Jan 25 2012
This week, Larry talks about folk’s penchant to worry about the weather . . . Apparently we humans have an inbred need to worry about something all of the time. In the first week of January, I heard several people comment that they were worried that if it didn’t snow soon, we would have a [...]
Nov 27 2011
Here’s a pretty good discussion of the impacts on Montana’s forests over the next 50 years or so. Interestingly, some of the changes may actually restore earlier, healthier conditions . . . Three things will combine to radically transform Montana forests in the next 50 years: bugs, fire and politics. Mountain pine beetles have killed [...]
Sep 20 2011
From today’s Missoulian . . . Federal and state wildland fire agencies will rescind Stage I fire restrictions on Wednesday throughout much of western Montana. Included in the order are Flathead, Lake, Mineral, Sanders, Missoula, Powell, Ravalli, Granite, Deer Lodge and Silver Bow counties. Restrictions will remain in effect on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Continue [...]
Sep 14 2011
In his column this week, Larry Wilson discusses the fire season and getting ready for colder weather . . . A few weeks ago, I wrote that it looked like there would not be much of a fire season on the North Fork. Like all politicians and most columnists, I did add a disclaimer – [...]
Sep 02 2011
From the Daily Inter Lake . . . Recent rains, higher humidities and lower temperatures have put a damper on fires still burning in Northwest Montana. About a half inch of rain was recorded Wednesday at Spotted Bear and the Big Prairie Ranger station in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, where the 4,100-acre Big Salmon Lake [...]
Aug 24 2011
The Missoulian posted this item late yesterday. I’d take it with a grain of salt, especially the “extended summer” bit . . . Although September is but a week away and students are returning to school, summer weather and wildfire season in Montana is far from over. In fact, “we are hitting our peak right [...]
Aug 17 2011
Today’s Daily Inter Lake has a pretty good report on the wildfire action in the Flathead Valley . . . Flathead Valley residents got to take in a familiar summer spectacle Wednesday: Smoke columns towering over the Swan Mountain Range. The smoke was pouring from two fires burning in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It was [...]
Aug 05 2011
This week, Larry talks about the approach of fire season and common sense preparation for its arrival . . . We humans are a worrisome lot. We have just finished worrying about flooding, and now it’s time to worry about fire season… So could 2011 be a big fire year? Barely possible, certainly unlikely… Continue [...]
May 01 2011
Here’s official support, with actual numbers, for something that seems intuitively obvious . . . The red needles of a tree killed in a mountain pine beetle attack can ignite up to three times faster than the green needles of a healthy tree, new research into the pine beetle epidemic has found. The findings by [...]
Sep 27 2010
Oh, boy. This item posted to today’s Flathead Beacon is going to trigger some debate and, one hopes, further investigation . . . Swaths of forests killed by mountain pine beetles may not be as prone to massive fires as many previously assumed, a conclusion drawn by researchers from the University of Wisconsin and Yellowstone [...]
