In case you missed it, the North Fork Landowners’ Association 2023 Spring Newsletter is available online.
Read or download it here (PDF format).
If you are planning to visit Glacier Park via the Polebridge entrance at any time this year, please pay special attention to District Ranger Jim Dahlstrom’s “Glacier National Park – North Fork Update” article on Page 10!
Starting May 1st, 2023, Flathead County will have a new burn permit setup. Short version: You apply for a permit annually and then activate the permit when you wish to burn. Activation will not work if there is a problem with air quality or fire danger.
The Daily Inter Lake has a good article on this. Also, here is the information posted to the old DNRC burning permit page . . .
Flathead County has adopted a new burn permit system that is currently used by 29 other counties in Montana and has combined the efforts of fire and air quality personnel. The new permits are available starting May 1st online at: https://app.egovmt.com/burnpermit/. You will only need to obtain one permit and can add as many burn locations as necessary. Each day that you intend to burn you will need to activate your permit online or by phone following the instructions on the permit. You will not be able to activate your permit if air quality or fire danger conditions are not favorable…
If you have additional questions, you can call the DNRC Office at 406-751-2270 or the Flathead County Health Department at 406-751-8130.
The North Fork Patrol has finished checking on all properties that are currently signed up (113). Landowners have been notified if there was any property damage. This was mostly due to snow sliding off roofs and damaging vent stacks, stovepipes, satellite/Starlink dishes and a solar panel mount. There was no evidence of any vandalism on patrolled properties.
This year, especially due to all the local road projects, we can definitely expect to see more people in the area driving around, getting lost and “looking around”. So please remember that the best “security” is relying on neighbors to keep an eye on each other’s properties.
If you have questions, contact Mark Heaphy at 406-890-5043 or m-mheaphy@hotmail.com.
From Mark Heaphy of the North Fork Patrol . . .
Recently a landowner reported that they had gotten three phone calls in the last week from three different realtors who were checking to see if they had just asked them to list their property for sale. They had not.
Evidently there is a scammer who picked up their information from Flathead County GIS (public site and easily obtained information) and then contacted local realtors on Zillow to see if they would list their property. They used fake email addresses that mimicked their name and cell phone number.
Fortunately the realtors got suspicious and contacted the landowners to verify. The landowner then contacted the county plat room and their title company’s title fraud specialist to make sure everything was in order, which it was. The fraud specialist did comment that: “She looked into things and she found a similar deal also in the North Fork area that failed at closing last year. The scammers typically target vacant land and out of state owners.”
Unfortunately the North Fork is not immune to this type of fraud. So please be aware, especially if you’re an out of state landowner.
Please check out all of the new and exciting activities and the return of a bunch of traditional NF favorites! All are welcome, there is something for everyone! Come join in on the fun, meet you neighbors, and connect with the community!
Link: NFLA Calendar Page
From Margaret Heaphy comes this great community memory of last year’s Christmas dinner at Sondreson Hall . . .
Here’s the latest on the West Coal Timber Sale from Dave Ring, Stillwater Unit Manager with Montana DNRC. (Short version: Logging has finished for this winter, with only three small units left to be cut.)
…95% of the timber sale was completed earlier this month. As the map indicates they are three smaller units to be completed before 2025 when the timber sale expires. Folks can expect to see some minor road work and grass seeding occur this summer in and around the timber sale.
The long-planned work on the upper 5.5 miles of the North Fork Road and on the segment of Glacier Drive between the Polebridge Mercantile and the Glacier Park entrance station is actually happening this year. It will cause significant disruptions.
Continue reading Road construction timing and restrictions revealed at Interlocal
The Camas Road “transit pass” (or whatever is officially called) that allows North Fork residents to shortcut through Glacier Park between the Camas and West Glacier gates without a “vehicle reservation” will be available on the same terms as last year.
From North Fork District Ranger Jim Dahlstrom: “…we will be doing the same as we did last year. Show up at HQ in West Glacier or the Polebridge Ranger Station with vehicle registration and we will issue passes. Again, limited to folks with actual addresses up the North Fork. No seasonal worker passes at this point.”
From her obituary published in the Missoulian on Jan. 29, 2023 . . .
Fern Hart, former Missoula Clerk and Recorder/Treasurer and County Commissioner, died on Tuesday, January 17, 2023 in St. Patrick Hospital. She was 94. Fern was born Juanita Fern Morgan in Amarillo, Texas. She went by her middle name throughout her personal and professional life, and it was certainly as Fern that she was known during her 54 years in Missoula. Fern’s parents, Gertrude and W.T. “Shy” Morgan, had deep roots in West Texas, where Shy headed the Collingsworth County road department and drove the big Caterpillar maintainers to keep the Caprock roads clear. Later, he was the foreman of the Caterpillar repair shop in Amarillo, supervising the big equipment serving the roads of all the Panhandle. Continue reading Fern Hart dies