funding, it will have to put a contingency plan into effect next week that will include cutting services. “We have essential government services that we need to provide,” Community Council President Andrew Werk Jr. said in a press release. “The government needs...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced he has introduced legislation to provide critical funding for the Milk River Project in north-central Montana. The Milk River Project, one of the first projects assigned to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation when it was created, provides water to irrigators — and recreationists and communities — along the Milk River from where it flows from Canada back into Montana north of Rudyard to its confluence with the Milk River. A press release from Tester said that after he spoke to the St. Mary’s Worki...
Despite what an official called “gaps” in the effort to prevent the spread of invasive mussels at Tiber Reservoir, for the second straight year, none have been found in the body of water. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced that divers searched for invasive mussels in the reservoir south of Chester, also known as Lake Elwell, but found none of the animals. The first detection of the invasive mussels in Montana was in 2016, when larvae were found in Tiber and a suspected detection, never confirmed, was made in Can...
Officials gave Havre City Council an update Tuesday on what is happening with the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Water System Project and on the status of the St. Mary Diversion upgrade. The regional water system came out of the Rocky Boy Water Compact approved in the 1990s. In 2002, Congress authorized building a water treatment plant at Tiber Reservoir and piping water to Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation as the core portion of the project, along with transporting treated water to communities off the reservation. The non...
Havre City Council will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. in City Hall. The meeting agenda is: Call to order Pledge of Allegiance Roll call Minutes Committee reports Public comment on agenda items 1 through 4. For items not on this agenda, public comment will be taken at the end of the agenda. Comments here are limited to one minute. Regular agenda — 1. Ratification of AFSCME Local No. 336 Public Works Unit contract. 2. Acceptance of the Board of Crime Control grant in the Amount of $246,202.50 for funding of the Tri-Agency Task F...
As I mentioned in my last update, we scheduled a meeting at the Tiber Marina to address the possible relocation of the boat decontamination station and some campsites. I was very pleased with the turnout. The meeting was attended by Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Bureau of Reclamation, county representatives, members of the general public, Marina concessionaires and myself. Getting all parties together and having a conversation on how to move forward is a great start. As we discussed the issues, it was evident that the station...
Using a new location for a boat inspection station and creating 12 new campsites for Tiber Reservoir is under discussion. "I think this development and the way we're going to set this up is going make it more convenient for sportsmen and recreationalist that come off the water and provide us with the needed protection from seeing mussels," Gary Bertellotti, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks regional supervisor for Great Falls, said during a meeting at the reservoir Wednesday....
Havre City Council Monday approved a new street closure request from the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce for this year’s Festival Days. “They are kind of changing things up for our Festival Days … which I think is very positive,” Mayor Tim Solomon said. The closure will be in effect Sept. 22 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Third Avenue between Second Street and Fourth Street. The proposal submitted by Chamber Executive Director Jody Olson said the street closure is to include the downtown area for Festival Days and the street...
Press Release BILLINGS — The water level in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Tiber Reservoir — Lake Elwell — southwest of Chester is seeing increased water levels and the bureau is telling people that access to some recreation areas could be reduced. The reservoir experienced high inflows as a result of heavy rain in the region. Meanwhile, releases from Tiber Dam have been reduced to approximately 700 cubic feet per second at the direction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assist with flood control along the Missour...
Local anglers and other outdoors enthusiasts are being told work on the Fresno Reservoir road is nearly complete, but that will mean some limited access later in the week Fresno Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited announced Hardrives Construction Inc. completed its work with chip seal, fog seal and permanent striping on the mainline of the roadway. The boat ramp road and parking area was chip sealed and fog sealed as well. The only remaining work is to apply pavement markings for the boat ramp parking stalls in the parking area,...
A project that will provide treated drinking water for Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation and a large chunk of north-central Montana has more money proposed for its completion. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced he secured $4.8 million in an appropriations bill for the Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional Water System, which will treat water from Lake Elwell at Tiber Reservoir south of Chester. The treated water will be transported to Rocky Boy and regions off the reservation from Loma to Havre and the North Havre Water Dis...
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced this week that he secured over $30 million to provide clean, reliable drinking water to families in north-central and northeastern Montana. The Bureau of Reclamation funding will support Fort Peck’s Dry Prairie Rural Water Project and the Rocky Boy’s North Central Regional Water Project, which together would serve more than 60,000 Montanans. “Every Montanan needs clean water — it’s that simple,” Tester, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a release about the funding. “These...
The river still is above flood stage at Harlem — and north-central Montanans are warned that some areas will be water-logged for weeks — but the level of the Milk River dropped a fraction of an inch today at the measuring gauge near Harlem. Much of this region has been under — and Blaine and Hill counties still are under — flood watches, advisories and warnings as melting near-record levels of snow filled streams and rivers, with Harlem coming close to breaking its record flooding of the Milk River, set in 1986 at 25.7 feet....
Gov. Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency due to flooding including for Chester, Blaine, Hill and Liberty counties and the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, within days of Hill and Blaine counties declaring their emergencies and the city of Harlem temporarily ordering an evacuation of residences north of the railroad tracks. The evacuation order has since been lifted, and Blaine and Hill counties both reported this morning that tributaries to the Milk River seem to have...
