All posts by nfpa

Flathead National Forest to get 13.3 million in stimulus funds

News,

Looks like we are finally getting some hard numbers on stimulus fund spending for the Flathead National Forest — not to mention an actual project list.

From today’s Flathead Beacon . . .

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday that more than $228 million in stimulus funds will be used to improve U.S. Forest Service land. Of that, $13.3 million is heading to the Flathead National Forest, according to Forest Supervisor Cathy Barbouletos.

“We are pleased to be able to complete some deferred maintenance and improvements across the forest and facilitate this funding in Flathead County and Northwest Montana,” Barbouletos said in a prepared statement Wednesday.

Read the entire article . . .

New wolf delisting rule brings new lawsuit

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From today’s online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the recent delisting of gray wolves in Montana and Idaho, raising some of the same legal issues that blocked delisting last year.

But there is a new twist in the litigation — the plaintiffs will challenge the federal government decision to exclude Wyoming from its delisting rule because of that state’s inadequate wolf management plan.

Read the entire article . . .

Flathead Coalition review pans BP’s environmental study

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

The Flathead Coalition is less than amused at BP-Canada’s approach to environmental science. They don’t think much of British Columbia’s fox-guarding-the-henhouse rules for conducting environmental studies, either.

A press release pubished today by Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane summarizes the issue . . .

The Flathead Coalition announced today that its internal evaluation of BP-Canada Energy Company’s environmental science demonstrates bias toward understating the likely environmental impact of its proposed Mist Mountain CBM project.

The Mist Mountain CBM project is being planned by BP-Canada for the Crowsnest Coalfield area that spans the Elk River and Flathead River hydrologic divide. The B.C. government granted tenure last December for the Elk Valley portions of the coalfield. BP says it plans to start exploratory drilling in early 2010, though it may commence sooner.

Read the entire article . . .

Rivers up but flooding unlikely

News,

It looks like the snowpack is melting off in an orderly fashion this year.

From yesterday’s online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

Despite slower-than-usual runoff, officials say Flathead Lake is on pace to reach full pool by mid-June. The one thing that can push that back – and did, just last year – is the threat of flooding.

The National Weather Service, however, say flood risks look low this year. Snowpack levels are lower, and the warm-and-cool trends of the past few weeks have delivered a more relaxed release this spring compared to last year’s dramatic runoff.

Read the entire article . . .

UN to hear petition that Waterton-Glacier Park in danger

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Last Tuesday’s Globe and Mail carried an article on the move to place Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park on the UN list of endangered World Heritage Sites due to the proposed Cline Coal Mine in the Canadian Flathead and other possible resource extraction activities in that area. (Thanks to Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association for catching this one.)

A stunningly beautiful park that spans the Canada-U.S. border in southwestern Alberta may soon be added to an infamous United Nations list of the world’s most threatened special areas.

In a session in Seville, Spain, next month, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will consider a petition by 11 conservation groups asking that Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park be designated a World Heritage Site in Danger.

“If that happens, it would be a really big black eye for both Canada and the United States,” Ryland Nelson, a spokesman for one of the petitioning groups, Wildsight, said yesterday.

Read the entire article . . .

National forest roadless rule revived — sort of

Environmental Issues, News,

I’ve you’ve lost track of the administrative and legal status of the infamous national forest “roadless rule,” you’re not alone. The Obama administration has effectively reinstated it — sort of — for a year while they figure things out. Here’s the lede from the Associated Press article as published in yesterday’s online Flathead Beacon . . .

The Obama administration is ordering a one-year moratorium on most road-building and other development on about 50 million acres of remote national forests.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a directive Thursday reinstating for one year most of a Clinton-era ban against new road construction and development in national forests. The 2001 rule banned road-building and logging in more than 58 million acres of remote national forests, mostly in the West.

Conflicting court decisions issued since then have left the so-called roadless rule’s legal status in doubt.

Read the entire article . . .

North Fork plight in U.N. spotlight

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

From this week’s online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

Sen. Max Baucus last week said he would push to have the North Fork of the Flathead designated as a World Heritage Site in Danger, a dubious distinction as Glacier National Park turns 100 next year.

The North Fork will see the international limelight in June, when Will Hammerquist, the Glacier representative of the National Park Conservation Association and Ryland Nelson, of the Canadian environmental organization Wildsight, will testify in front of a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage panel.

Read the entire article . . .

New griz study to focus on rub trees

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Another sure sign of spring: A new bear study.

From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .

A new and expansive effort to monitor the Northern Continental Divide’s grizzly bear population will capitalize on a creature comfort for bears: the irresistible urge to scratch their backs on trees.

The research project mainly will be aimed at determining whether collecting hair samples from rub trees over three successive years can provide a reliable measure of whether the region’s grizzly population is stable, growing or shrinking.

It will be led by Kate Kendall, the U.S. Geological Survey scientist who spearheaded two previous grizzly bear population studies based on genetic analysis of bear hair.

Read the entire article . . .