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Earlier this year, Lincoln County and its partners released the Kootenai River Recreation Framework, a master strategy for improving safety, accessibility and signage at recreation access points in Lincoln County. The framework was developed in response to longstanding infrastructure gaps at river access sites, including the need to extend the boat ramp at Riverfront Park in Libby. When county officials learned that river recreation projects weren’t eligible for funding under traditional outdoor recreation grant programs, however, they decided to try a new approach.

In 2023, Lincoln County identified a funding opportunity through the Natural Resource Damages Program (NRDP), which provides funding on behalf of the public for restoration projects to offset environmental degradation that’s occurred due to the release of hazardous substances. In this case, Lincoln County drew a connection between the river-recreation and restoration projects it had proposed along the Kootenai River corridor — such as the boat-ramp extension project — and the legacy of vermiculite mining in Lincoln County that led to widespread asbestos contamination, a deadly public health crisis and a Superfund designation. The pot of NRDP money is dedicated exclusively to restoration activities — such as restoring, replacing, rehabilitating, or acquiring the equivalent of injured natural resources — and to developing and implementing restoration plans; the money is not intended for environmental remediation work.

In November 2024, NRDP finalized its Interim Restoration Plan, approving seven early restoration projects guided by community input, including the Kootenai River Recreation Framework project. Funding became available in June 2025, and the project convened its first official meeting the following month.

Enter Outdoor Community Partners, a Montana-based nonprofit specializing in community-driven outdoor recreation planning. The cross-jurisdictional committee conducted a field inventory of all 13 access points in summer 2025, including a separate inventory by an adaptive recreation specialist, and distributed a Community Values Survey last fall that solicited feedback from local river users.

Tom Lang, the project lead for Outdoor Community Partners, helped coordinate the stakeholders to marshal resources and tackle a gamut of long-standing challenges surrounding river access, recreation and safety.

“It was three years in the making, from trying to upgrade the boat ramp to finding this pot of NRDP money that is uniquely suited to Lincoln County’s needs because it includes recreation access improvements among its definition of restoration,” Lang said. “And then we thought, well, let’s not do it alone; let’s build regional steering community and create a model for regional river recreation. Because rivers are always regional; they’re never in one single jurisdiction, they crisscross all over the place and lace together all kinds of public and private interests.”

Under Lang’s guidance, a 10-person steering committee coalesced around the idea, including representatives from Lincoln County, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Summit Independent Living, David Thompson Search and Rescue, and Linehan Outfitting.

“For too long, improving access and safety on the Kootenai meant navigating a complicated patchwork of jurisdictions with no shared plan or funding,” Lincoln County Commissioner Jim Hammons said. “Now, we have that plan, a clear timeline, and the partnerships in place to bring needed resources to the river.”

The framework recommends updates across access and safety, signage, monitoring, and co-management strategies, with a three-year implementation timeline. The most foundational work will be completed in 2026, including ADA parking upgrades, restroom improvements, bear-resistant trash installations, and initial signage upgrades. Kiosk expansions, river hazard signage, and a shade shelter may follow in 2027.

The boat-ramp extension project at Riverfront Park, which is the most complex project, is proposed for 2028 alongside a full-time monitoring program and permanent wayfinding signage on U.S. Highway 2. Meanwhile, to support co-management, the framework recommends the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the managing agencies as well as exploring the creation of a River Recreation Coordinator position.

“Together, these updates will build the infrastructure, data, and cross-agency coordination needed to sustain the Kootenai River as a world-class recreation resource for Lincoln County and beyond,” according to the plan.

Because the framework provides a replicable model for regional river recreation planning,” Lang said he hopes it demonstrates how communities and agencies can align interests and priorities to make practical investments that improve safety and access.

“It also supports co-management within a river system, like the Kootenai, made up of a complex mix of jurisdictions and ownerships, which is common on many rivers in Montana,” Lang said.

To learn more about the plan and to review the framework, visit the Outdoor Community Partners website here.

tscott@flatheadbeacon.com

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Where: 83 Dolphin Dr.            

Price: $690,000

What: Four-bedroom, three-bath home

Square Feet: 2,608

This spacious home sits on 1.45 acres and features two separate living areas perfect for entertaining and relaxing. It has a bright and inviting living room and attached two-car garage. Outside is a Trex deck, oversized patio, fully fenced backyard, and beautiful mountain views. Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties

MLS Number: 30068621

Columbia Falls

Where: 1422 Tamarack Ln.          

Price: $690,000

What: Four-bedroom, two-bath home

Square Feet: 2,200

This freshly remodeled four-bedroom, two-bath home offers modern comfort, generous living space, and an unbeatable location. Situated directly across from the scenic Meadow Lake Golf Course, this property blends peaceful surroundings with everyday convenience. Clearwater Montana Properties

MLS Number: 30066513

Lakeside

Where: 27 Bayview Dr.      

Price: $699,000

What: Three-bedroom, two-bath home

Square Feet: 1,755

This newer home sits on 1 acre and features an inviting living space enhanced by a wood ceiling that introduces a natural element to the design. A kitchen bar and peninsula make it perfect for entertaining. Located in the Peaceful Bay neighborhood just one mile south of Volunteer Park. PureWest Real Estate   

MLS Number: 30060624

Marion

Where: 675 Griz Ln.   

Price: $698,000

What: Five-bedroom, two-bath home

Square Feet: 3,044

Enjoy modern country living just minutes away from Little Bitterroot and Ashley lakes in this stunning barndominium-style home. The beautifully designed living space blends rustic charm with modern touches and features soaring ceilings and open-concept living area. Set on 5 peaceful acres, the property is ready for animals. NextHome Premier Realty

MLS Number: 30049553

Romy Caro, an agent with PureWest Real Estate, has been a Realtor since 2004. Her experience includes sales in residential, land, waterfront, vacation and recreational properties. Whether you are ready now or just thinking about making some real estate decisions, contact Romy at romy@purewestmt.com.

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From the beginning, sheriff candidate Cahalen has done none of this. There have been no vicious attacks in community letters, only continuous lauding of her exceptional qualifications. The messaging from her campaign consistently focuses on what professional improvements she’ll bring to the Sheriff’s Office in Flathead County. All positive. No discriminatory remarks, lies, or mudslinging. This speaks to her character and the level of accountability, integrity, and pride she’ll provide for the employees in the Sheriff’s Office, community leaders, and with the highest professionalism for Flathead County residents.

I’ve reviewed sheriff candidate Cahalen’s qualifications on her website, and I recommend that everyone who understands and appreciates the value of quality law enforcement leadership do the same at www.eviecahalenforsheriff.com. Her experience is extensive, her commitment to her profession unlimited, her qualifications unmatched in this race.

Sheriff candidate Cahalen has extensive experience developing collaborative community partnerships with law enforcement, which is sorely needed here in Flathead County. What a tremendous asset our candidate for sheriff, Evie Cahalen, would be to Flathead County and the Sheriff’s Office.

Dave Kent
Marion

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It can take shape in any number of ways, but for many it entails leaning back in a lawn chair at Bonsai Brewing Project in Whitefish, sunglasses on for the first time in months, head languidly engaged in a sort of affirmative acknowledgement of the paradisical nature of the moment: face tilted to the warm sun before bobbing back down to the cold refreshing beverage in hand. 

Taking over as head brewer for a place that invokes so much organic, sun-fueled joy should be an intimidating task for someone, but Marty Vollmer doesn’t seem daunted. Since his debut in late 2025, he’s already kicked out several superb seasonals, fine-tuned old standards and introduced a rotating lager as a menu staple. 

Marty grew up in the Flathead Valley, the son of a passionate homebrewer. He eventually followed that calling and entered the FVCC Brewing Academy. His first solo project at the academy was an amber ale called “God’s Nightgown” based on his mother’s signature homebrew. After graduating, he soon secured himself a position at Sacred Waters, working under three different head brewers while there. But the anecdote about his first signature beer is indicative of what makes Marty a good brewer; he has the ability to balance his creativity with fidelity to the past and the practical. 

One of Marty’s first projects at Bonsai Brewing  was a flagship IPA. The India Pale Ale is the most popular craft beer style in America. It accounts for half of all craft beer sales year in and year out, making it an important tap handle in any brewery. When contemplating such an important beer in the tasting room, he had a very simple inspiration. 

“Something that people could kick back three or four or,” he said, describing his vision. 

To achieve this, he turned to the classic West Coast IPA. One of — if not the — foremost icons of the American craft beer revolution, West Coast IPAs are characterized as crisp and clear with medium to high bitterness and bright citrus, with fruity and often piney aromatics.  

In other words, the West Coast IPA is a beer perfectly suited for knocking back a few on a warm spring day with friends. 

The first pass at the new beer was so early in his tenure, Marty was still learning the intricacies of Bonsai’s brew system. Knowing that adjustments would be made no matter how his initial attempt turned out, he used a hodgepodge of hops that had been left over in the fridge. The purpose was simply to achieve two benchmarks: “I just wanted to get the bitterness up there enough and have it dry out like crazy.”   

The dryness provides a clean drinking experience, less cloying than newer IPA styles, and less filling. 

This dry bitterness is what made West Coast IPAs popular. It’s easy to forget from the current vantage point that these beers were once considered unthinkable when they were first brewed. The bitterness was different and jarring, but combined with the flavors of the newer American hops, it provided a flavorful balanced beer that would prove to be immensely popular.  

Checking both boxes, Marty dialed it in on his next pass. Using Centennial, Chinook and Vista hops in his boil, he achieved the desired bitterness and enough low-level aromatics to reach for something special during his dry hopping. 

“A lot of West Coasts, they can be piney and resinous. A little too much,” he said. 

So he opted for Nelson Sauvin, a hop from New Zealand named after Sauvignon blanc, and known for imparting white wine flavors into beer. Leaning more heavily on a fruit-forward profile rather than a citrusy or piney palate, Nelson Sauvin is a bit more vibrant.  

“To me, it makes it more approachable,” Marty said. 

The result is the Westy; something familiar and firmly rooted in tradition, yet modern and novel.  

Golden to light amber in appearance with a robust head, the nose is abundant with citrus and tropical fruity aromatics. The first sip has notes of grapefruit, melon and big berry flavors, tailing to a strong bitter kick. The Westy is crisp and dry and doesn’t linger. Notes of green apple and tangerine slowly develop along the way. It goes down smooth and satisfying, the foamy curtains of Belgian lace unfurling elegantly down the glass, its quality fermentation affirmed with a clean mouthfeel and proper head retention.  

Overall, it’s a bright and celestial experience; something original and surprising, yet familiar enough to keep everyone smiling in the sun all afternoon.  

Pub Facts

WESTY

ABV: 6.7 

IBU: 50 

OG: 14.5 P 

FG: 1.6 P 

COLOR: 6 SRM 

West Coast IPAs are closely associated with the “C-hops” developed and grown in the Pacific Northwest, such as Centennial, Chinook, Cascade, and Columbus varietals. This can also include Citra, Crystal and Cluster. Collectively, they’re thought of as imparting tropical, floral, lemon, pine and grapefruit characteristics. Classic examples include: Lagunitas IPA, Green Flash West Coast IPA, Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA, Stone Brewing IPA, and Russian River Pliny the Elder.

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The demonstration was part of a schoolwide activity at Creston. Those are the types of activities Cheryl Peterson, in her first year as principal, has tried to introduce more regularly to offer students hands-on educational experiences and to build partnerships within the community.

When Peterson first took the helm of the school in August, she told the Beacon one of her major goals was to maintain Creston School’s identity as an “anchor” in the rural east valley. Over the course of the year, bringing in groups like the Big Sky Astronomy Club has helped with that mission. Peterson said in addition to offering an experience to the students during the school day, the amateur astronomers would host a presentation for Creston residents in the evening too. They also planned to host a stargazing session, as long as clouds didn’t cover the sky.

But as the year has gone on, Peterson said a topic bigger than simply bringing in groups like the astronomy club has cropped up as a community ask. Creston School wants to begin offering middle school.

The school currently offers kindergarten through sixth grade. Once students reach seventh grade, they transition out of Creston School. Typically, they attend either Cayuse Prairie, a neighboring east valley district, or Kalispell Middle School.

In a survey the school sent to families and community members in December, 45% of respondents said they would support adding a junior high program to Creston School. Another 35% answered they were unsure; only 20% of around 60 respondents were unsupportive of the idea.

It’s an option Peterson and her board are now pursuing, working with the state in the hopes of earning accreditation to teach seventh and eighth grade next school year.

“It would be wonderful if this was another option,” Peterson said. “So, we’re not looking to compete with any other school. KMS is still an amazing option for our kids. Cayuse is also, you know, we send some of our families to Cayuse — great situations. We love those, and some families, that’s exactly what they need.”

She continued: “We’re just trying to offer something different. We’re just looking to allow our kids to grow up in the system.”  

The vision for the middle school level — should the accreditation come through — is to offer a module format where students’ academics will align with a specific career field, like engineering or medical careers, trading off at each trimester. And as students are studying those career fields, business partners from within the community would come into the classroom to offer students a real-world glimpse at how their lives would look if they pursued that pathway. Peterson said that vision is based on the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme model. She hopes it will ensure the school meets career and technical education standards from the state, while maintaining academic rigor for students.

“You know, part of this is we’re gonna teach the kids how to do a business budget,” Peterson said. “We’re going to teach the kids how to do interviews and, you know, some of those kinds of things so that when they do get to high school, if they’re going the career way, they’ve had experience with the careers.”

Plus, that type of programming would fall in line with the high school model students would eventually enter. Most students at Creston School matriculate to Flathead High School, in Kalispell. IB programming has long been a cornerstone of the educational experience at Flathead High. And, in recent years, Kalispell Public Schools has homed in on a Personal Competency Based Education approach as well. Part of that is offering students options to explore career and technical education, in addition to more typical academic offerings.

“I mean, obviously we’re not gonna move forward without the state blessing of accreditation,” Peterson said. “You know, so, it’s really a trial. The key piece to all of this is that we want to meet the needs of Creston folks.”

Still, she described excitement at the prospect. So did Sarah Motley, a parent of a Creston School sixth grader and office assistant at the school.

Motley discovered Creston School mostly by accident. When she worked at Logan Health years ago, she would take her three children to her mother-in-law’s house for childcare. Her mother-in-law, a Creston resident, lived across the street from the school. Sending her own children there made Motley’s drop-off and pickup situation easier.

But as her three children — now a first grader, fourth grader and sixth grader — have grown up in Creston School, Motley and her family have grown in their love of the small school’s offerings and teachers, too. Should Creston School achieve accreditation and begin offering seventh and eighth grade classes, Motley said she would keep her daughter there next year.

“It’s hard at grades six, seven, eight — it’s just such a pivotal time in your life,” she said. “And to move schools in the middle of finding yourself and you’re going through all these changes … it’s hard enough to just live your life. So, the less change, the more stability that you can give them, I want to give my daughter.”

She points to her daughter maintaining the same friend group, making transportation to and from school easier on her family, and her love of the small school feel as benefits of a potential option to stay at Creston School.

Peterson didn’t offer specifics as to when the school will have a definitive answer on the accreditation question. That choice will have to go through the state’s superintendent of public instruction and the Board of Public Education, per the Administrative Rules of Montana. It’s a process Peterson said she and the board are actively working through. She’s hopeful it will come to fruition.

“The potential in Creston is very precious,” she said.

mariah@flatheadbeacon.com

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But Carlson, who’s running to represent Amsterdam-Churchill and part of Belgrade in the statehouse, has never worn a pin with pronouns.

The image, which was featured on a campaign mailer opposing her candidacy by calling her “woke,” was based on a photograph of Carlson that had been doctored to depict her wearing the pin and holding a pride flag.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Carlson said in an interview with Montana Free Press. The mailers, she said, are “complete lies.” 

Carlson served in the Legislature during the 2021 and 2023 sessions, but lost her reelection bid in the 2024 Republican primary, when she said she was similarly targeted. 

“I didn’t fight back, and I tried to take the high road and hope that people would not believe these attacks, but they do,” she said of her 2024 campaign. 

This election cycle she again has a primary opponent, Randy Chamberlin, a businessman and former chairman of the Gallatin County Republican Party.   

This election, Carlson is pushing back.

On Monday, she filed a complaint with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices claiming that the mailers violate a law passed by the 2025 Legislature that bars political groups from using “deepfake” imagery without disclosing that it has been digitally altered.

The mailers were sent out by Accountability in State Government, a political action committee run by former Republican legislator Dan Bartel. 

A nearly identical mailer sent by the same group features manipulated imagery of Rep. Eric Albus, R-Glasgow, who is also running in a contested primary for state Senate against Inverness resident Mark Wicks. 

The campaign materials arrived in mailboxes along the Hi-Line and in Gallatin Valley earlier this month, and come at a time when Republican legislative primaries are as contentious as they’ve ever been, and doctored images are proliferating throughout national and state-level politics.

Bartel did not respond to multiple requests for comment, so it is unclear if generative AI was used to create the images, but experts say the use of generative AI programs like ChatGPT to alter photos has become increasingly common in recent years, and has led to a proliferation of misleading content. 

“People had access to tools like Photoshop, and it even goes back to selective editing, so we’ve seen this for a long time, but now it has really gotten to the point where people can really create these images [with the click of a button],” said Michael Spikes, a media literacy expert and professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. 

The mailers carry an anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) message and accuse Carlson and Albus of joining “every Democrat in voting to give taxpayer-funded grants to organizations pushing woke nonsense.”

The mailers are referencing favorable votes by both candidates on House Bill 9, a routine funding bill that supports cultural and arts projects with grants funded by earnings from the state’s coal trust. The biennial bill typically passes easily, and Bartel himself voted “yes” on its two key Senate floor votes in 2023.

Albus said the people he has spoken to who received the mailers don’t believe the message or the images. They’re “completely disgusted” by the campaign tactics, he said. 

Carlson has had a different experience. When she went to get her COPP complaint notarized at the bank, she said, the woman helping her said that before they had a chance to talk about the mailer she had been considering taking her Carlson campaign sign down. The two have known each other for 27 years, Carlson said. 

Carlson explained the situation, at which point the notary asked her, “Well why are you wearing that button?” Ultimately, Carlson said she persuaded her that the mailer was inauthentic. 

Carlson says she has “social conservative values.” One of her flagship achievements was passing a bill in 2021 that prohibits private businesses and government agencies from denying services based on vaccination status.

Ramesh Srinivasan, a professor of information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, said altered images erode trust at a time when people of all ideological persuasions already have a propensity to distrust politicians. 

“When we start suspecting everything is AI-generated, we can’t trust anything we see,” he said in a phone interview.  

Spikes said deepening distrust resulting from doctored content fosters cynicism and ultimately leads people to “become less civically engaged.”  

Much of Accountability in State Government’s (ASG) funding has ties to educational freedom and school choice advocates, but that money was funneled through multiple entities before it arrived in Bartel’s hands.

According to publicly available campaign finance records, most of ASG’s cash has come through two PACs: 1889 Project PAC and Montana Patriots. Those two outfits received large infusions from the Montana Senate Leadership PAC, whose treasurer is Montana Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell. Regier’s PAC received $60,000 from Rita Schreiber, president of the Educational Promise Foundation, who lists Helmville and California addresses online.

Regier said that once the cash leaves his PAC, what’s done with it is “out of my hands,” but he isn’t shy about acknowledging the PAC’s goal of picking winners in the June 2 primary election. 

“Primaries are where we’re picking out the starting line-up,” Regier said in a phone interview. “You bet I want to influence that.” 

Montana Senate Leadership PAC also received $50,000 from School Freedom Fund, a federal Super PAC that is almost entirely funded by Pennsylvania’s richest man, Jeff Yass, who contributed $15 million over the last 10 months, according to public campaign finance filings. Yass is a frequent Republican donor and a staunch advocate of school choice. 

Unlike Carlson, Albus said he won’t be filing a complaint over the mailers, saying he doesn’t want to “dignify” them.

“It’s politics. It’s a full-contact sport,” he said. “Maybe it’s been too long in Montana politics since someone got a broken nose.”

This story originally appeared in the Montana Free Press, which can be found online at montanafreepress.org.

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The Lakeside County Water and Sewer District (LCWSD) Improvement Project is anticipated to take on the district’s growing wastewater and septic needs, accept septage from tanks in Flathead County, and take on capacity for the Flathead Lake Club, a 359-home subdivision the Discovery Land Company has planned for Lakeside.  

DEQ approved phase one of the improvement project last year, including the district’s Montana Ground Water Pollution Control System permit to allow treated wastewater into groundwater via rapid infiltration basins (RIBs). The district began work on the new septage receiving facility and headworks facility last year.

Phase two would permit construction of the treatment plant and the three RIBs. It lays out how the district plans to treat the wastewater before it is transferred into groundwater.

DEQ opened up a public comment period for phase two on April 9, set to close on April 23. After receiving several requests to extend the comment period for 60 days and to reschedule the public hearing, DEQ officials notified the public on April 23 that they would extend the comment period for seven days, until 11:59 p.m. on April 30.

Lindsey Krywaruchka, administrator for the water quality division, said that after considering the requests, “some additional time for public comment is warranted but that the request for an additional 60 days and a rescheduled hearing is not appropriate given the scope of the proposed action.”

At Thursday’s hearing inside the Lakeside QRU community room, representatives from the Flathead Lakers, North Shore Water Alliance, and Citizens for a Better Flathead said they were concerned about long-term environmental impacts due to the project site’s proximity to Flathead Lake.

“Your own study points to a 50-year phosphorus loading event, and you say it will not be a significant impact,” Coby Gierke, executive director of the Flathead Lakers, said. “It’s a deferred, potentially irreversible impact to Flathead Lake. And this is a water body we’ve been studying for over 100 years, with one of the most long-established research facilities for a freshwater lake anywhere in the country. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

In the fact sheet for phase one of the project, DEQ engineers note that “for phosphorous, a surface water breakthrough time of greater than 50 years is a nonsignificant change in water quality.” A site analysis shows that effluent from ground water mounding will “breakthrough” (when phosphorous has the potential to reach surface water) from the three RIBs in 60, 90 and 300 years, respectively.

Mayre Flowers, co-director of Citizens for a Better Flathead (CBF), called for DEQ to request the sewer district release a rate study it commissioned in 2025. She pointed out that DEQ’s documents still estimate the project at $13.4 million, despite the district’s acknowledgement last year that the cost for the total project will likely be somewhere around $58 million.  

“These are questions, not absolutes,” Flowers said. “Maybe there’s something I’m not getting here, but when you withhold information and when it’s not part of the public process, we have to raise questions and make assertions that unless they’re refuted, you need to address them in your analysis of the economic impact of this, which is required under (Montana Environmental Policy Act).”

Chris Stark, a staff scientist on the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ (CSKT) legal team, said the Tribes did not receive notice of the public hearing until Flowers notified them the day prior. CSKT is currently a co-plaintiff alongside CBF in a lawsuit challenging DEQ’s approval of the groundwater permit in phase one.

“We didn’t receive notice of this going down besides just yesterday,” Stark said. “I’m on the state’s list of ‘should have got the notice,’ didn’t get it. A little better clarity would be great.”

A few proponents of the expansion project spoke, including representatives from Evergreen Water and Sewer District and Pop A Squat Portables, which contracts outhouses around the county. Both emphasized that “time is of the essence” as the respective septic receiving facilities they use are nearing capacity.

Jeff Larsen, a civil engineer representing the Montana Environmental Consultants Association, said that after reviewing the DEQ’s documents, the group strongly supports phase two. He cited the stronger protections the treatment plan is poised to provide compared to the current treatment as the basis for the group’s support, and said the plant doesn’t discharge directly into surface-body water, which he described as an anomaly compared to other wastewater districts around the state. He referenced two peer-reviewed studies that CBF commissioned last year to analyze DEQ’s documents, noting that they didn’t contain site-specific data.

“I really urge you guys to make sure if you get opposition … that there be on site-specific data that they obtain on their own,” Larsen said.

To submit public comment on phase two of the project, visit DEQ’s project website here.

zoe@flatheadbeacon.com

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Brad Johnson lives in Helena.

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