Anti-AIS bill passes Senate, heads to House; Bill would fund $11M effort to fight mussels

State Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, is doing his best to prevent mussels from infesting the Columbia River Basin.

Vincent filed a bill, SB 363, at the “11th hour” in order to fund mussel prevention efforts in the state.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks earlier this year requested $10.2 million in funding for the next two years for their plan to prevent mussels from spreading after larvae were found in one or two eastern Montana lakes last year.

Vincent’s bill aims to fund $11 million for the mussel- prevention program. The bill was approved by the Senate 32-18 on March 31 and now goes to the House.

As it currently stands, the bill would require out-ofstaters to pay $15 more a year for a fishing license, while in-state residents would pay an extra $2.

The bill would also require users of hydroelectricity to pay a user fee.

Requirements that in-state and out-of-state residents pay $25 and $50, respectively, for boat decals and irrigators $25 a year, were removed from the bill on March 30. Vincent said via email that the “decals were going to be an administrative nightmare for FWP, so we worked with them to remedy this problem” by increasing fishing license fees.

An amendment requested by Sen. President Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, was approved 26-24 to require out-of-state residents pay $25 a year to register their bicycles in the state.

The bill would “sunset” in two years so the Legislature can revisit the issue.

“I’ve never carried a fee-increase bill,” said Vincent, noting he’s been in the Legislature since 2007. But he believes such funding would be for something that he called “the proper role of government.”

If the state doesn’t fight mussels now, it could end up costing $50 million during the next legislative session in two years, he said.

“This is a fiscally conservative response to do this now,” he said.

He noted the work on fighting mussels began late last year when Gov. Steve Bullock created an emergency task force that began working on a plan to fight aquatic invasive species.

“The inter-agency cooperation has been incredible,” Vincent said. “I’m proud to be helping them implement what they put together.”

Vincent said he would have preferred to use the state’s General Fund to fight mussels, but that’s not feasible since it’s a tight budget year.

“Everyone will feel the pain with a mussel infestation and will see an increase in utility rates,” he said.

The cost to the affected electric cooperatives would be $611,000 per year, which on a per member basis would be $3.43 a year for a customer who uses 1,000 kilowatts a month. “It would be a bit lower for the regulated utilities because they have a larger consumer base,” he said.

Hydroelectric power users “stand to lose the most from zebra mussels spreading,” he said, rationalizing that they should pay to help prevent an infestation.

The mussel-infestation plan calls for adding 17 inspection stations to the 17 used last year. In addition, four decontamination stations would be set up for watercraft at Canyon Ferry and Tiber reservoirs on the east side of the state.

The plan would require out-of-state watercraft to be inspected prior to launch in Montana, along with those crossing from east to west inside the state. The plan has been peer-reviewed by other states already affected by mussels and was given five stars, Vincent said.

An amendment was approved on March 30 that would put any federal anti- mussel funding the state receives into an AIS trust fund created two years ago by a bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork. The amendment would raise the cap on the trust fund to $100 million from $10 million. The trust fund has not been funded to date. The amendment requires approval of three-quarters of the Legislature to use any principal in the fund.

Vincent’s bill is the funding side of the anti-AIS legislation. Rep. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, is sponsoring a bill dealing with the policy side, Vincent said.

He’s very confident that the bill, which he called “a good bipartisan educational process,” will pass the House and be signed into law by the governor.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17329/Anti-AIS-bill-passes-Senate-heads-to-House

FLIC film features pilgrimage across Spain

POLSON – The Camino de Santiago is the way of pilgrims.

That’s the message of Travel Light, a movie shown Saturday at the Flathead Lake International Cinemafest. The film earned the 2017 FLIC People's Choice award.

Lindsay Thompson produced the documentary based on a 37-day, 500-mile hike that she took from St. Jean- Pied-de-Port in southwest France through Santiago de Compostela, Spain, onto Finisterra along the Atlantic Ocean. She hiked with three friends.

Their trek started in mountains, went through some flat land and then finished in more mountains. The Camino de Santiago, or Way of James, ends in Santiago de Compostela, where legend has it that the remains of the Biblical Apostle James were buried and a cathedral built in his honor.

Thompson and her friends suffered from various aches and pains along the way, and one had to cut short her hike, but the group got to meet a number of interesting pilgrims too. The film includes several interviews with pilgrims the group met along the way, and one interview with an alchemist.

Each night they stayed in an “albergues,” or hostel, and drank wines from the region. Thompson said the trails were first built by Celts and then added onto by Romans. Pilgrims, or peregrinos, she said, tend to find answers or direction for their lives on the camino.

After reaching Santiago de Compostela, the group enjoyed what one described as “Catholic Disneyland.” Alas, a much-anticipated party on the Day of St. James is canceled in the wake of a train crash.

The group ended their hike at Finisterra at a point overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Thompson said she heard about the trail in her high school Spanish class and had never backpacked more than two days before embarking on the camino.

She and two friends she met on the trail would like to hike it again.

Next time they may skip the trail’s flat mid-section or hike when it’s cooler, as it can get up to 110 degrees or so in the summer months.

The film earned an honorable mention for best picture/documentary short among more than 60 films shown throughout the weekend at Showboat Cinemas.

A full list of award winners is available on the FLIC Facebook page.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/16861/FLIC-film-features-pilgrimage-across-Spain

Local couple details trip to Mongolia, land of Eternal Blue Sky

They weren’t just “horsing around,” they also got to experience a new culture.

Columbia Falls residents Greg and Deb Schatz presented details of their trip to Mongolia on Friday at KwaTaq- Nuk Resort as part of the Montana Back Country Horsemen convention.

Greg said Mongolia was the only foreign country the couple wanted to visit. That’s because of their love of horses.

“The horse packing in Montana came from Mongolia,” he said, explaining that it came through the Spaniards who traveled up from Mexico.

The Schatzs visited the Darhad Valley in the Mongolian state of Khuvsgol Aimig for three weeks last summer.

It was the only the third time the couple had flown on an airplane since they married in 1988 and moved to the Flathead in 1989. They flew from Kalispell to Seattle on Alaska Airlines and then on Korean Air to Seoul and Ulaanbaater, the capital of Mongolia, which became a democracy in 1990.

Greg feels like he has a connection with the herders in the Darhad Valley. The steppes there are similar to those not far away in Russia where his great-grandparents on both sides of his family came from, he said.

The deep-fat fried doughnuts the Mongolian herders eat with just about every meal also remind him of what his ancestors ate, he said.

The Schatzs were part of 30 people who took the trip to ride horses alongside the herders. The trip was sponsored by the non-profit Bioregions International of Bozeman. Others who went were six Native American students from Montana State University, a medical team of five and a soils team of four, among others.

The Schatzs explained to the herders how they take different kinds of outfitter trips with members of the public into the Montana backcountry, including the “Leave No Trace” theme.

The culture of the Mongolian herders is such that they have “zero materialistic values,” Greg said. They live in little cabins, and while they are herding away from home they will sleep on the permafrost or in a 30-foot-diameter ger or yurt.

Deb said her most memorable part of the trip was “how they respect the land and how everything is sacred.” Typical herder religions range from shamanism to Buddhism to what Greg calls “naturalist.” which includes a respect for “Mother Earth” and “Father Sky.”

The herders do not dig the soil or cut the grass out of respect for the earth, so no gardens are grown. Ovoos, which consist of piles of stones or tree branches, are built on hills or mountains. Horse skulls and other objects such as khadag, or blue scarves, which represent the Eternal Blue Sky, are hung from them. Such offerings are made when one comes across an ovoo and circles it three times clockwise.

The herders will often tie or hobble their horses to their own legs or to another horse to prevent them from wandering off during stops if no post is nearby.

The typical horse lives to age 20 and is then “put down” and eaten by the herders. This is a form of respect, Greg said.

The herders raise horses, cows, Cashmere goats, sheep and yaks. The yaks are raised for their meat and milk, which is used to make cheese and yogurt, while sheep are raised for meat and fur. Reindeer live to the north of where the Schatzs visited, although they saw two on their trip.

Cottonwood trees grow near the riverbanks in the land of Genghis Khan with Siberian larch in the foothills and spruce and fir in the mountains, which Greg described as similar to Montana.

He noted that some 8.3 million acres have been set aside in Khuvsgol Aimig for state and national parks.

The Schatzs plan to return to Mongolia in the summer of 2018.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17291/Local-couple-details-trip-to-Mongolia-land-of-Eternal-Blue-Sky

Cherry powdery mildew discussed at annual meeting

YELLOW BAY — Local cherry growers heard about cherry powdery mildew on Saturday.

Claudia Probst, a research associate at Washington State University- Prosser, spoke about the fungus before the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers, Inc.

Probst said the mildew is unique to the Pacific Northwest, and mildew that affects other plants is not the same as the kind that affects cherries.

Cherry powdery mildew is quite a problem in Washington but apparently not as prevalent in Montana.

The mildew affects the leaves of the cherry tree before appearing on the fruit just before harvest.

“As soon as you have a leaf infection you have to worry about it,” Probst said, adding that the mildew doesn’t appear on the leaves of the Sweetheart variety but can still affect the fruit.

Pruning a tree helps prevent the mildew because a well-pruned tree has a lot less disease.

“You can cover a well-pruned tree easier with fungicide,” she said.

Probst recommends rotating the types of fungicides one uses on trees. If spraying before and after a harvest is cost prohibitive, she recommends using it before.

Another effective remedy is sulfur, which kills fungus spores. One has to apply sulfur frequently, however, and use personal protective equipment. She cautions not to use sulfur once temperatures reach 80 degrees because it could damage the fruit.

Organic orchards can use stylet oil pre-harvest, she said.

Cherries that are harvested prior to Bing cherries, which she called “escapees,” typically do not contract the mildew. She added that the Chillan variety is not susceptible, and a man in the audience added that the Centennial variety does not contract the mildew either.

Cherries that have mildew can be put into brine with sulfur dioxide and made into Maraschino cherries, she said, adding this has been done in The Dalles, Oregon.

A person can eat cherries with mildew, she said, noting that she has.

“It’s a very neat little fungus … but you can’t export it,” Probst said.

She speculates that powdery mildew came to Montana from trees brought in from Washington. Those who would like more information on Probst’s research can search for “WSU Cherry Powdery Mildew Information Network” on Facebook.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17385/Cherry-mildew-discussed-at-annual-meeting

Public Law 280 exit revision passes Legislature: Would speed up the process if tribes choose to withdraw

POLSON — A bill that would speed up the process if the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes request to withdraw from Public Law 280 has passed both houses of the state Legislature. 

SB 310 passed the Senate 35-15 and the House 53-47. It now heads to Gov. Steve Bullock for a signature or veto. 

The bill doesn’t provide CSKT with any more rights, according to state Rep. Greg Hertz, R-Polson. If the tribes petition the governor to request removal from the law enforcement agreement, Bullock has six months to issue a proclamation releasing them from the agreement, Hertz said, noting the federal Department of the Interior also has to agree. 

Hertz said he prepared an amendment to the bill that would have offered the county the same rights as the tribes, but found out that it didn’t pass legal muster because the county technically isn’t a party to Public Law 280, an agreement between the state, federal and tribal governments. 

“The county is not an authorizer of anything with this agreement,” he said. 

Lake County commissioners passed a resolution to withdraw participation in the law in January. The resolution was an attempt to get funding from the state, federal or tribal governments due to a tight financial situation. 

The county has been prosecuting felony cases of tribal members since the 1960s. However, the county has seen declining revenues over the years due to the tribes putting land in trust, thus removing it from the tax rolls. 

According to county commissioner Bill Barron, the county loses approximately $3.5 million a year in property taxes due to land being put into trust by the CSKT or tribal members over the past 20 years or so. It’s become more of a problem over the past 10 years, according to Deputy County Attorney Wally Congdon. 

“Our mill would be twice what it is now if it weren’t for the trust,” Barron said last week. “We’re not blaming the tribe. It’s the way Congress set it up.” 

Barron said Lake County is working with the other 18 tribal counties in Montana on legislation to remedy the situation. A bill that would provide state reimbursement of property taxes for certain exempt tribal property, HB 615, was introduced by Rep. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, but tabled in the House Taxation Committee on March 29. 

Barron said an interim committee will study the issue and a bill may be brought forward in 2019. 

In addition, CSKT took over control of the Selis, Ksanka Qlispe (formerly Kerr) Dam in September 2015. This has cost the county some $800,000 a year, according to County Attorney Steve Eschenbacher. In the meantime the number of felony cases keeps rising. There were 182 in 2012 and nearly 500 last year. Earlier this year, Eschenbacher said 83 percent of felony cases in the county involve tribal members. 

County Commissioner Gale Decker was not happy with SB 310, having wanted the county to have the same rights as the tribes. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Lea Whitford, D-Cut Bank, “is a way for the tribe and the state to take an action that has a profound effect on Lake County, and the county government has no voice in the decision,” he said. 

“We may have to take money from other places to pay these continuing costs,” Decker said, noting the county is just starting to prepare a budget for the next fiscal year.  

Commissioner Dave Stipe said he wasn’t completely opposed to SB 310. “I think we’re going to work our way out of it,” he said. However he added that he doesn’t have the answers. He added that law enforcement is an obligation of the federal government that it should be paying for. (On other Indian reservations in the state, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and federal courts handle tribal felony cases.) 

Stipe said the way that Public Law 280 has worked up until now is that the tribes could petition to be removed and the Legislature could approve it, a process that could take two years. 

According to a CSKT press release dated April 24, the Tribal Council has decided to study the issue for now, but is pleased the bill passed the Legislature. 

“The Tribal Council is committed to carefully and deliberately evaluating potential arrangements to reduce the significant burden on our budget and our neighboring local governments,” the release states. “The Council is committed to consulting and working closely with state and local officials throughout the process.” 

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17545/Public-Law-280-exit-revision-passes-Legislature

Longtime district court judge fondly remembered

POLSON — A celebrated lawyer and efficient, no-frills judge of the 20th Judicial District for 29 years, C.B. McNeil died April 20 at age 80. His life was celebrated at Polson’s Linderman Gymnasium on Saturday, April 29. 

Judge James A. Manley, who was appointed to replace McNeil in October 2013, described him last week as “something of a giant.” 

“When I heard (of his passing), it’s like Polson isn’t the same town because he took up such a big space here for so long,” he said.

Manley, who had a law practice in town for nearly 35 years, recalls getting a text from an unknown source in 2013 that said, “I want you to succeed me.” 

“I didn’t know who it was from. I was shocked because I didn’t know he knew how to text because he said he didn’t know how to turn on a computer,” Manley said, referring to McNeil. 

Manley said he considered it an honor, and he was elected in his own right in 2014.

He called McNeil “just a poor kid from Anaconda that for all his success and accomplishments never really changed.” 

Manley noted that McNeil was proud of his participation in the state Constitutional Convention of 1972, which resulted in a new Constitution that replaced one adopted in 1889 when Montana became a state. 

“He used to say he was the most conservative member of the convention,” Manley said, adding that McNeil worked on it with liberal Butte attorney Mick McKeon, who also grew up in Anaconda.

McNeil was well-known for his efficiency. 

“Most civil attorneys liked him because he got orders out quickly,” Manley said, adding that McNeil would issue them within 10 days as a matter of course. Less than 30 days is the standard for most judges, but some complicated civil cases take 2-3 months, Manley said.  

‘Small town lawyer’

Attorney John A. Mercer, who started working at the Turnage-McNeil law firm in 1979, called McNeil “a small town lawyer. He solved disputes between people without going to court. He had a booming voice and an incredible physical presence. His clients had so much respect for him. He saved many marriages,” Mercer said. “He dealt with just about anything that came in the door.”

McNeil was as much a good counselor as he was a lawyer, Mercer said, adding that McNeil was highly respected for his intellect and decisiveness.

“He set a certain standard that’s extremely efficient. People were jealous of the way things were done in Judge McNeil’s court,” Mercer said. 

Mercer ran for the state House in 1984 and appeared on the ballot with his business partners Jean Turnage and McNeil. Turnage, who had served in the state Legislature for 22 years, was running for chief justice of the state Supreme Court, while McNeil was running to be judge of the newly-created 20th Judicial District. All three won, and Mercer credits his victory on his association with Turnage and McNeil. 

Mercer also credits McNeil for some of Turnage’s success because McNeil covered their law office when Turnage was attending legislative sessions from 1966-84. 

McNeil was always the life of the office, Mercer said, adding that “he always treated me like I was a member of his family.” 

‘Bigger than life’    

Judge Kim Christopher’s earliest memories of McNeil were as a child. 

Her parents, Dick and Keenie Christopher, had the Harbor Pharmacy on Main Street, which was separated from the Turnage and McNeil law firm by an alley. 

“He was bigger than life and had a voice louder than anything I’d ever heard   and it would fill the alley,” she said. “It was almost scary because I was little and he was big.” 

Christopher’s mother and McNeil’s wife, JoAnn, were sorority sisters in college and Christopher went to school with the McNeils’ children, Chuck and Jolie. 

She served as Lake County attorney from 1995-2000 and was elected as the 20th Judicial District’s second judge in 2000. She called McNeil her mentor on the court. 

“He felt that justice delayed is justice denied,” she said. “He was a good judge to stand in front of, and you knew that he knew what the law was and he would follow it. He knew how to maintain decorum in the courtroom,” she said. “His mere presence was enough.” 

McNeil was “most proud of his partnership with Jean Turnage,” she said, referring to the late Supreme Court justice, St. Ignatius native and tribal member, who died Sept. 27, 2015 at age 89. 

Christopher said McNeil hand wrote all of his decisions, and Manley said many of them were “no frills.” 

McNeil coached baseball and was an avid wildlife photographer, skier and hunter. A number of his wildlife photos adorn the interior walls between the courtroom that bears his name and the judges’ offices. 

Another Anaconda native, Ed McLean, called McNeil a dear friend. 

“He was very plain spoken and got right to the quick of things,” McLean said, adding McNeil had a deep love for the law, but the most important thing in his life was his family. 

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17553/Longtime-district-court-judge-fondly-remembered

Rep. Hertz reflects on state budget, session

POLSON – State Rep. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, took time to reflect last week on the recent biennial legislative session, and said he plans to run for speaker of the House if he’s re-elected in 2018.

Hertz made the comments before a Pachyderm Club meeting on Friday, May 12.

Much of his talk centered around the biennial budget, which went up sixtenths of one percent from the current one.

This is the first budget he’s voted for, Hertz said, noting he voted against previous budgets in 2013 and 2015 that represented increases of 6.95 and 6.9 percent.

Hertz, who as speaker pro tem is the third-ranking Republican in the House, said he was part of a group of some 15 legislators from the House and Senate and governor’s office who negotiated the budget.

“The last two weeks I learned a lot about the budget,” he said, adding that he ruffled a few feathers because he objected to last-minute amendments by some because they hadn’t been subject to a public hearing.

Hertz thinks there is a 60-percent chance the Legislature will be called into a special session in the late fall due to a cash shortage. As of May 10, the state had $181 million in cash, he said, noting that it needs a cushion of around $200 million in cash flow to pay the bills.

This year the Legislature approved SB 261, which creates a budget stabilization fund that can be accessed during revenue shortfalls. Until it is funded, the state’s Budget Director Dan Villa can pull money from the fire fund, which was created by the Legislature in 2013 as a reserve to pay for fighting fires. Some $78 million is in the fire fund, Hertz said, adding that Villa has to make $2 in cuts for every dollar he pulls from it. Once the budget stabilization fund gets funded, assuming the governor signs it, Villa will be required to cut $1 for every $2 he takes out, the opposite ratio used for the fire fund. The bill calls for any excess revenue beyond the expected $15 million to be split between the general and budget stabilization funds.

Hertz was against efforts to pass bonding for infrastructure projects, and noted the Legislature hasn’t approved bonding since 2005.

A nearly $80 million bonding proposal would have resulted in the state paying $40 million in interest charges over 20 years, he said.

He was more supportive of $16.3 million in bonding for K-12 school facilities than he was for most of the other proposed projects.

Hertz’s property tax relief bill, HB 558, passed the House 61-37 and the Senate 37-13 but failed to advance before the Legislature adjourned.

http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/17642/Rep-Hertz-reflects-on-state-budget-session