As promised early in the summer, the Forest Service has rebuilt boat access sites at the Canada border and at Ford Ranger Station. Although it will be easier to launch at Ford due to the removal of the wooden terraces, I have mixed feelings about the new boat ramps…

The Forest Service is my favorite government agency. They have many excellent employees who are unable to do their best due to stupid regulations written in Washington, D.C. Mostly, they are no longer really involved in timber management but have been pushed into managing tourists. As a result, they make funny decisions which give columnists something to write about…

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Despite a legacy of conservation in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, a biologist told Glacier National Park employees Tuesday that 1.3 million acres of roadless public lands remain vulnerable, and with them a suite of fish and wildlife species…

Although the core of the ecosystem is protected by the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat and Great Bear wildernesses – as well as the first-ever Tribal Wilderness in the Mission Mountains – 1.33 million acres of roadless area “is still up for grabs,” Weaver said…

…he stressed the importance of habitat connectivity along the periphery of conservation lands in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, and in particular on the Rocky Mountain Front, along the North and Middle Forks of the Flathead River, and in the Swan Range.

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The woman who drowned on the North Fork Flathead River on Wednesday afternoon has been identified as Shawna Thomas, 51, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Thomas and her husband were in a rigid-framed collapsible kayak when they came around a corner on the North Fork four miles south of Polebridge, encountering tree root balls as obstacles on both sides of the river channel.

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An Idaho woman drowned in the North Fork Flathead River on Wednesday afternoon after her inflatable kayak got tangled in tree roots.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the woman and her husband were floating in a double-seated inflatable kayak about two miles south of Polebridge in the Home Ranch Bottoms area when the accident occurred shortly after 1 p.m.

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More than 30 years ago, fans of Glacier National Park were alarmed to learn of Canadian coal mining plans that would tear down entire mountains along the park’s northwestern border.

Today, after decades of international negotiation and diplomacy, those plans finally have been scuttled, with Canada pledging to protect the park’s world-class waterways from upstream mining.  Today the United States is working to do the same.

Even as major energy companies (including Chevron, BP, Exxon and ConocoPhillips) volunteer to retire their mining and drilling leases on Glacier’s western fringe, lawmakers struggle to pass protective measures prohibiting future mining of public lands in the North Fork Flathead River drainage.

That’s why a coalition of concerned citizens and Glacier Park lovers  — with help from the National Parks Conservation Association — has brought this historic issue into the dot.com future, with a website and clearing house dedicated to resolving land-use conflicts in the transboundary Flathead.

ProtectGlacier.com went live this week, a virtual world where visitors can explore maps and photographs from the Flathead, can learn about what’s at stake and flipthrough years of reports and research. They can read the latest park news, Tweet and re-Tweet and link to Facebook, and they can listen to what people are saying about the North Fork Watershed Protection Act.  That legislation (S.233) has been introduced by Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, and would withdraw public lands adjacent to the park from future drilling – just as the Canadians have done on their side of the border.

Online visitors to the site can sign a ProtectGlacier.com letter of support of the legislation, adding their voices to the thousands who already have spoken up on behalf of America’s finest alpine park.

This Website represents the future – our future, Glacier Park’s future – but it’s also just the latest chapter in a very old story, a story that Glacier’s advocates have been helping to write for decades. This is, in fact, how history gets written. So pick up that keyboard, and be sure to add a few lines of your own at ProtectGlacier.com.

Further reading: The National Parks Traveler website also has a good article about the ProtectGlacier.com site.

From the Missoulian . . .

Warm weather and a deep mountain snowpack will continue to cause concern for western Montana in coming days.

Flooding is expected across the region, starting late Thursday for many smaller tributaries and creeks. Flooding along major rivers is expected late Friday and early Saturday, said Dan Zumpfe, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Missoula…

As for the Flathead, snowmelt from Canada will push the river to flood stage, likely causing problems for communities such as Polebridge and Columbia Falls.

“All (of the rivers) will be going at or above flood stage in the late Friday/early Saturday time frame,” Zumpfe said. “The good thing about this warmup is that it is short lived.”

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… Flood Watch in effect for all stems of the Flathead river from Friday morning through Sunday morning…

The National Weather Service in Missoula has issued a

* Flood Watch for all stems of the Flathead river in northwest Montana… including the following County… Flathead.

* From Friday morning through Sunday morning

* warm temperatures this week have enhanced melting of the record snow pack throughout the Flathead river basin. Steady rises on all stems of the Flathead river are forecast and flood stages may be reached as early as Friday.

* Small streams that feed the Flathead may also rise and approach flood levels this week and through the weekend.

Precautionary/preparedness actions…

A Flood Watch means there is a potential for flooding based on current forecasts.

You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible flood warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.

Check out the links on the “Flood Information” page for more information.

Statement as of 10:40 AM MDT on June 06, 2011

… Flood Watch in effect through Tuesday afternoon…

The National Weather Service in Missoula has issued a

* Flood Watch for a portion of northwest Montana… including the following County… Flathead.

* Until further notice

* snowmelt will combine with excessive rainfall amounts through Tuesday evening. This will result in sharp increases in rivers and streams.

* All stems of the Flathead rivers… including the North Fork… Middle Fork… and main Stem will have the potential to reach flood stage by midweek.

Precautionary/preparedness actions…

A Flood Watch means there is a potential for flooding based on current forecasts.

You should monitor later forecasts and be alert for possible flood warnings. Those living in areas prone to flooding should be prepared to take action should flooding develop.

What do you get when you add two warm weekend days, an expected 80-degree high temperature for Monday, and a rainstorm that is expected to move into western Montana late Monday and stay through Wednesday?

A good chance that the Clark Fork, Bitterroot and Flathead rivers will be above flood stage by the middle to later half of the work week, said Corby Dickerson, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Missoula.

“One of the things that is really challenging in advance of these storms is to fully gauge the impact of the heating and precipitation on our flood models,” Dickerson said. “As far as actual numbers and how high the rivers will get there are still a lot of questions.”

“However, given the scenario and time of year, we are shaping up to see a substantial rise in the rivers across Western Montana.”

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