All posts by nfpa

Building a new management plan for the Flathead River Corridor

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

The Flathead Beacon just posted another of their “Focusing on…” articles, this time discussing the challenges to the Flathead River Corridor from increasing recreational pressure, which is forcing consideration of a new river corridor plan. Recommended reading . . .

The rhythm of the North Fork flows to a mellow tempo, even as the steady thrum of traffic and the ever-present flotilla of rafts and kayaks sketch a clear portrait of the wild and scenic river corridor’s growth and popularity.

Dust clouds roll off this unpaved portion of Highway 486, also known as the North Fork Flathead Road, and the meter of traffic ticking along the western border of Glacier National Park has given rise to the need for a new river management plan.

Designated a National Wild and Scenic River in 1976, the three forks of the Flathead River amount to 219 miles of what everyone agrees is “a very special place,” says Rob Davies, the Flathead National Forest’s district ranger for the Hungry Horse/Glacier View district. The North Fork Flathead River is protected by that designation, while its eastern tributaries and uplands are tucked away in Glacier Park. Its Canadian headwaters are protected by a provincial ban on mining and drilling, and U.S. Sen. Max Baucus has introduced legislation that would prohibit new energy and mineral development on the nearly 400,000 acres of the North Fork watershed within the Flathead National Forest.

Still, public land managers say the river corridor is being impacted by increased use, and have been collecting data to inform the future of the river corridor, while calling on the public to help adopt a new management strategy for recreational use.

Continue reading . . .

New oil exploration leases near Glacier Park trigger concern

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Renewed concerns about oil exploration along the Rocky Mountain Front . . .

A series of new oil exploration leases on the border of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and Glacier National Park has renewed the anger and motivation of those opposed to energy development along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The leases were found last week among records held by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. They include nine lease blocks, two of which include a portion of Chief Mountain — the square-shaped landmark mountain along the eastern border of the national park.

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Bob Brown: Collaborative forest agreements are the future

Commentary

Bob Brown has a pretty good opinion piece in this week’s Hungry Horse News discussing the increasing importance of citizen-based collaborative forest agreements. It’s good background on an increasingly important way of getting diverse interests to work together . . .

Last month, Chuck Roady, vice president and general manager of F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co., a family-owned sawmill that has been operating in Northwest Montana for more than 100 years, traveled to Washington, D.C., to share with the powers that be what it’s like to run a mill in Montana.

At the invitation of Rep. Steve Daines, Roady spoke to the House Natural Resources Committee about the web of lawsuits that too often ensnare federal timber sales. He called it, with good reason, “endless litigation.”

Roady reminded the lawmakers that lawsuits have forced the Forest Service to spend as much as $350 million a year on “timber sale analysis.” That’s tax money that could be productively spent on the ground, on projects that create lunch-bucket jobs, improve forest health and reduce the threat of increasingly deadly and destructive fires.

Before we Montanans hold our collective breath waiting for Congress to cut the web and ax the analysis, we might take heart by looking closer to home. Here in Montana, some forward-thinking people have simply gone ahead and taken the responsibility of finding homegrown solutions to resource issues . . .

Continue reading . . .

Still Kintla Lake ranger at age 93

News, ,

I’ve met Lyle Ruterbories — nice guy. And still driving that Volkswagen Beetle of his up to Kintla Lake each year to serve as the ranger . . .

There’s a 40-foot spruce tree tucked in the back of the Kintla Lake Ranger Station, swaying in the wind. When Lyle Ruterbories started as the ranger there, the tree was only waist high.

Ruterbories is 93. He’s been watching over Kintla Lake and its campground every summer for 22 years now. This may be his last summer, he hasn’t decided yet. He has a cranky knee now that hurts with every step. But whatever happens, it’s been a glorious career in a glorious place.

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‘Work day’ event part of Baucus’ efforts to support North Fork

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

The Flathead Beacon has a good write-up, with photos, of Sen. Max Baucus “work day” last Tuesday near Big Creek . . .

Chipping away at the sun baked dirt with a Pulaski axe, a hard-hat clad Max Baucus graded out the slope of a hiking trail high above the North Fork Flathead River near the Big Creek tributary, buffing out a ribbon of single track that tops out on Glacier View Mountain but hasn’t been maintained since fire scoured the hillside in 2001.

In many ways, it was another day at the office for Montana’s senior senator, but instead of walking the halls of Congress he climbed steep switchbacks, chatting with and sweating alongside young members of a Montana Conservation Corps trail crew instead of running the Senate Finance Committee.

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Larry Wilson: Thompson-Seton Peak by mule and foot

Commentary, Environmental Issues, News, , ,

For those of you who haven’t encountered Larry Wilson’s enthusiastic Thompson-Seton trip report, here it is. Kudos to Frank Vitale for coming up with the idea in the first place and making it happen . . .

What a great trip. Regular readers of this column will no doubt remember Frank Vitale and I debating the wilderness issue in this newspaper late last summer. That debate ended with Frank challenging me to go with him on his mules to Thompson-Seton Peak, where we would sit down and debate the issue on the mountain top. After getting Frank to agree to not only take me into the mountains but also bring me out, I accepted the challenge.

Unfortunately, the weather turned wet and cold, and we had to postpone the trip until the summer. During the winter, we were both involved in the Whitefish Range Partnership, and over the course of the meetings, we both became fully aware of the other’s feelings and concerns about wilderness. Thus, there was no big need for a mountain-top debate, but I was still anxious to take the trip and was more than happy that Frank, too, was still willing to take me.

July 28 was set as a mutually acceptable date, and I was so excited I started putting my gear together a week ahead of time…

Continue reading at the Hungry Horse News . . .

Grizzly bear population and recovery

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Well, now, the NFPA got some ink. The Flathead Beacon’s Tristan Scott did a good write-up on Rick Mace’s presentation at the July 27 NFPA annual meeting concerning grizzly bear research and management over the past several decades. John Frederick even gets a quote . . .

Biologists who have spent years counting grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem say the species is on the road to recovery. With the public comment period on a post-delisting bear management strategy having drawn to a close Aug. 1, Endangered Species Act protections could be removed as early as next year.

At the North Fork Preservation Association’s annual meeting last month, attendees heard a presentation from Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Rick Mace. The presentation gave a 30-year history of grizzly bear conservation in western Montana.

Mace traced the history of research and management from the 1970s to the present, and talked about the science of counting bears and population trends of bears in the NCDE.

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Late breaking news: Sen. Baucus holding ‘work day’ in North Fork tomorrow

News, , , , ,

According to Valerie Cox, U.S. Sen. Max Baucus is holding one of his “work days” tomorrow morning (Thursday, August 8). It is a trail building work session, beginning at 8:00 a.m. near the Camas Road intersection. Attendees include Sen. Baucus, Hungry Horse/Glacier View District Ranger Rob Davies, a Montana Conservation Core trail crew and any North Fork folks who are interested in attending.

The Daily Inter Lake also posted an article about the event, although it lacked the late-breaking scheduling details. Here’s the lead-in . . .

Montana Sen. Max Baucus will return to the Flathead Valley this week to carry out one of his signature “work days,” this time doing trail work in the North Fork Flathead drainage.

Baucus said he will be working alongside Montana Conservation Corps crews as a tie to his efforts over 40 years to protect the North Fork drainage.

Continue reading the article . . .

Confrontation between bears at the Freund cabin

News, Photos & Images, ,

Peter Freund sent a report, with photos, to the Hungry Horse News of a set-to between a black bear with cubs and a brown bear near his cabin recently . . .

As you know, the end of July is the height of buffalo berry season along the North Fork River. At our cabin in the North Fork, this seasonal event provides for an annual feeding frenzy by the local bear population.

This year was unique with the presence of a black bear with cubs. The harvesting occurred right outside the door of our cabin.

The show started with the brown bear. All was tranquil until the brown bear encroached on the black bear’s zone, and she became loud and chased the brown bear away.

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Timber sale proposed along North Fork Road

News,

The state proposes to harvest some 2,600 acres of tress from the Stillwater State Forest . . .

A proposed state timber sale on the Stillwater State Forest about 25 miles north of Columbia Falls calls for harvesting up to 6 million board feet of lumber from 2,600 acres of state trust land.

The Moran Cyclone Timber Sale Project runs along the North Fork Road. The project area was historically comprised of Douglas fir and western larch but has become mixed conifer. Some stands in the area are 150 years old and are potentially old-growth.

Continue reading . . .