| President's
Message |
Officers and Directors |
Greetings ESBCH Members,
On June 16th 10 members of the East Slope Back Country Horsemen met at Gibson Dam for chain saw training. It was decided at our last meeting on June 14th that the chapter would
provide meals for the chain saw training and Helen Suta graciously took on the duty of being cook and LeAnn offered to help. So on Friday Joe and Helen Suta along with Bob and Juli Fleming went up to Gibson and found a real nice camp spot
at Home Gulch campground and set up the chapter tent and stove which came in real handy because on Saturday the group was met with cloudy overcast skies and cooler weather. Zane and Casey Drishinski and Bob and
LeAnn Hermance showed up later Friday evening and they enjoyed an
evening in the great outdoors.
As I stated earlier after a really nice day on Friday, Saturday was cloudy and overcast with 100 percent chance of rain forecast. When I spoke with Mark Himmel earlier in the week he was willing to go ahead with the
chain saw training rain or shine. As I had dialysis on Friday and a couple of things to finish up at the shop I arrived Saturday morning after the group had a hearty breakfast of biscuits and sausage gravy.
As we were waiting for the arrival of Merlyn Huso and our two saw instructors; Mark Himmel and Wes Seabolt of the Charlie Russell Back Country Horsemen it started raining lightly. When
everyone had arrived we went over the classroom
and paperwork portion of the training in the comforts of the chapter tent with the wood stove. We then went up the Beaver-Willow Road to a place that Mark had picked out earlier in the week to do the hands
portion of our training. The training was very enlightening with some new techniques that Mark had picked up working with some class C sawyers from the Forest Service. I can
honestly say it was one of the better chain saw classes that I
have ever taken. So after three re-certification and four new certifications it started raining a little harder as we got back to the pickups and putting all our gear away it started
down pouring.
When we got back to camp we ate our lunch while our instructors graded our
performance sheets and then we went over our final scores and I am pleased to announce everyone passed and we now have seven
certified B bucker sawyers in our chapter, Congratulations to you all.
Our next outing will be at Swift Dam on July 14 and 15th and we are either going to fix the culvert on the North Fork of Birch Creek trail or work on the washouts behind the dam it all depends on how
everything works out so I would encourage everyone to come help out and have a good time. Helen has volunteered to be our cook again and I am sure it will be great as always. Don't forget if you are a member and
help out on a work project all your meals are provided. One outing is worth the price of membership alone.
Please sign-up below on the link
provided as we only have two days after the next meeting and we
do need an accurate head count for meals!
As always, when in doubt let your horse do the thinkn Fred
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To see the meeting minutes from
the last meetings, see the link under Chapter Information. |
President:
Fred Fitzpatrick
Vice President:
Ronald Ries
Secretary/Treasurer:
LeAnn Hermance
State Directors:
Merlyn Huso
Bob Hermance
Alt. State Director:
Ronald Ries
Chapter Directors:
Clete Gregory
Lisa Schmidt
Zane Drishinski
Dennis Garcia
Debbie Ries
Kurt Dyer
Junior Director:
Abbey Hutton
Editors:
LeAnn Hermance
Fred Fitzpatrick
Website:
Fred Fitzpatrick
BCHMT Chairman:
Rich Carl
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Birthdays |
July
Brenda Ries, Ronald Ries, Nick McCubbins, Kim Norman and Bob Hermance
August
No Birthdays
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JUNE on track as one of the wettest
A
long 5 day period of rain (June 16 - 20)brought a second round of flooding
across central Montana. A large upper level disturbance brought
widespread rainfall on Saturday, saturating the ground ahead of
another large disturbance on Monday. This second disturbance was
even able to tap into some very moist tropical air from the Gulf
of Mexico, bringing more persistent heavy rain across the area.
Rainfall totals of 2 to 6+ inches (see rainfall report summary
below) quickly began to run into area rivers, creeks, and
streams. The result was widespread flooding, some areas near
historical proportions. Areas hit the hardest were Augusta and
the communities along the Sun River, with the Dearborn River,
Tenmile Creek, and Teton River also running quite high. Debris
flows from a burn scar weakened and eventually closed portions
of Highway 200, particularly the Rogers Pass area.
ESBCH Next work Project is July 15th - 17th at Swift Dam and Pondera Public Park and Campground West of Dupuyer, MT (See Map)
Sign-up sheet is on Google Drive. Click this link and sign-up so
that we have a head count for meals. It is important as we only
have two days after the meeting for the work project. |
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| Of Interest! |
Storm Reports (Continued)
...Rainfall Reports from Friday through Monday...
Very heavy rain fell over a large portion of central and southwest
Montana over the weekend and through Monday. The highest amounts were
centered in the Gibson Dam area of central Montana. Amounts of six or
more inches of rain caused sharp rises on the streams, causing some of
the highest river stages in many years.
At Gibson Dam, the 7.5-inch rain total was their highest 4-day total
since June 1964. For the month so far, they have measured 8.09-inches,
which is their highest June total since 1964. On June 8, 1964, on just
the day, they recorded 7.07-inches. Their record for June is
11.13-inches in 1948. Records began in 1911.
Wood Creek SNOTEL's records began in 1979. So far this month they have
received 9.7-inches of rain. This is their wettest June of record. For
the water-year, 37.1-inches of precipitation has fallen. This is the
most at this point in the year at this station. The previous record
for the water year-to-date was 33.0-inches on June 20, 1980. The most
Wood Creek has received in a water-year was 38.6-inches in 1980.
Stanford has measured 5-inches of rain this month, their highest June
value since 1975.
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Rainfall
Amounts
Location-County-Amount
Wood Creek SNOTEL L/Clk 9.00 in
Gibson Dam DCP L/Clk 7.50 in
Dupuyer Ck SNOTEL Teton 7.20 in
Gleason RAWS Teton 6.52 in
Waldron SNOTEL Teton 6.20 in
Little Snowy RAWS Fergs 5.51 in
Swift Reservoir Ponder 5.48 in
Benchmark RAWS L/Clk 4.56 in
Stanford COOP JudBn 4.40 in
Daisy Peak SNOTEL Meagh 4.10 in
Brackett Ck SNOTEL Galla 3.90 in
Elk Peak SNOTEL Meagh 3.90 in
Grass Range 5 E Fergs 3.90 in
Lincoln 14 N L/Clk 3.88 in
This is just a few of the higher rain totals.
RMRD NOTICE:
Flood Status Fact Sheet as of 6-27-18
Road Closures and Campground Closures
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