All posts by nfpa

George Ostrom: A history of American wolves

Commentary, History, ,

George Ostrom of the Hungry Horse News just finished up a fascinating history of wolves in America. Recommended reading.

Here’s the lead-in for part 1 . . .

When wolves first made a comeback into Glacier National Park from a pack coming down from Canada, I did a lot of research on their past history in the U.S. Few people have much past knowledge on what has now become the “new” game animal, so let me share some surprising facts:

Before the white man came, there were wolves in every state of the union, and the first bounty on them was placed by the Plymouth Colony in 1630. Lewis and Clark’s journals of 1804 mentioned the “great numbers” of wolves, with especially large populations in what is now the Billings area.

Continue reading part 1 . . .

And for part 2 . . .

The cattlemen weren’t sitting idly by waiting for the legislature. Many of them started or stepped up their own efforts of poisoning carcasses, hiring professionals and, of course, every cowboy on the range had orders to kill any coyote, wolf or bear on sight.

In 1895, a new $3 bounty law was passed, and the Miles City newspaper reported 3,300 wolves killed by April, but this was later proven slightly high. A total of 5,866 hides were turned in for bounty in 1896, but the wolves were getting smarter and doing such things as not returning to a kill, avoiding traps and taking off at the sight of men on horses.

Continue reading part 2 . . .

A more personal view of the new B.C. law protecting the Flathead Basin

Commentary, News, , ,

Ralph Maughan’s The Wildlife News weblog presents a refreshingly personal view of the recent B.C. legislation to protect the Flathead Basin . . .

What a turnaround in the space of 3 years!

In 2008 I took a 2 week trip to the headwaters of the famed North Fork of the Flathead River in B.C. to say goodbye to one of North America’s premier fish and wildlife areas, not to mention its incredible beauty.

Huge open pit coal mines, long in the planning, now seemed unstoppable. In addition thousands of coal bed methane wells were planned that would surely ruin the river right from its headwaters and downstream all the way to Flathead Lake in Montana.  Wildlife in Glacier National Park would be greatly harmed too. There seemed to be no hope.

Then, suddenly, everything began to change for the better…

Continue reading . . .

British Columbia passes formal law protecting Flathead Basin

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

British Columbia has now passed formal legislation protecting the Canadian Flathead (and the folks downstream on the U.S. side of the border) from extractive resource development. This is big news. (Albeit slightly stale — your friendly webperson got a little buried by his day job.) The Missoulian has a good write-up . . .

Canadian legislation to protect the Flathead River Basin from mining and energy development has formally passed the British Columbia Parliament.

The Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act received royal assent on Monday evening. The bill cements the Canadian half of an agreement between British Columbia and Montana to maintain the wild and scenic character of the Flathead River, the north fork of which forms the western border of Glacier National Park.

“A healthy and free-flowing Flathead river is good for people and wildlife on both sides of the border,” said Dr. Richard Jeo, a biologist and director for The Nature Conservancy’s Canada Program. “This binational effort gives hope to communities whose economies rely on the river and to iconic wildlife that represent the spirit of the West.”

Continue reading . . .

Larry Wilson: On wolf hunts, personal postal service and bentonite

Commentary, , , ,

This week, Larry talks about the ongoing wolf hunt, Becky Hardy, the former — and much appreciated — North Fork mail lady and the last bit of road maintenance before the weather closed in.

Still no snow to aid hunters, but near neighbors have managed to harvest another white-tailed buck and two bull elk. Another neighbor managed to get one of the five cow elk tags available by drawing. He is still looking.

The quota for North Fork wolves is two, and I have not heard of any being taken…

Continue reading . . .

Glacier Park’s climate a paradox – both wetter and drier

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Here’s an interesting article from the Hungry Horse News on the shifting climate in Glacier National Park . . .

Precipitation in Glacier National Park over the past few decades is up about 14 percent, but the Park is actually drier in many respects, with streams hitting low flows earlier than usual and wildfires occurring more frequently.

How can that be? Trees, U.S. Geological Survey scientist Dan Fagre explained at a recent talk in Apgar. While the Park may be wetter, it’s also warmer. And with warmth, there’s been less snow on average than in the past, he said.

With less snow, the treeline in Glacier Park has slowly but surely moved higher in elevation. And with more trees growing in the Park, there is more evapotranspiration, Fagre said. The trees draw water out of the ground and release it into the atmosphere, creating drier conditions, particularly in late July and August.

Continue reading . . .

Polebridge Mercantile closes for the season November 27th; reopens May 1st next year

News,

According to a note just received from Flannery Coats, the Polebridge Mercantile will close for the season on November 27th.

Until then, they’ve still “got hot coffee, baked goods, holiday gifts and good cheer.” They are open seven days a week, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The “Merc” reopens next year on May 1st.

Flannery Coats & Stuart Reiswig are the “caretakers” of the Merc. For those of you not familiar with the whole North Fork thing, here’s their capsule description: “The Merc has been serving the North Fork community for 100 years. It serves as a general store, bakery, base camp and vacation getaway.” The Merc has pride of place right in the center of Polebridge at 265 Polebridge Loop Road. The phone number is 406-888-5105.

Wildlife Conservation Society publishes roadless lands assessment for Montana’s Crown of the Continent region

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Dave Hadden of Headwaters Montana reports that Dr. John Weaver, senior scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, released a significant report covering the wildlands in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem in Montana. Here’s the meat of the Headwaters Montana announcement . . .

Dr. John Weaver recently published his newest Wildlife Conservation Society monograph titled, Conservation Value of Roadless Areas for Vulnerable Fish and Wildlife Species in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, Montana (PDF, 24.8MB).  This work goes a significant distance towards actually measuring the benefits of protecting roadless lands for the long-term survival of fish and wildlife.

The report attempts to answer the question: “What is the conservation value of these roadless areas for vulnerable fish and wildlife that are important to Montanans and others?”

The report undertakes a mapped (or spatial) analysis of two fish (bull and westslope cutthroat trout) and four mammals (grizzly, wolverine, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep) species for the entire Crown of the Continent ecosystem.

Dr. Weaver lists the key threats to these vulnerable species as “habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, and climate warming.”

The science of conservation has evolved greatly over the years.  Species conservation now emphasizes large landscapes rather than site-specific assessment.  Species need to be able to move and adjust to changes; they need “resiliency”.

Dr. Weaver uses his mapping process to score roadless lands as “Moderately Important”, “Important”, or “Very Important” to conservation of the selected species.  He then recommends specific designations for the further protection of roadless land habitat as “Wilderness”, “Backcountry”, or “Wildland Restoration”.

The entire working paper is available for download in PDF format. Those of you who don’t want to wade through the whole thing can find the section on the North Fork Flathead River Basin and Ten Lakes Area on pages 116-129.

For the official announcement of the report’s release and some additional background see “Where Will Grizzly Bears Roam?” on the Wildlife Conservation Society’s website.

Appeals court to hear request for emergency injunction against Idaho & Montana wolf hunts

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

With more than 150 wolves shot in the Northern Rockies so far this fall, a panel of federal judges on Tuesday is scheduled to consider an emergency halt to public hunts for the animals.

Congress cleared the way for the hunts last spring, when lawmakers took the unprecedented step of stripping Endangered Species Act protections from more than 1,300 wolves in Montana and Idaho.

Wildlife advocates sued to reverse the move and want the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend the hunt while the case is pending. They claim Congress violated the Constitution’s separation of powers mandate by reversing prior court rulings that kept protections in place.

Continue reading . . .

Commentary: Wilderness bill a good start

Commentary, Environmental Issues,

A fairly decent overview by the Daily Inter Lake of the features and challenges of Sen. Baucus’ proposed Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act . . .

Sen. Max Baucus took a big step with his recent announcement to proceed with wilderness legislation for the Rocky Mountain Front, but the question is how many more steps will he be able to make in advancing it.

We’ve been to this show before – with wilderness proposals stretching back to late 1980s that were stalled for one reason or another. The devil is always in the details, and as specifics of the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage plan develop (it hasn’t been introduced yet) critics will begin to emerge and some may have worthy positions.

As envisioned now, the act would add 67,000 acres of new wilderness along the front, converting buffer lands outside the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex that are managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

Continue reading . . .

Longer Montana wolf hunt proposed to reach quota

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From an AP article posted to today’s Missoulian . . .

State wildlife officials want to extend Montana’s wolf hunting season to give hunters enough time to fill a 220-wolf quota that is intended to sharply reduce the predator’s population.

Ken McDonald with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Wednesday the season would be extended by a month, to Jan. 31, 2012.

Continue reading . . .