Missoula Current

The Northern Region of the U.S. Forest Service is using new authority and funding to propose logging projects across seven national forests in Montana and Idaho.

Richard Manning writes, "At the very least, the lands’ management needs to be forcibly amputated from the parks department and entrusted to a separate, stand-alone entity run by restoration ecologists."

Missoula County this week approved a $900,000 contribution to help fund the operation and management of the Johnson Street shelter through next October, when the money runs out.

A proposal to place rotating homeless camps in each of Missoula's six voting wards was tabled in committee on Wednesday, even after an amendment that removed parks and rights-of-way as potential locations.

Two environmental groups are suing the state of Montana for approving additional wolf trapping that could harm or kill grizzly bears.

A privately funded workforce housing project plans to break ground in the Old Sawmill District this fall, offering 19 loft studio and one-bedroom apartments.

While most members of City Council on Monday night used their platform to remember the lives lost on 9-11, one council member decried the local media's coverage of her initiative to place homeless camps in city parks and on city property in all six voting wards.

The new budgets adopted by the city and county of Missoula include funding to begin remediation work on the old federal building, along with money to cover operating costs over the next year.

After completing a study on the Brooks Street corridor and its need for both transit and pedestrian improvements, the city is ready to embark on the next step by designing the project.

County officials said local residents would have seen a tax decrease this year if not for the increased value of homes. The Legislature's failure to lower the residential tax rate from 1.35% to .94%, as recommended by DOR, also played a role.