All posts by nfpa

Wilderness debate heats up

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Here’s an interesting article in today’s Missoulian discussing the renewed debate over designation and expansion of wilderness areas . . .

For more than three decades, millions of Montana federal acres have been de facto wilderness.

Over the past few weeks, those slumbering lands have been shoved back into the spotlight. And last Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared the nation’s 40 million acres of “inventoried roadless lands” were properly protected by a 2001 Clinton administration prohibition on development.

But the 10th Circuit Court in Wyoming is deliberating on a mirror-reverse case, where a lower-court judge has declared the Clinton rule is wrong. That would leave standing a subsequent Bush administration rule allowing states to make their own rules governing federal roadless land.

And in between, Sen. Jon Tester’s proposed Forest Jobs and Recreation Act might open 1 million acres of Montana roadless land to logging, according to some of its critics.

Read the entire article . . . [link repaired]

Time for peace in the Flathead Valley

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Today’s Vancouver Sun has a first-rate article — with photos and video, no less — concerning the often contentious issues surrounding preservation of the Canadian Flathead Valley. Very nicely done. Recommended reading.

Here’s the lede . . .

GRIZZLY WIDE PASS — No one knows for sure when humans first discovered this impossible place.

Perhaps it happened on a warm summer evening like this one, an awe-struck group of backcountry travellers watching the mountain goats brave an amphitheatre of sheer rock atop southeastern B.C.’s Flathead Valley.

Read the entire article . . .

Text of UNESCO World Heritage Committee resolution available

Environmental Issues, Site Updates

Regular visitors to this web log will recall that, in late June, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, during their meeting in Seville, Spain, voted to send a mission to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. They were specifically concerned with proposed mining and energy development projects in the Canadian Flathead.

For those of you who like to read source documents rather than have someone tell you about them, we now have the original text of the committee’s resolution, courtesy of Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Crown of the Continent weed guide available

Environmental Issues, News

Today’s Missoulian has an article about a new publication regarding invasive plant species (i.e., weeds). Beware of one bad pun . . .

Go ahead. Pick the flowers.

And to be sure you’re picking the right ones, the botanists at Glacier National Park have published a brand-new field guide. Several field guides already cover the park’s wilds – guides to mammals and guides to birds, rock guides and track guides and star guides and even an outhouse guide.

But this latest – “Invasive Plants of the Crown of the Continent Field Guide” – is the first of its kind, a window into the wide world of weeds.

Read the entire article . . .

Tester’s forest bill faces challenges

Environmental Issues, News, ,

The Flathead Beacon has a good overview, minus the sound bites and PR-speak, of the challenges faced by Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. Here’s the lede . . .

Jon Tester’s recently introduced Forest Jobs and Recreation Act may be the most significant piece of legislation he has created in his, still relatively short, career in the U.S. Senate.

Read the entire article . . .

Opponents line up for wolf hunt lawsuit

Environmental Issues, News,

As expected, this year’s proposed wolf hunt may produce more lawsuits than dead wolves. Here’s the latest, as posted yesterday on the Flathead Beacon web site . . .

Supporters of proposed public hunts of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are intervening in a federal court case brought by environmentalists who want to stop the hunts.

The federal government in May removed more than 1,300 wolves in Montana and Idaho from the endangered species list, opening the door to the first hunts in decades. Environmentalists later sued to restore federal oversight.

Read the entire article . . .

Full text of proposed “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act” available

Documents, Environmental Issues, News, , ,

For those of you who prefer your information raw and unfiltered, this page has links to the full text of Sen Jon Tester’s proposed “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act” and to the associated “Proposed Land Designations” map: http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/forestresources.cfm.

A comfortable chair and beverage of choice recommended prior to reading.

Flathead National Forest to receive improvement funds

News, ,

According to an article in today’s Missoulian, national forests throughout Montana are scheduled to receive a big pot of stimulus fund money for general improvements to infrastructure.

Flathead National Forest is getting money to fix up a number of cabins — finally — and explicit funding for trails maintenance. Here are the applicable bullet points from the article:

– Trail maintenance and reconstruction in the Flathead, Kootenai and Lolo national forests in partnership with the Student Conservation Association and Montana Conservation Corps in Flathead, Lincoln and Sanders counties, $2.995 million.

– Undertake deferred maintenance projects, including replacing roofs, windows, shutters, appliances, propane heaters and floor coverings, in six cabins in the Flathead National Forest in Flathead County, $186,000.

Read the entire article . . .

At Seeley Lake meeting, Tester says he wants wilderness bill hearings by fall

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Sen. Jon Tester’s wilderness bill road show was in Seeley Lake today. The Missoulian posted a report that reveals a few additional tidbits . . .

Flanked by two wilderness areas, miles of mountain trails and millions of trees that could be cut, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester made his pitch Saturday for the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act he introduced in the Senate on Thursday.

It was a hot sell but not a hard one. The thermometer rose steadily toward 90 degrees in the parking lot of the Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Chamber of Commerce barn south of town. Some of the 125 in attendance fanned themselves with “Thank You Sen. Tester” signs.

Read the entire article . . .

[Updated to adjust link.]

Polebridge gets a yurt

News, ,

Housing in Polebridge is nothing if not eclectic — a motley collection of cabins, a few houses, a trailer or two, a couple of tipis and now, a yurt. The Flathead Beacon has the story . . .

Nomads first used yurts as portable homes in the harsh steppes of Central Asia. Now Will Hammerquist uses one as a rental in Polebridge.

Hammerquist, Glacier program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, owns a piece of property with a friend in Polebridge. Over the weekend, he invited a Troy-based company called Shelter Designs to his property to give a public demonstration on how to set up a yurt and answer any questions people had about the circular dwellings. Hammerquist plans to rent out the yurt.

Read the entire story . . .