All posts by nfpa

What ‘completing’ Waterton Park would mean for Glacier Park and the North Fork

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Harvey Locke’s presentation at the upcoming NFPA annual meeting gets a mention in this NPR piece . . .

Waterton-Glacier International Peace park connects over the US-Canada border between Montana and Alberta. However, the two parks don’t match up in their cross-border boundary.

Glacier Park stretches west to encompass the North Fork Flathead River Valley, but the Canadian Flathead is not part of the Park. The Canadian Flathead is Provincial land, akin to state or forest service land in the US, and offering the potential for logging or mineral development. Conservationists have been angling to “Complete the Park” by expanding Waterton into the North Fork Valley.

This idea of completing the Park is not new. Executive Director of Headwaters Montana Dave Hadden said it’s an effort about as old as the Park itself.

Read more . . .

2014 Bear Fair coming to Polebridge August 23; needs your help

Environmental Issues, News,

The 2014 Bear Fair is coming to Polebridge on August 23, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. It’s a great opportunity to get various groups together and learn about everything from electric fencing to bear spray. The last time there was a bear fair in Polebridge  (July 9, 2011), there were 200 people there!

Besides all the good information about bears, the sponsoring groups usually provide lunch, which will be cooked by the Northern Lights Saloon, a tent for presentations, and porta-potties.

Problem is, all this requires money. So, the organizers are asking both groups and individuals for assistance.

Individual donations can be made online here: https://www.mtoutdoorlegacy.org/donate/bear-fair-2014.

Or, contact one of the organizers for more information:

Terence McClelland   tmmcclelland@fs.fed.us  406-871-1855
Lindsey Stutzman   lindsey.a.stutzman@gmail.com  406-212-1803
Tim Manley   tim.manley@bresnan.net  406-892-0802

North Fork Inter Local coming up July 16

News, ,

This summer’s Inter Local meeting is coming up on Wednesday, July 16, at Sondreson Hall. The meeting starts at 1:00 p.m. and is sponsored by the North Fork Road Coalition. Inter Local meetings are held twice each year, winter and summer. These semi-annual get-togethers are intended to encourage open discussion between North Fork landowners and neighbors and local, state and federal agencies.

In other words, it’s a big deal if you have an interest in the North Fork.

Preceding the Inter Local meeting, is the annual FireWise Day Workshop at 9:30 a.m. and lunch at noon. The potluck lunch at noon is also hosted by the North Fork Road Coalition.

Please send agenda item additions or revisions and address updates to Ray Brown: polebridgeray@yahoo.com, 406-892-1431 (mobile), 406-261-6884 (cell).

The Wilderness Act’s midlife crisis

Commentary,

An interesting — and controversial — opinion piece in the New York Times discussing whether we really should leave wilderness alone . . .

You won’t hear it on your summer hike above the bird song and the soft applause of aspen leaves, but there’s a heresy echoing through America’s woods and wild places. It’s a debate about how we should think about, and treat, our wilderness in the 21st century, one with real implications for the nearly 110 million acres of wild lands that we’ve set aside across the United States.

Read more . . .

100 years of the Polebridge Merc

Photos & Images, Travel Articles,

The Daily Inter Lake has a nice write-up on the Polebridge Mercantile’s 100th anniversary . . .

Just before 7 a.m. on Tuesday, the sun is up and working hard to burn off fog that has settled over the Polebridge Mercantile.

Addie Cleveland walks to the front door and unlocks it for the day’s first customer, flipping the sign in the window from closed to open.

Staff members have been at the store since 5 a.m. making the Merc’s famous pastries. Tuesdays are special because not only are workers making treats for the store, they also are baking items for the Whitefish Farmer’s Market.

Read more . . .

Sage grouse become political touchstone in West

Environmental Issues, News, ,

This is a pretty good overview of the concerns and election-year politics behind the sage grouse preservation issue . . .

An obscure, chicken-sized bird best known for its mating dance could help determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the U.S. Senate in November.

The federal government is considering listing the greater sage grouse as an endangered species next year. Doing so could limit development, energy exploration, hunting and ranching on the 165 million acres of the bird’s habitat across 11 Western states.

Apart from the potential economic disruption, which some officials in Western states discuss in tones usually reserved for natural disasters, the specter of the bird’s listing is reviving the centuries-old debates about local vs. federal control and whether to develop or conserve the region’s vast expanses of land.

Read more . . .

Flathead National Forest seeks input on travel analysis

Environmental Issues, News,

As far as I  can figure, the following press release is saying that the Flathead National Forest is seeking public help in evaluating its road system. This information will  be used as an aid to future decision making.

This sounds like something some of us should pay attention to.

Here’s the press release . . .

The U.S. Forest Service seeks public input on an analysis of the road system on the Flathead National Forest. The travel analysis process (TAP) is a science-based approach that is used to inform future road-related travel management decisions. This travel analysis report (TAR) documents a broad-scale analysis that encompasses all existing National Forest System Roads (NFSR) on the Flathead NF. The report provides a course assessment of the road infrastructure and a set of proposals for change to the forest transportation system that can be evaluated when subsequent site-specific National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) planning is undertaken. This report will not change or modify any existing NEPA decisions, but should help to inform decision makers with future NEPA assessments related to the road infrastructure.

Flathead National Forest Supervisor Chip Weber says, “The travel analysis is not a proposal or decision, but is intended to help inform possible future road management planning. We will need public input to inform the analysis, but this will not be a formal public comment process. Before any projects are implemented on the ground the public will have an opportunity to comment through the NEPA process.”

The Forest Service asks the public to view the analysis and provide input to help identify risks and benefits we may have missed as well as provide feedback on the process used to analyze the road system. An interactive mapping tool reflecting the initial results of the analysis is available on the FNF website at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/flathead and is the primary tool for providing public input. The Forest will accept inputs through July 31, 2014. A hard-copy of the maps which capture the results of the analysis area are available at the Swan Lake, Hungry Horse and Tally Lake Ranger District offices for those not able to view them online.

The Flathead National Forest is hosting an open-house on July 8, 2014, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Supervisor’s Office located at 650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT, to discuss the process used in the analysis and to demonstrate how to use the online mapping tool to provide inputs.

The agency expects to maintain an appropriately sized and environmentally sustainable road system that is responsive to ecological, economic and social concerns. The national forest system of the future must continue to provide access for recreation and resource management, as well as support watershed restoration and resource protection to sustain healthy ecosystems. Nearly everyone who uses the National Forest will be affected by possible future road management decisions, making it important to work together today to identify a sustainable road system.

Lundgren family sells West Glacer holdings to GPI

History, News, , ,

This has only a tenuous North Fork preservation angle, but it’s momentous news for the area . . .

Most of the business district of this iconic entrance to Glacier National Park – and undeveloped acreage in and around the little village of about 225 people – has been sold to Glacier Park Inc., a subsidiary of Viad Corp. of Arizona.

Bill Lundgren, whose family has owned the West Glacier Mercantile Company since 1946, and Paul Dyststra, chairman, president and CEO of Viad, weren’t returning phone messages Monday or Tuesday, as rumors of a possible sale mounted.

But GPI president Cindy Ognjanov confirmed Wednesday morning in a news release that a deal had been struck to purchase almost 200 acres of land from the Lundgrens at the park’s west entrance. Included in the sale are the West Glacier Mercantile (which sells everything from food to fishing tackle), the West Glacier Gift Shop, the West Glacier Shirt Company, the West Glacier Motel and Cabins, the West Glacier Bar (known locally as Freda’s) and the West Glacier Restaurant.

Another 3.8 acres inside the park, at Apgar, are also part of the sale, and include the Apgar Village Lodge and Cedar Tree gift shop.

Read more . . .

North Fork Watershed Protection Act gets mired in election-year politics

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

It seems the North Fork Watershed Protection Act is bogged down in election-year digestive by-product. Tristan Scott over at the Flathead Beacon just posted an excellent discussion of the situation . . .

When the state’s congressional leaders introduced the North Fork Watershed Protection Act last year, the measure to ban new energy development on 430,000 acres of wild and scenic river corridor near Glacier National Park stood out for its singular brand of bipartisan support.

The Montana-made bill gained near universal esteem, even at the height of partisanship, and was hailed by conservationists, oil tycoons and politicians alike as a commonsense piece of legislation – 80 percent of energy leases in the area have been voluntarily released, and it dovetails with an effort by British Columbia’s parliament to place similar protections north of the border, on the headwaters of the Flathead River.

Representing the first public lands bill in recent memory to garner the full support of Montana’s entire congressional delegation, it also provided a convenient platform for the state’s electorate to display the kind of esprit de corps that Washington lacks, a welcome departure from the gridlock that has stalled Congress, and a rare display of bipartisan teamwork greeted by much local fanfare…

But just as the North Fork bill appeared poised to transcend the morass, it fell victim to the same political arrest that has come to typify Congress – a fanatical brand of doctrinarian politics from which the measure and its backers attempted to distance themselves…

Read more . . .