Our leadership
2021: Twenty One Years of Community Leadership
The Seeley Lake Community Foundation strives to be a community resource and catalyst for innovative approaches to improving the quality of life in Seeley Lake.
By spearheading innovative projects, securing big grants and leveraging funding, acting as a fiscal sponsor, and more, the SLCF has taken on many “SLCF Leadership Projects” over the past 20 years.
The impact to our community from these projects is impressive: cleaner air quality for the valley, safe spaces for children to play, easier access to county services through office space in Seeley Lake, and mental health resilience for students, the list goes on.
The Seeley Lake Community Foundation has provided leadership for community projects such as:
Elementary school playground (2006)
Community Communications Program, fiscal sponsor for Seeley Lake Community Council (2007-2013)
Facilitating the purchase of Plum Creek offices for the local fire district (2009)
Coordinated Forest Management Initiative in partnership with Clearwater Resource Council (2010, 2011)
Nordic ski area study (2011)
Seeley Lake Elementary cross country ski program (2011)
Woodstove changeout (2013)
Sponsoring a grant to help with the sewer project (2014)
Bob Marshall Music Festival (2016, 2017)
Gift cards for families in need after the Rice Ridge fire (2017)
Advertising Seeley Lake to help local businesses post-Rice Ridge (2017)
Seeley Lake Community Health and Support Guide (2017)
Kids mental health post-disaster (2018)
Schools and tech (2020)
Restoring benches along MT-83 (2021)
Read on to learn more about a few of these projects that have created a BIG impact for Seeley Lake!
2006: Eagles Nest Playground
Hundreds of volunteers—nearly half the community—pounded nails, prepared meals and watched toddlers while older kids and their parents worked to build the Eagle’s Nest Playground in downtown Seeley Lake. In just five days, a schoolground park was transformed into a magical environment complete with slides, bridges, swings, rings, ladders and bars, plus a central pavilion for group gatherings. Many hands made Eagle’s Nest possible, including the Seeley Lake Community Foundation, whose initial grant of $2,500 helped kick the project off. The SLCF then helped raise almost 20% of the $100,000 investment needed! This critical “down payment” demonstrated how a community foundation can play a central role in rural community development.
2009: Easier access to county services
In 2009, when Plum Creek Timber Company was divesting from its land, it was also looking to sell its former offices, north of town. The Seeley Lake Community Foundation helped turn the space into a community asset. We helped our local fire district fund the purchase of the property, which soon was leased by Missoula County for the Public Works Department's building codes division for this end of the county, as well as for headquarters for our local deputies of the Missoula County Sheriff's Office.
Finally, in 2011, a Missoula County satellite office opened in Seeley Lake that offered even more services. After decades of thousands of people having to make the drive from this area to Missoula any time they had business to conduct with the county, Seeley Lake had a new option.
2013: Woodstove Changeout
Smoke naturally gets trapped in our valley. Did you know Seeley Lake used to have the highest measured levels of winter PM 2.5 air pollution in Montana? In 2009, visual observations by Missoula City-County Health Department staff in Seeley Lake frequently found winter woodstove smoke opacity readings of 90-100%.
The Seeley Lake Community Foundation helped spearhead and fund a woodstove changeout pilot project to tackle this problem. We pulled in partners from around the community, county, and state, which eventually grew into a collaboration that created incredible impact! 164 woodstoves were replaced with no-cost, more efficient ones for local residents by the end of 2013.
Now, we’re all reaping the benefits! The number of poor air quality days in the winter was slashed: from 50 days per year to sometimes single digits per year. This has resulted in dramatically improved winter air quality for the Seeley Lake airshed.
Here’s a report on the Seeley Lake Woodstove Changeout project by the Missoula County Air Quality Specialist.
![Seeley Lake Map [FINAL].jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/544d0ecce4b0dd27d7031806/1571949789394-GF7KGS6HA7F99T54YX34/Seeley+Lake+Map+%5BFINAL%5D.jpg)
2015: Seeley Lake recreation map
The Seeley Lake Community Foundation created this recreation map, guiding visitors to some of the highlights of the Seeley Lake area.
For more information on area recreation opportunities, including current trail conditions and recent closures, please contact the USFS Seeley Lake Ranger District at (406) 677- 2233, or visit the USFS Visitor Center during business hours at 3583 MT Hwy 83 N, Seeley Lake MT 59868 (a couple miles north of town on Highway 83).
2016: Montana Economic Developers Association (MEDA) Resource Team Assessment
In an unincorporated community, it’s a challenge to organize public opinion in order to get projects done.
In September 2016, SLCF brought together over 160 people to attend listening sessions and make comments for the Montana Economic Developers Association Resource Team. The result was this report, a MEDA Resource Team Assessment called "Seeley Lake, Montana — It’s Assets and Challenges, and Suggestions for Improving Its Environmental, Social, and Economic Future.”
Read through this tool for a snapshot of Seeley Lake, Montana! This report has helped lay the stage for laying out priorities for community projects, and has helped secure funding to make several community dreams happen in the intervening years!
2016: Community branding
In 2016, the SLCF helped provide leadership to create a logo and slogan (‘Change Your Pace’) for Seeley Lake. We welcome the community to use the logos below and slogan to promote the beauty and opportunities in Seeley Lake.
The SLCF purchased banners and placed them on the light poles downtown to welcome visitors into the community. Businesses also incorporated the logo into their uniforms and other merchandise.
"The Foundation committee … finally got done what has taken so long to do, which is really very simple: Give the community an identifiable logo and tag line that can be used anywhere and in combination with any business' current logo/brand to build a unique brand for Seeley Lake” …local resident and logo designer Kris Gullikson said, quoted from this Seeley-Swan Pathfinder article.
Please read and adhere to the logo use guidelines.
Here are the color specifications
Here are the logos you can use:
Seeley Lake Montana with Change Your Pace slogan
White on Black Tree logo
2017: Seeley Lake Community Health and Support Guide
In collaboration with Missoula Aging Services, SLCF helped create this booklet on resources available for Seeley-Swan residents.
Click to download The Seeley Lake Community Health and Support Guide.
This resource is also available in print form at the SLCF Building (3150 MT Hwy 83 N, Seeley Lake MT 59868).
*NOTE: The most up-to-date version is in webpage format on our website.
2018: Disasters, mental health, and kids
In 2017, Seeley Lake suffered from the worst smoke in the country during the Rice Ridge fire, and for several weeks, much of town was evacuated as the fire burned closer.
In the aftermath of this stressful disaster, the SLCF facilitated a grant from The Center for Disaster Philanthropy to support mental health in our elementary school. This doubled mental health resources available for kids at Seeley Lake Elementary for a year.
Learn more about brain development in children and how we can minimize the impact of trauma from natural disasters. (photo credit: Pathfinder. This is a picture of how smoky Seeley Lake was for weeks in 2017!)
photo credit: Seeley Swan pathfinder - Nathan bourne sitting on a restored bench.
2021: Restoring Benches along MT HWY 83
In Spring 2021, the poor condition of the benches along MT Hwy 83 could no longer be ignored. The benches were initially placed in 2016 by the Foundation but had since decayed due to environmental factors. With the help of proactive community member Nathan Bourne, the Foundation was able to fund the project to restore the benches for the community.
Four benches were returned to the highway in front of the Seeley Swan Medical Center, Seeley Lake 1-Stop, Mission Bible Fellowship, and the Post Office in August ‘21. In September ‘21, the last bench was replaced in front of Rovero's.
