Category Archives: Environmental Issues

Peripatetic grizzly’s 2,800-mile tour intrigues experts

Environmental Issues, News,

When the state and federal grizzly bear people got together in Missoula this week, one of the highlights of the meeting was a discussion of Ethyl, a grizzly who decided to take a lengthy tour of Western Montana and Northern Idaho . . .

The roomful of biologists had lots of funny ideas why Ethyl the grizzly bear logged 2,800 miles arcing from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, past Florence and Missoula and eventually up to Eureka by way of Glacier National Park.

Maybe she ate a bad chicken. Or she was looking for someone she couldn’t find. Or she couldn’t find her back to her home range northeast of Bigfork – the one place she noticeably missed in the three-year ramble.

Read more . . .

Update: A Fox News version of this story includes a map showing Ethyl’s travels.

‘Historic’ Montana lands conservation bill roll-up merged into defense bill

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Montana’s congressional delegation is taking another swing at getting several long-delayed lands use bills passed. This time around, they’ve rolled up the whole collection, including the North Fork Watershed Protection Act and the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, and merged it with the pending defense spending bill, a “must pass” piece of legislation.

Here’s the lead-in from the Hungry Horse News, along with links to additional local coverage . . .

Montana’s Congressional delegation announced Dec. 3 they have come together on an agreement for a major land-use bill that rolls several pieces of key conservation legislation into a defense spending bill that could pass Congress in the coming days.

In a conference call Wednesday morning, Sens. Jon Tester and John Walsh and Rep. Steve Daines said the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, the Northern Cheyenne Lands Act and several other lands-use bills would be merged into the legislation.

“Today is an historic day for Montana,” Tester announced.

Read more . . .

Further reading:

‘Historic’ Montana Lands Package to Advance – Flathead Beacon

Front, North Fork, other Montana lands bills set to advance – Missoulian

Poised for Protection – Montana Wilderness Association

Will lame duck Congress pass any Montana lands bills?

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Will any of the languishing Montana lands bills get passed by year’s end? . . .

In the lame-duck weeks of December 2010, Sen. Jon Tester tried to get his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act attached to any must-pass legislation likely to make it out of Congress before the end of the year.

The effort failed.

But this December has a much larger slate of Montana-related lands bills looking for a vote, and a Democratic Senate caucus about to lose its majority status in January. That’s got a lot of congressional watchers wondering what last-minute legislation might wind up under President Barack Obama’s Christmas tree.

Read more . . .

Flathead Basin pollution model completed

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A long-awaited model for nutrient pollution in the Flathead Basin has been released, with mixed results . . .

A long awaited computer model for nutrient pollution in the Flathead Basin is completed. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contracted with TetraTech to support development of the model, and a draft report on the model was released Nov. 3.

Deficiencies in the model are described in the draft report. While the model reportedly did well in simulating point sources, nonpoint source modeling proved difficult, an issue with political ramifications for the Flathead’s cities and towns, where officials are concerned about spending millions of dollars on treatment plants that will provide small incremental benefits to the watershed.

“There is uncertainty associated with the simulated loading results from many of the nonpoint sources,” the report concludes. “Given the lack of source-specific monitoring data, quantifying the uncertainty is not possible.”

Many nonpoint sources are caused by natural changes in the watershed, and the report states that “additional work outside of this modeling framework would be necessary to quantify the split between natural and anthropogenic (manmade) nonpoint sources.”

Read more . . .

NYT: Climate change threatens to strip the identity of Glacier National Park

Environmental Issues, News, Photos & Images,

This morning’s New York Times has a survey article — with a photo spread — discussing the potential impact of climate change on Glacier National Park specifically and the Northern Rockies in general . . .

What will they call this place once the glaciers are gone?

A century ago, this sweep of mountains on the Canadian border boasted some 150 ice sheets, many of them scores of feet thick, plastered across summits and tucked into rocky fissures high above parabolic valleys. Today, perhaps 25 survive.

In 30 years, there may be none.

Read more . . .

Wolf travels from Northern Rockies to Arizona

Environmental Issues, News,

Those rumors about a wolf near the Grand Canyon turn out to be true . . .

A female gray wolf from the Northern Rockies traveled hundreds of miles into northern Arizona, marking the species’ first appearance in the region in more than 70 years and the farthest journey south, wildlife officials confirmed Friday.

A wolf-like animal had been spotted roaming the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the adjacent national forest since last month. Biologists collected its scat and sent it to a University of Idaho laboratory for testing, verifying what environmentalists had suspected based on its appearance and a radio collar around its neck.

Read more . . .

Reports says sage grouse needs 3-mile buffer from energy projects

Environmental Issues, News,

A recent government report calls for a 3-mile buffer from energy development activities to protect sage grouse. This is not just a drilling restriction, it also applies to other activities such as solar arrays and wind farms . . .

A government report with significant implications for the U.S. energy industry says a struggling bird species needs a 3-mile buffer between its breeding grounds and oil and gas drilling, wind farms and solar projects.

The study comes as the Obama administration weighs new protections for the greater sage grouse. The ground-dwelling, chicken-sized birds range across 11 western states and two Canadian provinces.

A 3-mile buffer for the birds represents a much larger area than the no-occupancy zones where drilling and other activity is prohibited under some state and federal land management plans.

Read more . . .

Study estimates 36 wolverines in Glacier Park

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A recently concluded study found Glacier Park to have the third highest density of Wolverines in North America . . .

Results from a multi-year DNA study of Glacier National Park’s wolverines show a relatively high density compared to other regions where the rare carnivores are known to exist.

Park biologist John Waller, along with about 50 volunteers, set up “hair traps” for wolverines from 2009 to 2012.

The traps consisted of a deer leg from roadkill bolted to a pole. Wire brushes were attached to snag hair from any animal that tried to climb the pole to gnaw on the leg.

Read more . . .

B.C. coal mining pollutants increase in Montana watershed

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

In case anyone wonders why it was so important to oppose resource extraction activities in the transboundary Flathead watershed, just take a look at events in the nearby Elk River drainage . . .

With renewed plans to expand coal-mining operations in southeastern British Columbia’s Elk River drainage, located upstream from one of Montana’s world-class transboundary watersheds, researchers and government agencies are intensifying scrutiny on environmental hazards spanning the border.

The concerns center on increasing amounts of coal waste byproducts leaching into the heavily mined Elk River and its many tributaries, which drain into two bodies of water shared by B.C. and Montana – Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River – both of which are showing increased levels of mining contaminants like selenium in the muscle tissue of fish species.

Read more . . .

Is a gunshot like a dinner bell for bears?

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A group of researchers is performing a very interesting study on how bears and hunters interact . . .

From almost four miles away, the grizzly bear appeared to have picked up the elk carcass’ stench.

Researchers were able to revisit the grizzly’s trek as it walked along the edge of a lake, eventually swimming across the end of the water to reach the carcass, because the bear was wearing a GPS collar. The same location information showed the bear visiting and moving away from the carcass several times in following days.

Read more . . .