All posts by nfpa

Northwest Montana grizzlies could be delisted by late 2016

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is still projecting the delisting of grizzly bears in this corner of Montana within the next couple of years . . .

Wildlife managers could propose the delisting of the major grizzly bear population in Northwest Montana by late 2016.

A collective of federal, state and tribal officials gathered in Hungry Horse last week for the spring meeting of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem subcommittee. The group discussed updates on local grizzly conservation and management issues, including the ongoing problem of bear attractants like chicken coops.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing nearly 3,000 public comments on a post delisting management strategy for grizzly bears in the NCDE that was proposed a year ago. Chris Servheen, FWS grizzly bear recovery coordinator, said the plan would incorporate the comments and be completed in the coming months. After that, a threat analysis will be conducted to identify several characteristics of the NCDE, including the bear population’s status and the status of its habitat and regulatory mechanisms that would be in place to protect grizzlies if they were delisted. This analysis is expected to start in 2015, according to federal officials.

Read more . . .

Chickens ‘like crack’ to bears

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Here’s another article discussing the growing problem of bears being attracted to chickens and chicken feed . . .

For years now, bear managers have been preaching the same sermon — residents in bear country need to secure their garbage, take in their bird feeders each spring, clean up fruit trees in the fall and feed their pets indoors.

But now there’s a growing new problem — chickens.

“Chickens are the new garbage,” Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said last week during a meeting of bear managers from across the state.

More and more people are now raising chickens as the move to small agricultural operations in both rural areas and in towns continues to grow.

Read more . . .

Glacier Park plans prescribed burn on Big Prairie

Fire Information and Status, News, ,

Glacier Park wants to perform a 260-acre prescribed burn on Big Prairie sometime within the next month . . .

A prescribed fire project is planned in the North Fork area of Glacier National Park, approximately four miles northwest of Polebridge in the next month.

Approximately 260 acres are planned to be burned in the Big Prairie area, depending on weather and fuel conditions. This is in addition to the 141 acres of prairie that were successfully burned last spring.

The primary objective of the burn is to reduce the numbers of lodgepole pine seedlings and saplings, which are encroaching on the native prairie grassland. Managers hope to reduce the number of these young lodgepole pine with fire and improve the vigor of the native grasses and shrubs, while maintaining some lodgepole pine.

Read more . . .

Three walk out of Flathead Forest planning process

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Three local activists are not happy with the way the Flathead Forest Plan Revision is going . . .

Three environmental advocates are withdrawing from the Flathead National Forest’s forest plan revision process, claiming it is “ill-informed, poorly documented and is creating conflict and resentment” at considerable taxpayer expense.

The Flathead Forest’s lead planner, however, says the process is working well and most participants have been fully engaged.

Keith Hammer, chairman of the Swan View Coalition; Arlene Montgomery, program director for Friends of the Wild Swan; and Brian Peck, an independent wildlife consultant, signed a letter objecting to the process that was sent to Forest Service officials, including the agency’s chief.

Read more . . .

Also: Text of the letter sent to Forest Service officials

For bears, ‘chickens are the new garbage’

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Bears like chickens, which is causing headaches for bear management personnel . . .

Wildlife and land managers say they are seeing gradual acceptance and improvements in public education and outreach for grizzly bear conservation, but there also are setbacks in some areas, most notably the proliferation of bear-attracting chicken coops across Western Montana.

“The hobby chicken farmer is one of the greatest threats to the grizzly bear these days,” Chris Servheen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator, said Wednesday in Hungry Horse.

Servheen was one of the speakers during a meeting of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem subcommittee, a multi-agency panel that guides bear conservation and management.

As state grizzly bear management specialist Jamie Jonkel puts it, “chickens are the new garbage.”

Read more . . .

700 miles and seven weeks on Canada’s Churchill River

News, , ,

I attended this presentation last week. Good stories and fascinating photos . . .

Jonathan Klein spent more than 30 years working in wilderness and wilderness management during his career with the Forest Service.

In all those years, there were plenty of black bear encounters — every time he just gave a shout and the bear took off running.

That’s the conventional wisdom in Montana — black bears run if you yell and holler enough.

But on this day, Klein was standing on the edge of the Churchill River yelling his lungs out at a black bear that had all the intentions of not going anywhere until it had thoroughly and completely consumed Klein.

Read more . . .

B.C. Parliament settles with Cline Mining for lost Flathead coal rights

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Looks like Cline Mining has gone from major watershed threat to final bankruptcy . . .

The Parliament of British Columbia has agreed to a nearly $10 million settlement with a mining company that lost its right to develop coal deposits in the transboundary Flathead River near Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park.

The bankrupt Cline Mining Corp. announced Monday it had reached the out-of-court settlement after claiming it was losing a $500 million potential operation. The B.C. government had revoked mining rights as part of the Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act in 2010. That legislation solidified an agreement worked out with former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana to protect the Flathead River.

A similar U.S. measure, the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, has passed the House of Representatives but has been blocked in the Senate. It would place the Montana side of the river, known as the North Fork of the Flathead, off limits to energy development. The international agreement allows logging, gravel mining and other recreation activities.

Read more . . .

Mercury-tainted fish found in Glacier Park’s Lake McDonald

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Here’s a considerably more detailed article on the recent announcement of unacceptable mercury levels in some fish in certain areas of a number of western national parks . . .

A “first-of-its-kind” study released last week discovered mercury in fish in some of the most remote and pristine lakes and streams in national parks across the western United States and Alaska – but it wasn’t a surprise to Glacier National Park fisheries biologist Chris Downs.

Glacier is updating information for a brochure it already puts out regarding guidelines for fish consumption from waters inside the park because of contaminants such as mercury, which is harmful to both human and wildlife health.

“The national study continues to demonstrate that contaminants are reaching places we think of as isolated or protected,” Downs said. “Because of airborne transport, it’s a global issue.”

Read more . . .

Further reading: The actual report (PDF format, 6.7MB), Mercury in Fishes from 21 National Parks in the Western United States—Inter- and Intra-Park Variation in Concentrations and Ecological Risk.