Kalispell officials are asking residents to conserve water during dry summer months
Aaron Bolton | Montana Public Radio
Kalispell residents are being asked to conserve water because demand has started to exceed supply.
The city's first efforts to cut water use are voluntary for the general public. City officials say they will cut back on watering public parks and are educating top irrigation users on how they can reduce their use.
This is stage one of the city’s plan to reduce water usage during the dry summer months. The city says if demand continues to outpace supply, it may implement mandatory restrictions that will limit water use to certain days and times of the day.
The city took one of its wells offline two years ago because the water it produced was no longer safe to consume. Officials are currently in the process of replacing that well and say it will also help keep up with the city’s growing population.
Tester reintroduces wilderness bill
Edward F. O’Brien | Montana Public Radio
A bill to extend protected wilderness areas in western Montana is once again up for congressional consideration. It has widespread support, and its advocates hope this time it can pass.
The Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act was introduced again by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in early July. Since Tester first introduced it in 2017 it has gained the support of conservation groups, hook and bullet clubs and several county commissions, but has not passed Congress.
“We need to retain what makes Montana, Montana and the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act does that,” said Montana Wildlife Federation Executive Director Frank Szollosi.
The bill would create protections for nearly 80,000 acres of wildlife habitat in the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat and Mission Mountain Wilderness Areas.
It would also open lands in the Blackfoot and Clearwater valleys for recreation and promote timber harvest and forest restoration near Seeley Lake.
Montana’s Republican Senator, Steve Daines, has said it could only move forward if existing Wilderness Study Areas that are no longer suitable for that designation are returned to general public land management. Daines has offered a bill to remove 100,000 acres of public land from wilderness listing.
