Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.

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Seven new ski lifts and an extension of the Wildwood Express are planned at Tamarack Resort, 90 miles north of Boise. If approved, the new lifts would almost double the skiable terrain at the resort.

The plans would require approval from the Boise and Payette National Forests following environmental reviews and a separate approval from the Idaho Department of Lands.

An open house presentation on the proposed expansion is set for Tuesday and Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at the American Legion Post #60 at 105 E. Mill Street in Cascade.

Plans presented at the open house are a preliminary proposal that is expected to change as field surveys are completed this summer, said Amelya Ingram, an environmental planning coordinator with SE Group, a Utah-based firm hired by Tamarack Resort.

Changes will also likely be made based on community input.

“Opportunities to ask questions and provide comments on the proposal will be accepted during these open houses, as they are in integral part of the planning process,” Ingram said.

About 2,400 acres of the proposed expansion are on the Boise and Payette National Forests.

About 1,400 acres of that land is proposed in the Poison Creek Roadless Area, where the construction of roads and trails is not allowed.

Tamarack Resort currently operates on about 2,200 acres of state land and about 1,500 acres of private land.

The roadless area would be open for skiing, but no lifts or access roads would be constructed there and no trees would be cleared within the area, Ingram said.

The Poison Creek Roadless area would not be groomed for skiing, instead acting as a backcountry and off trail area, she said.

Tamarack currently has five ski lifts. Tamarack Express, Summit Express and Wildwood Express are all four-person high speed lifts. The Buttercup Chair and Discovery Chair each carry three people at lower speeds.

The proposal would extend the Wildwood Express and add another high-speed chair, the Overlook Express, to the south.

Another ski lift would be added to the north of the Wildwood Express, accessing the summit.

Lift H would run parallel to the Tamarack Express to the top of the Liftline ski run, where Lift B would start. Lift B would access the summit along the current south boundary of the resort.

An expansion is also planned to the south of the ski area in the Poison Creek area.

The Poison Creek Lift starting near the base of the Discovery Chair would access an area to the south, roughly halfway up the mountain.

Lift D would access the same area from south of the resort base and Lift G would be even further south, accessing planned beginner trails.

One new on-mountain restaurant is planned in between the top terminals of the Poison Creek Lift and Lift D, but specific location was not finalized, Ingram said.

More snowmaking equipment would be installed on the new terrain.

A “via ferrata” trail — a rock climbing and mountaineering route with fixed supports set in the rock — is planned near the top terminal of the expanded Wildwood Express.

An environmental review of the project will be completed by the Boise National Forest. A start date for that review has not yet been set.

Comments can be submitted in person at next week’s open house meetings, or via email to comments@tamarachidaho.com or to Associate Analyst and Planner at SE Group Catherine Winnop at cwinnop@segroup.com.

— Max Silverson, The Star-News (McCall), Wednesday

Sister Mary Frances Kluss, OSB, celebrates 50th jubilee

COTTONWOOD — More than 120 people filled the chapel at the Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood on June 24, as Sister Mary Frances Kluss, OSB, marked the 50th jubilee of her monastic profession.

A festive dinner preceded the special Eucharistic celebration, during which Sister Mary Frances renewed her vows of obedience, stability and fidelity to the monastic way of life. Her cousin, Father Gerald Funke of the Diocese of Boise, presided. A reception followed in the monastery dining room.

Sister Mary Frances was born Nancy Ann Kluss and grew up in Lewiston, the oldest of five children. Her parents, Ralph and Eileen Kluss, provided a substantial spiritual influence through Catholic devotions and a strong work ethic.

While she’d nurtured a calling to join the religious life since age 14, Sister Mary Frances “kept it under my hat,” she recalled. She entered the Monastery of St. Gertrude in 1971, having known some of the Benedictine sisters at school and through her love of music. She first professed her vows on Aug. 12, 1974.

Earning a bachelor of science degree in elementary education from Lewis-Clark State College, she taught in Nampa, Rupert and Boise before discerning a ministry in health care. She returned to LCSC for training as a licensed practical nurse, serving at St. Mary’s Hospital (now St. Mary’s Health), Cottonwood and, for 20 years, in the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary infirmary, Spokane, Wash. As she worked with the ill and dying, she resonated with an image of St. Benedict being supported by two monks as he died — a statue in the courtyard at the Abbey of Montecassino in Italy, which she’d seen while traveling.

Returning to the Center for Benedictine Life in 2023, Sister Mary Frances continues to serve on the Sun Porch/infirmary wing and as organist at Sacred Heart Church in Lapwai.

In his homily, Father Funke cited his cousin as an example through her many years of “faithful witness and service.” He added that Sister Mary Frances has been a “young student” in St. Benedict’s “school of the Lord’s service,” with her commitment as a child of God “renewed every morning.”

Sister Mary Frances summed up her decades of vowed life: “I have felt very blessed by God in calling me to be a Benedictine sister. Growing in relationship with God and all of God’s creation has been the heart of my vocation — ‘preferring nothing whatever to Christ,’ as St. Benedict wrote in his Rule.”

— Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Wednesday