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A GRIZ THROUGH
AND THROUGH
SPORTS
MONTANA
missoulian.com
FRIDAY, February 28, 2014
Copyright 2014 $1
Snow, strong winds forecast Friday
By ROB CHANEY
of the Missoulian
SCHOOL CLOSURES
The difference between blizzard-like and actual blizzard
conditions should become apparent Friday, when the
National Weather Service predicts the real thing will blow all
over the U.S. Highway 93 corridor.
“This storm has been in the models for about 10 days, and
it’s been remarkable to watch the evolution, NWS
”
Schools around the area
will be closed on Friday due
to the forecast of blizzardlike conditions.
Missoula County Public
Schools will be shuttered, and
all afternoon activities were
canceled as well. The district
will make a decision Friday
afternoon on whether Friday
night activities and Saturday
basketball games will be held.
See CLOSURES, Page A9
See SNOW, Page A7
Clearing the way
Missoula snowplow crews work overtime as city hunkers down
TOM BAUER/Missoulian
A pedestrian hops across a snow berm in the middle of West Alder Street as city crews work to remove the berm farther down the block
Thursday. The city was trying to remove snow and plow more streets in anticipation of a blizzard expected to hit Missoula on Friday.
City inundated with calls about vehicles stuck on residential streets
ON MISSOULIAN.COM
n Find the 24/7
weather forecast
information and
information on school
closures online at
Missoulian.com.
By KEILA SZPALLER
of the Missoulian
The overtime budget is
blown, but most Missoula
streets got plowed Thursday
before the storm hit.
Snowplow crews cleared
85 percent of the residential
streets before Thursday
afternoon, said Street
Maintenance Superintendent
Brian Hensel. Those 131 miles of
streets don’t usually get plowed,
but the city’s goal was to pass a
blade over 100 percent of them
before Friday’s impending
blizzard.
Alas, the winter dump
started too soon.
“I had to put all the guys out
on the priorities, Hensel said.
”
The department designates
some 305 miles of streets in
Missoula as priority 1, 2 and 3,
and snowplow drivers hit them
first. The city doesn’t usually
plow the remaining 131 miles,
but Hensel said the department
was inundated with calls from
people stuck all over town.
“We just had so much snow,
we had no choice. We had to get
See PLOWS, Page A7
UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
Spring
enrollment
numbers
drop again
647 fewer students than
spring 2013; 1,152 fewer
than spring 2012
By MARTIN KIDSTON
of the Missoulian
Spring enrollment at the
University of Montana fell more
than 6 percent over fall
enrollment, reflecting what
school administrators describe
as a normal decrease in students
after the winter break.
While Montana State
University also saw fewer
students return for the spring
semester, the latest figures at
UM mark the second year spring
enrollment has fallen, even as
MSU reported a spring
enrollment record for the sixth
time in a row.
Peggy Kuhr, UM vice
president of integrated
communications, said 13,554
students enrolled for classes in
the 2014 spring semester. That’s
down from 14,525 students who
signed up for the fall semester in
2013.
“We had a higher number of
fall graduates, or degrees
awarded at the end of the fall
semester, Kuhr said Thursday.
”
“Enrollment numbers normally
go down from fall to the spring
semester.
”
Kuhr said UM awarded 838
degrees in the fall of 2013 – 88
more than the previous year and
200 more than the fall of 2010.
The school also has reported
improvements in retaining
freshmen students.
Still, the latest count reflects
a continuing downward
enrollment trend at UM, one
President Royce Engstrom
described to the Board of
Regents last year as an
“enrollment problem.
”
The spring count at UM is
647 students fewer than the
spring of 2013, and 1,152 students
fewer when compared with the
spring of 2012. Kuhr said the
figures don’t impact the
university’s expectations for this
year’s fall enrollment.
“It’s really not an indicator at
all, Kuhr said. “It simply reflects
”
where you are midpoint in the
See ENROLLMENT, Page A7
Research team: No sign of decline in Yellowstone grizzly bears
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
BILLINGS – A government-sponsored
research team has concluded there are no
signs of decline among Yellowstone’s grizzly
bears as officials consider lifting the animals’
federal protections – despite warnings from
outside scientists that such a move would be
premature.
Members of the Interagency Grizzly Bear
Study Team say in a new study that data
collected on the threatened bruins over the
past several decades contradict claims that
the animals could be in serious trouble.
Researchers on the team re-examined how
bears are counted after wildlife advocates and
a prominent University of Colorado professor
questioned the government’s methods.
The results confirm the validity of past
assertions that more than 700 bears live in
the Yellowstone region of Montana, Idaho
and Wyoming, lead author Frank van Manen
said. The peer-reviewed study is slated to
appear in an upcoming issue of the scientific
journal Conservation Letters.
“The (grizzly bear) population growth has
slowed down in the last decade, but is by all
TODAY’S FORECAST
INSIDE
Cold with
2”-4” of snow
High 23º Low 5º
Page D8
Classified . . . . . . . . . . .C2
Comics . . . . . . . . . . . .D7
Entertainer . . . . . . . . . .E1
Markets . . . . . . . . . . . .A6
Montana . . . . . . . . . . .B1
See GRIZZLIES, Page A7
U.S. Geologic Survey
Researchers
measure a grizzly
bear in the Taylor Fork
area of the Gallatin
National Forest north
of Yellowstone
National Park in
southwest Montana.
A governmentsponsored research
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