Our nice, wintry site banner is provided courtesy of Rachel Potter. This photo was taken on the road to Big Prairie, looking across the North Fork of the Flathead River towards the Whitefish Range.
Monthly Archives: December 2008
County staff shortage affects snowplowing
From the Saturday, December 13, 2008 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
If you live in the far reaches of Flathead County, don’t hold your breath waiting for the snowplow to come.
The county road department has 8.5 fewer full-time employees to handle the road maintenance load this winter, and no “floaters” to cover those who are sick or on vacation, county Public Works Director Dave Prunty said.
“The more remote the area, the longer it will take,” Prunty said Friday, just hours before the Flathead’s first blizzard of the season was predicted to begin. “If it hits like they say, it will be a slap in the face for us.”
Read the entire article . . .
Helicopter skiing proposal rejected — for now
From the Thursday, December 11, 2008 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
The Stillwater State Forest, citing considerable public opposition, has denied a request to allow helicopter skiing on parts of the Whitefish Mountain Range.
Brian Manning, manager of the Stillwater and Coal Creek state forests, said his office received 316 comments, most of them opposed to helicopter skiing.
“Their concerns mainly include the noise and effects to winter recreation; the adverse effects to various wildlife species; low-flying aircraft effects to adjacent landowners and the potential for trespass on federal lands,” Manning wrote in a letter to Triple-X Helicopter and Valhalla Adventures, two Whitefish businesses that proposed helicopter skiing operations on specific parts of the Coal Creek and Stillwater forests.
Commercially guided ski trips were proposed at Winona, Coal and Stryker ridges on the two state forests.
Read the entire article . . .
More on BP’s Mist Mountain coalbed methane project
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post regarding the Mist Mountain coalbed methane project, here are links to some additional information . . .
Our friends in Fernie, BC are not very happy about BP Canada’s plans. See the Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane site for details.
Wildsight posted a press release last Friday that does a good job of summarizing the problems local residents have with coalbed methane development. It also links to some additional material.
BP’s Mist Mountain Coalbed Gas Project site is another source of information. In particular, the maps page is a bit of an eye-opener.
What’s the Flathead connection? Earlier this year, BP withdrew their efforts to explore the Canadian Flathead for coalbed methane development, but left the door open to return at a later date. (See this post, for example.) Mist Mountain is in the Elk River watershed, not far from the Flathead headwaters and already the site of an open pit mine and a proposed wind farm. Events there are a good predictor of what might happen if that sort of activity spills over into the Flathead Valley.
Roy Duff
John Frederick reports . . .
Some of you never had the chance to meet Roy Duff because he hasn’t been to his cabin on Moose Creek for a long time. He died November 14.
When I saw Roy Duff, he used to say in a high-pitched voice out of the side of his mouth opposite to the cigar, “How the hell are you John.” This was his standard greeting.
Roy had a long busy life and I thought you might like to read about him.
Canadian Flathead left out of natural-gas deal
From the Saturday, December 6, 2008 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
BP Canada on Friday received natural-gas rights for a potential energy project in a segment of British Columbia watched closely by environmental activists in both the province and in Montana.
British Columbia granted the rights to BP for its proposed Mist Mountain coal-bed methane project in the province’s southeast, after the Flathead River Basin was removed from the project area. In the debate about possible environmental effects from Mist Mountain coal-bed methane work, the border-spanning Flathead had been particularly prominent, with activists in Montana raising the specter of harm traveling downstream.
Even with the Flathead removed, the prospect of the coal-bed methane project in combination with other current and proposed industrial activity in southeastern British Columbia is alarming, said Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association in Whitefish near Glacier National Park, which extends to the British Columbia border.
Read the entire article . . .
County sets aside $100,000 for dusty roads
The Thursday, December 4, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News included a report on the November 20th meeting concerning the North Fork Road called by Commissioner Gary Hall. It is an interesting read. Although the meeting concentrated mostly on dust remediation and funding issues, there was another little gem of more immediate interest: County Public Works Director Dave Prunty indicated that snow removal may be sub-par this year.
So, make sure you have a good set of chains and read the article . . .
Flathead County is considering a plan that could help mitigate dust on the county’s some 700 miles of unpaved roads — including the North Fork Road.
In a recent meeting with representatives of several government agencies and North Fork residents, Commissioner Gary Hall presented a draft agreement for a dust control cost share program.
Read the entire article . . .
B.C. coal mine threat to trans-border trout: Scientists
Further information on the proposed Cline mine’s impact on bull trout from the Canada.com web site . . .
U.S. government scientists studying the Flathead River watershed straddling the B.C.-Montana border say they’ve discovered the prime spawning site for a threatened species of trout – on the Canadian side of the system, and in the very shadow of a proposed mountaintop coal mine that drew fire from U.S. president-elect Barack Obama during his drive to the White House.
Biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Montana state Wildlife Department say the findings pinpoint the mouth of Foisey Creek in southeastern B.C. – near the planned site of a controversial open-pit coal operation proposed by Toronto-based Cline Mining Corp. – as a “critical” site in the life-cycle of the protected bull trout, which often migrates from U.S. waters to Canada to reproduce.
It’s a discovery, the scientists say, that adds to previous evidence showing threats to the watershed’s population of cross-border cutthroat trout, and which should clinch the environmental case against the mine.
Read the entire article . . .