Category Archives: News

John Frederick receives award from Flathead Audubon Society

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

John Frederick, NFPA President,  recently received a Flathead Audubon Society Conservation Achievement Recognition award for his years of work to protect the North Fork. This is a pretty big deal and a well-deserved honor. The formal award presentation is on October 13.

Here’s the article from this month’s “Pileated Post” newsletter announcing John’s award . . .

In the 50th anniversary year of the federal Wilderness Act, it is fitting that Flathead Audubon presents John Frederick with a Conservation Achievement Recognition to honor his 35 year long effort to keep the North Fork of the Flathead wild.

In the 1970s, John won an Ohio Achievement Award for his efforts in recycling as president of Waste Watchers, Inc. Seeking wilder country, he moved to the North Fork in 1978 and began operating the North Fork Hostel in 1979. Coalmine and road paving proposals in the North Fork sparked him to help form the North Fork Preservation Association in 1982. He still serves as president and has for 24 years of its 34 years.

During the battle over the coal mine proposal, John bought 10 shares of Rio Algam stock. He traveled to Toronto six times to protest the mine at the annual stockholders meeting. His action generated national awareness of the issue in Canada and helped in getting the International Boundary Commission involved, an action that eventually led to Rio Algam losing interest in the project.

John has also been involved in local land planning issues as Chair of the North Fork Land Use Advisory Committee and a member of the North Fork Improvement Association. North Fork subdivisions are now required to have 20-acre sized lots.

John continues to be involved in Flathead National Forest planning issues, including the current effort. As a board member of Headwaters Montana, he is involved in supporting the goals of the Whitefish Range Partnership and an expansion of Waterton National Park into the Canadian side of the North Fork, as well as new wilderness areas on the U.S. side of the border.

John sold his hostel a few years ago but continues to live in the North Fork from May to November. He winters in Costa Rica, soaking up the warmth his many winters in Polebridge failed to provide. Keeping joints limber allows John, along with others, to clear abandoned trails in the North Fork for the public’s use.

Flathead Audubon is happy to honor John’s efforts to protect the natural values of the North Fork and to hold him up as an example of what a dedicated person can accomplish.

Coal Ridge patrol cabin-lookout gets more renovation work

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It seems the Coal Ridge “patrol cabin” was actually the original lookout up there. Anyways, it got new siding last week to go with the roof that was installed a couple of years ago . . .

An historic lookout up the North Fork on Coal Ridge received some badly needed care last week as Forest Service crews installed new siding on the weather-beaten building.

The Coal Ridge Lookout, which has sat atop the Whitefish Range since 1928, doesn’t resemble a lookout — the current map actually calls it a cabin. It has small windows, and the Osborne Fire Finder used to pinpoint fire starts was mounted on a metal pole outside of the building.

But it was a definitely a fire lookout, Flathead National Forest lookout Leif Haugen said.

Read more . . .

For more information on this project, go to http://www.nwmt-ffla.org/#!2014-projects/c1nlq and scroll down to the “Moran Patrol Cabin” section.

Glacier Park announces fish conservation projects in the North Fork

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Glacier Park announced yesterday a number of fish conservation projects in the North Fork. These include a fish passage barrier to be constructed to protect Akokala Lake and lake trout suppression work at Quartz and Logging Lakes.

Here are the relevant press releases:

Fish Passage Barrier to be Constructed

Bull Trout Conservation Project Approved

 

 

Judge denies quick fix to Wyoming wolf management plan

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As expected, the federal judge who invalidated Wyoming’s wolf management plan won’t allow it to go back in force with just a few minor tweaks . . .

A federal judge on Tuesday denied requests from the state of Wyoming, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service and pro-hunting groups to change last week’s decision that reinstated federal protections for wolves in the state.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, D.C., leaves Wyoming and the Fish and Wildlife Service with the choice of either appealing or to developing a revised management plan. The planning process can take years and require more public comment, during which time Wyoming wolves would remain protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Read more . . .

Flathead Forest conducting recreational usage survey

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The Flathead National Forest is conducting a recreational usage survey over the next year . . .

You may see more Forest Service and contract employees working in developed and dispersed recreation sites and along Forest Service roads on the Flathead National Forest. They will be wearing bright orange vests and be near a sign that says “Traffic Survey Ahead”. These folks may be out in all kinds of adverse weather conditions. The surveyors are waiting to talk to you, so please pull over for an interview. These well trained interviewers want to know about your visit to the national forest. All information you give is confidential and the survey is voluntary.

This on-going national forest survey has already been conducted once on every National Forest in the country. We are now returning five years later to update the information previously gathered as well as to look at recreation trends over time…

Read more . . .

State asks judge to reconsider Wyoming wolf ruling

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A federal judge kicked Wyoming’s wolf management plan to the curb a few days ago. After making a few legal tweaks to the plan, the state is asking her to reconsider . . .

Conservation groups are urging a federal judge not to allow the state of Wyoming to regain control of wolves.

The groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2012. They’re challenging the agency’s acceptance of Wyoming’s wolf management plan, which classifies wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in most areas.

Read more . . .

Longtime Montana FWP filmmaker has dream job

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For 37 years, Mike Gurnett has been paid to do something lots of folks would do for free . . .

The question longtime Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks filmmaker Mike Gurnett gets asked perhaps most frequently is: “Wait, you get paid to do this?”

“It reminds me that this is a good gig I’ve got going,” Gurnett said. “I figure that every month I take the trip of a year for somebody.”

In his 37 years making documentary films and short videos for FWP, Gurnett has spanned the state, filming in some of the most beautiful locations Montana has to offer. One week he may be filming biologists collaring grizzly bears. The next, it could be elk rutting in the Missouri River Breaks or sage grouse dancing on the prairie.

Read more . . .

Judge places Wyoming wolves back under federal control

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The saga of Wyoming wolf management continues . . .

Wyoming wolves are back under federal projection after a ruling Tuesday by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday rejected a Wyoming wolf-management plan that had declared wolves unprotected predators that could be shot on sight in most of the state. Her ruling sided with national environmental groups that had argued Wyoming’s management plan afforded insufficient protection for wolves…

Berman ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was wrong to trust nonbinding promises from the state of Wyoming to maintain at least 100 wolves, including 10 breeding pairs, outside of Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Read more . . .