Page 8 - Flathead Beacon // 1.6.16

NEWS
Glacier Institute Rolls Out Winter Courses Topics include basket weaving, nature photography and birds of prey
BY CLARE MENZEL OF THE BEACON
The Glacier Institute, a public educa- tional leader in the Crown of the Conti- nent, will kick o 2016 with a course Jan. 9 in animal tracking and sign interpre- tation. A longtime favorite, the course will return to the North Fork region for the second year after some 20 seasons of exploring in West Glacier.
“There’s awesome tracking along the North Fork—aquatic, riparian, and ter- restrial species,” said Director of Educa- tion Justin Barth. “There’s a lot of action. If they’re really lucky, they could see rare carnivore tracks, maybe wolves or wol- verines. Or [tracks from] a grizzly bear out taking a break from his nap.”
Brian Baxter, a wildlife researcher with years of experience tracking and trap- ping, will lead the eld course, as he has for many years. He’ll lead participants
along four or so miles of eastern shore of the North Fork, teaching them to observe the evidence of nature.
Over the course of the daylong eld trip, students will learn how to recog- nize the optimal habitat for di erent species of Glacier National Park wild- life, use observation and measurement methods to categorize tracks, and gen- erally improve their ability to interpret signs of animals.
“Most of all, we’re trying to get people to read the landscape in front of them,” Barth said. “With a good tracker, you can read the story of what happened. Maybe there was some courtship behavior, or a erce battle.”
Barth says the course is suited to a full range of skill and experience levels.
“Beginning trackers are going to get a ton out of this course, they’ll come out of the day with information spilling out
of their ears,” he said, and noted that the course would also be helpful for hunters, or for people who have done tracking in the past and want to hone their skills. Participants will meet at the Polebridge Mercantile for a short introductory ses- sion before heading outside to implement and practice tracking techniques.
The Jan. 9 course is the rst of ve winter o erings from the institute. The course subjects and dates are as follows: • Cattail, pine needle, and willow basket
weaving with Patricia Fialcowitz: Jan- uary 22-24. Students will spend the weekend harvesting basketry mate- rials, learning about sustainable har- vesting, and practicing basket-weav- ing technique.
• Winter nature photography with Rick Sheremeta: February 27. Beginning and experienced photographers are invited to challenge themselves and
learn how to photograph a snow-cov- ered Glacier National Park during this workshop.
• Winter birds of prey with Brain Bax- ter: March 19. Participants will prac- tice identifying birds of prey and learn about migratory movements and hunt- ing techniques. The course will include classroom and eld sessions.
• Owls of the Mission Valley with Matt Larson: April 9. This course will pro- vide students with the tools needed to identify Montana’s owls, as well as a brief education of their adaptations, history, and overall ecology.
The Glacier Institute will also o er a suite of National Park Service Centen- nial- themes courses that honor the his- tory of the park service and look forward to the next 100 years. For more informa- tion, visit www.glacierinstitute.org.
clare@ atheadbeacon.com
White sh Eyes Cost-Saving Measures for New City Hall High-ticket project still faces signi cant budget gap despite re ning expenses
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
Facing signi cant cost overruns as construction of the new city hall and parking structure moves forward, White sh o cials entered the New Year grappling with a familiar problem – how to pare back expenses and reduce the $1 million budget gap that the high-ticket project has incurred.
At the White sh City Council’s reg- ular meeting on Jan. 4, which convened after the Beacon went to print, Mike Cronquist, the city’s representative overseeing the construction, presented an update on the project at the north- east corner of Baker Avenue and Second Street in downtown.
The council was scheduled to discuss
and review an updated budget spread- sheet for the project and consider other cost-saving measures and funding sources.
In a report to council, City Manager Chuck Stearns explained that o cials have already trimmed the $1 million bud- get gap down to $882,699, with an addi- tional savings of $162,000 available by capitalizing three years of lease revenue from the structure’s retail space, as well as borrowing funds from the Tax Incre- ment Fund, which the city would repay over the course of three years.
“While this amount would reduce the gap to $720,699, it is still a project bud- get increase over the heretofore approved budget limit of $14,952,636,” Stearns said.
“Please bear in mind that this gure
can and will continue to change and go up or down,” he added.
Stearns also encouraged the council to “please remember that this City Hall and Parking structure is a large and complex project,” and solicited other suggestions for cost-saving options.
The total cost overrun from the budget is 5.9 percent, he wrote.
“A cost overrun of 5 percent to 6 per- cent, while unfortunate, is not the cri- sis that some of the media or public have made it out to be,” Stearns continued.
The city hall portion of the project remains in line with historic cost pro- jections, but the continued design of the parking structure has led to heightened expenses.
Still, Stearns said the parking
structure and retail space is an “eco- nomic development project of the high- est priority,” and an appropriate use of Tax Increment Funds.
Stearns said a number of factors have led to the increased costs, including increasing construction costs.
The council was also slated to discuss other cost-saving measures, including eliminating new furniture purchases, reducing the amount of owners’ rep- resentative hours, delaying proposed improvements to Depot Park, allocating between $80,000 and $150,000 of resort tax revenues for downtown Central Ave- nue projects like sidewalks, street lights and street furniture, and nding addi- tional value engineering savings.
tscott@ atheadbeacon.com
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JANUARY 6, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM