The proposed development could bring 455 units of housing to the Columbia Falls area, but community members have raised concerns about the scale and potential impacts of the project
Federal regulators on Friday afternoon published a record of decision approving a cleanup remedy for the contaminated aluminum plant property near the Flathead River. Federal and state regulators estimate that the actual cleanup activities, once initiated, will take two to four years to complete.
Amid unprecedented development pressure, conservation easements have kept vast tracts of northwest Montana’s timbered landscape open to the public. But after the largest sale of the region’s timberland to a private buyer in recent history, the owners of Flathead Ridge Ranch have emerged as the unlikely gatekeepers to 126,000 forested acres of prime hunting habitat.
A selection of the Beacon's best imagery from the past year
