Tristan Scott

In August 2021, when the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) issued an emergency rule promoting parental rights as the final authority on masking mandates in schools, the agency cited “a number of scientific studies” indicating that universal mask use among children can adversely affect their health and development. In response, the […]

The committee tasked with updating Whitefish’s sustainable tourism management plan will host a town-hall style meeting Wednesday night to review tourism trends, discuss forecasts for the coming winter and solicit feedback from community members. The Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan (STMP) committee will convene the town hall on Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 6 p.m. to […]

The international commission tasked with investigating ecological threats to transboundary watersheds has convened an independent board of experts to study mining contaminants in the Elk-Kootenai River basin, where the flow of pollution from Canadian coal operations is degrading water quality in British Columbia (B.C.), Montana and Idaho. The “study board” consists of equal numbers of […]

Wildlife managers in Glacier National Park say they won’t take any action against a bear that bit a hiker last week in a surprise encounter on the Highline Trail, an airy route along the Continental Divide that is among the park’s most popular. A prominent segment of the trail from Haystack Butte to Granite Park […]

A 35-year-old man sustained non-life-threatening injuries in an encounter with a bear on Glacier National Park’s Highline Trail early Thursday morning, prompting rangers to close a section of the alpine route between Haystack Butte and Granite Park Chalet. The injured hiker and his hiking party encountered the bear near the spur trail to the Grinnell […]

The Flathead National Forest is seeking public input on the renewal of five existing outfitter and guide special use permits on the non-wilderness portions of the north and middle forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River, which is jointly managed with Glacier National Park. As the lead agency, Flathead National Forest administers the five […]

A longtime local outfitter who incurred numerous citations for violating the terms of a special use permit authorizing him to guide trips in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex pleaded not guilty this week to illegally killing a brown bear on a national wildlife refuge in Alaska. Richard McAtee, 46, was indicted in July by a […]

Two environmental groups on Sept. 16 filed a lawsuit challenging a multi-year conservation strategy underway in Glacier National Park, where fisheries managers last summer exterminated an invasive population of rainbow trout in Gunsight Lake with plans to replenish the remote alpine basin with genetically pure, locally adapted strains of westslope cutthroat and bull trout, effectively […]

State wildlife managers euthanized a grizzly bear last week after a series of conflicts with chicken coops and other attractants near homes in the Silver Butte area south of Libby. According to a Tuesday press release from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), wildlife specialists received reports of the bear breaking into chicken coops, greenhouses, […]

What does 1 million pounds of locally diverted waste look like? For Alissa LaChance, it looks just like the view from her office. Well, almost. As the founder and owner of Dirt Rich Compost, LaChance’s work headquarters is a 6-acre compost yard on the edge of Columbia Falls. It’s sorted into sloping rows of organic […]

The arrival of autumn marks the beginning of big game hunting season in northwest Montana, a beloved time of year for the thousands of residents who partake in the rich tradition. Although the general season for deer and elk doesn’t open until Oct. 26, the archery season for most big game opened on Sept. 7 […]

For businesses catering to tourists visiting gateway communities around Glacier National Park, the floor is high even when the economic ceiling is low. It’s Glacier National Park, after all; the adage that you “can’t eat the scenery” doesn’t really apply here, and the short seasonal window during which tourists can drive the full length of […]

Land managers with the Flathead National Forest and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) are preparing to conduct fall prescribed burning operations at dozens of locations spanning hundreds of acres across northwest Montana, with some projects emitting smoke that will be “highly visible from Whitefish and the greater Flathead Valley.” According to DNRC […]

Glacier National Park ushered 791,717 people through its entrances in July, according to new visitation data, which revealed a nearly 10% increase in visitor traffic compared to the same month last year and marked the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year visitation growth. In the first seven months of 2024, the park’s year-to-date visitation increased by nearly […]

Helicopter search crews on Sunday recovered the body of missing mountaineer Grant Marcuccio in Glacier National Park. The 32-year-old Whitefish man had been missing since Aug. 18, touching off a week-long search-and-rescue operation that ended at about 2 p.m. yesterday when the aerial searchers spotted his body in rugged terrain below the ridgeline connecting Heavens […]

The idea of bestowing future generations with a rare “glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning,” which is how President Lyndon Johnson articulated the spirit of the monumental Wilderness Act 60 years ago, is a uniquely American invention. It’s born of a frontier spirit, championed by early advocates with heroic legacies – […]

Nestled above Swan Lake near its confluence with the Swan River, a new conservation easement permanently protects a 51-acre parcel of former timberland that its owners hope will serve as a critical wildlife habitat corridor. Paul Johnson and Candace Greene said they donated the land to the nonprofit Flathead Land Trust to safeguard habitat for […]

When the Great Fish Community Challenge kicked off on Aug. 8, organizers and participants harbored high hopes that the nonprofit giving campaign’s 10th edition would infuse its heavyweight roster of nonprofit organizations with financial support while also raising the profiles of organizations throughout the Flathead Valley. Within 24 hours, the 2024 fundraising campaign had already […]

Less than two weeks after Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) took the unprecedented step of restricting angling on the North Fork Flathead River amid record-breaking temperatures, the agency’s fisheries biologists have determined that water temperatures have cooled sufficiently to justify lifting the restriction, effective Wednesday, Aug. 7. “Air temperatures are moderating and updated weather […]

The Flathead Beacon is a weekly print and daily online news source serving Western Montana’s Flathead Valley.