Category Archives: Environmental Issues

Grizzlies getting a little too close to some homes in Flathead area

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It sounds like the usual late-season bear attractants are causing some problems in the valley. The Missoulian has a write-up . . .

State wildlife officials worked through the weekend to capture a trio of apple-eating grizzly bears visiting homes near Columbia Falls, but as of Monday they had succeeded in penning just two of the grizzlies.

Meanwhile, a trap set for a fourth grizzly habituating a residential area in Kalispell was pulled Monday following a week that brought an unusual amount of interface between grizzlies and humans in the Flathead Valley.

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Ninth Circuit denies motion to bar Montana and Idaho wolf hunts

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From an AP article posted to today’s Flathead Beacon . . .

A federal appeals court on Thursday denied a request by environmental groups to halt wolf hunts that are scheduled to begin next week in Idaho and Montana.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the request by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups. The groups were seeking to cancel the hunts while the court considers a challenge to congressional action in April that stripped wolves of federal protections in Montana and Idaho, and in parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

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County treats 43 miles of road for dust, up from 29 last year

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The month is not complete without at least one road-related post. This one is courtesy of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

The road dust control project in Flathead County has wrapped up for the season, county Public Works Director Dave Prunty recently told commissioners.

Magnesium chloride was applied to 43 miles of county-maintained gravel roads in a cooperative effort between the county and landowners. The total project cost was $244,000, with the county paying half and people who own property along the roads where the material was applied paying the other half.

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Groups ask for emergency injunction to halt wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho

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From the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Environmentalists have asked a federal appeals court for an emergency injunction to halt wolf hunts scheduled to start in a few weeks in Idaho and Montana.

The request filed by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and other groups with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was made public Saturday. The groups want the hunts canceled until the court issues a decision in an appeal filed Monday challenging a federal judge’s ruling allowing the hunts to go forward.

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“Greenbelt” zoning gets the green light

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For those of you who have been following the “greenbelt” zoning kerfuffle, the Hungry Horse News posted a brief report . . .

A new zoning district proposed for county land along highways was unanimously approved by the Flathead County Commissioners on July 27.

As proposed, development in the B-2HG general-business highway-greenbelt zoning district would require mitigation of visual impacts of commercial development, with special attention to setbacks, landscaping and signs.

In the Columbia Falls area, the zoning district could be applied to U.S. 2 and Montana Highways 40 and 206, but it will not affect properties regulated under the Canyon and North Fork neighborhood plans and will not apply to properties within the Columbia Falls two-mile planning and zoning jurisdiction.

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Feds, Wyoming announce plan to delist wolves

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From the Missoulian . . .

Wyoming ranchers and hunters fed up with wolves attacking livestock and other wildlife would be able to shoot the predators on sight in most of the state under a tentative agreement state and federal officials announced Wednesday.

Gov. Matt Mead and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said they’ve come to terms over how to end federal protections for gray wolves in Wyoming – the last state in the Northern Rockies where the animals remain under federal management.

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Federal judge upholds delisting of wolves in Montana and Idaho

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From the Missoulian . . .

Strongly disagreeing with his own decision, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy on Wednesday upheld a congressional rider removing gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection.

Barring a successful appeal, the decision means wolves are delisted in Montana and Idaho, and those states may go ahead with their scheduled wolf hunting seasons this fall.

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Related story: Groups to appeal wolf ruling to 9th Circuit

Amendment removing gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection faces court challenge

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From today’s Missoulian . . .

The congressional rider removing gray wolves from Endangered Species Act protection faces a court challenge in Missoula on Tuesday.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Clearwater and WildEarth Guardians together claim Congress violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine when it ordered the wolf delisted and blocked future court review of that decision.

In response, attorneys for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar say Congress has frequently rewritten laws to get around court rulings, and courts have endorsed the practice.

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Headwaters Montana looking for volunteers to help “complete the park”

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From a newsletter sent out yesterday by Headwaters Montana . . .

We need your help.  Do you have just one day this summer to spend at spectacular Logan Pass to help complete the world’s first Peace Park: Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park?

Last summer Headwaters Montana sponsored volunteers at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park to collect signed post cards from visitors who support doubling the size of Waterton Lakes National Park into the Flathead Valley in British Columbia (see map here).  Volunteers collected the names of over 3,000 supporters last summer alone. The campaign to ‘Complete the Park’ and ‘Protect the Flathead’ now has well over 10,000 visible and vocal supporters.

Each supporter, like you, adds to the mounting inevitability of expanding Waterton Park.  And while we already enjoy a super majority of supporters in south-east British Columbia and across the international boundary in Montana, we need to continue to build support to push this effort over the finish line.

We can achieve a breakthrough in the next year with your help.

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