Outdoor news
Wilderness fundraiser
The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation will hold its annual Voices of the Wilderness fundraiser event at the Alpine Ballroom, 333 Main Street, in Kalispell, on Friday, Nov. 9, from 7 to 9 p.m. Guest speaker Doug Chadwick will talk about “Grizzly Bears of the Gobi Desert.” There will be a silent art auction. Tickets are $25 available online at www.bmwf.org or by calling 387-3808. Raffle tickets for a five night, guided horse packing trip in the wilderness donated by Swan Mountain Outfitters are $10 apiece. Proceeds will go to supporting Foundation trail projects. Patagonia recently pledged to support the Foundation’s trail maintenance work by sponsoring one trail project each year for the next five years.
Bad Rock raptors
Flathead Audubon will lead the first ever coordinated count of hawks, accipiters and eagles as they fly across Bad Rock Canyon on Sunday, Oct. 7. Observers will meet Kathy Ross at the House of Mystery fishing access site along U.S. 2 between noon and 4 p.m. If weather permits, observers will communicate to birders counting raptors at the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch site. For more information, call Ross at 837-3837. To volunteer with the Jewel Basin Hawk Watch any day in October, e-mail Dan Casey at dcasey@abcbirds.org or call 756-2681.
Film festival
The Flathead/Kootenai Chapter of the Montana Wilderness Association will present its annual film festival at the O’Shaughnessy, in Whitefish, on Friday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. and at the Teakettle Community Building, in Columbia Falls, on Sunday, Oct. 28, at 2 p.m. Eleven selections from more than 110 films in the 11th annual South Yuba River Citizens League Wild & Scenic Film Festival will be presented. The films focus on water and wildland conservation. Door prizes donated from local businesses will be given away. Food, beer, wine and soda will be available for purchase. The Montana Wilderness Association is the oldest statewide nonprofit conservation organization. Tickets are $10 at the door. For more information, visit online at www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org.
Birding guide
The Flathead Audubon Society and its business partners recently published a “Birding Guide to Flathead Valley of Northwest Montana.” The free brochure is an expansion of their previous brochure, “Birding Hot Spots in the Flathead.” The updated glossy guide contains current birding information, bird photos, detailed directions, habitat and seasonal information, and a map showing trail areas, and will serve the increasing numbers of birders visiting the Flathead Valley each year. Two thousand copies were printed and are available at the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 offices, local hotels and Flathead Audubon’s monthly meetings.