Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock has notified the Mineral County Drug Treatment Court and Juvenile Drug Court he has accepted their invitation to participate in Drug Treatment Court graduation ceremonies to be held at 3:30 PM on Wednesday, July 15 in the District Court Courtroom at the County Courthouse in Superior.

Montana statewide drug court coordinator Jeff Kushner and Fourth Judicial District Court Judge John Larson are also expected to attend.

by Beverly Dupree

Enjoy the beauty of the northern Rockies and help protect public wildlands. Volunteers needed for summer field projects. Please join experienced leaders for 2-4 day trips in the Great Burn and surrounding roadless backcountry. We will be monitoring weeds, wildlife, trail conditions, signs, and other information critical to the understanding and management of northern Rockies wildlands.

Open burning will be prohibited starting Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 00:01, according to fire officials with the Missoula County Fire Protection Association. Burning season will remain closed until further notice. Even those with a burn permit with an expiration date after July 1 are not allowed to burn.

by Bob Harrington, Montana State Forester

We are in the midst of a dramatic transformation of the forested landscape in many parts of Montana. Thousands of acres of pine forests –-- which had been a continuous sea of green –-- are now mottled with an ever-increasing number of bright red trees. If you live or have traveled near Helena, Butte, Bozeman, Deer Lodge, or Seeley Lake, you’ve seen the effects.

Since 2000, the mountain pine beetle has killed an estimated 3 million acres of Montana forests. Foresters and fire managers have been concerned about potential effects of these insects for several years, and have tried to help prepare for the epidemic we knew was coming. This task has been difficult, for several reasons.

A downloadable print-quality version of the statewide ads and Community Briefs is available at http://www.clarkforkchronicle.com/dow...onicle.pdf .

by Glenn Koepke

St. Regis Community Council will have elections of officers at the regular monthly meeting July 14 starting at 7 p.m. in the Community Center.

by Bob Brown

Matt Himsl, long-time State Senator from Kalispell, had a great influence on my political thinking. Beginning in my teen years I spent many enriching hours exploring ideas with him. Matt presided over the Flathead County Republican Central Committee for over a decade. He was a Goldwater delegate to the 1964 Republican National Convention, and chaired the Montana effort to nominate Governor Rockefeller in 1968. In Flathead County he was “Mr. Republican.”

In dramatic contrast to most present-day Republicans, he was an advocate of what today would be called a “single payer” health care system. Matt told me this about 30 years ago, after a life threatening experience with cancer. He said that he was a cancer survivor because he had been able to afford health care. He shared with me his belief that it was wrong in our great and civilized country, that health care was not available to all Americans, and he told me the only way that could be accomplished was through government.

The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is conducting a public meeting to discuss a proposal to repair the bridge deck on the bridge crossing the Clark Fork on Montana 135 between Saint Regis and Paradise.

by Boyd Hartwig

Vandals have damaged a trail erosion control project at Woods Gulch in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area on the Missoula Ranger District, according to Missoula District Ranger Paul Matter.