Thirty years after an avalanche killed five people in the northern Swan Range on New Year’s Eve, local rescuers, skiers and snowmobilers reflect on the tragic event and the evolution of search and rescue protocol and avalanche education that followed
A selection of the Beacon's best imagery from the past year
From incredible rescues to record-breaking feats to a Constitution at a crossroads, here are a few of our best stories
From the Royal Burger at Richwine’s Burgerville to the fresh-baked pies at Loula’s, here are few entrees, restaurants and local chefs we dished on over the last year
Under new ownership, the historic lodge will remain closed for winter as construction delays stalled plans for renovation. But one man and his pistenbully hopes to preserve the Essex area’s most beloved tradition
Highlighting the best Flathead Valley athletes from the fall sports seasons
At a pair of recent binational meetings, tribal and First Nation governments said any solution to pollution in the international watershed must include IJC intervention, with Sen. Tester urging a unilateral reference if Canada refuses to engage
City council elections were held Nov. 7 in Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish, where voters also approved reallocating a portion of the resort tax for community housing
Hundreds of housing units are cropping up in the once-empty area northwest of Kalispell. With limited resources at its disposal, one small, rural school district is left to accommodate the wave of new children moving to the area.
As conservation groups emerge from court victorious in their mission to stop controversial logging projects, the future of the Yaak Valley and its timber industry remains in limbo
Voters are also being asked to decide if they support reallocating a portion of the city’s resort tax to go towards funding community housing programs
Every fall, biologists and avid birders clock hundreds of hours on nearby mountaintops to count migrating birds of prey, part of a global network of sites collecting raptor population data to help identify threats to species and aid conservation
Growth, housing development, homelessness and water rates are among top issues; election to be held Tuesday, Nov. 7
Another spate of train-caused grizzly bear deaths in northwest Montana has drawn attention to an overdue federal conservation plan that includes $2.6 million in funding from BNSF Railway to mitigate bear-human conflicts on the landscape
As wild bighorn sheep populations experience die-offs across the West due to respiratory disease, park scientists used a decade of GPS data to discern how Glacier’s sheep might communicate disease in the event of an outbreak
Several recent high-profile construction projects and a host of new land-use trends prompted a workshop to modernize lakeshore protection regulations last updated a decade ago
While their land valuations tell one story about their wealth, many lakefront property owners who spoke with the Beacon said they’re struggling to afford increasing tax figures and fear losing property they’ve owned for decades as the state’s new property tax code partially fell into place this year.
Teachers and staff members who participate describe several benefits from the program, which pays for them to eat with their students. They say the connections they build with their students make classroom management easier; help give valuable context to better meet their students where they’re at; and offers social safety.
