Montana Crime, Forest Service Lawsuit & Major Development Plans

This week on News Now from the Daily Inter Lake, reporter Taylor Inman breaks down the biggest headlines shaping northwest Montana—from a troubling criminal case returning to court, to a brewing legal battle over a major U.S. Forest Service project, and a large-scale housing development proposal in Columbia Falls.

A 2019 school bus crash case near Whitefish is back in the spotlight as the driver faces potential revocation of her deferred sentence. Meanwhile, two environmental groups are preparing to sue the U.S. Forest Service over a controversial 7,700-acre forestry project near Hungry Horse Reservoir, raising concerns about impacts to grizzly bears and threatened bull trout.

Plus, a major 421-unit housing development is moving forward in Columbia Falls, a Libby man receives a 12-year prison sentence in a road rage case, and state officials outline a plan to restore native westslope cutthroat trout in the Flathead watershed.

We also cover ongoing uncertainty surrounding Bigfork’s Sliter Memorial Park lease and what it could mean for one of the community’s most important public spaces.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Hello and welcome to News Now. I'm your host, Taylor Inman. We're going over the week's biggest headlines for Northwest Montana. The motorist who struck and nearly killed a girl getting home from school near Whitefish in 2019 is heading back to the courtroom after allegedly violating the terms of her deferred sentence. 73-year-old Patricia Ann Berliner of Eureka is serving a deferred six-year sentence for felony criminal endangerment after failing to stop for a school bus and striking Jordana Hubble as she crossed U.S. 93. The impact knocked the child an estimated 60 feet into the ditch and left her with a traumatic brain injury, according to court documents. Berliner ultimately pleaded guilty to the felony by way of an Alfred plea and received her sentence from Judge Dan Wilson in 2021. In an Alfred plea, a defendant maintains their innocence but acknowledges a jury would likely find them guilty. Berliner allegedly said at the time of the collision that she didn't think she needed to stop because the school bus was in a different lane. Berliner began running afoul of the terms of her deferred sentence last summer, according to a violation report filed by Alice Rhodes, her probation and parole officer, in February. The 73-year-old stopped checking in with her supervising officer in July and admitted to traveling out of state without permission, according to the report. Earlier in the year, Burlander told Rhodes that she had several types of cancer. By August, she was sending text messages demanding probation and parole dismissed the felony conviction. In October, she texted that she blamed the felony case for causing her cancer and said the conviction forced her to leave Montana for medical care. She also blamed the school bus driver and Hubble's father for the collision, which she described as an accident, not a crime, according to the report. Rhodes recalled tracking Berliner down at her Eureka home that month, describing the 73-year-old as belligerent. During another home check-in in January, Rhodes said that Berliner refused to answer the door. Rhodes wrote that, quote, it is clear that she is suffering from mental health issues, which are deteriorating, and at the current time she is not able to be supervised due to her actions, end quote. Rhodes recommended that Berliner see her deferred sentence revoked and receive a six-year suspended sentence to the State Department of Corrections in its place. County Attorney Travis Honor filed a petition to revoke Berliner's deferred sentence in late February. Authorities booked her into the county jail on March 26, setting bail at$25,000. Berliner, who was released the following day after posting bond, is due back in court before Wilson on May 7th for a hearing on the revocation. Two local watchdog groups plan to sue the U.S. Forest Service over a recently approved 7,700-acre forestry project west of the Hungry Horse Reservoir. Swan View Coalition and Friends of the Wild Swan argue the federal agency improperly classified the West Reservoir project as an emergency, allowing it to forego key assessments required under the Endangered Species Act. Central to the group's concern is the 4.7 mile network of roads the Forest Service intends to build as part of the project. Roads can fragment habitat and displace grizzly bears, leading to long-term population declines. Sediments from roadways can also slew into nearby waterways, many of which serve as critical spawning and rearing habitat for bull trout. Both species are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. A final decision notice for the West Reservoir Project, signed March 11th, acknowledges that the proposed timber sale may have adverse effects on both grizzly and bull trout populations. The finding would normally necessitate a formal consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the production of a biological opinion that outlines strategies to mitigate harm to each species. Flyhead National Forest Supervisor Anthony Botello leapfrogged those requirements by citing a clause in the Endangered Species Act that allows agencies to pursue alternative consultation procedures in emergencies where human life or property are threatened. A longtime advocate for wildlife in the Swan Valley Program Director of Friends for the Wild Swan, Arlene Montgomery, said she has never seen a federal agency attempt to use the Emergency Consultation Clause of the Endangered Species Act to complete what would typically be considered routine management. The West Reservoir project includes 2,01 acres of commercial treatments and 5,703 acres of non-commercial treatments, including 4,654 acres of prescribed burning projects and 873 acres of white bark pine restoration projects. The decision notice said that the project qualifies for an emergency action determination because the proposed actions will improve forest health and resilience and reduce potential wildfire impacts to important values at risk. Montgomery said that she found the workaround to the typical project consultation procedures especially troubling, as the forest also lacks an approved forest-wide assessment of the effects of roadways on endangered species. The Flahead National Forest revised how it assessed and managed roadways in 2018 as part of a regular update to its central guiding document, the Forest Plan. Both Friends of the Wild Swan and Swan View Coalition sued, arguing that an assessment provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly account for how the altered roadbuilding provisions would impact grizzly bears and bull trout. A federal judge sided with the conservation groups and remanded the relevant sections of the forest plan back to the agency for further review. Two years later, Montgomery said the requisite changes have yet to be made. A letter sent to the Forest Service on March 24th informed the federal agency of the conservation group's intent to sue. The letter states that the forest approval of the West Reservation Project, without both a project-specific and legally valid forest-wide endangered species assessment, was, quote, arbitrary and unlawful under the Endangered Species Act, and that the groups would pursue legal action against the forest if the alleged violations are not addressed within 60 days. Work on the West Reservoir Project was originally slated to begin this summer. Columbia Falls developer Mick Ruiz's Tea Kettle Heights project on former Columbia Falls Aluminum Company lands will go before the Columbia Falls Planning Commission at 6 p.m. on April 13th. The planned unit development calls for a total of 421 units on 78.5 acres south of Aluminum Drive. Ruiz purchased most of the CFAC property about a year ago. Ruiz told the Hungry Horse News that about 1,850 acres of the site, which is about 2,400 acres in total, will be his personal ranch. Tea Kettle Heights will be located on the south side of Aluminum Drive and will be annexed into the city. It includes 125 single-family residences on detached lots, 56 single-family townhouse sublots, and 240 multifamily apartment units. The apartments, which would be the closest buildings to the road, are proposed at 45 feet, with all other buildings being less than 35 feet in height. There will also be several open space areas. The legal address of the development is 1800 Aluminum Drive. It'll have two access points, one to Aluminum Drive and the other directly to the North Fork Road. The project is outside the CFAC Superfund site boundary. CFAC had owned the property since the 1950s. Ruiz said that the single family homes he hopes to sell for about$550,000 with owner financing, so people can purchase one with a low down payment and interest rate. He said the final price of the homes will depend on the cost of bringing utilities to the site. The city's water main runs near the property, but the sewer line will have to be extended north under the BNSF railway tracks. If approvals come fairly soon, Ruiz said that he would like to start grading this year. He also spoke to criticism about removing the trees on the property. Ruiz said that the ranch will have stock-like horses and they will need open pastures, not woods. Ruiz races horses, and in 2018, his stallion, Bolt Doro, raced in the Kentucky Derby. He also has a ranch in Kentucky. A Libby man was led away in handcuffs on Monday after being sentenced in Lincoln County District Court for his role in a road rage incident last year. 35-year-old Casey James Chartier played guilty in December to assault with a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, and witnessed tampering. Other charges were dropped in exchange for a plea. An agreement between the county and Chartier calls for him to serve a total of 12 years on three counts with no time suspended. District Judge Matt Cuff did not waver from the deal, sentencing Chartier to serve the term in the Montana State Prison. Chartier received 12 years for the assault with a weapon conviction and two years each for the unlawful possession of a firearm and witnessed tampering charges. The sentences will run co-current, which means that Chartier is on the hook for a dozen years. He received credit for 51 days served in the county jail. Chartier spoke briefly saying he was back on his medication and doing better. His defense attorney, Mari Solomon, asked that one condition that he may not be able to speak to the adult victim be lifted. Solomon said, quote, she may seek a marital union with Mr. Chartier someday. Prosecutor Lauren O'Neill had no issue with the request, but didn't want Chartier to be able to have contact with the juvenile victims. Cuff agreed with that, but did lift the no contact provision concerning the adult victim. At his September 22nd, 2025 arraignment, Chartier initially pleaded not guilty to three counts of incriminal dangerment, two counts each of assault with a weapon, and felony possession of dangerous drugs. One count of intimidation, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted person. He also pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanors, criminal possession of drug paraphernalia, and unlawful possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle. The case began in the late evening hours of Saturday, August 30th, when County Deputy Joshua Brabo got a call about a possible road rage incident on US 2 in the Whiskey Hill area. The victims, a passenger in a vehicle, said that her boyfriend Chartier was trying to run it off the road. The driver of the vehicle, whose daughter was also in the vehicle, took an evasive driving action several times to avoid colliding with Chartier's car. The group of three people fled to the county sheriff's office. Later, according to court documents, Chartier returned to the residence that he shared with the victim and sent threatening text messages to the people. Chartier allegedly threatened to destroy her property, including multiple vehicles parked at the residence. The victim showed Officer Thomas multiple text and voicemail messages that Chartier reportedly sent, saying that he would commit violence against a trio. When Chartier was arrested outside of the sheriff's office, Officer Bravo found a concealed handgun in the driver's side door pocket. He also found a plastic bag that allegedly contains several acetamidhene, hydrocodone pills, and a small amount of methamphetamine. According to Brabo's report, Chartier had a prior conviction of assault with a weapon and is a registered violent offender, which means he can't legally possess a firearm. Chartier faced an assault with a weapon charge in 2019. He pleaded guilty and received a five-year sentence with two years suspended. State officials plan to eradicate fish in a tributary of the North Fork of the Flathead River this summer and a bid to expand the range of native West Slope cutthroat trout. Once abundant throughout western Montana, populations of West Slope cutthroat trout have declined over the past century, due in large part to hybridization with an introduced varieties of trout. A 2022 genetic study of the trout in McGuinness Creek, which flows into the North Fork of the Flathead River about 12 miles north of Columbia Falls, found that 72% of the population's genetics can be traced back to non-native Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The fish were likely introduced as part of generic cutthroat trout stocking efforts in the 1940s. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks are proposing a project to dose the four and a half mile stretch of McGuinness Creek with rotinome. The commonly used pesticide would kill the fish in the stream, clearing the way for state fishery biologists to reintroduce genetically pure west slope cutthroat trout. The Environmental Impact Statement said that projects that restore West Slope cutthroat trout are necessary to ensure the continued survival of this native species, conserve remaining genetic diversity, meet statutory obligations to prevent listing under the Endangered Species Act, and preserve angling opportunities. While the project is not expected to have any long-term adverse effects on the environment, the environmental analysis noted the possibility of short-term disturbances for the use of rot known. The chemical is commonly used in fish removal projects as it is readily absorbed into the bloodstream through a fish's gills. A relatively small dose of rotone can quickly kill fish, but mammals, birds, and other animals that breathe air must consume massive amounts of the chemical to see similarly fatal results. Other gilled animals aren't so lucky. The environmental assessment noted that populations of aquatic invertebrates in zooplankton typically take about a year to rebound after the application of rotinone. Young amphibians are also susceptible to the poison. Officials stated that they would apply rotinone to McGuinness Creek on August 31st after most tadpoles have metamorphed into adults to avoid significantly harming native species of frogs, toads, and salamanders. The project is expected to continue for two or three days, during which time access to McGuinness Creek will be restricted. Rotinome breaks down easily in the water, with all traces of the chemical typically disappearing within 24 to 48 hours of application, but officials are also proposing several fail-safe systems to ensure only targeted reaches of McGuinness Creek are impacted. Potassium permegranate will be applied in downstream reaches of McGuinness Creek to bind through the residual rotanome molecules and neutralize the chemical as it leaves the designated project area. Officials will measure residual levels of potassium permegranate and monitor the so-called sentinel fish in cages for signs of toxicity to ensure the rot known is fully neutralized. Officials plan to use environmental DNA to ascertain the success of the rot known treatment. An additional treatment may be completed in early fall of 2027 to target any residual fish. Officials plan to stock the stream with non-hybridized West Slope Cutthroat trout from Hay Creek, another nearby tributary of the Northwork of the Flathead River. The fish will be released into McGuinness Creek in the spring of 2027 or 2028, depending on the results of the initial environmental DNA testing. The issue is on the agenda for the April 6th Flathead County Weed Parks and Recreation Board meeting. According to Director Chris Maestas, the board, which acts in an advisory capacity to the commissioners, will debate recommending the lease renewal. Maestas emphasized that regardless of what county commissioners ultimately decide, Slider Park will remain open to the public as a park. However, Megan Schultz, president of the Community Foundation for a Better Big Fork, worries that if the county does not renew the lease, Slider Park will face uncertain changes related to maintenance standards and events held at the park, which include the Riverbend Concert Series and the Big Fork Whitewater Festival. Slider Park often finds itself at the center of these reluctant custody battles. Three groups currently juggle the park, Pacific Corps, the County Parks and Recreation Department, and the Community Foundation for a Better Big Fork. None of the entities want to take sole management of the park, which has led to tension and confusion over the years. The park property, located at 291 Bridge Street, is owned by Pacific Corps. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires Pacific Corps as the operator of the hydroelectric dam to make certain concessions for use of the waterway, including public access. Slider Park is the fulfillment of this requirement. Parks and Recreation began leasing Slider Park from Pacific Corps 45 years ago, taking on the associated cost for maintenance. The most recent lease agreement signed in 2021 is set to expire on July 31st. The current debate over Slider Park's lease can be traced back to 2013 when Parks and Recreation first floated the idea of stepping away. The department cited a deficit between what the park cost to maintain and the revenue it generates. In response, Community Foundation for a Better Big Fork stepped in and worked out an agreement to keep the park in the county park system. The foundation would pay for the lease as well as contribute to the operation cost for the park. This contract is renegotiated annually, and the foundation currently pays up to$5,000 annually in operation expenses. Maestas said that this agreement was sufficient to sustain the park in the past, but in the past five years since the last lease with the Pacific Corps was signed, the landscape for parks and recreation has changed significantly. He said they have more parks to manage and that the parks are being used significantly more than in the past. He said they're being stretched thin, not only from a budget standpoint, but also from a staffing standpoint. While the county is responsible for maintaining the park, since the property is leased, they need Pacific Corps' approval to make any changes. He said it takes several days, if not weeks, to get approval from Pacific Corps to have something done on the ground. Slider Park is one of only two leased parks in the county park system. The other is a Conrad Complex sports facility. Pacific Corps has not yet made plans for Slider Park if the county does not renew the lease, according to Pacific Corps communications specialist Drew Marine. Marine wrote in an email to the Big Fork Eagle that Pacific Corps remains committed to meeting its obligations under its FERC license. He said if Flathead County and the Community Foundation for a Better Big Fork do not assume the lease, Pacific Corps will need to consider options for Slider Park. Community Foundation for a Better Big Fork is unsure if they would be able to come up with the funds necessary to take on the lease and maintain the park on their own. The nonprofit organization relies on fundraising and donations to support Big Fork projects. Insurance is one stumbling block. Pacific Corps currently requires a$5 million insurance policy as part of the lease, and Schultz said that it would be challenging, if not impossible, for the foundation to find coverage for Slider Park alone. According to Schultz, the county approached the foundation regarding a collaborative solution that would involve the county maintaining the lease, but turning over all maintenance costs to the foundation. This would sidestep the insurance issue, but Schultz said that the additional expenses would still be a tall order from the nonprofit. The community foundation for a better big fork would have to take on an estimated$9,000 in maintenance costs that were previously covered by the county. In addition, Pacific Corps plans to raise the cost of the lease from$250 a year to$300 per year. The foundation already spends over$10,000 per year to support Slider Park. Last year it invested around$8,000 on independent maintenance contracts, in addition to the lease payments and the$5,000 it pays to the county. The county funds an average of 200 hours of maintenance per year at Slider Park, according to Maestas. But Sult said that this isn't enough to keep up with the traffic the park sees, especially in the summer months. Schultz is concerned that Pacific Corps will not have the resources to maintain the park to the same standards and that it will no longer be possible to host events like the Riverbend Concert Series or the Whitewater Festival. She said any event requires a permit from Pacific Corps that includes proof of the necessary insurance policy. Schultz said the Foundation wants to see the county renew the lease while the nonprofit continues to financially support the park's maintenance. The Weed Parks and Recreation Board meeting will be held on Monday, April 6 at 311 FFA Drive in Kalisbell. Public comment starts at 8 30 AM. Any entities interested in the Slider Park lease can contact PacificCore Property Management at propmgt at PacificCore.com. Thanks for joining us. News Now is a podcast from the Daily Interlake. We're proud to be the largest independent newsroom in Montana and the longest continuously published newspaper in the region. Today's stories were written by Daily Interlake News editor Derek Perkins, reporter Haley Smalley, Hungry Horse News Editor Chris Peterson, Western News Editor Scott Schindeldecker, and Big Fork Eagle reporter Elsa Erickson. You can read the full versions of these stories at dailyinterlake.com. And if you haven't already, subscribe to our YouTube channel to never miss an episode of The Pod. Everybody stay safe and have a great week.