Happy Friday, everyone! Today’s newsletter is chock-full of reporting, so here’s a little primer of what you can find below, or on flatheadbeacon.com.

Managing Editor Tristan Scott reports on how nonprofit organizations in northwest Montana are overloaded compensating for workforce reductions across federal land management agencies as new cuts to AmeriCorps further compound the shortfall. 

As Greg Schatz, of the Backcountry Horsemen of the Flathead shared “… we are panicking about trails not getting cleared and losing the continuation of the backcountry skills that trail crew leaders have passed down across generations. That’s what has us concerned. Our nonprofit isn’t going to fold, but we’re not going to be able to make up for what’s lost due to these cuts.”

Meanwhile, Maggie Dresser reports that below normal stream flows are expected in northwest Montana amid early peak runoff. Rivers across the state have already hit peak flows, according to hydrologists, and snow water equivalent levels in the Flathead River basin are slightly below normal at 85%. 

As National Weather Service hydrologist LeeAnn Allegretto explained,“So far the first few weeks of May have been well above normal temperature trends and that has combined with a well below normal precipitation trend, which has caused rapid snowmelt in the high terrain.That has led to early peaks in river flows.”

We’ve also got an update for you, courtesy of reporter Zoë Buhrmaster, about Kalispell Councilor Sid Daoud’s decision to campaign to replace outgoing Kalispell Mayor Mark Johnson. Daoud, a Libertarian fresh off an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in the 2024, also ran to be Kalispell’s Mayor in 2021. At the time Daoud characterized the difference between Johnson and himself by saying he supports the “government only doing what it needs to do and using community-centric solutions that don’t include the government.”

Our friends at the Montana Free Press also report that the Milk River Project, which reporter Tom Lutey describes as “a critical irrigation artery along Montana’s Hi-Line,” is expected to finally see water again soon after spending a year dry following a catastrophic siphon failure at St. Mary last year.

“We’re all pushing for the 17th, that’s one year. But we should be back by the first part of July,” Milk River Project manager Jennifer Patrick told the Free Press.

If you’re interested to learn more, keep scrolling, or feel free to click some of the links above. I’m Mike Kordenbrock, bringing you the Daily Roundup …

It’s been a dreary, drizzly week in the Flathead, and although I’m sorely tempted by the weekend’s hibernation potential, I’m afraid there’s one event on the horizon today that’s going to foil my slothful ambitions. 

Some of you may recall reading my previous reporting for the Beacon about The Making Place, a hypothetical makerspace that a group of Flathead Valley artists and creators have been trying to make a reality since the fall of 2023. 

Well, there’s been some big progress on that front, and it appears the hypothetical is poised to become the tangible. The Making Place is going into a portion of the Uptown Hearth building in Columbia Falls, and today there’s an open house event to celebrate. 

From 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. today, people can drop by to this free event featuring food and drink, music, a raffle, a membership drive, and yes, art activities. Those will be taking place on the third floor, and will include artist demos, a mini art gallery, and open studios for some of the artists working out of the space. The idea of the open house is to offer people a preview of what The Making Place will have to offer once it fully opens in June. You can read more about it next week at flatheadbeacon.com. In the meantime, you can head on over to themakingplacemt.com to learn more.