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Flathead Wild and Scenic River water quality meeting May 16th

Environmental Issues, News, , ,
North Fork of the Flathead River - ©Mark LaRowe
North Fork of the Flathead River – ©Mark LaRowe

The next in a series of meetings on developing a comprehensive river management plan for the three forks of the Flathead River is scheduled for May16. It will be held from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, at the at the Heaven’s Peak room in the Cedar Creek Lodge, Columbia Falls.

Here’s the full press release . . .

Flathead Wild and Scenic River: Comprehensive River Management Plan Meeting to Discuss Water Quality

Kalispell, MT. May 3, 2018- The Flathead National Forest, in coordination and partnership with Glacier National Park, is in the process of preparing a comprehensive river management plan (CRMP) for the 3-forks of the Flathead River.

A series of resource-focused public meetings will be held over the next six months, beginning on May 16th. This meeting will focus on water quality conditions, management, and concerns as part of the efforts to develop the CRMP. The meeting will be held at the Heaven’s Peak room in the Cedar Creek Lodge, Columbia Falls, Montana. The meeting will be from 6 pm to 8 pm and include presentations on current water quality information and facilitated discussion on how water quality should be addressed in the CRMP. For those new to the comprehensive river management plan process, an introductory presentation on the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will begin at 5:45 pm. Future meeting topics and a preliminary schedule will be posted on the Flathead National Forest website.

The CRMP will address the current status of the river and the surrounding resources, outline goals and desired conditions, determine user capacity and create a monitoring plan for the next 15 to 20 years. In order to reflect the diverse users of the river and surrounding lands, the public is encouraged to help craft the future management of this designated wild and scenic river to ensure the river and its outstanding resources are maintained and protected.

For more information, please call Flathead National Forest Recreation Program Manager, Chris Prew at 406-758-3538.
Updates on the CRMP can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/flathead/home/?cid=fseprd573051&width=full

Relations between DNRC and Flathead Basin Commission reach a new low

News

Flathead LakeLate last year we observed, “One has to wonder if there’s a connection between the administrative uproar over a pilot program to combat invasive mussels in Flathead Lake and the defunding for supposed budgetary reasons of the organization tasked to oversee the program.”

Since then, relations between the Flathead Basin Commission and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation have reached a new low with the firing — or attempted firing, anyways — of the commission’s executive director. What a mess.

The Missoulian has the story . . .

A simmering dispute between a state agency and a group connected to it, charged with monitoring Flathead Lake’s water quality, has intensified with the dismissal of its executive director for “dishonest, subversive and disruptive” activities — allegations Caryn Miske adamantly denies.

Instead, Miske says she was fired in February “for political reasons and for personality differences” with administrators within the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation as part of a “power struggle” between DNRC and the 23-member Flathead Basin Commission that she formerly headed.

Read more . . .

We’re back!

Site Updates

Fail - Road Striped Armadillo

Sorry about the website’s inaccessibility for the last week, folks.

We were caught up in a perfect storm of web hosting incompetence, forcing us to pack up and move elsewhere. There may still be a few minor hiccups here and there, but the site should be back on its game now.

The process has been beneficial, if painful. Our new home is more spacious, comfortable and up-to-date. With any luck, we won’t have to go through this again for a long time.

Last caribou herd in lower 48 ‘functionally extinct’

Environmental Issues, News,
Caribou in Jasper National Park, Canada -Photo by Annie K on Unsplash
Caribou in Jasper National Park, Canada -Photo by Annie K on Unsplash

From the New York Times comes another object lesson on the effects of unbalanced industrial development . . .

The battle to save the so-called gray ghosts — the only herd of caribou in the lower 48 states — has been lost.

A recent aerial survey shows that this international herd of southern mountain caribou, which spends part of its year in the Selkirk Mountains of northern Idaho and Washington near the Canadian border, has dwindled to just three animals and should be considered “functionally extinct,” experts say.

The Selkirk herd had been disappearing for the last several years.

Read more . . .

New U.S. spending bill requires scrutiny of Kootenai Watershed issues

Environmental Issues, News, ,
Kootenai River
Kootenai River

A provision in the recent federal budget bill requires the EPA to get off the dime and work with U.S. and Canadian agencies to do something about mining waste in the Kootenai Watershed . . .

Stemming the flow of dangerous mining contaminants spilling from Canada into the Kootenai River watershed was listed as a priority in the 2,232-page government-spending bill signed by President Donald Trump, marking a hard-won victory for advocates of the endangered river and the communities it supports.

Inclusion of the beleaguered river system in the massive spending bill is another in a recent series of significant steps toward tackling a decade-long problem brewing in the transboundary Kootenai River watershed, where toxic contaminants leaching from upstream Canadian coal mines in the Elk River Valley of British Columbia continue to threaten Montana’s prized aquatic ecosystems.

Spearheading the latest charge to bring attention to the Kootenai is U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, who helped draft the annual budget bill as a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, and who for years has been mounting pressure on the U.S. and B.C. governments to develop a bilateral water quality standard for mining contaminants, including selenium, sulfates and nitrates.

Read more . . .

Carolyn Kormann: Ryan Zinke’s Great American Fire Sale

Commentary, Environmental Issues,

Here’s a well-researched piece by New Yorker staff writer Carolyn Kormann discussing U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan ZInke’s efforts to open up more public lands for resource development. Kudos to Debo Powers for spotting this one . . .

Not long ago, the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, began distributing “vision cards” to its employees. The front of each card features the B.L.M. logo (a river winding into green foothills); short descriptions of the Bureau’s “vision,” “mission,” and “values”; and an oil rig. On the flip side is a list of “guiding principles,” accompanied by an image of two cowboys riding across a golden plain. Amber Cargile, a B.L.M. spokeswoman, told me that the new cards are meant to reflect the agency’s “multiple-use mission on working landscapes across the West, which includes grazing, energy, timber, mining, recreation, and many other programs.” Individual employees, she added, can opt to wear or display the cards at their own discretion. But, according to the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which obtained photos of the cards and shared them with the Washington Post, supervisors in at least two B.L.M. field offices have been verbally “advising that employees must clip them to their lanyards.” Some workers, speaking to the Post anonymously, said that they felt they had no choice but to comply.

Read more . . .

Hecla Mining challenges its ‘bad actor’ label

Environmental Issues, News,

Hecla Mining wants to dig a couple of mines along the edge of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Montana wants reimbursed for cleaning up an old mess first. Hecla is challenging this in court . .

An Idaho mining company was due in a Montana courtroom on Thursday to challenge its designation by state officials as an industry “bad actor” because of pollution tied to its CEO.

Hecla Mining Co. wants a judge to block the Montana Department of Environmental Quality from suspending permits for two new silver and copper mines the company has proposed beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, a remote, 147-square mile (380-square kilometer) expanse of glaciated peaks near the Idaho border.

[April 12,] State District Judge Matthew Cuffe scheduled afternoon arguments in the case.

The Coeur d’Alene-based company and its president and CEO, Phillips S. Baker, Jr., were issued violations letters last month because of ongoing pollution at mines operated by Baker’s former employer.

Read more . . .

Amy Robinson: The importance of Wilderness Study Areas

Commentary, Environmental Issues
Blue Joint Wilderness Study Area in western Montana - photo by Zack Porter
Blue Joint Wilderness Study Area in western Montana – photo by Zack Porter

Amy Robinson, Northwest Montana field director for the Montana Wilderness Association, has a well-written piece in the Flathead Beacon on Wilderness Study Areas . . .

Lately we’ve heard a lot from our politicians about public lands and specifically Wilderness Study Areas. I’ve worked on public lands challenges, and wilderness protection, for nearly six years in Northwest Montana. This is a topic I know something about.

What are these Wilderness Study Areas? These areas are the headwaters for our communities, our backyard playgrounds, our open, quiet, wildflower-filled prairies, buttes, breaks and badlands. In some places, grizzlies dig for army cutworm moths, wolverines roam free, wildlife graze on winter range, and people hunt, fish, hike, climb, ski, backpack and generally find opportunity for rejuvenation. These areas were protected by Congress in 1977.

What’s it all about? Three bills were recently introduced to Congress. One by Sen. Steve Daines and two by Rep. Greg Gianforte. Together, these bills remove protection from 29 different areas totalling over 800,000 acres across our state. These are public lands that are managed either by the U.S Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management. All of these areas have historically been recognized as special and worthy to be considered, and managed, for future Wilderness designation. These protections do matter and are above and beyond the roadless rule. This is something we should all care about and pay attention to.

Read more . . .

All the world’s forests in one day

Environmental Issues, Photos & Images
Flathead National Forest
Flathead National Forest

March 21 was International Day of Forests. On that occasion, Planet posted some very interesting satellite imagery . . .

Forests do a great deal of good for the planet — from purifying our air, to providing habitat for wildlife, protecting watersheds, preventing soil erosion, and more.

For International Day of Forests this year, we wanted to celebrate the beauty and magnitude of forests across the entire globe. So we embarked on downloading imagery of all forests captured by our fleet of Dove satellites over the course of a single day.

Read more . . .

Prescribed burns scheduled for Flathead Forest this spring

News, ,
Map of 2018 Spring Prescribed Burns - Flathead NF
Map of 2018 Spring Prescribed Burns – Flathead NF

According to this morning’s press release, the Flathead National Forest has a number of prescribed burns scheduled for this spring, weather and circumstances permitting.

Two of these projects are on the North Fork.

The Ninko Cabin Fuels Reduction “targets 3 acres of hand piles associated with fuels reduction adjacent to Ninko cabin along Whale creek road north of Polebridge.”

The Big Creek Administration Site burn “targets 3 acres of hand piles adjacent to the Big Creek learning center facility north of Columbia Falls.”

For more information about these projects, contact the Hungry Horse/Glacier View Ranger District at 406/387-3800.

For specific fire ignition dates and times, follow the forest’s Facebook or Twitter profiles at https://www.facebook.com/discovertheflathead and https://twitter.com/FlatheadNF.

Read the full press release for forest-wide burn project information.