Page 23 - Flathead Beacon // 4.29.15

FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS APRIL 29, 2015 | 23 Off the Blogs
A weekly look at the best from the Beacon blogs
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TRAILS WEST HOLDS VALLEYWIDE HIGH SCHOOL VIDEO COMPETITION
Trails West Real Estate is holding a valleywide high school video compe- tition with winning schools keeping $12,000 of prize money to be retained within their video and technology de- partments.
Trails West Real Estate is offering $12,000 to seven local schools as part of a contest to see who can make the best video about living in Montana, especial- ly Northwest Montana.
There are two contest segments within the Trails West Real Estate Video Showdown. The two awarded segments are a Judge’s Panel and an Audience Awards student division.
In the judge’s panel, judges will vote for the best video with each school sub- mitting one video on behalf of the class. The bulk of the prize money and winners will be decided by the Judge’s Panel with all schools who participate earning a monetary prize. Each school will submit one video based on the rules provided to them. The first-place prize is $7,000. Second-place awards $2,000 and third place offers $1,000.
In the Audience Award Student Divi- sion, awards will be given to an individ- ual student who submits a video, within the given rule set and will be voted on online. Winners will be based on online voting. First-place prize is $300 plus two lift tickets to Whitefish Mountain Re- sort. Second place receives two lift tick- ets and third place receives one.
All videos are hosted on the Audi- ence Awards/Trails West contest page at http://theaudienceawards.com/trails- west# with the Audience Awards on- line voting contest occurring in October 2015.
WHITEFISH VOTERS CAST BALLOTS IN PROPOSED RESORT TAX INCREASE
Voters in Whitefish cast ballots this month to determine whether an increase of the city’s resort tax from 2 percent to 3 percent is the best means to help fund a conservation easement in Haskill Basin.
The results of the special election were tallied April 28, after the Beacon went to print.
The mail-in ballots were went out April 8 and the results will be online at FlatheadBeacon.com as soon as they are available.
The Whitefish City Council voted in favor of holding the special election in an effort to secure additional funding sources to help acquire a conservation easement on prime land owned by the F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co. and
located beside Whitefish Mountain Re- sort on Big Mountain, a tract of land vul- nerable to pressures of development and the source of 75 percent of the municipal water supply in Whitefish.
If passed, the revenues generated through Jan. 31, 2025 – the date when the existing resort tax expires and goes back to Whitefish residents for a vote – would be used to fund the $8 million needed for the conservation easement. Twenty-five percent of the 1 percent in- crease would be rebated to taxpayers in a similar fashion to how the current 2 percent works.
Stoltze values the land at $20.6 mil- lion, but the company has offered to sell it for $17 million, according to Alex Diek- mann, project manager for the Trust for Public Land, which is the nonprofit or- ganization working to raise money from federal programs, private donors and public funding sources in order to bring the deal to fruition.
Earlier this year, the project received a funding boost from the U.S. Forest Ser- vice, which ranks such projects for fund- ing through its Forest Legacy Program, awarding grants to states to purchase permanent conservation easements.
The agency has given the Haskill Ba- sin Watershed Project its No. 1 spot, po- sitioning it to receive $7 million in Leg- acy Project funding. An additional $2 million will come from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Habitat Conservation Plan Land Acquisition Program. Togeth- er, the grants give the project significant purchase toward raising the $17 million needed to buy the development rights from Stoltze by the end of 2015, leaving a balance of about $8 million.
MOUNTAIN EXPOSURE
FLATHEAD FISHING FAIR MAY 2
The Flathead Fishing Fair will be held Saturday, May 2 at Snappy Sport Senter from 9 a.m. to noon.
The event is sponsored by Snappy Sport Senter and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The Fishing Fair offers a kids fish- ing derby for youths age 12 and younger in on-site pond as well as fun and edu- cational activities for all ages. Kids are welcome to bring their own fishing rods; some loaner fishing outfits and bait will be available along with fishing assis- tance.
The Fishing Fair also offers the op- portunity to tie your own spinner or fly, practice fish identification, casting contests, a Kids Korner for little kid ac- tivities and there will be representatives from local fishing groups to provide tips on where-to and how-to fish in the Flat- head for a variety of species.
RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL
invites
all past Leadership Flathead graduates and their employers to attend the
25th AnniversAry
&
ClAss of 2014 GrAduAtion
May 12, 5:30 p.m. Alpine Lighting Ballroom
Reception from 5:30 to 6 p.m. with
hosted beer, wine and appetizers. Cash bar available. Program begins at 6 p.m.
Free and open to Leadership Flathead alumni and their employers. (406) 758-2810 | [email protected]
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