This week, the USDA released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on rescinding the rule and opening our roadless backcountry to new road building and development. This opens a public comment period that the USDA has limited to just 33 days. For those 2,000 miles away in Washington, D.C., the lack of vision may be understandable. But for those of us who cherish these places that we consider our backyard, their value and what’s at risk is as plain as day.

Montana’s roadless backcountry lands are the places we hunt. Elk seek out areas that are away from roads, and so do the hunters who pursue them. If you hunt Montana’s public lands, chances are you’ve put in many miles hiking through the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Inventoried Roadless Areas to fill your tag. 

Not unlike elk and other big game, our wild trout populations also depend on the clean water and healthy streams found in Roadless Areas. These are not only the blue-line fisheries we fish in solitude; they are the nurseries that support our most famous rivers. Quite simply, our Roadless Areas help ensure that we continue to have both thriving trout and wildlife populations for future generations of Montanans.

But Inventoried Roadless Areas still fly a bit under the radar. Unlike national parks or wilderness areas, they don’t have big signs announcing that you are crossing a line on the map. Chances are you’ve hunted, fished or otherwise recreated in these places without even knowing it. They offer us wild places without the big “W” wilderness, and provide easy access without the spiderweb of roads, giving us places that feel far from civilization while being accessible from where we live.

In early March, nearly a thousand Montanans turned out for one of seven public meetings held in Kalispell, Libby, Missoula, Hamilton, Butte, Bozeman and Helena. People who have walked these ridgelines, fought fires, studied wildlife populations and rely on the clean water from these headwaters shared what these places mean to them and why the Roadless Area Conservation Rule should remain in place.

Notably, those hearings were organized and hosted by community organizations, including Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, and not the USDA. Unlike in 2000, when the USDA first proposed the rule and held more than 600 public meetings nationwide to solicit public input, including 34 here in Montana, this time the USDA held zero hearings and is doing its best to ignore rather than seek public comment. But we won’t be quiet. 

Despite a rushed comment period last fall, 625,000 Americans still weighed in, with 99% of comments opposing rescission. And what does the USDA offer after hearing strong opposition from Americans? A draft EIS that ignores the science, the history, and the lived experience of the hunters, anglers, foresters and rural communities who steward these places.

But this fight is not over, and we must still make our voices heard. Please join me in telling USDA Secretary Rollins that we hold our roadless backcountry dear, that our way of life depends on these places, and that the public’s opinion matters. Let’s make sure they know Montana hunters and anglers oppose rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. BHA is collecting comments to submit to the USDA at backcountryhunters.org/roadless. Act now as the comment period ends Sept. 21.

Ryan Callaghan is the president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

The post Montana Hunters and Anglers: Speak Up on Plan to End Roadless Area Conservation Rule appeared first on Flathead Beacon.

Montana’s voters spoke plainly in 1992 with CI-64, now Article IV, Section 8. They did not write a lifetime ban. They wrote a timeout clock: a candidate is barred from the ballot if he or she will have served “8 or more years in any 16-year period,” with each office listed separately — state representative, state senator, Governor, Attorney General and others. They did not prohibit moving between offices or returning after an eight-year break. The plain words say step away from that office for eight years, then let voters decide.

That matters because the Montana House and Senate are separate offices — different districts, terms, duties, and voters.

A legislative term begins the first Monday in January, which can fall anywhere from January 1 to January 7. To prevent confusion over those few days, Senate Bill 311 in 2011 defined a term year as January 1 through December 31 — the common-sense answer. The vote was not close or partisan. The Senate passed it 46 to 3, with my vote among the yeas, and the House passed it 93 to 7. House yes votes included Keith Regier, the current Senate President’s father, and Austin Knudsen, our Attorney General. That set the rules of the game legislators of both parties have run under since 2011, including when I filed this year.

Fifteen years later, with that law long on the books, Attorney General Knudsen took a position that guts the clarification he had voted for. His opinion came nine days before the deadline to certify the November ballot, in response to a question Senate President Matt Regier asked on July 9 — five weeks after my district had already chosen me as its nominee.

I learned of it on August 12 from a reporter. I had to ask him to send me a copy. Nobody from the state notified me before that. Thirty-six minutes later I called Steve Fitzpatrick — which is how the Majority Leader of the Montana House learned the opinion had disqualified him too. The question asked of the Attorney General named one person: “Representative Llew Jones.” One name. Seemingly to target me, using term limits.

What followed was a scramble. The case landed with District Judge Christopher Abbott. He heard it on August 18, with certification due August 20, and ruled the morning of August 19 — one week after the blindside began.

His opinion begins: “In Montana, the people are sovereign, and their will governs.” Judge Abbott found the eight-year break “appears to be the most natural reading” of what voters adopted. Its purpose, he wrote, was “to ensure that legislators not serve in either house more than eight years without taking at least an eight-year break in service.”

On the request itself, he was blunter. Regier’s question was not about Senate duties, Senate powers, or pending legislation. It was “about the electoral and political fortunes of the Republican Party in a partisan election.” Attorney General opinions, the court held, “are not a mechanism to advise any political candidate, committee, or party about how best to ensure they can field a candidate in an election.”

Timing speaks to intent.

This could have been asked a year ago — before filing, before the primary, before voters acted. Every previous opinion on this question was requested and answered well ahead of the election it touched. This blindside arrived nine days out. As Judge Abbott put it, “the current tumult is entirely the consequence of the choices to request, and issue, an opinion upending the status quo while an election is underway.” His principle was simple: “the goalposts should not be moved during the game.”

Hours after losing, the Attorney General asked the Montana Supreme Court to intervene and keep Fitzpatrick and me off the ballot. It refused the same afternoon — so quickly our lawyers never filed the response they had begun drafting. The court held that “a party cannot manufacture urgency or emergency.” Two courts, one day, same conclusion: the emergency was of the Attorney General’s own making.

The case is not over, and I will be glad when a court settles it once and for all. Meanwhile, taxpayers pay the Attorney General’s lawyers and we pay ours. Painful indeed. But the November ballot will carry the names voters chose on June 2. In Montana, that is how it is supposed to work.

I’m focused on real solutions for rural Montana.

Llew Jones is a Republican state representative from Conrad.

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On Monday, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Wildlife Management Program issued a press release alerting the public that the disease was likely present in deer populations in the Hot Springs, Valley View and Mission Valley areas. While CSKT wildlife managers cannot yet confirm the disease and are waiting for lab results from samples taken last week, they urged the public to report potential outbreaks in other areas of the Reservation. Infected animals may exhibit symptoms like foaming at the mouth and a swollen or blue tongue. 

“It is important to note that, while the disease can cause significant die-offs in localized deer populations, the outbreaks are usually short-lived and not wide-spread,” read the Monday press release from CSKT Wildlife. “Affected areas are generally localized and not spread across large areas.”

The disease is transmitted through biting midges and commonly occurs in late summer and early fall near bodies of water, where populations of small flying insects are prominent. EHD primarily affects deer and elk populations. It is not contagious to humans and healthy-appearing game is safe to eat if cooked properly. 

“The first frost will cause the outbreak to end,” according to the press release. “2025 was a particularly active year for Hot Springs and multiple Mission Valley areas, and it is likely to return this year.” Similar outbreaks occurred in Plains, Eureka, and Marion last fall. 

At the same time, CKST Wildlife urged the public to report any potential cases of Chronic Wasting Disease and to send harvested animals for testing. CWD, a highly infectious degenerative disease, was detected on the Flathead Reservation in early 2025. Symptoms of CWD include drooping ears, neck and head, walking in circles, and extreme emaciation. 

Citizens can alert CSK Wildlife to recently deceased deers, EHD outbreaks in new locations, or potential presence of CWD by emailing Wildlife@cskt.org or calling (406) 275-2774.

reporter@flatheadbeacon.com

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Rather than the usual rigamarole of syllabi or sharing a fun fact with the class before diving into a lesson, classrooms lit up as students at the junior high worked in groups to come up with events in U.S. history for each letter of the alphabet, guessed the names of their math teacher’s farm animals, and discussed the qualities of living creatures in science class.

And at the elementary school, students started the day off by walking a red carpet, complete with bubbles and a true celebrity guest: Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, who joined Evergreen for the morning to kick off the school year and laud the district’s community partnerships as a model he hopes other Montana schools can follow.

“Those partnerships make students stronger,” Gianforte said during a press conference hosted at the school district office Wednesday morning. “They make families stronger, and they make communities stronger, and that’s what we want.”

The governor engaged in the press conference and a roundtable Wednesday morning, which featured voices from Evergreen’s school board, Kalispell Public Schools, parents and Hope Church — a long-term ally of the school district — along with Gianforte and Rob Lawler, the coordinator for the Office of Faith and Community-Based Services, which exists under the umbrella of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

Representatives spoke highly of the Evergreen School District’s efforts over the past decade to bring those stakeholders together for the good of their students.

“Individually, each of these partnerships brings tremendous value,” said Laurie Barron, the Evergreen superintendent. “Collectively together, they create something even more powerful: a united community, dedicated to ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed. At the heart of this work is a simple truth. When a community invests in its schools, it invests in its futures. Strong schools cannot succeed in isolation. They thrive when families, businesses, civic organizations, faith-based communities, higher education, public safety, elected leaders and community members work together with a shared purpose.”     

She, and those at the roundtable, pointed to several examples of the Evergreen School District broadening the scope for its students through the relationships it has built. For instance, when Glacier High School’s football team won the state championship last year, the players came to visit with Evergreen’s students, painting a picture of success for them and talking with the younger students about the importance of getting involved in extracurriculars.

Over the last four years, the district has also prioritized inviting parents and Evergreen residents to the school via the work of a community council, made up of parents and Evergreen leaders. The council has hosted activities at the schools, like family movie nights, for people to participate in. And the school has invested in a family and community engagement liaison to work alongside the council, too, resulting in the district connecting 870 families to around 2,300 individual services, from housing to healthcare to transportation.

At the roundtable and following press conference, Barron and Gianforte also highlighted the long-term partnership the school district has built with Hope Church, a non-denominational church located in Kalispell. Barron and the church’s community life pastor, David Halliburton, emphasized the partnership does not mean the church is promoting its values at the school.

Instead, Barron likened the relationship to the church “adopting” the Evergreen School District. Over the past 12 years, when the school district has needed something, Halliburton and the Hope Church congregation have stepped up to help. Halliburton said the church has created the Wolverine Den, an incentive area for students to use during lunch recess. It also upgraded the gym’s sound system; its members volunteer at events; and the church hosts monthly appreciation luncheons for teachers at Evergreen — all of it part of a much longer list of ways the church has supported its local school district. Both Halliburton and Gov. Gianforte said they hoped shining a light on how the partnership worked would encourage other churches to consider “adopting” school districts in their areas, too.

“Our dream at Hope Church is that we would go beyond one church and one school, and our vision is for churches throughout this great state of Montana to adopt a school,” Halliburton said. “Not to promote an agenda — not to promote an agenda — but to serve. For the last 12 years, Hope Church has tried to live out one conviction: don’t just tell your community you love them. Find a way to serve them and be difference makers.”

In fact, for some of the roughly a dozen junior high students, who said they were tapped to attend the press conference and meet the governor thanks to their good behavior at the school, the impact of Hope Church on their schools came as a surprise.

“At first, I didn’t know the church helped with the Wolverine Den,” said Mykel Lavina.

Mykel and her brother Jaykob had their first days of seventh and sixth grade, respectively, yesterday. The pair said meeting the governor felt exciting — Mykel said she planned to brag to her friends about it — but more than that, they looked forward to kicking off a new school year of learning. That palpable excitement about the start of a new school year is something the governor said he, too, remembered from his own first days of school, and his children’s.

“I actually remember the first day of school for our kids more than I remember mine,” Gianforte said. “And it was a big deal. I mean, ‘cause they were in our full-time custody up until that point, then you get ready to turn them over to somebody else, and that was a little scary too. But education is the path to a brighter future, and I’m just excited that I could be in Evergreen on the first day of school here.”

Cayuse Prairie School, Columbia Falls Public Schools, Creston School, Deer Park School, the Fair-Mont-Egan School District, the Helena Flats School District, Kalispell Public Schools, Marion School, Olney-Bissell School, Pleasant Valley School, the Smith Valley School District and Whitefish Schools joined Evergreen in starting this week. The Bigfork School District, Kila School, Swan River School, West Glacier Elementary School and West Valley School will have their first days next week. Somers Lakeside starts after Labor Day, with Sept. 8 slated for students to return to the school buildings.

mariah@flatheadbeacon.com

The post Gov. Gianforte Kicks Off the School Year in Evergreen, Highlighting Community Partnerships appeared first on Flathead Beacon.

Bushman, on the PSC from 2013 through 2016, is tapped to serve a temporary appointment on the regulatory board through July 8, 2027.

“Kirk brings decades of engineering experience and a strong understanding of the important work of the Public Service Commission,” Gianforte said in a statement. “Having previously served on the commission, Kirk understands the responsibility of ensuring Montanans have access to reliable, affordable utility services.”

PSC spokesperson Michael Turner said Bushman, a Republican, will be sworn into office Friday or Monday and start work on Monday.

In a news release, PSC Vice President Jennifer Fielder said she’s pleased the governor selected a commissioner with previous experience on the PSC.

“I expect he will be able to hit the ground running and tackle the heavy caseload with both grace and proficiency,” Fielder said in a statement.

In July, Gianforte suspended Molnar after an investigation into allegations of professional misconduct including sexual harassment. 

Molnar is fighting the suspension in Lewis and Clark District Court. His lawyer, Matthew Monforton, said Bushman lost the last three Republican primaries for the seat — in 2016 as an incumbent, again in 2020, and in 2024 against Molnar.

“Judge (Mike) Menahan is still deciding whether the governor had any authority to suspend an elected commissioner in the first place — and still deciding whether to block any appointment to this seat,” Monforton said. “The governor didn’t wait for the judge. He decided the judge was optional.”

Turner said if the judge finds Molnar should remain on the PSC, the commission will deal with that outcome, potentially with an appeal.

In the meantime, the PSC is moving forward with the appointment of Bushman.

“Our job is to prepare to welcome him and onboard him and give him all the resources he needs to succeed,” Turner said.

The PSC regulates monopoly utilities in Montana including NorthWestern Energy, the state’s largest public utility.

Bushman is a graduate of Montana State University and has a degree in mechanical engineering technology, according to the news release from the Governor’s Office. It said he has more than 30 years of experience in industrial engineering.

The PSC is made up of five commissioners elected by district.

If seated, Bushman will represent District 2, which includes Carbon, Park and Stillwater counties and parts of Big Horn, Gallatin, Rosebud, Sweet Grass and Yellowstone counties, the news release said.

He was among five candidates who applied for the position and the only former commissioner to do so.

“I look forward to his service on behalf of Montana ratepayers,” Gianforte said.

This story originally appeared in the The Daily Montanan, which can be found online at dailymontanan.com.

The post Gianforte Appoints Former Commissioner to PSC appeared first on Flathead Beacon.

The July increase came during the first summer since 2021 that the park has operated without a vehicle reservation requirement on Going-to-the-Sun Road, after officials scrapped the five-year-old pilot program ahead of this season in favor of a reservation-only shuttle system and a three-hour parking limit at Logan Pass.

Five years ago, as pent-up pandemic-lockdown fatigue manifested in a mad dash for mountain air, throngs of Americans struck out for the great outdoors in record-breaking numbers. In Glacier National Park, officials clocked the highest year-to-date visitation in the park’s history, crediting a ticketed-entry system that debuted on May 28, 2021, with saving their bacon and staving off even more severe summer gridlock.

“Based on the number of arriving vehicles, in the absence of the ticketed entry system, the park would very likely have had to close the west entrance gate at least seven times [between May 28 and June 13] to manage severe congestion, gridlock, and traffic backups onto U.S. Highway 2,” according to a press release at the time, which pegged visitation during that two-week period at 27% higher than previous years.

One year earlier, the crush of Covid-era overcrowding tested Glacier’s capacity like never before, leading former park Superintendent Jeff Mow to characterize the high season as the “summer like no other.”

Full-year figures put that stretch in perspective. Glacier didn’t record 1 million recreation visits in a single year until 1969 and didn’t cross 2 million until 1990. The park broke 3 million for the first time in 2017 (still the all-time record, at 3,305,512) and has cleared that mark four more times since, including 2024’s 3,208,755 (the second-highest year on record) and 2025’s 3,136,557 (third-highest). Whether 2026 joins that group won’t be clear until the year closes out, but the pace through July puts it in the same league.

Heading into 2026, park visitation was tracking closely with 2021’s early-season pace. Without a reservation system in place to backstop overcrowding, however, some local stakeholders worried whether the congestion crisis of that pandemic-rebound summer would return. The July numbers offer the clearest answer yet: visitation kept climbing through the peak of the season, even with the reservation requirement gone.

When officials launched the vehicle reservation program in 2021, the pilot system helped manage congestion during the peak summer season along Going-to-the-Sun Road, the park’s 50-mile alpine thoroughfare. But outlying valleys struggled to absorb the displaced pressure and congestion, while Logan Pass remained an ongoing challenge as parking stayed at a premium.

“Due to the popularity of Logan Pass and the hikes that begin there, the parking lot often fills before dawn and remains mostly full all day, leaving few opportunities to park and visit,” park officials said at the time.

Since that debut, the park’s specialists tweaked and refined the reservation program year after year in search of a visitor-use “sweet spot” that protected the park’s natural resources and infrastructure while improving the visitor experience.

For 2026, however, park administrators abandoned altogether the reservation system restricting personal vehicles, swapping out the pilot program — which last year included timed-entry vehicle reservations — in favor of a reservation-based alpine transit system and a three-hour parking limit at Logan Pass. Visitors may enter any of the park’s entrances without a vehicle reservation, but since July 1 they’ve needed a reservation to ride the shuttle, along with a three-hour timed parking lot restriction “designed to increase parking turnover, allowing more visitors to access and enjoy Logan Pass throughout the summer season,” officials said of the changes.

“This year is definitely a deliberate pivot,” Glacier Park Superintendent Dave Roemer told attendees at a community meeting, when he unveiled the loose framework of a long-range proposal to scale up the park’s shuttle system that is currently “oversubscribed.”

The long-term proposal calls for expanding the outmoded shuttle network to ferry visitors between the park’s most popular destinations, including Logan Pass, while adding hundreds of new parking spaces at key locations near park entrances and in outlying valleys. Because Glacier’s existing inventory of shuttles consists of just 36 vehicles, Roemer said the park’s goal is to grow its fleet and its parking capacity “in lockstep,” adding up to 600 spaces and several dozen new vehicles.

“We just don’t have the ability with 36 vehicles right now,” Roemer said. “And if tomorrow somebody gave me another 36 buses, I wouldn’t have parking for the people to use 36 buses. So it all needs to grow in lockstep.”

The problem, according to some stakeholders, is visitation to Glacier Park hasn’t slowed down to wait for the park’s transportation plans to catch up.

Sarah Lundstrum, the Glacier Senior Program Manager with the National Parks Conservation Association, expressed concern that the park is shifting all its resources to a visitor-use strategy that is too narrow in scope and too dependent on funding that hasn’t yet materialized.

“The increase in visitation Glacier is seeing this year is nothing new,” Lundstrum said Tuesday. “This is what we have been seeing for a long time. While more shuttles and parking may be one of the answers to addressing these pressures, they are dependent on millions of dollars that aren’t guaranteed. The park should also have steps that can be taken now to ease this visitation pressure, like the entry system that worked so well last year, while it waits for that funding to come through.”

Early in the year, the pace of visitation looked a lot like 2021’s opening months: during the first four months of 2026, approximately 118,055 people came to Glacier National Park, compared to 107,685 in the same period the previous year, for a nearly 10% increase, including a 5.5% jump in April alone. Visitation spiked by double-digit percentages in three of the first four months: 42.3% in February, 13% in March and 11.8% in January. Multiple congestion-related closures over Memorial Day weekend suggested the summer surge was already underway.

That surge carried through the height of the season. July’s total of 896,503 visits (896,386 of them recreational and 117 non-recreational) marked a 17.17% increase over July 2025’s 765,156, well above the 8.01% pace the park has posted for the year as a whole. Visitors logged more than 10.09 million hours in the park during the month, according to more granular visitation figures.

The gains were far from uniform across the park’s gateways. Many Glacier’s day-use numbers exploded, with 107,544 visitors in July — up 247.6% from the 30,943 recorded a year earlier, when the Swiftcurrent area was still shut down for a rebuild of its roads, parking lots and a water system dating to the 1960s. Many Glacier Campground and the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn had been closed since September 2024 and reopened only in mid-May, meaning last July’s count was artificially depressed and this year’s jump is as much a rebound as new demand. The Saint Mary entrance also surged, up 23.4% to 240,732 visitors, and commercial bus traffic through that gate more than doubled, with concession bus passengers up 135% to 9,238. The park’s single busiest gateway, the West Entrance, grew a more modest 6.7% to 410,491. Other checkpoints moved the other way: Two Medicine fell 15.3% in July and is down nearly 27% for the year to date, to 117,714, due in large part to a utility project and road rehabilitation work that has closed the Two Medicine Campground in 2026.

The National Park Service cautions that current calendar-year figures are preliminary and subject to revision; the data won’t be finalized until the end of the first quarter of 2027. Roemer’s long-range shuttle and parking expansion plan is expected to take shape over the coming months, even as this summer’s numbers suggest the park’s crowding pressures haven’t waited around for it.

tscott@flatheadbeacon.com

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For decades, Kurt has served on countless boards helping the homeless, people facing hardship, troubled youth, and those with special needs. He has also coached his children’s youth sports teams and served as the den leader for his son’s Cub Scout Pack. With a huge heart, Kurt has consistently given himself selflessly to those in need.

I first worked with Kurt in 2012 at the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, where he had just become president of the Foundation. The Ranch was struggling, but through his sensitive and skillful leadership, a new direction was set and the organization was restored to strength. This 70-year-old Montana institution now provides mental health services to thousands of young people each year. Kurt brought that same leadership to the National Christian Foundation, serving as Executive Vice President of one of our nation’s largest charities, which supports more than 90,000 churches.

Over the years, I have watched Kurt’s character and leadership and thought, “This gifted man should run for public office.” Now he seeks elected office for the first time since he was voted Governor of Montana Boys State his senior year at Custer County District High School in Miles City! It would be a privilege to help elect Kurt Alme as our next U.S. Senator. Montana would be well served by sending him to Washington.

Bill Goodwin
Bigfork

The post Kurt Alme’s Career of Service appeared first on Flathead Beacon.

The Glacier Wolfpack and Columbia Falls Wildkats saw their 2025 seasons in football, flag football and girls soccer culminate in state titles, in addition to Glacier’s Ada Thiel taking home top honors at the state cross country meet. 

On the other side of the coin were teams like Columbia Falls boys soccer and Whitefish football, who saw their season come to a close one game shy of a shot at a state title. 

The countdown to October and November state championship games and meets will officially start this weekend as Flathead Valley teams across several fall sports kick off their 2026 seasons. Here’s a preview of all the action up ahead:

FOOTBALL

When Glacier opens their season against Billings West on Friday night, the Wolfpack will be looking to pick up right where they left off just over nine months ago when they handed the Bears a 16-3 defeat to claim the Class AA state title. 

The Wolfpack, however, will need to do so without Head Coach Grady Bennett following a two-game suspension handed down by the Montana High School Association earlier this year after allegations of recruiting were levied against the program.

Ahead of this weekend’s state championship re-match, Bennett said his absence won’t affect the Wolfpack in “any way,” adding that the program’s “systems and processes are so solid, that our coaches and players know exactly what to do, how to do it and the why behind all of it.” 

“The honest truth is, I don’t do much on Friday nights besides smile a lot, cheer like crazy, and encourage the boys,” Bennett said.

Bennett’s Wolfpack are looking to build on the lessons learned in their undefeated 2025 season, which culminated in the team’s third straight title game appearance and second-ever state championship.

“Last year’s team really set a new standard in our program for incredibly high character combined with fierce competitiveness at a level we’ve never seen before,” Bennett said. “We’ve been so blessed to have such great young men in our program and we stress character and teach it daily, but last year’s group was truly exceptional in their character both on and off the field and how they played the game with that character while competing so ferociously, is what made them champions. I believe our underclassmen witnessed this new standard and will seek to not only uphold it, but take it to yet another level.”

Despite returning only a handful of starters, Bennett is still pleased with the team’s overall depth and experience, saying he expects his squad to grow “leaps and bounds” over the course of the season. 

“We did lose a lot of really good players but I feel we have a lot of really good players stepping into those positions and they will perform well under the Friday night lights. I also love our team speed and feel we will again have a fast team this year that plays and competes hard.

“Our guys know it’s not where you start, but where you finish, so no matter what happens early, we know we will be a very, very good team by the end of the season when it matters most.”

In Class A action, both Whitefish and Columbia Falls have their sights set on postseason play, hoping to improve on their respective semifinalist and quarterfinalist finishes in 2025. 

Whitefish Head Coach Brett Bollweg said a main goal for his Bulldog squad is to be as competitive as possible, noting that “playing in November is part of the standard that we strive for” in the program.

Bollweg described his team as a strong mix between talented newcomers and returners with key experience, saying he will look to his senior class to guide the team as it continues to grow and get better each week.

“There are always big holes to fill, yet each team takes on its own identity,” Bollweg said. “It is one of the more exciting aspects of Class A football. Each team, each year, will take on a new identity, and through the leadership of the seniors we take shape. We had great leadership last year and I am excited for our new leaders to show themselves and see how they guide our team this season.”

In contrast, Columbia Falls Head Coach Kelly Houle will be relying on experience this season, describing his team in one word: “veteran.” 

The Wildcats will look to play fast both offensively and defensively, with Houle also hoping to instill the same approach to his players’ mental approach to each snap. 

“We like to get better or learn something every repetition,” Houle said. “Through this mindset my hope is that football becomes muscle memory, we don’t have to think but rather just ‘go.’ If a mistake is made, move on to the next snap.”

“Games are not won on Friday nights, rather they are won in the film room and on the practice fields,” he added. “We want to be prepared. We want to do things the right way. We like to get better every day.”

The Wildcats open their season at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Washington/Grizzly stadium in Missoula versus Lewistown.

GIRLS SOCCER

In 2025, the Columbia Falls Wildkats emerged as yet another undefeated state title-clinching team in the Flathead Valley. 

Head Coach Thomas Clark’s squad capped off the perfect season with a commanding 4-0 result over the Bigfork Valkyries — the third matchup of the season between the rivals and tournament’s one- and two-seeds. 

While last year’s season didn’t have a blemish on the result sheet, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t without its challenges — a lesson Clark hopes his squad takes with them this season.

“I think the biggest lesson to build off from last year’s team is how to overcome adversity,” Clark said. “Last year we dealt with injuries to key players and we had to come from behind multiple times to get a result. I think recognizing that even undefeated seasons don’t always go how you drew it up is a really important lesson for all athletes to learn.”

Despite losing three current college athletes and a record-breaking goalkeeper to graduation, the Wildkats will still return plenty of talent to the field this fall in its senior class, which have played in two state title games so far in their careers.

“We have pretty high expectations, and those expectations are ultimately set by the leadership group we have in the program,” Clark said. “We have won the Northern A Conference each of the past two years and winning the conference for a third consecutive season is a big goal for the group. Coming off a state championship, the girls recognize that there is a lot of pressure that comes with that. They want to be in that game again this fall and that goal is really dictating how we approach each and every day in training.”

With a mix of veteran experience and some talented newcomers, Clark’s squad still has the personnel to fit the tactical system they’ve played the past two seasons. With a familiarity already established, Clark has given the greenlight to his players to put their own flare on things. 

“This is a really intelligent group that collectively has a pretty good grasp on how we are trying to accomplish things offensively and defensively this fall,” Clark said. “I am excited to see how some of our offensive players use their creativity to really put their stamp on things. We have some really special players and I am excited to watch them do special things on the field.”

BOYS SOCCER

The conclusion of last year’s Class A boys soccer championship saw a veteran Polson Pirates squad take down a formidable opponent in the Whitefish Bulldogs 4-0 to claim the first state championship in the program’s history.

With the loss of 12 seniors, Whitefish’s journey back to the title game will look a bit different this season. 

The Bulldogs will still return a core group of juniors and seniors, who will be paired with some talented younger players, meaning Head Coach Eric Sawtelle expects to see his team get “stronger and stronger” as the season progresses. 

“Senior defenders Quin Powers, Will Dohmen, Tyler Larkin and Tristan Irwin will provide a strong foundation and solid leadership for our team,” Sawtelle said. “Higher up on the pitch returning seniors Luca Duffy and Max Brown look very strong in the midfield. Returning junior goalkeeper Ben Nelson has looked excellent in preseason and returning junior Graysen Rembaugh will be a constant goal threat who can play anywhere on the pitch.”

The Bulldogs will open their season at home at Smith Fields on Friday, Aug. 28.

“We are very excited to get the season underway and are looking forward to seeing what this group is able to accomplish,” Sawtelle said.

After losing to Polson in a penalty kick shootout in the state semifinals, the Columbia Falls Wildcats also have their sights set on a state title game this season.

Like the Bulldogs, Columbia Falls’ road to a championship game in November will likely look different after the graduation of nine seniors from their 2025 campaign.

Led by only three seniors and posting an incoming freshman class of 13, the Wildcats must replace half of last year’s starting lineup — a task that will be bolstered by “some incredibly young talent,” Head Coach O’Brien Byrd said. 

Despite the young squad, Byrd said his team is still aiming for a conference crown, something that they’ve won three out of the last four years, and an even deeper playoff run. To achieve their goals, the Wildcats will rely on their youth and hope “talent and drive prevail.”

“We will definitely be playing catch-up as new varsity players will be entering the starting lineup, but even the new faces bring a lot of energy and talent,” Byrd said.

“We are young with lots of new faces among us,” he added. “We return five varsity starters from last year’s semifinal run. We are young, coachable, talented, and very, very ambitious.”

CROSS COUNTRY

When all was said and done at the University of Montana Golf Course last October, it was Glacier’s freshman phenom Ada Thiel that emerged as the top dog in Class AA girls cross country. 

Less than a second behind her was Wolfpack teammate Lauren Bissen, a junior who has never finished worse than 3rd at each of the state meets she’s competed in. 

Now, the sophomore and senior duo are looking to pace a “deep” Wolfpack squad in search of an improvement on last year’s fourth place finish at the state meet, Head Coach Cody Moore said.

The boys team, whose top-five runners consist of four seniors and a junior, will also be in the hunt to improve on a fourth place finish in Missoula, he said.

For Moore, the goals for both squads this season are simple: “create a space and community to foster a lifelong love of running and bring a few team trophies home from the state meet in October.”

“Cross country is inherently a challenging sport, so we hope for growth physically but also mentally from our athletes as individuals,” Moore said. “As a team we aim to build a culture that supports each other regardless of speed and ability, good days or bad. We believe we have the pieces for two podium-contending teams this October in Billings.”

After a third and fourth place team finish for its boys and girls squads last year, Columbia Falls will welcome a bit of a rebuilding season following the graduation of several key varsity runners, said Head Coach Jim Peacock. 

With a large pool of talented youth, Peacock is “looking forward to seeing strong improvements in running ability and fitness by October.”

“On both our boys’ and girls’ teams, we will count on several underclassmen developing, growing, and building confidence throughout the season,” Peacock said. “We hope to have a fun year and strive to keep improving every day. If we can do those two things, the season will take care of itself and we’ll see success.”

Despite being a young program this year, the ‘Cats will still return key varsity performers on both teams, including the girl’s team’s top runner from last season, Hazel Alexander, who sustained significant trauma when she was struck by a driver in a stolen vehicle attempting to evade police on Jan. 9. Although she “still has a long road ahead of her to get to where she wants to be,” Alexander will still be an important piece for the team this season, Peacock said.

“It warms the heart to have her back on the team, and she is doing well, particularly considering how extensive her injuries were,” Peacock said.

The Whitefish Bulldogs will also field young teams on both the boys and girls side this year, with Head Coach Richard Menicke saying his main goals are to develop his young runners and show tangible improvement over the course of the season.

“We are a young team with great upperclass leaders,” Menicke said. “The dream is that some of our freshmen develop into varsity athletes during the course of the season and that our returners can improve their times from last season.”

FLAG FOOTBALL, GOLF, VOLLEYBALL

The Glacier Wolfpack, who have become a mainstay powerhouse in the world of Montana High School flag football, tied a bow on their 2025 season with a fourth consecutive state championship. 

After three previous years of the sport’s history employing a combined tournament, the 2025 edition of the stat tournament featured three brackets split by classification. The Wolfpack earned the inaugural Class AA championship to build on their previous three-peat.

But for Head Coach Mark Kessler, that was then, and the 2026 season is now.

“The previous season means nothing to this,” Kessler said. “They are two different things and our whole goal is to be our best at the end of the season. We look to develop our kids to be better people, players and teammates. Success is a byproduct of the work we put in throughout the season.”

Kessler described this season’s squad as “a young group that plays with passion for the game and willingness to be coached.”

“Our motto is #IBMe, which simply means ‘I believe in Me,’” Kessler said. “We hope to grow from an ‘I can’t’ to an ‘I can’ attitude.”

This season, the Wolfpack will have the opportunity to represent Montana in the Max Preps Championships tournament in San Diego, Calif. on Sept. 11-12.

“We are also excited to compete against the entire AA this season,” Kessler said. “It’s great to see the growth of flag football in Montana.”

After an exciting 2025 postseason run for the Flathead Bravettes, which culminated in a top-four finish in the state following a semifinal loss to Glacier, second-year Head Coach Jessica Hensley said her squad is focused and fine-tuning ahead of the 2026 campaign, with their sights set on hardware. 

“Our ultimate goal is a state championship, but we know that doesn’t happen simply by saying that’s what we want,” Hensley said. “We want to build the skills, habits and mindsets that will help our athletes succeed both on and off the field. We want to develop players who are disciplined, resilient, accountable and confident, while continuing to grow as people and as teammates.

“If we continue to focus on those things and consistently do our part, I truly believe a state championship is well within our grasp.”

With a solid core of returners pairing with an exciting group of newcomers, which includes upperclassmen new to the sport, Hensley’s squad is “definitely hungry for more this year,” she said.

“For me, as a second-year head coach, it has been really impressive to see that culture being passed down,” Hensley said. “The players are beginning to understand what it looks like to play Flathead flag football and are taking ownership of that standard themselves. We haven’t seen the entire process play out yet, but so far, we’ve had a great start to the season, and I’m excited about where we’re headed.”

Over on the hardwood, Glacier’s volleyball team is also hungry for more after their trip to the Class AA state tournament last year, where the Wolfpack went 1-2. 

With a mix of returning experience and players stepping into new or larger roles, this year’s Wolfpack has a lot of potential — but potential isn’t what wins games, Head Coach Jaimie Nelson said.

“Our job as a program is to turn that potential into consistent volleyball,” Nelson said.

“I would describe this year’s team as competitive, powerful, and willing to work,” she added. “Our biggest area of growth will be consistency. We have athletes that can do some really exciting things; now the challenge is learning to do the simple things well, over and over again. I want us to become a team that stays steady when things get difficult and trusts one another.”

Nelson will look to her senior class to be a “steady, focused presence on the court” as this season’s team finds its identity and new players step into bigger roles, she said.

“Our varsity team is what people see, but building a successful program happens every day in our gym,” Nelson said. “We’re focused on developing fundamentals, competitiveness, leadership, and a genuine love for being part of a team. This is a special group because they are beginning to take ownership of what they want Wolfpack Volleyball to become.” 

For this year’s Wolfpack athletes hitting the links, building off the teams’ previous success will be the key, first-year Head Coach Cory Snipes said. 

“We have a large roster of over 60 students this year, with some exceptional golfers,” Snipes said. “Our goal is to be a competitive team the whole year while maintaining the culture that Glacier High has shown in all of its programs throughout the history of the school.”

After a fourth place team finish at the state tournament, the boys will return individual placers senior Torren Murray and junior Elliot Anderson, who finished 7th and 54th, respectively. On the girls side, the Wolfpack finished fifth place and will return state placers in senior Maggie Mitton (tied 9th) and junior Lillie Groom (tied 48th).

“My hope is that our team is not reliant on one or two players,” Snipes said. “I want it to become a full team effort, where every kid is contributing from Varsity to JV to Practice Squad. With every one of them feeling their skills advancing and having a fun time while playing and practicing.”

lauren@flatheadbeacon.com 

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I attended the opening reception for the exhibit, which is free and open to the public during the art gallery’s hours of operation. Docent-led tours are also available, so be sure to visit either the community college’s or the Wachholz College Center’s websites for more information. At the reception, Rabbi Schneur Wolf from Chabad of the Flathead Valley spoke and shared that his relatives, like Anne Frank, experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. Rabbi Wolf’s family lived in a Polish town that is now known as Auschwitz, its location and reputation forever blackened for its concentration and extermination camp where 1.1 million men, women, and children died. However, Rabbi Wolf explained that the town where his grandparents were bakers used to be Oświęcim before the Nazi invasion and occupation of Poland. It used to be an ordinary town, where friends and neighbors gathered. He told the audience that his family used to hand out free bread on Friday night before Shabbat to anyone who needed food for the weekend. Then, with the rise of Nazism, everything changed. No longer is this small town in Poland remembered for anything other than its concentration camp and the pinnacle of Holocaust horrors.

Anne Frank’s diaries and Rabbi Wolf’s anecdotes about his ancestors are not bullet points from a history textbook. This exhibit and the rabbi’s words serve a much more important purpose. They remind us that the kind of poisonous and insidious hate didn’t arise out of nowhere. As Rabbi Wolf remarked, it didn’t start in the Holocaust, and it was many of his grandparents’ friends and neighbors who arrested Jews and tortured them in the camps. It started with lies big and small about a group of people, and it spread. It started with distortions of religion and culture and fueled a nation’s rise to power. It began with a slide toward authoritarian governance and the incapacity to stand up against it.

After the Holocaust, the world said never again. But those words can’t be spoken or written without intention. Without working together to dismantle hate and discrimination. Without questioning those in power who work in both blatant and concealed ways to strip others of power, to chip away at ideals and institutions that protect democracy and equality. I think a critical part of ensuring that the Holocaust doesn’t happen again is bearing witness to the words and images of those who were killed or tortured by the Nazis. To see the images of young school children in Amsterdam separated from their parents is shocking, as is listening to the relatives of Holocaust survivors talk about how their family endured this unimaginable horror. Coming together to witness a horror at once so personal and global is a significant step in defanging whatever current version of Nazism arises. Also, when we visit exhibits such as this and take the time to read about the victim’s lives, we keep the best part of those people alive. Just like Rabbi Wolf does when he tells us about the town of Oświęcim before Auschwitz. These are the vital stories we need, too.

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When I’m in grilled vegetable mode, the sauce can even be ready before the pasta, letting me focus on preparing a side dish or enjoying a glass of wine. If I’m making the pasta the same night that I’m filling the grill with bell peppers, onions and garlic, I start the pasta water just after I’ve loaded the grill grate for the last time so that the water is boiling when I bring the charred vegetables indoors. If I grilled earlier in the week, I refrigerate enough grilled alliums and grilled sweet pepper to make this and perhaps other dishes over the next few days, freezing the rest.

You can also make this pasta with fresh vegetables, sautéing them in the skillet and then setting them aside as you make the roux and cream sauce. They won’t have the same charred smokiness imparted by the grill but will taste of the summer harvest. For a full one-bowl meal, grill and top the pasta with mushrooms, shrimp or fish.

Half-and-half is a staple in my house, and it creates a light yet creamy sauce. Use full cream for a richer version. For a lighter one, skip the roux and cream altogether and toss the hot pasta with a tablespoon of butter or olive oil, the grated cheese and a ladleful of the starchy pasta water.

Creamy Grilled Pepper, Onion and Garlic Pasta

Serves 2-3

6 ounces penne or similar-size pasta

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup Homemade Vegetable Stock or water

2 tablespoons half-and-half

1 large grilled red bell pepper, chopped

1 small grilled onion, chopped

3 cloves grilled garlic, chopped

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped (optional)

In a large pot of water, boil the pasta until al dente, following package instructions.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour and a pinch each of salt and black pepper and cook, stirring constantly, for about one minute, until a golden roux forms. Gradually whisk in the stock or water, followed by the half-and-half, adding each in a slow stream that is absorbed before you pour in more. Bring the mixture to just below a boil, stirring, and then reduce the heat and simmer for one minute, until thickened. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the bell pepper, onion and garlic.

When the pasta is done, drain and divide it among bowls. Top with the hot grilled vegetable sauce and sprinkle each serving with cheese and basil, if desired. Serve immediately.

Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger. Learn more about this month’s pickling workshops at TwiceAsTasty.com.

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