From the Thursday, January 17, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
By a 4-3 margin Wednesday, the Flathead County Planning Board voted against a recommendation for a new North Fork Neighborhood Plan, despite overwhelming support by North Fork residents.
Board members Randy Toavs, Gene Dziza, Mike Mowery and Rita Hall all voted against a motion to favorably recommend the plan to the county commissioners. All four had various reservations about the plan. Hall didn't like the restrictions set forth on rental properties. Toavs questioned a sentence in the plan that asks the Forest Service to not issue any additional commercial rafting permits for the river, and Dziza questioned language regarding subdivisions. The four votes against the plan came after resident after resident stood up and said it was a good plan for the North Fork Community. The new plan really isn't new at all. It draws from the original 1987 plan, an update from 1992, zoning laws set in 1998 and amendments done in 2003.
The plan "reflects the values and concerns of several generations," said long-time North Forker Molly Shepherd, reflecting "consistent and coherent support for the North Fork zoning district." "If you ever see a neighborhood plan that was created by the community, this is it," said Larry Wilson, another long-time North Fork resident. Wilson recalled when work on the plan first started in 1984 ?some 25 years ago. "This is a community document that went step-by-step," he said. But not all board members were convinced. Dziza in particular questioned a section on subdivisions that says "no subdivision should be allowed that would create a significant negative impact on the area." He viewed that as too subjective.
Planner Andrew Hegemeier tried to explain that the broad language in the plan was just guidance -- the specifics are actually laid out in the North Fork zoning regulations, which actually restrict subdivision in the North Fork on a variety of different levels. But Dziza claimed that folks are more litigious now and the county needed a document that could be defended in court. Part of the problem, folks said afterward, was that planning board members who sat in on meetings last year when this draft was being worked out were no longer on the planning board, and really had no idea where the language of the plan was coming from. That may have been the case. The idea of no additional commercial rafting trips or restrictions on rental properties have been around for a long time in the North Fork. In the case of commercial rafting, for example, the Forest Service actually has a moratorium on new permits in place. So the North Fork language, in reality, is a moot point. The plan also received the endorsement from the neighborhood's largest neighbor. Glacier National Park, which is included in the plan, thoroughly endorsed it.
The plan isn't dead, however. A workshop to further discuss the plan and potentially work out some of the issues is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 6 in the Earl Bennett Building in Kalispell. The public, particularly North Forkers, are encouraged to attend to give the planning board members greater guidance on the plan and its particulars, board members said.
Chris Servheen, a frequent presence on the North Fork, is receiving an award for his conservation efforts. From the Friday, January 18, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
Chris Servheen, mammologist and wildlife biologist at the University of Montana and grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will receive the 2008 George B. Rabb Conservation Award Jan. 29 from the Chicago Zoological Society.
The following evening Servheen will present a lecture entitled "Grizzly Conservation" at the Brookfield Zoo's Discovery Center. The CZS manages the zoo.
Servheen is being recognized for his 30 years of significant work in grizzly bear conservation efforts centered primarily in the Misson Mountains and northwestern Montana wilderness areas.
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From the Tuesday, January 15, 2008 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .
Canadian regulators say potential coal and gas projects north of Glacier National Park face many hurdles, including regulatory review.
Montana officials have criticized potential development of a coal mine and a coal-bed methane operation in southeastern British Columbia. On Tuesday, the Montana Legislature's Environmental Quality Council invited Canadian officials to provide their perspective at a meeting in Helena.
British Columbia officials reiterated the projects have not begun clearing regulatory hurdles. Garry Alexander of the province's Environmental Assessment Office said the government will conduct a "comprehensive" evaluation.
Other Canadian regulators, speaking by conference call, said Montana agencies and residents will have an opportunity to comment on plans as they move forward. Proposed projects often are modified during the permit process, the regulators said.
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From the Friday, January 4, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
Lake County Republicans and Democrats have agreed to agree on something other than dates and times for candidate forums.
In what the county chairmen for both parties say may be an unprecedented move, the two sides have come together to craft a joint resolution expressing “grave concerns” about proposed massive Canadian coal mines and coal-bed methane extraction that could have negative impacts on the Flathead River Basin, including Flathead Lake.
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From the Thursday, January 3, 2008 edition of The Tyee, an online daily based in British Columbia. This is part two of two. The first part (see below) deals with resource extraction threats to the Canadian Flathead . . .
The section of the Rocky Mountains that straddles the Canada-U.S. border has long been recognized as a region of outstanding biological diversity, often referred to as the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. But few British Columbians realize that their province owns a share of this treasure in the form of the little-known Flathead Valley.
In recognition of the Crown of the Continent's natural beauty and abundant wildlife, Waterton Lakes National Park was established in Alberta's southern Rockies in 1895. Fifteen years later, the Americans created Glacier National Park next door in northern Montana. In 1932, the two parks were honoured as the world's first international peace park.
In 1995, UNESCO designated Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park a World Heritage Site. But it noted that the adjoining section of British Columbia's Flathead Valley was "a missing element," and recommended that the site boundaries eventually be expanded to include it.
This was not a new idea. Waterton's first superintendent, John George "Kootenai" Brown, wrote in 1911: "It seems advisable to greatly enlarge this park . . . it might be well to have a preserve and breeding grounds in conjunction with the United States Glacier Park." Others also espoused this idea throughout the following decades, all without success.
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This excellent article on resource extraction threats to the Canadian Flathead appeared in the Wednesday, January 2, 2008 edition of The Tyee, an online daily based in British Columbia. This is part one of two. The second deals with efforts to establish the Flathead as a national park . . .
Bruce McLellan has caught more than 150 grizzlies in the Flathead Valley in the past 29 years, some more than once, but he still vividly remembers his first capture.
"We got really excited when we drove in and could see this big bear... bouncing around," McLellan recalls. Then alarm set in -- the tree that had anchored the snare was gone. "He'd gnawed it down!"
Luckily, the cable remained attached to the stump and the young biologist soon had the 290-kilogram bear tranquillized and radio-collared. It was the start of what's become one of the world's longest-running, most in-depth studies of this species.
Since 1978, McLellan -- now a provincial Ministry of Forests senior wildlife habitat ecologist and University of British Columbia adjunct professor -- hasn't missed a year in the Flathead. His research shows that this 1,575-square-kilometre watershed in British Columbia's southeast corner has the highest documented density of grizzlies in inland North America: 65 to 80 for every 1,000 square kilometres. Only salmon-fed coastal grizzlies occur at higher densities.
"What's special about the Flathead," McLellan says, "is that it's a big, wide valley with no people living in it, so the bears can use the whole valley bottom and do what bears do when there's no people around. That's what makes it unique, more than the density.
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From the Thursday, January 3, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
About $886,000 in funding was secured by U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester to fully study the environmental impact of proposed mines in the Canadian Flathead.
There are several proposals for mining the region. Cline Mining Corp. has plans for a mine that would basically take the top off a mountain in the Foisey Creek drainage, a tributary in the North Fork's headwaters. British Petroleum has a project for coal bed methane extraction in Crowsnest Coal Field. That field drains into the North Fork as well. There have also been proposals for phosphate mining much closer to Glacier Park's northern boundary.
This funding will create baseline data of the region as it now exists. Scientists will be looking at water quality, aquatic insect life, fisheries and large mammals, including grizzly bears and other carnivore species.
"The potential for environmental catastrophe in Southeast British Columbia is really high," Richard Hauer of the Flathead Lake Biological Station said.
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From the Wednesday, January 2, 2008 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
Flathead County residents are demanding more paved roads, but county officials say the money isn't available to put down more asphalt.
At a Dec. 18 public meeting concerning county road issues, rural special improvement districts were touted as an option to raise money for neighborhood paving.
Property owners may ask the commissioners to create an improvement district, which establishes an area outside the limits of incorporated towns and cities for the purpose of building, constructing or acquiring certain improvements authorized by Montana law for the benefit of the district. The property owners within the district then pay for the improvement — in this case, roads.
Some county property owners already have considered that option, only to find the costs are out of reach.
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