Fall 2009

 

Volunteers Descend on River with Trash Bags by Dick Fichtler, Missoula Field Office They came with snorkels and fins. They came with gloves. But most importantly, they came with garbage bags.  Hoping to preserve the pristine beauty of the Blackfoot River, more than 130 volunteers gathered for the sixth annual river cleanup on July 25.   [Read full story]

2009 Active Season for Area Dino Hunters by Mark E. Jacobsen, Miles City Field Office  Summer is on the wane and excavation crews from across the nation are headed back to their labs after a summer field season extracting fossils from eastern Montana’s fossil-rich formations.  This year in Garfield County, the St. Louis Community College-Meramec from Missouri was among those federally permitted institutions working on BLM land.  [Read full story]

New Interpretive Panel Highlights Métis by Ann Boucher, Montana State Office, and Rod Sanders, Lewistown Field Office  Nearly 70 people listened appreciatively to the smooth, sweet sounds of a fiddle and a guitar drifting up through the trees. It was a fitting close to a National Public Lands Day event at the Ear Mountain interpretive site along the rugged Rocky Mountain Front 25 miles west of Choteau. [Read full story]

A Journey through the Monument by Ruth Miller, Montana State Office, and Craig Flentie, Lewistown Field Office  The Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center (MBIC) in Fort Benton hosts a long list of educational, entertaining and informative events each year.  Among the most popular is a two and a half day float trip for seventh graders called A Journey through the Monument.  [Read full story]

BLM Working to Resolve Public Land Littering by Craig Flentie, Lewistown Field Office   For decades, public lands have served as a backdrop across the stage of the American West. These lands have long contributed to the economic well-being of our communities and served our individual needs for recreation, solitude and relaxation.  [Read full story]

College Students Pitch in on Summer Projects by David Abrams, Butte FO University of Ohio student Breanna Kahle could have spent her summer vacation lounging by a pool or partying with her friends every night. Instead, she found herself traipsing through the thick underbrush and blow-down in the Deep Creek area south of Anaconda. Clad in work boots and a hard hat, she moved from tree to tree, tacking packets of verbenone, a beetle repellent, to the sides of the evergreens.  [Read full story]

Hundreds Walk with Ghosts at Garnet Day by David Abrams, Western Montana Zone  Rob Nurre tucked his watch and fob chain in his vest and peered across the counter of the dusty general store at his newest customer, a boy wearing a Spider Man t-shirt. “What’s your pleasure, young man?”  The boy shyly pointed at a glass jar filled to the brim with caramels.  [Read full story]

Pilot Programs Give Students Direction by Elizabeth (Bitsy) Stiller, South Dakota Field Office  “Are we lost?” was not a phrase heard at the Fort Meade Recreation Area on July 24 when 25 elementary school students tried out a couple of new educational programs.  Map and Compass Orienteering and Introduction to GPS are pilot programs developed under the Take It Outside program grant and initiative.  [Read full story]

Public Lands Foundation Presents Two Lifetime Service Awards PLF News Release  The Public Lands Foundation presented two Lifetime Service Awards during its annual meeting September 11 in Billings. One went to Billy McIlvain of Huntley, Mont., and another was given posthumously to Vincent Hecker, formerly of Forsyth, Mont.  McIlvain was employed for nearly 46 years with the BLM.  [Read full story]