All posts by nfpa

The road in the 50’s

Commentary,

Seems the humble North Fork Road has gotten way more than its share of attention for an inordinate length of time. From an editorial entry in the October 23, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News titled “Looking back to ’54, ’55” . . .

Future of the North Fork Road, millions of feet of lumber shipped, Anaconda Aluminum Co. plant construction and Columbia Falls post office increases highlighted front page stories in the Hungry Horse News in November and December, 1954.

Continual maintenance and improvement of the North Fork road plus a new bridge at Polebridge were issues discussed. It was pointed out virtually all North Fork road construction had been through the Forest Service with some maintenance shared with Flathead County.

Read the entire article . . .

Grizzly bear death near Polebridge under investigation

News, ,

According to an AP article posted yesterday in the online edition of the Great Falls Tribune, wildlife officials are seeking information on the death of a male grizzly bear south of Polebridge. It was discovered in early October in the Coal Creek drainage.

Anyone with information can call:

  • Warden Capt. Lee Anderson of Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks at 406-751-4561,
  • the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Missoula at 406-329-3000, or
  • the FWP poaching hot line at 1-800-TIP-MONT.

Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward.

Keep heli-skiing out of North Fork

Commentary, Environmental Issues, ,

John Frederick’s letter to Nicole Stickney of the Montana DNRC regarding the proposal to conduct heli-skiing on state lands in the Whitefish Range appeared in today’s Hungry Horse News in the Letters section . . .

I can sympathize with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in trying to find money through the school trust lands for Montana schools. It is not easy to balance environmental and social concerns while trying to get big bucks for the schools.

The two proposed locations for heli-skiing in Coal Creek State Forest are rather close to Polebridge. Winona Ridge, one of the proposed landing/skiing sites, is a little less than three and a half miles from Polebridge and roughly parallels the North Fork Road at a distance of 3/8 of a mile to almost a mile away. It is also not a high mountain which means more noise from helicopters. The other proposed, nearby skiing location is Coal Ridge which at the closest point is only four miles southwest of Polebridge.

I hope you can now understand why people become upset about heli-skiing or any frequent use of helicopters any time of the year when it is not an emergency. Most people, both residents and visitors, come to the North Fork for solitude and quiet.

Others have e-mailed you about the strong probability of people and wildlife being harassed by helicopters bringing skiers to places such as Winona Ridge in Coal Creek State Forest. Many other questions remain unanswered about the possibility of local heli-skiing.

What are the models, sizes and occupancies of the helicopters to be used? What are the decibels created by such machines? How far will the sound travel and be heard?

How many flights a day will be allowed? How many skiers? Triple X, one of the applicant helicopter companies, said they flew 260 helicopter flights over Whitefish during the fourth of July weekend. Hardly anyone wants that kind of activity in our state forests.

Would DNRC give permits to other companies who requested a similar permit?

What are the flight patterns? Do the helicopters go directly to the skiing location or do they swing over to Glacier Park for a scenic tour?

Has anyone at DNRC researched the location of bear dens in the vicinity of the flight paths?

How do the skiers return? By snowmobile or helicopter? And what is their route?

How much would you charge the operators of the helicopter skiing for a permit?

Has DNRC researched other locations in Alaska or British Columbia where heli-skiing has already taken place? Are there problems?

Heli-skiing has never been done in the Flathead Valley. Therefore, it might be a good idea to leave the comment period open for a while longer. There is a definite lack of information on the subject at this time.

Look at the Hungry Horse News article last week by Chris Peterson as it reflects the opinions of many North Forkers. There is a link to the article on the North Fork Preservation Association Web site (with new format) at www.gravel.org.

John Frederick of Polebridge is the North Fork Preservation Association president.

Flathead open space bond on ballot

News, , ,

If it passes, the open space bond on this November’s ballot is likely to have some impact on the North Fork in the future. Michael Jamison has a good write-up on the issue in the October 13, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

Flathead County, home to the three fastest-growing cities in Montana, is losing agricultural and forest open space at a tremendous rate, as developers build subdivisions across rural lands.

“It’s been a steady loss,” said Marilyn Wood. “We can’t afford to allow that to continue.”

Whether locals can afford to stop it is another matter entirely.

On Nov. 4, when voters go to the polls here, they’ll be asked to back a $10 million open space bond, money that will buy rural land – or at least conservation easements on land. The idea is to secure recreational access, especially at waterfront sites, to protect wildlife, to preserve sweeping views, to ensure water quality and to allow the Flathead’s rural way of life to persist into coming decades.

“Ten million sounds like a lot,” admitted Wood, who runs the Flathead Land Trust, “but it’s really a very reasonable amount for a program that’s going to have such a big impact.”

And residents appear to agree. A survey of Flathead Valley residents showed two-thirds of those polled supported the 20-year bond, which will cost the owner of a $200,000 home about $19 a year.

Read the entire article . . .

Banner photos needed

Site Updates,

Our refurbished “News & Announcements” page has this nice banner up there at the top. But it would be even nicer if it changed every once in awhile. So, if you folks have any good photos from around the North Fork, send them along. If I use them in the banner, you get featured in the “Banner Photo Credit” area on the sidebar and a nice mention in the web log.

Things to keep in mind:

  • It should be photo from the general North Fork area. I’d guess color will work best, but I’m not averse to considering historic black & white images.
  • It doesn’t have to be a classic “scenic” but it does need to be something that will still look good after it is cropped to the proportions of the banner. (Hmmm… Something showing the Fall colors would be nice right now.)
  • Tell me how you want the photo credited. If you tell me something about the photo, I’ll include that, too.

If you don’t know my direct email, send a note to the “webmaster” address and I’ll tell you how to get stuff to me.

I’ll be waiting with bated breath…

Road paving & land development report released

Documents, Environmental Issues, , , ,

One of the factors in the ongoing road maintenance debate is the impact of paving on increased land development and settlement. Headwaters Economics along with Chris Servheen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the University of Montana just released a report titled “Land Use Effects of Paving Rural Roads in Western Montana” that is relevant to this issue. In Chris’s words…

Headwaters Economics and I have partnered to complete a preliminary analysis of the relationship between the paving of rural roads and the development of adjacent private lands.  The report on this work is attached.  We believe this is a useful preliminary analysis and that it sets the stage for a more in-depth and through analysis of this most important issue.  The paving of rural roads in the West and the resulting impacts on adjacent private land development are one of the greatest challenges faced by wildlife managers and county decision-makers.  We hope this report is of value to you.

The report is essentially a series of case studies followed by some carefully qualified observations and conclusions. It’s a bit dry and dusty (sorry, couldn’t resist) in spots, but a worthwhile read.

DOW not happy with heli-skiing proposal

Commentary, Documents, Environmental Issues, ,

The deadline for public comments on the proposal to allow helicopter skiing on state lands in the Whitefish Range expired today. Overall attitudes appear to range from cautious skepticism to outright hostility. One of the lengthier responses was an 18-page missive submitted by the Rocky Mountain Region Office of Defenders of Wildlife, covering everything from the applicable regulations and agreements to wildlife impact and the potential disturbance to nearby federal and private holdings. The real meat is in the last paragraph:

This letter has described the complex and varied potential effects of the proposed helicopter skiing operations. In order to completely and carefully examine these effects, we believe the preparation of an environmental impact statement is justified and required. We are also concerned that many interested members of the public may not be aware of these proposals. If it were not for an article in the Kalispell newspaper, we would not know about it ourselves. We found no mention of it on the NDRC website, for example. For these reasons, we look forward to participating in the public review component of an EIS process.

They seem annoyed.

Bad ideas for the North Fork

Commentary, , ,

Chris Peterson, photographer for the Hungry Horse News, doesn’t think much of the recent proposal to allow heli-skiing in the North Fork.

From the Thursday, October 9, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

It seems like once a week someone comes up with a bad idea for the North Fork of the Flathead.

Our friends in Canada propose coal mines in the headwaters (the latest scuttle is that a company is now doing test drilling for gold in Howell Creek, a main tributary of the river).

Down in our neck of the woods the annual (no, weekly) debate is on whether to pave the road and how rough the road is and blah, blah, blah.

Lemme just say this: Folks down here haven’t even seen a rough road until they’ve driven the roads in the Canadian Flathead. They are rough with a capital “R.” Rough enough to jar the fillings right out of Larry Wilson and Bob Grimaldi’s teeth.

But the latest and truly bad idea for the North Fork comes from the fine folks at Triple-X helicopter, who propose heli-skiing up on Coal and Winona ridges just outside of Glacier National Park.

Read the entire article . . .

New look! More changes coming

Site Updates,

Welcome to the new, improved, visually stimulating NFPA web site!

Well, OK, only the web log part has changed so far, but we’ll be doing more renovating over the next few weeks.

Those of you monitoring the RSS feed will need to make adjustments. It’s probably easiest to just unsubscribe from the old feed and then resubscribe to the new one.

Comments, observations and fulsome praise can be directed to the “webmaster” address listed in the “Administrivia” section of the sidebar. (I’m not ready to enable on-site comments yet.)