All posts by nfpa

Larry Wilson: Talking North Fork roads, fires

Commentary, ,

This week Larry discusses the condition of the North Fork Road — always a hot topic this time of year — and summarizes the conditions for fire mitigation grants . . .

Every year in March and April, I am asked repeatedly, “How is the North Fork Road?” Questions come from Flathead Valley residents wanting to drive as far north as Big Creek to look for bull elk in Glacier National Park, or maybe wanting to drive to Polebridge to view elk on Home Ranch Bottoms, or maybe to the Merc to buy a turnover or some other sweet thing. (The Polebridge Mercantile will reopen this year on May 1.)

Also, there are many e-mails and a few phone calls from summer presidents in Florida, California and other undesirable places who are anxious to get back to the North Fork.

My answer always starts out the same way…

Continue reading . . .

Most difficult Sun Road work just about finished

News, ,

Looks like the worst of the remaining Going-to-the-Sun Road maintenance in Glacier National Park should be wrapped up by next spring . . .

Glacier National Park visitors again can expect traffic delays on Going-to-the-Sun Road this summer due to a long-term road reconstruction project.

But the $137 million Sun Road rehabilitation project’s most difficult phase on the road’s alpine section is expected to be almost entirely finished by this fall.

“The most expensive, most difficult construction areas, the ones with the adverse weather and short seasons, our plan is to have that done at the latest by spring of 2013,” said Jack Gordon, the park’s landscape architect.

Continue reading . . .

Web site offers good guide to climbing and hiking in the Whitefish Range

News, Travel Articles,

Rachel Potter passed along a link to a rather thorough write-up on the Whitefish Range or, rather, the entire mountain corridor, starting in Montana and running up into Canada. Lightly edited, here are her notes/comments: ‘This is a very interesting site.  Lots of hike descriptions in the Whitefish Range.  It’s a “peak bagger” site, but lots of walk-ups listed.  The intro to the range is okay, but not 100%accurate.’

Link: Whitefish Range(MT/BC) page at summitpost.org.

Lake Mountain trail offers good wildflower viewing later this year

News, , ,

An earlier post included a link to the Forest Service’s “Celebrating Wildflowers” website. Rachel Potter points out that the site’s “Northern Region Viewing Area” page includes a nice description of wildflowers on the Lake Mountain trail in the Flathead National Forest.  She goes on to mention that the route to Lake Mountain can also be accessed from Red Meadow — the same trailhead as Link Lake.

Westslope cutthroat trout restoration project showing good results so far

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A so-far successful westslope cutthroat trout restoration effort in the South Fork has implications for future projects in other areas . . .

A decade-long program to restore Montana’s state fish to a chain of 21 alpine lakes above the South Fork Flathead River drainage is showing good results, a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks official said.

Some of the lakes in the Westslope Cutthroat Trout Conservation project have been poisoned to kill non-native fish and then stocked with cutthroats. Others have been densely stocked each year with genetically pure trout to try to get rid of hybrid populations. Five remote lakes have received no treatment so far.

Continue reading . . .

Glacier Institute to hold annual Volunteer Work Day on Saturday, May 5th

News,

Rachel Potter passed along the news that the Glacier Institute, a private nonprofit that “provides hands-on, field-based educational adventures to people from all over the world in… Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest,” is holding their annual Volunteer Work Day on Saturday, May 5th. For those of you interested in participating (as well you should be), here’s the press release:

April 13, 2012

CONTACT: The Glacier Institute (406) 755-1211

VOLUNTEER WORK DAY ANNOUNCED

The Glacier Institute is holding its annual Volunteer Work Day on Saturday, May 5th this year. Volunteers are needed for cleaning, painting, light carpentry, and outdoor work such as raking, sweeping, and many other tasks.

Volunteers are needed at both the Glacier Park Field Camp, located in Glacier National Park one mile north of West Glacier and our Big Creek Outdoor Education Center located on the North Fork Road, approximately 21 miles north of Columbia Falls.

The Glacier Institute, an educational non-profit organization in its 29th year, is a long-time partner with Glacier National Park, Flathead National Forest, Flathead Valley Community College and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The Institute offers family programs, youth science adventure camps, Discovery School at Big Creek Outdoor Education Center and adult educational programs.

The Institute will provide lunch and dinner for participants. Volunteers may stay over at the camps but need to call to reserve a spot. Tools are not required, but are helpful; please bring carpentry tools, rakes, shop vacuums, wheelbarrows and work gloves. Interested volunteers, please RSVP by contacting the Glacier Institute at
(406) 755-1211 or register@glacierinstitute.org.

 

Lilly L. Beebe, Office Administrator
The Glacier Institute
P.O.Box 1887
Kalispell, MT 59903
Phone: 406-755-1211
Fax: 406-755-7154
Email: register@glacierinstitute.org
Website: www.glacierinstitute.org
Blog: theglacierinstitute.blogspot.com

Website upgraded as Montana wildflower season approaches

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From a recent post to the Missoulian . . .

The white on the ground remains snow instead of trillium petals, but wildflower season approaches.

To plan for that, consider an expanded U.S. Forest Service website that features great bloom locations across the nation. Montana has a dozen options, including the Lolo, Bitterroot, Kootenai, Helena, Gallatin, Custer, Flathead, Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Lewis and Clark national forests.

Continue reading . . .

For more information, see the U.S. Forest Service’s “Celebrating Wildflowers” website.

New bear-resistant trash cans rolled out on Flathead Reservation

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Following extensive testing, they’re introducing some pretty clever, bear-resistant trash totes on the Flathead Reservation . . .

Bill Foust admits it took him a little while to figure out how – with his hands full, anyway – to open the lid on his trash cans.

Bears still haven’t mastered it.

And that’s a good thing, considering Foust and his wife Barb live along the front of the Mission Mountains, where bears and humans sometimes have their difficulties coexisting.

The Fousts, who haven’t been able to bear-proof trash cans on their own, have been testing two new specially made bear-resistant containers for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Continue reading . . .

Wildlife biologists plan grizzly catch-and-release studies in Northwest Montana

Environmental Issues, News, ,

In the spring, a wildlife biologist’s thoughts turn to bear studies . . .

As a way to monitor the ongoing trend of grizzly bear recovery, wildlife biologists are about to begin capturing grizzlies in western Montana this month for an ongoing population study in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

Biologists will begin monitoring the distribution and population of bears in their respective jurisdictions this month. In order to attract bears, biologists utilize natural food sources such as fresh road–killed deer and elk. Potential trapping sites are baited with these natural foods and if indications are that grizzly bears are in the area, snares or culvert traps will be used to capture the bears. Once captured, the bears are sedated, studied, and released in accordance with strict protocols.

Continue reading . . .