The natural environment and history of Kalispell’s West Valley area
by Denise Silva (text and images)
Denise.Silva@aicpa-cima.com
The Aurora Borealis is often referred to as the Northern Lights because we see it to our north. But this is a bit of a misnomer, as the “lights” are also seen in the Southern Hemisphere, where they are referred to as the Aurora Australis. In fact, not only does Earth have auroral displays, but auroras can be seen on images of other celestial bodies, such as Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.
by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Welcome to a virtual tour of some of the Flathead Valley’s prominent (and some not so prominent) geological features, courtesy of Google Earth.
This tour is a companion piece to several articles that have appeared elsewhere on our website:
This inspiration for this project came largely from the work of Dr. Lex Blood, professor emeritus, Flathead Valley Community College, for his extensive (and clearly heartfelt) efforts to make the geological history of the valley accessible to everyone. Thank you, Lex.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
To take a virtual tour of the West Valley area, click here.
It’s easy to take water for granted here in the valley. We’re surrounded by water, with numerous streams and rivers, lakes and ponds of various sizes, and seasonal runoff from snow and rain that typically replenish the surface water that we see.
The water we drink and irrigate with here in the West Valley comes from underground aquifers–layers of permeable rocks or sediments that are saturated with water. Our shallower surface aquifers are fed by groundwater that enters the aquifers mostly through seasonal precipitation or snowmelt.
The Flathead Valley also sits directly atop a large, deep aquifer referred to in studies, appropriately enough, as The Deep Aquifer. It’s from this aquifer that our municipal water is drawn. Farms and homes also tap into the Deep Aquifer via wells for irrigation or daily use. (The city of Whitefish does not draw water from the Deep Aquifer. They draw their municipal water from Whitefish Lake and surrounding streams.)
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleyaturalists.org
To take a virtual tour of the West Valley area, click here
Here in the Flathead Valley, we’re fortunate to be able to enjoy a richly varied landscape—craggy mountains, rolling hills, swift rivers and meandering streams lined with brightly colored stones, a sprawling valley floor punctuated with the occasional boulder or with massive rock outcroppings displaying multiple bands of colors and textures, clearwater lakes fed by springs or seasonal precipitation, wetlands that provide shelter and food for our avian residents. It’s a rare day that I’m not struck by the immense beauty of our valley.
But do you ever wonder how it got this way?
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
A few days ago, driving around West Valley, I remarked on the beauty of the hoarfrost that had coated some Ponderosa pines along the roadside. That got me wondering about the nature of hoarfrost and how it forms. It turns out that some of what I have been calling hoarfrost is, in fact, not hoarfrost, but rather rime ice. The difference is not important for the casual observer, but it can be important meteorologically.
Continue Reading →By Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
Walking through the woods in a graupel shower this afternoon prompted me to do a little more research on the phenomenon. Just what is graupel, anyway, and how does it differ from other forms of frozen precipitation?
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@wastvalleynaturalists.org
Pat Jaquith’s lovely Winter Wonders post prompted me to post these images taken on 1/7/21 at the Happy Valley State Trust Lands (see Locations) after a light snow melt on a bluebird afternoon.
by Pat Jaquith
pat@westvalleynaturalists.org
Snow bales? Ice needles? Hoar frost? Snow serpents? Pink snow? From dawn to dark, winter weather provides us with lots to marvel at.
Continue Reading →by Dr. Lex Blood, Community Activist, Conservationist, Professor Emeritus/Flathead Valley Community College
To take a virtual tour of the West Valley area, click here
The West Valley Naturalists sponsored a geology field trip in May 2014. Dr. Lex Blood led this field trip; for more than 40 years Lex Blood has served as Flathead Valley geologist, geographer, educator, conservationist. After a brief introduction we car-pooled and explained the “story behind the landscape” as we traveled through the West Valley area. For background information on the geology of the Flathead Valley please visit: http://www.flatheadwatershed.org/natural_history/geology.shtml
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
To take a virtual tour of the West Valley area, click here
Mike Koopal, Executive Director of the Whitefish Lake Institute, pointed us to some exceptional resources for learning more about the Flathead Valley watershed and the numerous lakes and streams that make up some of the most beautiful areas of the west valley area and the rest of Montana.
Continue Reading →by Mike Koopal, Executive Director, Whitefish Lake Institute
mike@whitefishlake.org
To take a virtual tour of the West Valley area, click here
(Ed. note: The Mystery of Tally Lake was presented to the West Valley Naturalists meeting on March 2, 2020. We are grateful to Mike for allowing us to post it here.)
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
To take a virtual tour of the West Valley area, click here
If you have driven around western Montana, you may have the feeling that you’re always in a valley between two mountain ranges. There’s a reason for that. It’s called Basin and Range Topography.
Continue Reading →by Skip Via
skip@westvalleynaturalists.org
To take a virtual tour of the West Valley area, click here
You see it everywhere in the valley–lining the bottom of creek beds, along hiking trails, layered throughout road cuts, on the shores surrounding Tally Lake, in the cliffs around Flathead Lake, piled at the corners of plowed fields, covering fireplace hearths and floors, in the pavement of many area roads and parking lots, and often in your yard when you are trying to dig a new garden bed (especially if you live on a glacial drumlin, as I do). It’s the predominant rock in Glacier National Park a few miles to our east, as shown in this Google Earth image, below:
It’s argillite, the colorful rocks and tiered strata that were formed during the Precambrian period well over 500 million years ago–and western Montana is one of the best places in the world to see it.
Continue Reading →