North Fork Preservation Association

Here we go again, folks. Fire season is starting to heat up in the Flathead Valley. For current forest and wildfire information and related material, see our Fire Information Links page.

Despite a wet, prolonged spring, fire season has snuck in the back door. Over the weekend, crews from Flathead National Forest contained a wildland fire in the Whitefish Range.

A wildland “fire use” policy that has been mostly applied to wilderness areas is being considered for other parts of the Flathead National Forest.

Foresters looking to fight fire with fire have started looking beyond the boundaries of designated wilderness areas, and this summer will apply a sort of “let it burn” policy to public lands throughout northwest Montana.

In a Washington D.C. meeting with executives for British Petroleum, U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., issued his harshest rebukes yet for BP’s coalbed methane exploration proposal in the Canadian Flathead.

Tags: BC, BP, BP Canada, British Columbia, British Petroleum, Canadian Flathead, coal-bed methane, coalbed methane, Mist Mountain Project

The Fire Information Links page has been updated. It provides links to local fire news, maps, reports, status, imagery and weather.

Starting today, new fire restrictions will prohibit all campfires across Northwest Montana.

Fire managers have decided to implement an initial level of fire restrictions