The ups and downs of STOKR
Luke Hollister Western News | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 8 months AGO
This year, the Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River brought 356 people from all over to help raise money to build houses in Lincoln County, Saturday.
Riders took to a 98-mile fundraising ride starting in Libby and circling up to the Yaak and back. Bicyclists battled up hills on the Yaak River Road and zipped through corners down Pipe Creek Road.
On Sunday, organizers held the yearly Mother’s Day raffle before a police escort to the Libby Dam. Bicyclists got to ride over the dam.
Susie Rice, a STOKR organizer and Kootenai Valley Partners Habitat for Humanity board member, said in an email that attendees raised roughly $38,000.
Also, the Montana Department of Transportation helped a lot with the event by doing a second road sweep to rid shoulders of debris for the riders, she said.
Organizers let riders start whenever they wanted during this race to ensure the safety of other participating bicyclists by eliminating a huge mass of riders, she said. Organizers first implemented the changes at the 2018 STOKR event.
ARTICLES BY LUKE HOLLISTER WESTERN NEWS
Interim Kootenai supervisor promotes forest resiliency
Kootenai National Forest’s temporary supervisor is on track to sell roughly 78 million board feet of timber this season, with plans to salvage burned timber from last year’s fires, but mostly, she wants to get back to cutting green trees.
Libby deer infected with wasting disease
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials recently found a white-tailed doe infected with Chronic Wasting Disease for the first time west of the Continental Divide, and the animal was found within the Libby city limits, according to a press release from the state agency.
Stimson Lumber reps discuss forest management
Stimson Lumber Co. representatives showed plans for a conservation easement and dispelled rumors of having a new mill in Libby at a meeting last week with the Society of American Foresters.