Category Archives: Environmental Issues

U.S. Forest Service strategy document paints bleak picture

February 7, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsRegion 1, strategy, U.S. Forest Servicenfpa

The Forest Service has had a conflicting set of goals for the last few decades but, for Region 1 at least, things seem to be coming to a head . . .

A new strategy for managing public lands for recreation, heritage and wilderness paints a bleak picture of the U.S. Forest Service’s own ability to tackle the job.

“You could say this looks like a D-minus report card,” said George Bain, Forest Service Region 1 director of recreation, lands, minerals, heritage and wilderness. “To us, this is how it is. We wanted to take a good, hard look and develop a strategy for how to work in that world. We don’t have all the money we’d want. We don’t have all the workforce we’d want. We don’t have the ability to take care of everything the way we’d like. This is the landscape we’re working in. Let’s see how to address this.”

The 50-page document released last August got little notice outside the Region 1 Missoula headquarters. But it had been more than a year in the drafting, and it has been signed by Regional Forester Leanne Marten, her deputies and the supervisors of all 10 national forests that report to her.

Climate impacting trout populations worldwide

February 7, 2016Environmental Issues, Newsbull trout, climate change, westslope cutthroat troutnfpa

Native westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout stranded in a pool in Ole Creek. Courtesy Jonny Armstrong USGS

Rising water temperatures and general problems with access to clean, fast running water are affecting trout populations globally . . .

Temperature-sensitive trout thrive in water that is cold, clear and abundant – not exactly groundbreaking news. But a recent study tracking the relationship between warming climes and the adverse effects on global trout populations is the first to establish a scientific connection.

A team of researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey – including two researchers based at Glacier National Park – found that climate directly and consistently influences trout populations worldwide, and published their finding recently in the international quarterly journal “Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.”

In the study, titled “Impacts of Climatic Variation on Trout: A Global Synthesis and Path Forward,” lead author Ryan Kovach and his colleagues provide the first global synthesis of trout responses to climate change over time. Despite the economic, cultural, and ecological value of trout, Kovach said long-term data comparing the health of trout populations to changes in streamflow and water temperature are surprisingly limited.

Read more . . .

Bear hibernation linked to changes in gut microbes

February 5, 2016Environmental Issues, News, Sciencebears, gut microbes, gut microbiota, hibernationnfpa

Grizzly Bear - Thomas Lefebvre, via Unsplash — Grizzly Bear – Thomas Lefebvre, via Unsplash

Two years ago, we mentioned the weird stuff that goes on when bears hibernate. Here’s another article along those lines . . .

Each year, bears hibernate for the winter. They gorge themselves on food to pack on fat, but somehow avoid health consequences. Now, scientists have found that the bears’ shifting metabolic status is associated with significant changes in their gut microbes.

“The restructuring of the microbiota into a more avid energy harvester during summer, which potentially contributes to the increased adiposity gain without impairing glucose metabolism, is quite striking,” said Fredrik Backhed, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The composition of gut microbiota can influence the amount of energy harvested from the diet. In fact, microbiota shifts in people who are obese and in those with type 2 diabetes.

In this latest study, the researchers collected fecal samples from wild bears during hibernation and in the active period. Then, the researchers analyzed the microbes living within these sample. The scientists found reduced diversity in the hibernation microbiota…

Read more . . .

Montana state senator new CEO of lands privatization group

February 5, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsAmerican Lands Council, Jennifer Fielder, land privatizationnfpa

Montana state Sen. Jennifer Fielder, a Republican representing Thompson Falls, is the new CEO of the American Lands Council. The ALC is one of the point organizations behind the movement to demand that federal lands be turned over to state control. The states, in turn, would auction management of these lands off to private control.

What we have here, folks, is a serious conflict of interest what with her being a legislator involved in public land study/bills and being CEO of a group that wants public lands to be transferred to states. Senator Fielder has already had issues with a legislative staffer being a paid lobbyist of ALC and other groups.

You just can’t make this stuff up.

The Salt Lake Tribune has more details . . .

Edward Monnig: Wilderness and Collaboration

February 5, 2016Commentary, Environmental Issuescollaboration, Edward Monnig, wildernessnfpa

Here’s an outstanding op-ed posted yesterday to the Flathead Beacon web site. Recommended reading . . .

In preface to commenting on Stewart Brandborg’s opinion piece on wilderness issues (Dec. 16 Beacon: “Today’s Wilderness Challenge”), I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the service that he and others like Howard Zahniser, Mardy and Olaus Murie, and Aldo Leopold rendered in establishing the framework of our National Wilderness Preservation System. These men and women fought for decades to establish a legacy that benefits all Americans from active users to passive appreciators. Nonetheless, I must offer an alternative perspective to Stewart’s injunction to “resist the fuzzy, fuzzy Neverland of collaboration” when addressing critical wilderness issues.

The Wilderness Preservation System certainly made my career with the U.S. Forest Service immeasurably more rewarding. In my final career assignment, I was supervisor of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, a forest of 6.3 million acres, including 1.2 million acres of congressionally-designated wilderness. In addition, the H-T has about 3 million acres of roadless areas, de-facto wilderness as it were, that was the subject of intense battles to determine what part should be formally included by Congress in the Wilderness Preservation System.

Managing wilderness is also challenging and much more than a passive exercise in “let it be.” Stewardship of designated wilderness areas is bound by the mandates of the 1964 Wilderness Act. And therein lie many of our management challenges. The introductory section of the 1964 Wilderness Act is inspiring and oft-quoted: “an enduring resource of wilderness…where earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man…” But as a counterpoint to these two paragraphs of poetic vision the Wilderness Act concludes with two pages of exceptions allowing various non-wilderness practices to continue. A cynic might say “Yeah right, untrammeled by man except for multiple airstrips, irrigation reservoirs and ditches, livestock grazing, mineral exploration and mining” – all allowed under the 1964 Act.

Continue reading Edward Monnig: Wilderness and Collaboration →

Dispute over Badger-Two Medicine drilling leases still simmering

February 5, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas leases, oil exploration, Solonexnfpa

The Hungry Horse News has a nice summary of the battle over drilling leases in the Badger-Two Medicine . . .

The battle over oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine will continue. The Department of Interior and Solonex, the company that owns the leases had asked U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon to suspend the case so the two parties could negotiate a settlement in the 30-plus year battle. But those talks have fallen apart.

Now Solonex, in a brief to the court on Jan. 19, claims that any attempt to cancel the leases by the DOI would be arbitrary and contrary to federal law. Solonex is represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that often takes up private business and citizens issues in land use disputes in federal court.

The DOI in December said it tentatively planned on canceling the leases altogether, claiming the U.S. Forest Service never did a proper examination of the impacts on Blackfeet Tribe cultural resources when it sold the leases in 1981.

North Valley working on climate change solutions

February 3, 2016Environmental Issues, Newsclimate changenfpa

A report from Debo Powers, NFPA President, on last Monday’s community climate solutions project meeting . . .

On Monday, concerned citizens met at the Whitefish City Hall to explore a possible community climate solutions project. A diverse group of thirty-four stakeholders attended the meeting which included people working on fire and water issues, tourism and recreation, economic development/ Chambers of Commerce, high schools, local food and renewable energy. Four members of the North Fork Preservation Association attended the meeting in a packed conference room.

Steve Thompson spoke about what other Montana communities are doing to understand and adapt to climate change. One of the questions that Steve asked the group was whether this project should be for just Whitefish or for the entire North Valley, including Columbia Falls and the North Fork. The meeting featured two guest speakers from Missoula: Chase Jones from the City of Missoula and Amy Cilimburg from the Missoula Community Foundation who spoke about the new Climate Smart Missoula project. This exemplary project is focused on reducing Missoula’s carbon footprint, promoting energy conservation and renewable energy, and pursuing climate-smart economic opportunities.

Immediately following this meeting, the Whitefish City Council met for a more formal work session. In April 24, 2014, the city council set a goal of developing a climate solutions plan and this was the council’s first detailed conversation about the possibilities.

……….

Conservation groups join to fight Kootenai snowmobile lawsuit

February 1, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsIdaho Panhandle National Forest, Kootenai National Forest, recommended wildernessnfpa

As we mentioned a week back, several area conservation organizations joined together to intervene in the lawsuit challenging the inclusion of recommended wilderness areas in the Kootenai and Idaho Panhandle National Forests . . .

A coalition of conservationists has asked to intervene in a lawsuit filed by snowmobilers challenging wilderness provisions in the Kootenai and Idaho Panhandle national forest plans.

The Ten Lakes Snowmobile Club, Citizens for Balanced Use and five other interest groups sued the U.S. Forest Service in November, accusing the agency of improperly excluding snowmobile use from the forest’s recommended wilderness areas and improperly recommending new waterways for the national Wild and Scenic River Act designation.

On Jan. 25, The Wilderness Society, Headwaters Montana, Idaho Conservation League, Montana Wilderness Association, Panhandle Nordic Ski and Snowshoe Club and Winter Wildlands Alliance formally asked to intervene in the case.

Read more . . .

Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and Montana Wilderness Association partner to present the 4th annual ‘Wilderness Speaker Series’

February 1, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsBob Marshall Wilderness Foundation, Montana Wilderness Association, Wilderness Speaker Seriesnfpa

From the press release . . .

Now in it’s 4th year, the Wilderness Speaker Series at Flathead Valley Community College invites Montanans of all ages to learn more about the history and ecology of the public lands here in the Treasure State. The Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation and the Montana Wilderness Association will host these FREE public events on the first Thursdays of February, March and April from 7:00pm 8: 30pm at FVCC. All three events will take place in the Arts and Technology Building.

This year, the Wilderness Speaker Series features three diverse and renowned speakers from across the region:

February 4: Wilderness Fire Management and Specific Challenges in the Flathead National Forest by Seth Carbonari (Room 139)
Wilderness managers strive to allow the ecological role of natural fire in Wilderness areas. The 2015 fires on the Flathead National Forest provide examples of some of the challenges faced in fire management; including protecting wilderness values, public safety and access.

March 3: From Flathead to Yellowstone to Yukon : Nature Needs Half, a Hopeful Agenda for the Future of Wild Nature and Humanity by Harvey Locke (Room 144 A/B)
Renowned conservationist Harvey Lock explores the “no holds barred”, Bob Marshall style declaration of love for the wild world and the landscape-scale management tactics it will take to save the precious ecosystems we have left.

April 7: This is the Crown of the Continent, Our Home by Rick Graetz (Theatre)
Photographer and naturalist Rick Graetz takes the audience on a stunning tour of the wild places in our own backyard through the eye of his camera lens and through the eye of history.

Grab a friend and join MWA and the BMWF to learn more about the beautiful mountains and region that we call home. For more information, please contact Amy Robinson at 284-1747 or arobinson@wildmontana.org. Wilderness Speaker Series events are listed on the FVCC Continuing Education Calendar.

Flathead Forest proposes salvage logging in Trail Creek burn

January 28, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsFlathead National Forest, salvage logging, Trail Creek Firenfpa

The Forest Service wants to salvage some of the standing timber from last year’s Trail Creek Fire. There’s no word on any objections to the sale, yet . . .

The Flathead National Forest is proposing a salvage timber sale within the more than 20,000 acres that burned in the Trail Creek Fire last summer.

The forest is accepting public comments on its plan to log 1,351 acres — about 6 percent of the total fire area — about two miles northeast of the Spotted Bear Ranger Station.

Forest officials estimate it would generate 6 million to 7 million board-feet of timber. The harvest, limited to burned areas outside the Bob Marshall Wilderness, would target only dead trees and those burned badly enough that they would likely die within three years.

Read more . . .