Kate Kendall, Glacier Park grizzly bear biologist, is retiring the end of this month . . .
Kate Kendall laid the groundwork for modern grizzly bear population studies in northwest Montana and, with a career that spanned 35 years, pioneered a brave new path for women in a male-dominated field.
The U.S. Geological Survey scientist at Glacier National Park will retire at the end of May…
Montana, Idaho and Wyoming officials don’t think wolverines need federal “threatened species” protection . . .
State officials in the Northern Rockies on Monday lined up against a federal proposal to give new protections to the carnivorous wolverine, as climate change threatens to melt the species’ snowy mountain strongholds.
A pending U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal would declare the rare, elusive animal a threatened species across the Lower 48 states.
That could end trapping for the ferocious member of the weasel family sometimes called the “mountain devil.” And it would pave the way for Colorado to reintroduce wolverines in portions of the southern Rocky Mountains as part of a strategy to bolster their numbers ahead of future declines.
A couple of guys found a new species of Indian paintbrush a few years ago while hiking in the Scapegoat Wilderness . . .
When Pete Lesica and Dave Hanna get their boots on the ground, they like to keep their eyes there, too.
“I do botany as a hobby and as a living. I’m kind of a nerd and am a little obsessive,” Lesica said with a laugh. “I look at the ground all of the time.”
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks is proposing a longer wolf hunt and higher kill limits for next season . . .
Montana wildlife commissioners may extend the hunting season for wolves and the number of predators that can be killed by a hunter or trapper.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks is proposing a rifle season from Sept. 15 to March 31. Last year, the season began Oct. 15 and ended Feb. 15, resulting in 128 wolves killed by rifle and bow hunters. Trappers took an additional 97 wolves, for a total of 225 predators killed. That is the highest number killed in Montana since federal protections for wolves were lifted for Idaho and Montana in 2011.
The agency also is proposing allowing hunters and trappers to take up to five wolves each, the Independent Record reported Wednesday.
In a long-overdue change, starting July 1, Montana’s state parks will be overseen by a dedicated commission, independent of the fish and wildlife commission . . .
Montana’s state parks will be overseen by a board dedicated to parks and recreation issues under a law signed Monday that will divide the duties of the former Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission.
During a signing ceremony at Pictograph Cave State Park near Billings, which boasts Native American rock art dating to the time when Cleopatra ruled Egypt, Gov. Steve Bullock said the five-member commission will improve efforts to care for natural and historic areas that he described as crucial to preserving Montana’s outdoor heritage.
A current grizzly bear diet study is an important factor in determine whether to continue federal protections . . .
Researchers say a study on Yellowstone ecosystem grizzly bear diets should be completed this October.
The study will help determine whether managers will recommend ending federal protections for the species.
The U.S. Department of Interior has posted a draft rule proposing to remove federal wolf protections . . .
Federal wildlife officials have drafted plans to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that could end a decades-long recovery effort that has restored the animals but only in parts of their historic range.
The draft U.S. Department of Interior rule obtained by The Associated Press contends the roughly 6,000 wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species’ extinction. The agency says having gray wolves elsewhere — such as the West Coast, parts of New England and elsewhere in the Rockies — is unnecessary for their long-term survival. A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections, as a distinct subspecies of the gray wolf.
Sen Max Baucus begins a serious push to gain passage of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act . . .
Two days after announcing his retirement and, in doing so, promising a full-court press to protect some of Montana’s most pristine places, U.S. Sen. Max Baucus testified before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to promote the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, a bill that would permanently protect the American side of the North Fork watershed from new energy development.
Baucus, a six-term Democrat, announced Tuesday he will not seek re-election in 2014, and vowed to serve out the final year and a half of his term focused on accomplishing legislative priorities that would protect Montana’s scenic gems, and “double down” on passage of the North Fork bill and designation of new wilderness along the Rocky Mountain Front.
Some folks are getting fussed about how a new Forest Service budgeting process could impact backcountry trails work. Region 1, which includes the Flathead National Forest, is one of the regions trying out this approach . . .
A U.S. Forest Service cleanup program repaired or removed more than 1,000 of roads and trails in Montana over a recent five-year period. Now its advocates worry a new budgeting process could squelch that momentum…
But that momentum could be lost under a new budgeting system the Forest Service let some of its regions try. Missoula-headquartered Region 1 is one of the pilot sites for Integrated Resource Restoration budgeting, which combines money from five task-related budget pools into single buckets defined by landscapes or watersheds.
Glacier Park plans a prescribed burn on Big Prairie sometime within the next month . . .
A prescribed fire project is planned in the North Fork area of Glacier National Park, roughly four miles northwest of Polebridge, in the next month, according to park officials.
Park crews plan to burn roughly 175 acres in the Big Prairie area, depending on weather and fuel conditions, according to a news release.