In brief: Action shooters recruiting members

SHOOTING – The Action Training Group for reality based shooting events will meet Friday at 6 p.m., at Sportsman’s Warehouse, 6720 N. Division St.

The group, which meets the second Friday of each month, organizes volunteers and participants in shooting events and live-fire drills to be presented in Eastern Washington and North Idaho for self-defense, personal preparedness and church security teams, said spokesman Mark Knapp. Info: mark@firearmslawyer.net.

Outdoor attractions boost Montana tourism

Tourism – A University of Montana research institute says that more than 12 million tourists visited the Big Sky State last year, spending nearly $3.5 billion and supporting nearly 53,000 jobs.

Montana’s mountains, rivers, lakes, wildlife and national parks are a bigger and bigger draw, according to the university’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research.

Norma Nickerson, the institute’s director, says the owners of Montana tourism-dependent business expect even more business this year.

Nearly 70 percent of the 4.2 million people who visited Yellowstone National Park last year came through Montana.

Glacier National Park had nearly 3 million visitors in 2016, up a third from 2012. Surveys suggest visitor satisfaction is high at Glacier despite overcrowding, Nickerson said.

Montana tourism took an estimated $500,000 hit when the Yellowstone River was closed in August due to the deaths of thousands of fish from a parasite, Nickerson said.

Known as PKX, the parasite was blamed in the deaths of tens of thousands of whitefish in the Yellowstone last summer, prompting a several week closure of the popular river. Authorities say the parasite has been detected in 10 Montana rivers, though only the Yellowstone had a documented fish kill.

Nickerson also warned that invasive mussels pose a threat to Montana waterways. The mussels have been found in the Tiber Reservoir, Glacier National Park, Canyon Ferry Reservoir and the Blackfeet Reservation.

“Once you have mussels in a waterway, you won’t get rid of them,” she said.

Montana officials are searching for ways to fund a proposed two-year plan to combat the spread of invasive mussels in the state’s waters. The invasive mussels rapidly multiply and can damage beaches, clog boat motors and dams, harm fish and wildlife and damage infrastructure.