News – Page 47

NFLA Holds June Meeting Outdoors

On Saturday night, the North Fork Landowners Association held its first meeting of the season outside due to the refinishing of the Hall floor a few days prior to the meeting. In order to protect the newly re-finished floors, several board members walked across the new floor in their socks and handed out the chairs. Although President Karen McDonough predicted a small turnout, this was not the case and more and more chairs had to be hauled outside as people kept arriving. The meeting proceeded as planned, but it would have been better if a few less mosquitoes had not also attended the meeting. These photos were provided by Suzanne Daniel.

2014 NFLA Hall Cleanup Day

The Sondreson Community Hall was buzzing with activity on Saturday morning for the annual Hall Cleanup Day. Members of the North Fork Landowners Association had a fun time together and accomplished a lot in a short period of time. Vice President Donna Harrison was in charge of the event and started things off with a list of things that needed to be completed. Margaret Heaphy and Suzanne Daniel cleaned the outhouses while Bill Walker split kindling. Richard Hildner and Randy Kenyon hauled kindling into the Hall while Jackie Graham dusted the rafters with Karen McDonough holding the ladder. Alice Caldwell, Becky Braunig, Naomi Hoiland swept and mopped the inside of the Hall while Jan Caldwell cleaned the windows. Debo Powers cleaned the generator shed while Bonny Ogle went after old wasp nests in all of the outbuildings. Lynn Ogle helped to move tables.

An executive decision was made by President Karen McDonough to get rid of the old green plastic sofa and enthusiastic workers carried it out to the road hoping that someone will “steal” it. Lunch followed with chili dogs provided by Donna and side dishes from other participants which included Naomi’s famous sticky buns. After lunch, all of the furniture was moved into the kitchen to prepare the Hall for floor refinishing which is scheduled for the first few days in June. The cleanup day was a demonstration of community spirit and cooperation and was greatly enjoyed by all participants.

Spring open burning

The spring open burning season will run from March 1 to April 30. Burners must call the Ventilation Hotline daily at 751-8144 or check online at www.flatheadhealth.org before burning. The hotline and the Web site are updated daily before 8:30 a.m. Weekend information will be available on the hotline by 5 p.m. on Fridays. Prohibited materials include all man-made materials, treated materials, wood and wood by-product trade wastes. Construction debris is considered a trade waste. Campfires and warming fires are restricted to less than three feet in diameter and consist of materials less than three inches in diameter.

Treasurer has a new email address

NFLA’s Treasurer Bonny Ogle has a new email address. Please change your address book for Bonny’s email to nflatreasurer@gmail.com. And thank you Bonny for all your hard work!

New North Fork short stories

Two new North Fork short stories by Esther Chrisman have been added to the North Fork History Project page. The first, called The Bart Monahan Homestead, tells about Esther’s first home on the North Fork. The second, called Our Friend Tom, is about Tom Reynolds. Check them both out under the North Fork Short Stories on the North Fork History Project page.

New Sign on Sondreson Community Hall

New sign on the Community Hall The NFLA board has been discussing a new sign for Sondreson Hall for over a year. While visiting the North Fork, Paul Genovese became interested in what was happening up here. He checked out the NFLA website and listened to the oral history interviews posted by the North Fork History Project. After that, he started reading the board minutes where he discovered that we were interested in a sign for the Hall. He contacted me because I was still the NFLA President at the time and we talked about the sign design that the board had in mind. Using a computer-controlled plasma cutting machine he cut the design out of a steel plate with a rustic finish. When the sign was finished, he drove up to the Community Hall and mounted it. Many thanks to Paul for his initiative, creativity, time, materials, and interest in the North Fork Community.

NFLA annual food drive results

The annual NFLA food drive was started again this summer during the NFLA’s
August business meeting. Throughout the late summer and early fall, food was
donated by members of the North Fork community and collected at the Community
Hall. At the beginning of October, Tom Edwards gathered these donations and
delivered them to the Columbia Falls Food bank. The 2013 donations included
38 lbs. of food. Estimating $1.50 per pound, the total for food was $57.00.
There were additional donations in checks for $75.00. That makes the grand
total for this year $132.00. We want to thank everyone who donated an
participated in this years food drive effort.

Hunting season is here

Hunting season is already underway for bow, moose, and bear hunters, and rifle season for deer and elk opens on Oct. 25th running through Dec. 1. That means there will soon be a lot of hunters on the North Fork, including local residents, folks from around the state, and out of state hunters.

We recommend contacting the North Fork Patrol for advice on the best ways to mark your property against trespassing (see the Contact page for more information on the North Fork Patrol).

Be sure to always wear orange when you go out hiking, even if you don’t plan to leave the main road. And it’s a good idea to get an orange vest for your dogs, too! (Just make sure the girth is snug and doesn’t ride too far back on male dogs – we know of a certain dog who has had some trouble peeing in his orange suit…)

For you hunters, please be considerate of others in the woods, pay attention to private property signage, and don’t leave gut piles or other attractants where they could attract bears and endanger your neighbors. If you are in any doubt about the rules, check out FWP’s Hunter Page on their website.

Stay safe, everybody!