Governor tours Helena-area timber project to highlight need for forest management
Gov. Greg Gianforte joined state, federal and local officials Wednesday on a tour of a timber project just outside Helena.
By: Jonathon Ambarian
and last updated 2021-05-20 12:03:50-04
HELENA â Gov. Greg Gianforte joined state, federal and local officials Wednesday on a tour of a timber project just outside Helena.
The visit was intended to highlight cooperation on forest management and bring attention to the need for wildfire mitigation.
âWe have a forest health crisis here in the state,â Gianforte said.
Gov. Gianforte toured the Brooklyn Bridge timber sale, in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest south of Unionville.
Fire near Olney burns 27 acres
Whitefish Fire Department
and last updated 2021-05-20 11:03:39-04
OLNEY â Crews are mopping up after a fire that broke out Tuesday near the Olney Refuse Site with Olney Fire and Ambulance reporting a total of 27 acres have burned.
The wind caught a grass fire which then spread it into the trees, according to a social media post from the Whitefish Fire Department.
Olney Fire along with several other agencies including the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the US Forest Service, the West Valley and Whitefish fire departments responded to the scene.
Early snowmelt portends low flows for Jefferson, Ruby and Beaverhead helenair.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from helenair.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
St. Mary Working Group seeking funds from American Recovery Plan
Last updated 5/6/2021 at 11:50am
A group trying to rebuild the system that supplies much of the water to the Milk River each year talked Wednesday about how money from the latest COVID-19 relief bill might help. A major topic at the meeting of the St. Mary Rehabilitation Working Group was House Bill 632, the bill the Legislature passed to set up use of relief funds from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in March. The St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance Works, part of the irrigation Milk River Project and one of the first projects Bureau of Reclamation was authorized to build when it was created at the start of the last century, diverts water into the North Fork of the Milk River and supplies much in drought years almost all of the water flowing through the Milk River.
The Office of the Governor on April 26, released the 2021 Montana Water and Supply Drought Outlook Report.
According to data in the report, 42 percent of the state is classified as abnormally dry, with another 18 percent of the state in severe to extreme drought conditions. May and June are historically the two wettest months of the year in Montana.
âFollowing an unusually mild winter, the conditions we see for the next eight to ten weeks are going to be critical as we head into growing season in Montana,â Gov. Gianforte said. âI am tasking state agency directors to begin reviewing authorities and options to support our agricultural producers as some battle extreme drought conditions.â