Category Archives: Environmental Issues

Wolf harvest approaching limits in some local districts

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Heading into the final week of the big game hunting season, the deer and elk harvest picked up but still lags behind last year’s numbers while the wolf harvest is approaching quotas for a few Northwest Montana hunting districts.

Northwest Montana has six wolf hunting districts with a combined hunting quota of 71 wolves.

For District 101 covering the area between Libby and Kalispell, hunters have taken down 15 wolves out of a quota of 19 for the district.

In District 130 covering the area east of Kalispell including the Swan Valley, nine wolves have been harvested; the quota is 12.

And in the North Fork’s District 110, one wolf has been harvested out of the quota of two.

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British Columbia passes formal law protecting Flathead Basin

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

British Columbia has now passed formal legislation protecting the Canadian Flathead (and the folks downstream on the U.S. side of the border) from extractive resource development. This is big news. (Albeit slightly stale — your friendly webperson got a little buried by his day job.) The Missoulian has a good write-up . . .

Canadian legislation to protect the Flathead River Basin from mining and energy development has formally passed the British Columbia Parliament.

The Flathead Watershed Area Conservation Act received royal assent on Monday evening. The bill cements the Canadian half of an agreement between British Columbia and Montana to maintain the wild and scenic character of the Flathead River, the north fork of which forms the western border of Glacier National Park.

“A healthy and free-flowing Flathead river is good for people and wildlife on both sides of the border,” said Dr. Richard Jeo, a biologist and director for The Nature Conservancy’s Canada Program. “This binational effort gives hope to communities whose economies rely on the river and to iconic wildlife that represent the spirit of the West.”

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Glacier Park’s climate a paradox – both wetter and drier

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Here’s an interesting article from the Hungry Horse News on the shifting climate in Glacier National Park . . .

Precipitation in Glacier National Park over the past few decades is up about 14 percent, but the Park is actually drier in many respects, with streams hitting low flows earlier than usual and wildfires occurring more frequently.

How can that be? Trees, U.S. Geological Survey scientist Dan Fagre explained at a recent talk in Apgar. While the Park may be wetter, it’s also warmer. And with warmth, there’s been less snow on average than in the past, he said.

With less snow, the treeline in Glacier Park has slowly but surely moved higher in elevation. And with more trees growing in the Park, there is more evapotranspiration, Fagre said. The trees draw water out of the ground and release it into the atmosphere, creating drier conditions, particularly in late July and August.

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Wildlife Conservation Society publishes roadless lands assessment for Montana’s Crown of the Continent region

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Dave Hadden of Headwaters Montana reports that Dr. John Weaver, senior scientist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, released a significant report covering the wildlands in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem in Montana. Here’s the meat of the Headwaters Montana announcement . . .

Dr. John Weaver recently published his newest Wildlife Conservation Society monograph titled, Conservation Value of Roadless Areas for Vulnerable Fish and Wildlife Species in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, Montana (PDF, 24.8MB).  This work goes a significant distance towards actually measuring the benefits of protecting roadless lands for the long-term survival of fish and wildlife.

The report attempts to answer the question: “What is the conservation value of these roadless areas for vulnerable fish and wildlife that are important to Montanans and others?”

The report undertakes a mapped (or spatial) analysis of two fish (bull and westslope cutthroat trout) and four mammals (grizzly, wolverine, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep) species for the entire Crown of the Continent ecosystem.

Dr. Weaver lists the key threats to these vulnerable species as “habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, and climate warming.”

The science of conservation has evolved greatly over the years.  Species conservation now emphasizes large landscapes rather than site-specific assessment.  Species need to be able to move and adjust to changes; they need “resiliency”.

Dr. Weaver uses his mapping process to score roadless lands as “Moderately Important”, “Important”, or “Very Important” to conservation of the selected species.  He then recommends specific designations for the further protection of roadless land habitat as “Wilderness”, “Backcountry”, or “Wildland Restoration”.

The entire working paper is available for download in PDF format. Those of you who don’t want to wade through the whole thing can find the section on the North Fork Flathead River Basin and Ten Lakes Area on pages 116-129.

For the official announcement of the report’s release and some additional background see “Where Will Grizzly Bears Roam?” on the Wildlife Conservation Society’s website.

Appeals court to hear request for emergency injunction against Idaho & Montana wolf hunts

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

With more than 150 wolves shot in the Northern Rockies so far this fall, a panel of federal judges on Tuesday is scheduled to consider an emergency halt to public hunts for the animals.

Congress cleared the way for the hunts last spring, when lawmakers took the unprecedented step of stripping Endangered Species Act protections from more than 1,300 wolves in Montana and Idaho.

Wildlife advocates sued to reverse the move and want the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend the hunt while the case is pending. They claim Congress violated the Constitution’s separation of powers mandate by reversing prior court rulings that kept protections in place.

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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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Longer Montana wolf hunt proposed to reach quota

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From an AP article posted to today’s Missoulian . . .

State wildlife officials want to extend Montana’s wolf hunting season to give hunters enough time to fill a 220-wolf quota that is intended to sharply reduce the predator’s population.

Ken McDonald with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said Wednesday the season would be extended by a month, to Jan. 31, 2012.

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Some of last winter’s snow persists in Glacier and other parts of Rockies

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

Scientists who monitor the effects of global warming are watching glaciers shrink all over the world, but this year could be an exception in parts of the Rocky Mountains.

Snow is already piling up in the high country, but not all of the unusually deep snow from last winter has melted. As a result, some glaciers and snowfields are actually gaining volume this year.

Scientists have measured new ice in Glacier National Park and atop Colorado’s Front Range mountains. In northwest Wyoming, there is photographic evidence of snowfield growth…

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Wolf hunt totals 44 animals so far

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks released end-of-month totals for hunting season so far. The Daily Inter Lake has the story, including the wolf numbers . . .

So far this hunting season, hunters have taken 44 wolves in Montana.

The overall statewide quota is 220 wolves spread across 16 hunting districts.

In Northwest Montana’s six districts, a total of 17 wolves have been harvested; the quota of allowable wolf kills is 71.

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Baucus will sponsor Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Posted yesterday evening to the Missoulian (includes a nice map) . . .

U.S. Sen. Max Baucus announced Friday he will sponsor a bill to expand the wilderness on the Rocky Mountain Front, saying the proposal has a good chance of being the first wilderness designation in the state since the early 1980s.

Conservationists who have been working on the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act for about six years tout the measure as a compromise among varied groups aimed at keeping development and road access on the Front at its current levels. Opponents have said more wilderness designations could hinder access, mineral exploration and ranching operations.

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