The 2012 North Fork Winter Interlocal will be hosted by Glacier National Park February 15, 2012 at the Glacier National Park Headquarters’ Community Building in West Glacier. The meeting will take place from 10am-1pm and include updates from all of the North Fork organizations and local agencies. Agencies planning to present include Glacier National Park, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Flathead National Forest, the US Border Patrol, State Lands, Flathead County and others.

If you already have questions that you would like to ask, send them to contact@nflandowners.org and we’ll pass them along to the event organizers. Giving the presenters an opportunity to prepare in advance always helps ensure that the best information is provided.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear what is happening in our area and exchange ideas. For more information about who will be participating, see the draft meeting agenda here.

The North Fork Landowners Association has established a history committee, and their current project is to do oral interviews with North Fork old timers. It’s too bad the project cannot include original homesteaders of the area, all of whom have now passed over the Great Divide. Good thing is that today’s old timers knew the homesteaders.

That knowledge, coupled with the written interviews of homesteaders done by the Forest Service, Park Service and Hungry Horse editor Mel Ruder, should make a more complete picture of North Fork history from homestead days up to the 1960s.

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The North Fork Landowners’ Association has two “weed roundup” events scheduled. The first, on Tuesday, July 26, will concentrate on the area from the border to Ford Station; the second, Friday, August 19, will work from Ford to Polebridge. See the NFLA online calendar for details.

Glacier Park is also kicking off their second annual Noxious Weed Blitz on Thursday, July 28th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the West Glacier Community Building. You get training on weed identification, surveying and mapping. You also get a free lunch out of the deal. Here’s the core part of the press release announcing the event:

Participants will spend the morning learning how to identify five targeted invasive plant species. After lunch attendants will learn how to conduct invasive plant surveys and map the locations of invasive plants using GPS units. Attending the Blitz will give you the option to continue as a citizen scientist weed warrior during future hikes. The event is free and open to all ages. Lunch will be provided for those who sign up for the event. Please bring gloves for hand pulling weeds, footwear for hiking, and drinking water. To sign up or to find out about other invasive plant opportunities, please contact the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center at (406) 888-7986 or glac_citizen_science@nps.gov.

Read the full press release for more details.

A couple of weeks ago, I commented on all of the work done by the North Fork Landowners Association Board of Directors and the various committees. Their efforts have ensured a great season for social and educational activities.

To me, it is even more important that they have returned the landowners association to the original goals and values envisioned by the founders of the North Fork Improvement Association, the original landowners association.

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Yes, there is still concern that there could be flooding on the North Fork. No, it is not a certainty, and we just have to wait and see how fast the snow melts in the high country.

For all intents and purposes, the North Fork Road is now closed from just north of Joe Franchini’s driveway to the international border. There are two obstacles…

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Just a reminder that David Abegglen, agent in charge of the Whitefish office of the Border Patrol (out of which the North Fork is patrolled), will be at the Saturday North Fork Landowners’ Association meeting. That’s 8 p.m. at Sondreson Hall.

This might be our last best chance before the February or July 2011 Inter Local Agreement meeting to ask him questions about Border Patrol operations on the North Fork.