Category Archives: Commentary

Larry Wilson: Winter strikes the North Fork

Commentary, News, ,

This is a bit confusing. Apparently, Larry’s column didn’t make the deadline for the print edition of the Hungry Horse News, but it did get posted online — over a “Larry Peterson” byline [update – they fixed it]. Go figure.

Anyway, Larry discusses the season’s first serious snowfall and cold snap . . .

No one on the North Fork needs to be told that Fall has fell and it is now winter. In the last week we have had a total snowfall of over 16 inches. There has been settling but a blanket of snow now covers everything, the golden needles have been blown off of the larch and wood is no longer being put in woodsheds but is being carried into the house.

Not only are we carrying wood into the house, we are burning a lot of it. In between snow storms we have had bone-chilling cold along with brisk winds. It seems a little early for subzero temperatures but my Monkey Ward thermometer read minus 12 degrees F one morning and neighbors reported similar below zero readings.

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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…

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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…

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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.

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Larry Wilson: Talking bucks, poachers and larch

Commentary, , , , ,

Larry puts his feet up and talks about this October on the North Fork . . .

Nearly everyone has already reported a slow start to the general hunting season, and that has been the case among North Fork residents, too.

Neighbor Lynn Ogle shot a nice white-tailed buck this week, and since I was with him, I don’t really feel skunked. That is the only legal kill I’m aware of.

Two white-tailed bucks were illegally killed on Trail Creek on private property. A license plate number was written down by another hunter and, if correct, the shooter may be arrested.

Continue reading . . .

Larry Wilson: North Fork boat ramps won’t work

Commentary, , ,

This week, Larry has some observations about the U.S. Forest Service bureaucracy . . .

As promised early in the summer, the Forest Service has rebuilt boat access sites at the Canada border and at Ford Ranger Station. Although it will be easier to launch at Ford due to the removal of the wooden terraces, I have mixed feelings about the new boat ramps…

The Forest Service is my favorite government agency. They have many excellent employees who are unable to do their best due to stupid regulations written in Washington, D.C. Mostly, they are no longer really involved in timber management but have been pushed into managing tourists. As a result, they make funny decisions which give columnists something to write about…

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Sarah Gilman: ‘Wilderness Lite’ wins the day

Commentary, Environmental Issues,

Here’s some pretty good commentary by Sarah Gilman of the High Country News concerning last Friday’s resurrection of the “roadless rule” . . .

One of the last decades’ most scintillating (that is, in the headachey confusing sense…) enviro-legal ping-pong matches may finally be drawing to a close. On Friday, a three-judge panel at the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver effectively reinstated the Clinton-era Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which banned new road building and most logging on more than 50 million acres of National Forest. The rule was meant to prevent further fragmentation of wildlife habitat, sedimentation of streams, and other negative effects of roads on lands that had been previously inventoried as “roadless.”

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Larry Wilson: Hunting a hectic time in the forest

Commentary, ,

Some well-chosen observations about hunting season in Larry Wilson’s column this week . . .

The fall colors are not at their peak yet, but close. The quaking aspen have turned bright yellow, and the leaves are beginning to fall, while the larch are half gold and half green.

Of course, bow hunting has been open for weeks, but camouflaged hunters with blackened faces aren’t very visible and their numbers are relatively small.

Gun season is different. Orange-clad hunters are everywhere – on foot, ATVs and pickups…

Continue reading . . .

Larry Wilson: Optimism and glee over funding

Commentary, News, , , ,

This week, Larry discusses the good news that funding has been approved for additional improvements to the North Fork Road and for additional efforts at weed control. On a more somber note, he also announces the passing of Bettie Jacobsen . . .

Not long ago, I was not very optimistic that the Resource Advisory Committee would grant money to all of Flathead County’s requests for road improvement projects. My pessimism was due in part to the fact that RAC projects had already provided funds for the North Fork Road stretching from Camas Junction nearly to Whale Creek…

I am pleased to announce that I was wrong again. Last week, RAC granted $25,350 for dust abatement on the North Fork Road in 2012…

On a sad note, word was received this week of the passing of Karen Feather’s sainted mother, Bettie Jacobsen…

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