Meet the Joneses

Northwest Montana is made up of a patchwork of public land in the form of national parks, national forests, BLM and state land, and private land owned by large timber companies and individuals land owners. For decades, handshake agreements with timber companies have allowed the public to access swaths of land for recreation and hunting. In January, billionaire couple Mark and Robyn Jones became one of the biggest private landowners in Flathead County following a 126,000 acre purchase west of Flathead Lake, which prompted an emotional response from the regions hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation community. The Joneses say the purchase is a family legacy investment, without intention to develop the parcels, but the possibility of restricted land access still has recreational users on edge. This week, Flathead Beacon assistant managing editor Tristan Scott sat down with the Joneses to talk about their properties in the Flathead Valley, their vision for the future, and the work they’ve done to assuage the fears of locals. Later, host Micah Drew runs through the biggest stories from the last seven days, including record setting visitation at Montana state parks, vaccination clinics at local breweries and limited operations at Whitefish Mountain Resort. Read more about all of this week's stories and get the latest breaking news at flatheadbeacon.com and sign up for our new daily newsletter at flatheadbeacon.com/newsletter. RELATED LINKS June 9 E-Edition Meet the Joneses Montana State Parks On Pace for Record Visitation Health Department to Host Vaccination Clinics at Breweries Biden Nominee for Public Lands Boss Hits GOP Opposition Whitefish Mountain Resort Scales Back Operations Due to Staffing Shortages The music in this this episode is “Thinking Music” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.