From the editor’s desk: I know you are all busy with Thanksgiving weekend and ushering in the holiday season so I’ll keep this brief. I just wanted to write you all a quick note before I spend some much-need time with my friends and family to say a BIG THANK YOU! By supporting the Flathead Beacon over the years, you have made it possible for us to continue to cover the region we live in and love. We’ll have some big announcements over the next few months. We were recently awarded a grant that we plan to use to better connect with and serve our readers. We have some upcoming events that we plan on hosting next year. We are moving to a new building that we think will allow us to be more innovative and more efficient. And we have new reporter starting in two weeks that we can’t wait to introduce to the community.

I will be sharing more on all this later. But, for now, I just want to say thanks for the continued support. We couldn’t do this without you! Have a wonder Thanksgiving, a blessed holiday season and happy New Year!

– Editor in Chief Kellyn Brown

Here are the Beacon’s most-read stories over the last month …

1) Land of Larch (9,465 views)
2) A Castle Emerges on the Hill (9,118 views)
3) In Northwest Montana, Private Timber is Betting the Forest on Public Access Protection (8,120 views)
4) Glacier National Park Shatters Visitation Record for September (5,939 views)
5) Flathead County Justices of the Peace Paul Sullivan and Eric Hummel Face Off in District Court Race (5,295)
6) Going Deep (5,040 views)
7) Tranel Accused Zinke of ‘Illegally’ Operating a Vacation Rental. Whitefish Officials Say Otherwise. (5,513 views)

8) Flathead Warming Center Files Federal Lawsuit Against City of Kalispell (3,634 views)
9) Land Board Grants Tentative Approval of Conservation Easement to Protect Northwest Montana Timberland (2,626 views)
10) Kalispell Man Accused in 2023 Murder of Homeless Man Pleads Not Guilty to Amended Charges (2,597 views)

* numbers from Google Analytics

A few months ago, I told you about the inaugural Community Impact report the Beacon published. Along with measuring our reach using a variety of metrics, we included testimonials from every newsroom employee explaining why their work mattered to the local community. Here’s an excerpt from Managing Editor Tristan Scott’s piece on how a news tip more than decade ago resulted in him publishing a series of stories on Canadian mines polluting downstream waters in Montana.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

“Among the raft of news tips I received upon moving to the Flathead Valley 15 years ago, one in particular stands out in my memory, not only because of the magnitude of its environmental consequences, but also because I’ve been writing about it ever since.

The tip came from a young scientist who was measuring elevated concentrations of a toxic mining byproduct in Lake Koocanusa, along the U.S.-Canada border in northwest Montana. Being new to the area, I wondered what types of mines there were on Lake Koocanusa, which is a reservoir formed by Libby Dam on the Kootenai River, a blue-ribbon trout stream where I fly-fished often. The scientist explained that these mines weren’t on Lake Koocanusa or the Kootenai River; they weren’t even in Montana. These were Canadian coal mines, and they produced millions of tons of waste rock every year. When it rained, the waste rock leached potent concentrations of a pollutant called selenium into British Columbia’s Elk River, which feeds the Kootenai and Columbia rivers. The scientist speculated that the selenium concentrations were so heightened that they could be hazardous to fish and other aquatic wildlife for hundreds of miles downstream, spanning Montana, Idaho and beyond.

Unfortunately, the scientist’s theory has been borne out over the ensuing decade-and-a-half, even as the global mining giant responsible for the contamination largely avoids accountability. Fortunately, fomented in part by the Flathead Beacon’s watchdog reporting, an international coalition of state, federal, provincial, tribal, and First Nations governments recently began collaborating on longterm solutions to mitigate the environmental crisis.”

You can read the rest of the Community Impact Report here.

Can you guess where in the world Media Director Hunter D’Antuono took the photo below? Send the correct answer to [email protected] and your name will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win a free signed copy of this image.And congratulations to last month’s winner Barbara Boorman, who correctly guessed the location of Church Slough.

This story: While it didn’t quite make the most-read story list, this profile of Ray Djuff, one of Glacier Park’s preeminent historians, is worth a read.   

This event: Is there any way better to get into the holiday spirit than listening to Mannheim Steamroller play its greatest Christmas hits at the Wachholz College Center in Kalispell? Nope. Get your tickets here.

This meal: Nothing beats a good cheeseburger. And it’s hard to find a better one than the Bernie Burger at Richwine’s Burgerville in Polson.

These newsletters: If you haven’t already, you should consider signing up for our other newsletters, the Daily Roundup and Best of the Blotter.

Your feedback: As always, we welcome (and even encourage) your feedback and story ideas. Some of our best journalism started with an idea sent to us by readers like you. Our inbox is open at [email protected].