North Fork Preservation Association

Montana

Jake Sweeney first thought he was looking at a mountain goat while hunting up the North Fork last Friday.

Officials with state Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Tuesday the state can no longer afford to study the long-term population trend of grizzlies in northwest Montana without financial help from federal agencies.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stands with Montana in opposing a coal mine planned for southeastern British Columbia, and will ask Canada to put the proposal through a wide-ranging federal review, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said Tuesday.

A wide-reaching wilderness protection bill that would forever ban logging, oil exploration and other development on 23 million acres across the Northern Rockies was introduced Friday by two East Coast members of Congress.

Retired attorney and long time North Forker Steve Berg is hiking the Appalachian Trail. The world’s longest footpath, Berg plans on hiking its length from Springer Mountain, Ga., to Katahdin, Maine, over the next few months.

A few years ago a wolverine in Glacier National Park found a dead mountain goat in an avalanche off Mount Piegan. While the dead goat was buried under several feet of snow, the wolverine, with its keen nose had no problem finding the rotting goat.