From the Saturday, June 7, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
Glacier National Park and its neighbor to the north are endangered by mining proposals, and those threats should be recognized by the international community.
So says a coalition of environmental groups from both sides of the U.S.-Canada line, who this week petitioned the United Nations to investigate dangers posed by coal and coalbed methane production plans directly upstream of Glacier.
Read the entire article . . .
Back in February of last year, when database problems caused a gap in our coverage, Field and Stream magazine posted a photo essay by Bigfork outdoor writer Todd Tanner on the potential impact of the Cline Mine on the North Fork. It’s still relevant and well worth a look . . .
Here’s a question I bet you never thought you’d have to ask. Should a Canadian mining company with German and Japanese financial backing be allowed to pollute one of our finest trout streams so that it can ship low-quality coal to China?
View the photo gallery . . .
From the Monday, June 2, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
A Canadian coal company hoping to open a massive mine north of Glacier National Park has encountered a powerful new critic – Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama, who was back under the Big Sky campaigning for president on Friday, has joined Montana’s bipartisan congressional delegation in opposition to the mining proposal, “and that’s important, because whoever becomes our next president will have a direct role to play, in terms of presenting this issue in an international forum.”
So said Will Hammerquist, the local representative for the National Parks Conservation Association.
About a month ago, Hammerquist met with Obama during a campaign stop in Missoula. He had the senator’s attention for only a couple minutes, he said, but it was “just enough time to brief him on the issue.”
Read the entire article . . .
From the Tuesday, June 3, 2008 online edition of canada.com . . .
A long-simmering sore point in Canada-U.S. relations – a proposed open-pit coal mine in a pristine B.C. valley – is irritating Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who wants to be the next U.S. president.
“Barack Obama supports efforts by Senator Max Baucus and Senator Jon Tester as well as Gov. Brian Schweitzer to stop the Cline mine,” Obama campaign official Matt Chandler wrote last week in an e-mail to Will Hammerquist of the U.S. National Parks Conservation Association.
“The Flathead River and Glacier National Park are treasures that should be conserved for future generations.”
Environmentalists say the mine could pollute the north fork of the Flathead River, which flows from B.C. into Montana and forms the western boundary of Glacier National Park.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Wednesday, June 4, 2008 online edition of the Globe & Mail . . .
Several leading environmental groups in the U.S. and Canada have written to the United Nations asking that proposed energy developments along British Columbia’s Flathead River be investigated as threats to a World Heritage Site.
In a letter sent yesterday, the organizations state that Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which links globally significant national parks in Alberta and Montana, be placed on the UN’s World Heritage in Danger list.
“There is substantial danger that the existing statutory and regulatory framework will fail to adequately protect Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and its surrounding lands from adverse impacts caused by mining and CBM [coal bed methane] development in the headwaters of the Flathead River,” the groups state in a letter to Francesco Bandarin, director of the UN’s World Heritage Centre.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Thursday, May 1, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
The life of a grizzly bear outside of Glacier National Park or the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is a decidedly risky proposition.
The number of bears killed inside Glacier by humans since 1999 was just one — and it was an old bear that may have died as a result of a capture for research. In the Bob, where there are few people and no roads, the number was zero.
Inside the Park, folks don’t tote guns and garbage, as well as vehicle traffic, is more closely controlled.
Outside the Park grizzlies run into people with guns and cars and trains and garbage cans full of good eats, and the prospects of survival grow more dim.
In 2007 there were 25 recorded grizzlies killed by humans, grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said, and that number may actually be as high as 30 — there are five other bears that were found dead, but the cause of their death hasn’t been determined. Servheen released his findings last Thursday during a multi-agency meeting of bear biologists and managers in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.
Read the entire article . . .
Early last month, University of Montana researcher Shannon Donahue completed a very thorough review of the “…Direct and Indirect Effects of Paving Flathead County Road 486, the North Fork Road.” It has generated a fair bit of interest, as well as a few minor corrections. We’ve posted the revised version for viewing or downloading here. There is also an executive summary available. (Both documents are in PDF format, which can be displayed using the free Adobe Reader.)
The push to pave the North Fork Road — as far as Camas, at least — opened up more or less on schedule this week, with County Commissioner Gary Hall leading the charge. The following letter to the editor, nominally in response to a question by Joe Franchini, appeared in the Thursday, April 24, 2008 edition of the Hungry Horse News.
(A little background for those of you coming in late: Gary Hall is, of course, the Flathead County Commissioner who has been pushing to pave the North Fork Road at least as far as the Camas Creek entrance to Glacier Park. Joe Franchini is one of the backers of the NFRCHS and an investor in Freedom Bank, the location of the May meeting referenced in Hall’s letter. The dust study being presented at the June meeting was sponsored by the NFRCHS and performed last summer. According to this article, results were due by January of this year.)
To the editor,
This is in response to Joe Franchini’s letter to the editor asking the commissioner candidates what their position was on the North Fork Road. First of all, thank you for asking the question, it deserves an answer.
Interestingly, Rick Hanners, editor of the Whitefish Pilot and previous editor at our hometown Hungry Horse News, sent me a copy of an article he wrote on my last campaign six years ago and I stated in the article that, “I am completely in favor of paving the North Fork as far as Camas Creek despite claims that the grizzly bear would be impacted by pavement.” I still feel strongly about that and I believe that Columbia Falls can benefit as the Gateway to Glacier.
Before my term of office, the previous commissioners redirected the money set aside for paving the North Fork to the Big Mountain Road. Currently, I am working closely with the North Fork Road Coalition for Health and Safety (NFRCHS) to bring all government parties to the table May 21, from 1 to 4 p.m., in the conference room of Freedom Bank. I am hopeful we can come away from that meeting with a solid plan for dust mitigation or paving of the North Fork Road to the Camas Creek entrance to Glacier Park.
Also, on June 9 at 1 p.m. at the Commissioners’ meeting room, 800 South Main, we are having a report from Dr. Holian and Dr. Ward of the University of Montana department of Environmental Health Sciences briefing the commissioners and other county officials on the result of the North Fork Road dust studies conducted last summer.
All this has been said to respond to Mr. Franchini’s questions of the candidates’ position. If there is a way to protect the air quality for Glacier Park and the health safety and welfare of county citizens then I am available to do my part. I look forward to the other two candidates’ response to this important issue.
Gary D. Hall
Flathead County Commissioner
From the Thursday, March 27, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
The Flathead Basin Commission has asked Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester to find a way to compensate and retire all pending oil and gas leases in the Flathead National Forest.
The Commission passed the resolution late last month.
Both senators said they support such a measure.
And while Forest Service officials here have said there hasn’t been much, if any, interest in completing an environmental impact statement (EIS) on oil and gas leases, the Commission would still like to see the matter put to bed.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Thursday, March 20, 2008 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
The North Fork of the Flathead is blanketed by oil and gas leases and they’re not in Canada — they’re right here in Montana, just north of Columbia Falls on Flathead National Forest lands.
The leases date back to the 1970s and have been held in what amounts to legal limbo since 1985, when James R. Conner of Kalispell, members of the Montana Wildlife Federation and the Madison-Gallatin Alliance sued Robert Burford, director of the Bureau of Land Management.
Read the entire article . . .