Please donate for northwest Montana

Hey there, folks. I took a break last week from writing (read: had a lot of chores, errands and family time) and what do you know, the quality of fishing has tanked in our county. But that is the least of our issues.

What has tanked our fishing opportunities has done much more severe damage to our surrounding communities. If you have driven by the Kootenai lately, you would have noticed the height and the flow speed of the river has picked up by an extreme amount, and the river itself has just become brown. With an already high river (normal for this time of year), we also have had warmer temperatures right after a hard snow last week, and a few days of strong rain that has also melted quite a bit of snow up in the mountains which feeds into the tributaries of the rivers that surround us.

The Moyie is high, the Pack River is flowing, and the Kootenai is currently at an absurd level. Even my triangle down by the house, which I have never really seen underwater, is currently only found by a few tips of dead mullein plants.

While our river is high and some flooding is occurring, our dykes are holding strong. I mean, we here in Bonners have had issues with that river before, am I right?

But our neighbors in Troy and Libby, along with other areas, have suffered a lot of damage to their towns and infrastructure. As of right now (12/12/2025), Lincoln County in Montana has had damage to at least nine bridges, including well-trafficked bridges such as Farm to Market and the Granite Creek Road Bridge, according to NBC Montana.

Currently, there are concerns raised in the areas of a boil water order and increased times for emergency vehicles.

This is right at the cusp of winter, which means if things go way south soon and temperatures drop, a lot of people are in a lot of trouble.

Along with the Kootenai, the Yaak River and the Fisher River are in their flood stages. For us here in Bonners, I spent a bit of time on the Moyie today and the water levels were quite incredible in a negative way. I hope that everyone who lives within the areas the river could potentially be affected by the rising of the river are okay.

On a side note, to relate this to fishing a bit, I hope to talk to a Fish and Game biologist some point soon to see how the rising of the river and the severely increased flow could affect the fish that are spawning currently, such as the non-native Brook Trout (should be gone anyway, but I sure do love catching them) and more importantly, our lovely and beautiful endangered fish, the Bull Trout.

Anyhow, it is a quick one this week, but I have one last thing to mention.

After the flood events that have taken place in Troy, Libby and the surrounding areas, I am organizing a quick food drive in Boundary County to donate to the Libby Food Bank. I will be taking whatever is gathered down to Libby next Friday, December 19.

You can bring non-perishable foods (canned, dry and such) to Bonners Books, 7195 Main Street in Bonners Ferry, or leave it on my front porch at 7297 Birch Street, down behind the hospital, at any time.

These people are our brothers, our sisters our neighbors. Let’s show them that us folks just a hop, skip and a jump  across the border to the west care about them and let us help their communities out.

Once again, I will be taking donations to Libby next Friday, December 19. If the day changes on this, I will let you all know.  Thank you for your time, and I hope that you all will check your pantries for something that will help.

Tight lines out there, friends.