The Hungry Horse News reports on the many events scheduled across this corner of the state celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
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North Fork Trails Association online
Our friends at the North Fork Trails Association (aka the “Trail 4 Organization”) now have a basic web presence at http://www.nftrails.org/.
Also, you can find them on Facebook at facebook.com/nftrails. I’m told you are supposed to “like” their page. Every time you do this, an angel gets its wings — or something like that.
Their mission is to “promote the maintenance and preservation of the historic trail structure in the North Fork Flathead area with the aim of supporting recreation, forest management and research.” In other words, work on getting the old North Fork trail system fixed back up. Keep an eye on them. They have big plans this year.
Oliver’s annual summer solstice celebration this saturday!
REMINDER: Oliver Meister, the owner of the North Fork Hostel, is throwing his annual summer solstice celebration again this year. The event is on Saturday, June 21 (that’s today!), starting about mid-afternoon (or when the lamb is done). If the hostel grounds are too wet from all the recent rain and flooding, the event will be held at Square Peg Ranch. Oliver is supplying lamb, everyone else should bring a pot luck contribution.
Glacier Institute hosts Invasive Species Symposium expo day at Big Creek
There’s a big public event at Big Creek on Friday, June 27 — see below for details. It sounds pretty interesting and there is free food, so what’s not to like? If you do plan to attend, they need an RSVP: Call (406) 755-1211 or email register@glacierinstitute.com.
National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act aims to improve Forest Service trail maintenance
This is interesting, especially in view of the uptick in volunteer trail maintenance activity on the North Fork over the past year . . .
A bill encouraging the U.S. Forest Service to improve its trail maintenance received widespread support from Montana outdoors groups this week.
The Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, The Wilderness Society and others heralded the introduction of the National Forest System Trails Stewardship Act by Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, and Tim Walz, D-Minnesota. The bill would expand the use of volunteer help on trail maintenance and codify how the Forest Service prioritizes its maintenance backlog.
Three grizzlies found dead, two black bears put down
A lot of bear deaths recently, including two black bears that had become conditioned to getting food from humans . . .
Wildlife officials said Thursday they were investigating the deaths of three grizzly bears east of Flathead Lake, and that two black bears had been put down for aggressively seeking human food.
Montana FWP considering new way to model wolf population
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is considering a new statistical model for estimating the state’s wolf population . . .
Researchers from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the University of Montana estimate the state’s wolf population at more than 800 using a new statistical technique.
Researchers conducted a study of the new technique from 2007 to 2012. The new method, called patch occupancy modeling, uses deer and elk hunter observations coupled with information from radio-collared wolves. The statistical approach is a less expensive alternative to the old method of minimum wolf counts, which were performed by biologists and wildlife technicians. The results of the study estimate that for the five-year period, wolf populations were 25-35 percent higher than the minimum counts for each year.
“The study’s primary objective was to find a less-expensive approach to wolf monitoring that would yield statistically reliable estimates of the number of wolves and packs in Montana,” said Justin Gude, FWP’s chief of research for the wildlife division in Helena.
Petition seeks restoration of grizzly bears to more habitat
The Center for Biological Diversity wants grizzly bears restored to more of their historic range . . .
An environmental group called on federal wildlife managers Wednesday to update a decades-old recovery plan for grizzly bears to ensure the animal’s return to the Grand Canyon and other areas of the West.
The Center for Biological Diversity, in a petition filed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, accused the agency of using a fragmented approach as it tries to recover the threatened species. Efforts are currently focused on a fraction of the bear’s historic range, but the petition identifies more than 171 square miles around the West that could provide suitable habitat.
Those areas include a forested region straddling the Arizona-New Mexico border, the Grand Canyon, the Sierra Nevada in California and parts of Utah and Colorado.
U.S. Forest Service releases proposed new travel rule for snowmobiles
The proposed new Forest Service snowmobile regulations are pretty much the same as the current set . . .
Snowmobile access decisions on U.S. Forest Service land would remain at the local level, under a new travel rule the agency published on Wednesday.
That’s a relief for snowmobile clubs that worried their ability to use some areas might be moved to regional or national levels. But the conservation group whose lawsuit forced the Forest Service rewrite said the new rule didn’t fix any of the old problems.
Additional material: full text of the proposed snowmobile travel rule
Summer 2014 NFPA activities schedule posted
The “Activities” page is updated with various hikes, meetings and other activities that might of interest to the NFPA membership this summer.
Let us know if there are errors or if we’ve missed anything.