2021 Winter Interlocal, March 4, 9am, on Zoom

February 2, 2021NewsNorth Fork Interlocal Agreementnfpa

The 2021 winter North Fork Interlocal Agreement meeting will be held Thursday, March 4 at 9:00 a.m. The meeting usually lasts abut three hours. Due to the the ongoing pandemic, it will be a virtual meeting using the Zoom conferencing software.

The Interlocal Agreement provides for face-to-face contact (usually!) with representatives of agencies whose policies and actions affect the North Fork. Interlocal Agreement meetings are held in the winter (in town) and summer (at Sondreson Hall). Agency attendees include Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Montana Department of State Lands, U.S. Border Patrol, Glacier National Park, Flathead National Forest, U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service and Flathead County.

This is always a very interesting meeting, with reports from a range of government agencies and local organizations and often some quite vigorous discussion.

Headwaters Montana Closes

December 10, 2020Environmental Issues, NewsDave Hadden, Headwaters Montana, Jack Potter Glacier National Park Stewardship Fund, Loren Kreck and Edwin Fields Wilderness Scholarship Fundnfpa

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 10, 2020
Contact: Dave Hadden, Director, 406-270-3184/ info@headwatersmontana.org

Local Conservation Organization Closes
Establishes Wilderness Scholarship Fund and
Donates to Bigfork and Columbia Falls Conservation Projects

Local conservation organization Headwaters Montana will close its doors at the end of December after some 13 years of work in the Flathead and Kootenai regions advocating for wildlife and wilderness in land management decisions.

The Headwaters board voted in June to close the organization citing funding and other circumstances as the cause.

Board president Roger Sherman said that Headwaters Montana played a significant role in protecting the North Fork of the Flathead Rive from Canadian coal mine development in the early 200’s with passage of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act. Headwaters marshaled bipartisan local support for the protection measures.

Headwaters also helped lower the temperature of the usually controversial Flathead Forest management plan revision process by initiating the Whitefish Range Partnership that brought diverse stakeholders to the table to resolve complex issues. The final plan improved snowmobiling opportunities and recommended 80,000-acres of wilderness in the Whitefish Range, for example.

The organization also worked on a range of other conservation issues on the Kootenai National Forest, as well as the Kootenai River pollution from British Columbia, and helped develop alternate sources of funding for non-game wildlife in Montana, among many other issues.

As part of its closing Headwaters Montana has endowed the Loren Kreck and Edwin Fields Wilderness Scholarship Fund and the Jack Potter Glacier National Park Stewardship Fund. Both funds will be managed by the North Fork Preservation Association (NFPA).

NFPA president Flannery Coats said her organization looks forward to carrying on some of the legacy work of Headwaters. “Both these funds will help bring wilderness education and better natural resource management decisions to Montana in general and Glacier Park in particular,” Coats said.

In addition to these funds, Headwaters Montana made significant cash gifts to the Montana Land Reliance’s “Bigfork Natural Area Project”, and the Flathead Land Trust’s “Badrock Canyon Project.”

The Bigfork project hopes to build upon and expand the current trail system along the “Wild Mile” in Bigfork. The Badrock Canyon Project seeks to protect about 800 outstanding acres along the Flathead River between Columbia Falls and Columbia Falls Heights.

“We’re really pleased to contribute to these two outstanding projects,” said Sherman. “We hope our donation will inspire others to contribute.”

To learn more about the Wilderness Scholarship Fund or Glacier Park Stewardship Award contact Flannery Coats at 406-407-3863. Contact Mark Schiltz at 406-837-2178 at the Montana Land Reliance regarding the Bigfork Natural Area Project, and Paul Travis at 406-261-4357 at the Flathead Land Trust for the Badrock Canyon Project.

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Northern grizzly management complicated by COVID, inexperienced campers

December 4, 2020Environmental Issues, Newsgrizzly bear recovery, human-bear conflictnfpa

A pair of grizzly bears forage in Glacier National Park - Chris Servheen — A pair of grizzly bears forage in Glacier National Park – Chris Servheen

Boy, howdy is this true! An interesting article from the Missoula Current . . .

The worldwide pandemic has brought Montana’s grizzly bear managers a new challenge to deal with: a surge of new residents and backcountry neophytes.

On Monday, biologists and land managers of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee discussed what a chaotic summer it had been because of visitors flooding into Montana and how a repeat next summer could be as dangerous for grizzly bears as it was annoying for longtime residents.

“At Glacier National Park, there was a huge COVID effect,” said Glacier Park superintendent Jeff Mow. “Not only is it a large number of visitors who’d never been on public lands before and therefore didn’t know how to behave with some very basic skills like taking care of garbage, burying human waste, dogs, all those public use issues.”

Read more . . .

Whitebark Pine proposed as threatened species

December 4, 2020Environmental Issues, NewsEndangered Species Act, whitebark pinenfpa

Whitebark Pine Closeup, 2016 - W. K. Walker — Whitebark Pine Closeup, 2016 – W. K. Walker

Whitebark Pine are getting serious attention from the US Fish and Wildlife Service lately . . .

Climate change, voracious beetles and disease are imperiling the long-term survival of a high-elevation pine tree that’s a key source of food for some grizzly bears and found across the West, U.S. officials said Tuesday.

A Fish and Wildlife Service proposal scheduled to be published Wednesday would protect the whitebark pine tree as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, according to documents posted by the Office of the Federal Register.

But the agency said it doesn’t plan to designate which forested areas are critical to the tree’s survival, stopping short of what some environmentalists argue is needed.

Read more . . .

Cabin owners petition to protect Tepee Lake from motorized recreation

November 23, 2020Environmental Issues, NewsNorth Fork Flathead, Tepee Lakenfpa

Some nice coverage of local efforts to protect Tepee Lake from motorized use . . .

Cabin owners around a small, remote lake in northwestern Montana are worried that increasing pressure from motorized recreationists could forever harm their little slice of heaven.

That’s why Rachel Potter and her neighbors have petitioned the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission to pursue a nonmotorized watercraft designation for Tepee Lake. “We really believe that now’s the time to make a rule before there is a problem,” Potter said.

The commission agreed, which will start a rule-making process to ban motorized boats and personal watercraft from the lake.

Read more . . .

US officials say climate change not a threat to wolverines

October 8, 2020Environmental Issues, Newswolverine researchnfpa

Wolverine on rocks - Photo by Hans Veth on Unsplash — Wolverine on rocks – Photo by Hans Veth on Unsplash

Here we go again . . .

U.S. wildlife officials are withdrawing proposed protections for the snow-loving wolverine after determining the rare and elusive predator is not as threatened by climate change as once thought.

Details on the decision were obtained in advance by The Associated Press and expected to be announced formally on Thursday.

A federal judge four years ago had blocked an attempt to withdraw protections that were first proposed in 2010, pointing to evidence from government scientists that wolverines were “squarely in the path of climate change. But years of additional research suggest the animals’ prevalence is expanding, not contracting, U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials said. And they predict that enough snow will persist at high elevations for wolverines to den in mountain snowfields each spring despite warming temperatures.

Wildlife advocates said they are likely to challenge the move in court.

Read more . . .

Suit claims 2018 Forest Plan violates grizzly protection standards

August 13, 2020Environmental Issues, Newsgrizzly bears, national forest plannfpa

Grizzly bear in early fall - Montana FWP — Grizzly bear in early fall – Montana FWP

This landed a little later than expected . . .

Four environmental groups filed suit in federal court Aug. 5 against the Forest Service, the Department of Interior and the Montana Logging Association challenging the 2018 Flathead National Forest plan.

The suit was not unexpected. The groups, WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project, Swan View Coalition, and Friends of the Wild Swan have maintained the that the Forest Plan, which was crafted over the course of several years, was, in essence, illegally handling the way the Forest would manage roads into the future.

At the heart of the case, the plaintiffs maintain, is the new plan disregards road closure standards that were set in the previous plan.

Read more . . .

NFPA Annual Meeting photos

July 30, 2020NewsFrank Vitale, NFPA Annual Meeting, Teagan TomlinDebo Powers

The NFPA annual meeting was held outside this year, on July 25, with social distancing and masks. Frank Vitale was recognized and appreciated for his 38 years on the NFPA board of directors. Dave Hadden was present to describe the Headwaters Montana endowment to NFPA to continue the Jack Potter Glacier National Park Stewardship Award and the Loren Kreck-Edwin Fields Wilderness Scholarship Fund. Flannery Coats became the new NFPA president and Diane Boyd was newly elected to the board. The speaker was Teagan Tomlin on “The Geological Story of Glacier National Park.”

Here are some photos from the event, courtesy of Roger Sullivan . . .

Frank Vitale receives an award for serving 38 years on the NFPA board!

Part of the group watching Teagan Tomlin’s presentation on “The Geological Story of Glacier National Park”

Teagan Tomlin’s talks about “The Geological Story of Glacier National Park”

House passes the Great American Outdoors Act with bipartisan support; bill heads to President’s desk

July 22, 2020Environmental Issues, NewsGreat American Outdoors Act, Land and Water Conservation Fund, LWCFnfpa

Sometimes, an election year is a Good Thing . . .

On a day that has already seen a historic win for our public lands, the news got even better when the House passed the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) this afternoon by a 310-107 vote.

The bill, which the Senate overwhelmingly passed back in June, now moves to the president’s desk.

This is a tremendous victory for public lands in Montana and across the country. Most notably, the bill will provide full, dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), one of our nation’s most critical conservation programs. LWCF has been essential to hundreds of public lands projects across Montana, including the acquisition and development of numerous state parks, the construction and maintenance of public trail systems, and the development of boat ramps, campgrounds, and fishing access sites. The fund, which disburses royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling, has contributed over $600 million to Montana projects in its 55-year existence. The bill will also provide some $9 billion to address the maintenance backlog facing our national public lands.

Read more . . .

Tester introduces Badger-Two Medicine Protection Act

July 22, 2020Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine regionnfpa

Good news! It’s been a long time coming. Let’s see if it makes it though the legislative meat grinder . . .

Montana Sen. Jon Tester has introduced a bill that would permanently protect the Badger-Two Medicine Region just south of Marias Pass and Glacier National Park.

Tester, a Democrat, announced the bill Wednesday.

“A few weeks ago, the Blackfeet Tribe and the people of Montana won a huge victory for our public lands when the last oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine was remanded to a lower court,” said Tester. “Now it’s time we build on this momentum and continue the fight to safeguard this sacred area, which is why I am introducing legislation that honors the will of the Blackfeet Tribe and of public lands owners across our state by permanently protecting the Badger-Two Medicine for future generations.”

Tester’s Badger-Two Medicine Protection Act designates 127,000 acres in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest in Glacier and Pondera counties as the Badger-Two Medicine Cultural Heritage Area…

Read more . . .