Category Archives: Environmental Issues

Grizzly bears spotted along Sun River

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Providing more evidence that grizzly bears are started to repopulate the high plains, there have been a number of sightings near the Sun River, a bit west of Great Falls . . .

State wildlife officials are urging homeowners and people who hunt along the Sun River west of Great Falls that grizzly bears have been spotted in the area.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly bear management specialist Mike Madel says a bow hunter spotted two young grizzlies about a mile east of Simms on Sunday. On Wednesday, a Fort Shaw-area couple said a grizzly bear chased their dog before they scared it away.

Madel says the sighting near Fort Shaw is the farthest east confirmed sighting of a grizzly on the Sun River. The homeowners took a picture and Madel estimates the bear is 3 or 4 years old and about 300 pounds.

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Canada to exclude Flathead Valley from planned sale of dominion coal blocks

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According to our friends north of the border, the Canadian federal government will not be making lands available for coal development within their section of the trans-boundary Flathead River Valley . . .

Flathead Wild, a coalition of conservation groups dedicated to protecting the Flathead Valley in the East Kootenay, welcomes the federal government’s announcement that it will exempt portions of the Dominion Coal Blocks within the Flathead Valley from a planned sale of federal lands. At the same time, the groups remain concerned that inappropriate development of the coal blocks adjacent to the Valley could jeopardize water quality and wildlife populations.

“While details around the planned sale are not yet clear, we are encouraged that the Federal Government has confirmed that portions of the coal blocks overlapping with the Flathead River Watershed will not be included in the sale, and that discussions with the Province are under way to ensure the protection of the entire watershed from development” said John Bergenske, Wildsight.

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Feds petitioned for Northern Rockies fisher protection

Environmental Issues, News,

Several environmental groups are worried about survival of the Northern Rockies fisher . . .

Six environmental groups petitioned the federal government Monday to enact endangered species protections for the Northern Rockies fisher, saying increased trapping in Montana and Idaho is killing more of the small, weasel-like predators.

The fisher, which lives in old-growth forests in western Montana and northern Idaho, preys on porcupines, snowshoe hares and other small animals and birds. There is no comprehensive population estimate for the predators, though environmental groups believe up to 500 may be living in the Northern Rockies.

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House bill mandates logging on 50 percent of available timberland

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The U.S. House passed the initial version (it’s evidently a bargaining chip) of the “Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act” Friday . . .

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Restoring Healthy Forests for Healthy Communities Act on Friday, mandating logging on 50 percent of the U.S. Forest Service’s available timberland and erecting barriers to legal challenges of timber sales.

Rep. Steve Daines, R-Mont., a co-sponsor of the legislation, said it will mean a major boost for the Montana logging industry…

Daines attached two amendments to the bill on Thursday and Friday. One would require the Forest Service to provide an annual one-page statement of revenues from timber sales to track harvest progress. The other would bar courts from issuing temporary injunctions on timber projects while they’re being challenged in court.

The Obama administration announced Wednesday it would probably veto the bill if it reached the White House in its current form. The bill also drew fire from some conservation groups.

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Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance holds fall annual meeting

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Over on the other side of the Divide, the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance is having their fall get-together this weekend. It sounds like quite a gathering . . .

Three decades ago, when oil and gas development was being discussed for the Badger-Two Medicine area, a group of citizens came together to fight it.

The group, the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, is still in existence today and will hold its fall gathering Saturday and Sunday near East Glacier.

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Prescribed burn planned on Big Prairie this month

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Glacier Park plans a prescribed burn on Big Prairie sometime this month. Here’s the official press release . . .

A prescribed fire project is planned in the North Fork area of Glacier National Park, approximately four miles northwest of Polebridge. Approximately 125 acres are planned to be burned in the Big Prairie area by the end of September, depending on weather and fuel conditions.  This project was initiated this spring with approximately 150 acres successfully managed through a prescribed burn. The entire project includes about 700 acres of prairie that will be managed with prescribed fire over the next several years.

Firefighter and equipment support from the Flathead National Forest was instrumental in the success of the spring burn. It is anticipated that forest personnel will assist with the fall burn as well.

The primary objective of the burn is to reduce lodgepole pine regeneration which is encroaching on the native prairie grassland. Managers hope to remove some lodgepole with fire and improve the growth of native grasses and shrubs.

This prescribed burn will only take place if optimum weather and smoke dispersal parameters are met. For more information, contact the park at 406-888-7800.

Three-year Logan Pass mountain goat study begins

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Glacier National Park has begun a three-year study of the interactions between mountain goats and people in the Logan Pass area . . .

Glacier National Park, in partnership with the University of Montana, has begun a three-year research study on how mountain goats are affected by roads, people and trails in the Logan Pass area. Currently, six mountain goats have been successfully collared by National Park Service staff, University of Montana researchers, and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks personnel with GPS or VHF radio devices. Collaring efforts will continue through the fall as weather permits. It is anticipated approximately 20-25 goats will be collared of the estimated 1,500 goats in the park.

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Fate of some grizzly populations tied to long-term food supply

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Although this article centers on the Yellowstone area, it includes lots of good general information on grizzly bear diet and and population management . . .

High above the trees, in the rocky slopes of the Absarokas, one-calorie morsels scurried from the light. They crawled under rocks and in dark shadows. The army cutworm moths come from as far as Kansas and Nebraska where farmers curse them as an agricultural pest. In the Absarokas, they’re something very different: one of several key ingredients to the survival of the grizzly bear.

One day in late July, Cody science teacher Dale Ditolla watched as nine bears gathered in the talus of a mountain bowl, miles outside of Meeteetse. The bears looked like dogs in search of buried bones. They lifted and heaved stones the size of frying pans between their legs, sending them tumbling down the mountainside. Their salad plate-sized paws swiped at scampering moths.

Counting multiple grizzlies at this site is a relatively new trend. Few lived in this part of Wyoming 30 years ago.

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Blackfeet musician Jack Gladstone invites oil company exec to Rocky Mountain Front

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Our colleagues on the Rocky Mountain Front are having a problem with Solenex, an oil outfit based in Lousiana. Solenex is suing the feds to allow oil exploration in the Badger-Two Medicine area. Jack Gladstone came up with a unique way to open a conversation with the company . . .

Blackfeet musician Jack Gladstone has invited a Louisiana oil executive to visit him on the reservation and discuss relinquishing his company’s oil leases south of Glacier National Park.

Gladstone wrote to Solenex Inc. manager Sidney Longwell on Aug. 30, telling him the company’s drilling plans along the Rocky Mountain Front would “violate both the sanctity of this landscape and the treaty rights” of the Pikuni-Blackfeet people…

“Sidney, my home is on the Blackfeet Reservation. I may not have all the amenities of the big city, but a pot of coffee is always on and a meal never far from the stove,” Gladstone wrote. “I invite you to visit me here, to deepen our understanding of each other’s motives and visions regarding the Badger-Two Medicine/Hall Creek wildlands.

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World’s oldest radio-collared bear dies

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The oldest radio-collared bear in the world died recently . . .

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reported last week that a black bear they had been tracking since 1981 died in the wild at 39 1/2 years of age.

Bear No. 56 was found Aug. 21 in the Chippewa National Forest. She was radio-collared in July 1981 when she was seven years old. At the time, the black bear was accompanied by three female cubs. From 1981 through 1995, Bear No. 56 had eight litters of cubs and successfully raised 21 of 22 cubs to 18 months of age.

Bear No. 56 outlived all of the 360 black bears that MDNR researchers radio-collared in 1981 by 19 years.

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