Category Archives: News

Montana FWP wants public comment on proposed wolf and sage grouse regulations

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Here’s a chance to make yourself heard regarding wolf and sage grouse management . . .

The Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission is seeking comment though June 23 on some upcoming hunting seasons and additional proposals related to sage grouse and wolves.

For sage grouse, the commission is seeking comment on a proposal that would either maintain the same 30-day season and two-bird daily bag and four bird possession limit as last season; adopt shorter seasons and reduced bag and possession limits; impose region-specific hunting opportunities or closures; or close the sage grouse hunting season statewide.

The sage grouse proposal comes in response to surveys on sage grouse breeding grounds called “leks” that show a continued population decline of the state’s largest native upland game bird. Montana’s 2004 management plan identifies a season closure when lek counts are significantly reduced from historical observations.

The commission also seeks comment on the following wolf-related proposals:

  • the 2014-15 wolf season, which includes adjustments that would close the hunting and trapping season in Wolf Management Units 313 and 316 within 12 hours of the harvests quotas there being reached. These WMUs border Yellowstone National Park. The proposal also includes reducing the harvest quota in WMU 313 from four to three wolves.
  • to offer the opportunity to trap wolves via a drawing on three western Montana wildlife management areas, including the Blackfoot-Clearwater, Fish Creek and Mount Haggin WMAs.
  • a statewide annual quota of 100 wolves taken under a new state law that provides for landowners to take wolves without a license that are a potential threat to human safety, livestock or pets.

Read more . . .

FWP approves rule allowing landowner take of up to 100 wolves

Environmental Issues, News, ,

The Montana FWP Commission approved a new regulation allowing landowners to kill wolves is they pose a “potential threat” . . .

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission last week approved a measure that would allow private landowners, even if they don’t hold a wolf license, to kill up to 100 wolves per year if they pose a “potential threat to human safety, livestock or domestic dogs.”

The wolf take is separate and in addition to any quota or general harvest associated with the wolf hunting and trapping season.

The commission also made few changes to the wolf season for next year, including reducing the wolf harvest in a management unit near Yellowstone National Park from the current quota of four to three.

How much impact the new regulation will have in Northwest Montana remains to be seen…

Read more . . .

Forest Service approves Bullock’s forest restoration picks

Environmental Issues, News,

As expected, the U.S. Forest Service has approved Gov. Bullock’s forest restoration proposal . . .

The Forest Service has approved Gov. Steve Bullock’s forest restoration proposal for federal lands across Montana.

Bullock recently nominated about 5 million acres of timberlands across the state, including several regions in the Flathead for more logging and other forest management under the recently passed Farm Bill.

The eligible lands are located in the Swan River watershed, the southern end of the Whitefish Range and the Tally Lake Ranger District.

Read more . . .

Researchers start another round of grizzly bear trapping

Environmental Issues, News,

It must be spring. Biologists have begun grizzly capture operations in Northwest Montana . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and tribal wildlife managers have begun trapping bears in Northwest Montana.

The trapping is part of a population monitoring study of grizzly bears that involves seasonal scientific capture operations in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

The study of grizzly bear distribution and population trends is vital to ongoing recovery of grizzlies, according to FWP officials.

Read more . . .

Grizzly makes fatal slip above Sun Road

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A fatal fall from a steep, snow covered slope claimed one of Glacier Park’s grizzly bears . . .

A dead grizzly bear was discovered along the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park on May 22, according to park officials.

At approximately 10 a.m., a member of the park road crew was traveling down the Going-to-the-Sun Road when he came upon a dead grizzly bear located on the road about one mile above The Loop.

An initial investigation by the National Park Service indicated that the bear probably fell onto the road from a steep snowbank between 9-10 a.m. on May 22, according to the park. Plow crew members had traveled up the Sun Road at approximately 9 a.m. and saw no bear.

Read more . . .

100-wolf quota for Montana landowners in the works

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The rules allowing Montana landowners to shoot wolves posing a “potential threat” are loosening up . . .

Montana landowners could kill a combined 100 gray wolves annually if the predators are perceived to pose a threat to humans or domestic animals, according to a rule that received initial backing from state wildlife commissioners Thursday.

The proposal significantly expands the circumstances under which wolves can be killed without a hunting license.

The Montana Legislature passed a measure last year requiring the change. The legislation didn’t define what qualifies as a “potential threat” so the Fish and Wildlife Commission didn’t detail it either, spokesman Ron Aasheim said.

Read more . . .

Update on Glacier Park’s North Fork

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Oliver Meister posted a very useful update on the North Fork Hostel’s blog describing current conditions in Glacier Park’s North Fork area (with photos!) . . .

Glacier National Park swung two gates open yesterday morning;

– One will get you full access to everything Bowman.

– the other will get you as far south as Logging Creek along the Inside NF Road.

The Bowman CG remains in primitive status ($10/night) until the water gets turned on Thursday ($15/night). The lake water is “up”.

Expect 3+ miles of post-holing snow along the Quartz Loop. The last two miles of the Numa LO Trail will also grant you a post-holing experience. The Logging Creek Trail is in pretty good condition. Bowman Head, Quartz, Lower Quartz, Logging Foot and Adair can all be placed in summer status. Grace is still under snow.

Read more . . .

U.S. Forest Service expands tanker fleet

Fire Information and Status, News, , ,

Well, this is encouraging. The Forest Service managed to scrape up some more firefighting aircraft this year. Even more would be better, but . . .

As the Obama administration pushes Congress to ensure that enough money is available to fight destructive wildfires, the U.S. Forest Service announced Tuesday it was adding four aircraft to its firefighting fleet ahead of what’s expected to be another hot, dry summer in the West.

In a statement, the service said it will have a second DC10 and three smaller planes in service in the coming weeks to support over 10,000 firefighters “in the face of what is shaping up to be a catastrophic fire season in the southwest.”

The Forest Service expects to exceed this year’s budget in July, two months before this fiscal year ends. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack discussed 2015 budget proposals by the administration Tuesday in Colorado, where deadly fires in 2012 and 2013 destroyed hundreds of homes.

Read more . . .

Montana FWP to propose sage grouse hunt closure

Environmental Issues, News, ,

With the sage grouse population in decline, Montana will stop hunting them . . .

With preliminary results from Montana’s spring surveys showing a continued population decline of the state’s largest native upland game bird, wildlife officials will seek to close sage grouse hunting for the 2014 season.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will propose the season closure at the Fish & Wildlife Commission meeting in Fort Peck, Thursday, May 22.

Jeff Hagener, FWP director in Helena, said state biologists counted an average of 14.9 males per sage grouse strutting ground, or lek, last year and noted that preliminary indications show little or no improvement this year. Last year’s count was the lowest recorded since 1980…

Read more . . .

Glacier National Park hosting two community meetings this month

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Glacier Park is doing its usual early season series of community meetings. Here’s the official press release . . .

Glacier National Park is hosting two community meetings to share information about park activities and provide an opportunity for personal dialogue between park leadership and local community members and neighbors. The first meeting will take place Wednesday, May 28, 5:30-7 p.m. at the Teakettle Community Hall in Columbia Falls and a second meeting will be Thursday, May 29, 5:30-7 p.m. at the Summit Medical Fitness Center in Kalispell.

The format of the meeting will include presentations by Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow and other park leadership team members. Following the presentations, there will be a question and answer period and opportunity for informal conversations.

Topics of presentation and discussion will include rehabilitation of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, spring plowing and snow removal operations, Going-to-the-Sun Road Corridor Management Plan and related human-goat interaction studies, and upcoming 100th anniversaries of park facilities and the National Park Service. Community members are encouraged to attend and learn more about what’s happening at the park.