Category Archives: News

Energy companies and environmentalists agree on fracking standards

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The voluntary fracking standards just established for the Northeast will likely have a “halo effect” on fracking elsewhere in the country. In fact, this may very well have been a factor in Anschutz Exploration’s recent decision to halt exploratory drilling on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation just east of the Continental Divide . . .

Some of the nation’s biggest oil and gas companies have made peace with environmentalists, agreeing to a voluntary set of tough new standards for fracking in the Northeast that could lead to a major expansion of drilling.

The program announced Wednesday [March 20] will work a lot like Underwriters Laboratories, which puts its familiar UL seal of approval on electrical appliances that meet its standards.

In this case, drilling and pipeline companies will be encouraged to submit to an independent review of their operations. If they are found to be abiding by a list of stringent measures to protect the air and water from pollution, they will receive the blessing of the new Pittsburgh-based Center for Sustainable Shale Development, created by environmentalists and the energy industry.

Many of the new standards appear to be stricter than state and federal regulations.

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Erin Sexton honored for efforts to protect the Flathead Valley watershed

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The Hungry Horse news posted some nice, additional coverage on Erin Sexton and her well-deserved award for her work over the last decade to protect the transboundary Flathead Valley . . .

Erin Sexton, long recognized for her work in protecting rivers in Montana, likes to point out that the Flathead River is literally in her backyard.

“I can see the Middle Fork from my home in Hungry Horse,” she points out.

The research scientist at the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station recently was awarded the 2012 Conservation Achievement Award by the Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. Organized in 1870, AFS is the oldest professional society in North America dealing with natural resources.

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Delay in lynx recovery plan draws lawsuit

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A group of environmental organizations want the feds to pick up the pace a bit on Lynx-related matters . . .

Thirteen years after the government listed Canada lynx as a threatened species, wildlife advocates on Thursday asked a federal judge to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to finish its long-awaited recovery plan for the snow-loving wild cats.

Four groups represented by the Western Environmental Law Center allege the long delay on the part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violates federal law.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Montana, they asked the court to set a date for the government to adopt a “road map” that would detail what’s needed for lynx to recover.

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Report recommends park in Canadian Flathead, other protections

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The Wildlife Conservation Society Canada just issued a report making several recommendations to protect the Southern Canadian Rockies, including the Flathead Valley. Besides a new provincial park and a set of wildlife management areas, the report also encourages wilderness designations on the U.S. side of the border . . .

A new report from the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCS Canada) creates a conservation strategy that will promote wildlife resiliency in the Southern Canadian Rockies to the future impacts of climate change and road use. The report’s “safe passages and safe havens” were informed in part by an assessment of six iconic species — bull trout, westslope cutthroat trout, grizzly bears, wolverines, mountain goats and bighorn sheep — five of which were ranked as highly vulnerable to projected changes.

Nestled between Glacier National Park in Montana and Banff National Park in Canada, the Southern Canadian Rockies (SCR) has been overshadowed by these towering icons of mountain splendour. Yet this southern section contains spectacular landscapes, supports one of the most diverse communities of carnivores and hoofed mammals in North America, and is a stronghold for the six vulnerable species that have been vanquished in much of their former range further south…

Weaver recommends a portfolio of conservation lands including a ‘Southern Canadian Rockies Wildlife Management Area’ (WMA) that would conserve 66% of key habitats on 54% of its land base. The WMA designation would emphasize fish and wildlife values while allowing other responsible land uses. The trans-border Flathead River basin adjacent to Waterton Lakes-Glacier National International Peace Parks also merits very strong conservation consideration, says Weaver, due to its remarkable biological diversity. He endorses a new National or Provincial Park on the B.C. side and Wilderness areas on the Montana side.

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Additional reading:

Full “Safe Haven…” report, courtesy Dr. John Weaver

Extract from report listing North Fork recommendations

More aggressive aquatic invasive species program taking shape

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Montana is getting ready to be much more aggressive in its fight against aquatic invasive species . . .

A revamped and more aggressive approach to prevent aquatic invasive species from proliferating in Montana has quietly been taking shape in Helena, but it soon will get a higher profile in the Legislature.

A draft bill has been the focus of a joint subcommittee on natural resources that would firmly establish Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks as the lead agency in a boat inspection program and provide additional funding to carry out the overall mission of combating invasive species such as zebra and quagga mussels as well as Eurasian watermilfoil. These species have wreaked expensive havoc in other states, most recently invading waters in the Southwest.

Mark Aagenes, conservation director for Montana Trout Unlimited, said the new approach came about as the result of meetings with a wide variety of conservation groups and state agencies. That led to proposals to Gov. Steve Bullock’s office and then to the subcommitee’s draft bill, Aagenes said.

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Chadwick interview: ‘Keeping the Wolverine Wild’

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Last month, the inimitable Doug Chadwick gave an interview on Wolverines to Jessica Knoblauch, content producer at Earthjustice. As always with Doug Chadwick, it was interesting stuff. The conversation is available as a podcast or in transcript. Here’s the lead-in and link to the interview . . .

Doug Chadwick is a wildlife biologist and journalist for National Geographic. As a volunteer for the Glacier National Park Wolverine Project, Doug helped researchers track wolverines, fierce members of the weasel family who regularly face down grizzly bears and eat entire bones for dinner. Despite their ferocity, both climate change and trapping threaten the wolverines’ existence.

Continue to “Keeping the Wolverine Wild” . . .

British Columbia criticized for foot-dragging on World Heritage Committee recommendations

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A coalition of Canadian environmental groups is not happy with the progress shown by British Columbia and the Canadian federal government on implementing U.N. World Heritage Committee recommendations for the protection of the Elk and Flathead valleys . . .

B.C. Government Ignores World Heritage Committee Recommendations for Flathead and Elk Valleys

The B.C. and federal governments have failed to act on World Heritage Committee recommendations aimed at protecting a globally-significant wildlife corridor that includes the Flathead River Valley, conservation groups said today.

“The World Heritage Committee was very clear about the need to secure this important connection for wildlife,” said Wildsight Executive Director John Bergenske. “Yet new mines are planned for the Elk Valley without a full cumulative effects analysis–at the same time as the Auditor General warns that B.C. is failing to protect biodiversity.”

In a report card released today, the third anniversary of the Flathead energy and mining ban announced in February 2010, conservation groups assess progress on five detailed recommendations made by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

The recommendations speak to the need for: a single conservation and wildlife management plan; prioritizing natural ecological values and wildlife conservation; a long-term moratorium on mining in southeastern B.C to ensure wildlife connectivity; improved coordination between the governments of B.C. and Montana, and; expanding Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park into part of the Flathead.

The report card concludes that the B.C. government has failed to comply with most of these key recommendations. It also points to a federally-owned coal block in the Flathead that is exempt from the B.C. ban on mining.

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Wolf hunt totals up in Montana, down in Idaho

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It looks like the final numbers are now in for the Montana and Idaho wolf hunts. Montana, which added a trapping season this year, is up by about a third. Curiously, Idaho’s totals are down quite a bit.

Here are the stories . . .

Wolf Hunt Ends with 36 Percent Increase Over Last Season – Flathead Beacon

Idaho officials report 245 wolves killed this season, down from 379 – Missoulian

Oregon ‘wolf safe’ zone gets mixed reviews

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Oregon has had a ban on killing wolves since September 2011 . . .

As long as wolves have been making their comeback, biologists and ranchers have had a decidedly Old West option for dealing with those that develop a taste for beef: Shoot to kill. But for the past year, Oregon has been a “wolf-safe” zone, with ranchers turning to more modern, nonlethal ways to protect livestock.

While the number of wolves roaming the state has gone up, livestock kills haven’t — and now conservation groups are hoping Oregon can serve as a model for other Western states working to return the predator to the wild.

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Erin Sexton wins conservation award for Flathead River Basin work

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Erin Sexton won an award for her work over the last decade to protect the transboundary Flathead Valley . . .

Earlier this month University of Montana Research Scientist Erin Sexton was awarded the 2012 Conservation Achievement Award for her work in developing a long-term solution in protecting the Flathead Basin ecosystem.

The Montana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society presented the highly coveted award to Sexton at its Feb. 7 annual meeting.

Sexton served as the transboundary coordinator for the state of Montana and is a research scientist at UM’s Flathead Lake Biological Station. During the past 10 years, Sexton has been a leader in protecting the international Flathead River for generations to come.

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