Category Archives: News

Montana snowpack increased through March

News, Snow Conditions,

Montana snowpack is about average most places and continued to accumulate throughout March . . .

There may not be gold in them thar’ hills, but there’s snow.

In fact, even as we creep into spring, the statewide snowpack increased for the third month in a row in March, adding as much as 24 percent to February totals in areas of western Montana.

But don’t go filling sandbags, says Brian Domonkos, water supply specialist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

“Snowpack is really not a driving factor for high stream flows,” says Domonkos, whose agency released its March numbers Friday. “Weather is the driving factor. If we have a cool, dry spring, flooding is not so likely.“

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Snow plowing under way in Glacier National Park

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More information on this year’s snow removal challenges in Glacier Park . . .

The chorus of whirring snowplows in Glacier National Park joined western Montana’s spring interlude this week as crews began the annual work of forging through deep snow along Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Plowing on the 50-mile Sun Road began April 2, according to park spokeswoman Denise Germann. Crews immediately encountered between 12 and 30 inches of snow and up to a half-foot of ice on the first two miles of road beyond Lake McDonald Lodge . . .

“The region around Glacier National Park has definitely been making gains in the last month,” Domonkos said.

Measurement data show that as of April 1, basin totals for the entire North Fork of the Flathead River are 111 percent of average . . .

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U.S. Forest Service to purchase and restore lands

Environmental Issues, News, ,

The U.S. Forest Service is spending money on several land acquisition projects, including two in Montana . . .

The Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the U.S. Forest Service will dedicate $40.6 million for land acquisition projects in 15 states including Montana in an effort to help safeguard clean water, recreational access and wildlife habitat and wilderness areas.

The money is made available through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, created by Congress in 1964 to provide funding to federal, state and local governments to purchase land, water and wetlands. The fund receives the majority of its money through royalty payments from offshore oil and gas revenues to mitigate the environmental impacts of those activities, the DOA said. Those funds also are augmented by additional money or in-kind services of a variety of partnerships.

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Snow plows get started on Going-to-the-Sun Road

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Glacier National Park is starting to dig out from under the past season’s snowfall . . .

Glacier National Park snow plows started churning their way through snow on Going-to-the-Sun Road this week.

Plows on the west side reached just beyond the Avalanche Creek area to the Red Rock slide.

Plows encountered 12 to 30 inches of snow on their path from Lake McDonald Lodge.

The road surface from the lodge to Avalanche remains covered with 2 to 6 inches of ice, while Camas and Fish Creek roads have 1 to 4 inches of ice . . .

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Annual Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex public meeting scheduled for April 14

News,

From today’s Flathead Beacon . . .

The annual public meeting about the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is scheduled for April 14 at the Seeley Lake Community Hall.

The public is being encouraged to attend and meet the National Forest Wilderness Managers and state Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff.

“This year is the 25th year that we will be collecting monitoring-data based on public participation and partnerships in managing the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and the wilderness plan,” Deb Mucklow, BMWC lead district ranger, said in a statement . . .

For more information about the public meeting, contact the Spotted Bear Ranger District at (406) 387-3800.

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“It’s time to pull in the bird feeders and secure the trash”

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

The bears are off to an early start this year . . .

Bears are stirring earlier than usual and have already resumed behavior that led to a record number of captures last year.

Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks recently relocated a 535-pound male grizzly bear that killed seven calves in four nights near Lincoln. The local FWP office has also been receiving reports of bear sightings near Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

The reemergence of bears has led to a campaign by wildlife officials reminding residents to clean up attractants that increase the likelihood of conflicts.

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Award-winning short documentary profiles Thoma Lookout

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A well-regarded documentary about Thoma Lookout is gaining press coverage. Additional information is available on the film’s Facebook page . . .

New York filmmaker Brian Bolster was backpacking through Glacier National Park when he came across a fire lookout. The solitary day-to-day lives of people living perched atop mountains, scanning the horizon for wildfires, intrigued Bolster. The result is a 16-minute award-winning documentary, titled “The Lookout.” Bolster spent six days and five nights single-handedly filming Leif Haugen, a fire lookout for the Flathead National Forest, as he performs his daily duties at the Thoma Lookout in the North Fork area near the Canadian Border.

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Giving the North Fork Patrol their due

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We got a note the other day from Mark and Margaret Heaphy who are, respectively, the Chairman and Secretary/Treasurer of the North Fork Patrol, the people who will, on request, help keep an eye on landowner property.

The North Fork Patrol has a small problem. Since the North Fork Landowners’ Association doesn’t send out a fall newsletter anymore (it only sends out one in the springtime), folks have tended to forget to contribute to the North Fork Patrol. Although you don’t need to be an NFLA member to have property “patrolled,” the newsletter served as a reminder and also as a signup form for the patrol.

So, if you desire the services of the North Fork Patrol, the Heaphys are encouraging you to sign up at any time. (Now would be a good time.) If you are an NFLA member, you can use the form in the Spring newsletter. The sign-up form is also available on the NFLA website. Payment is good for one year from when paid, regardless of when that is. If there are any questions about your current status on the patrol or when you last paid, please contact Margaret Heaphy.

For those of you not familiar with the North Fork Patrol, here’s the official description from the NFLA website: “The North Fork Patrol, with the written permission of a landowner, will check a property for evidence of trespass, illegal entry or poaching. All suspected illegal activity will be reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency . . . In addition to checking properties, the patrol offers a reward of up to $500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of someone perpetrating trespass or property damage. A signed application is required to participate.”

Patrol sign-up is only $10, folks — chump change for someone to keep an eye on your place if you’re not around. And, in case you missed it the first time, you can grab a sign-up form here.

Opinions decidedly mixed on new U.S. Forest Service planning rule

Environmental Issues, News,

The Missoulian takes on the thankless task of summarizing the new Forest Service planning rule . . .

The U.S. Forest Service’s recently released planning rule could turn the agency into a more efficient decisionmaker or create a department of perpetual planning, depending on who you listen to.

“We are ready to start a new era of planning that takes less time, costs less money and provides stronger protections for our lands and water,” Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said in an email announcing the final version of the rule. “This new rule will bring 21st century thinking to a process that is sorely needed to protect and preserve our 193 million acres of amazing forests and grasslands.”

Critics have been equally expansive. Andy Stahl of the Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics predicted the process “would die of its own weight.”

“Anyone who thinks this rule will make forest plans quicker to develop is naive,” Stahl said . . .

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Researcher says bear spray stops angry grizzlies better than guns

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

More evidence in support of bear spray. Also, read to the end to find our very own Frank Vitale’s bear spray story.

Bear spray doesn’t supply “brains in a can” to survive a grizzly attack, but it appears to work a lot better than spraying bullets.

That’s the conclusion researchers presented to more than 300 bear experts at the Fourth International Human-Bear Conflict Workshop in Missoula last week.

University of Calgary bear expert Steve Herrero was involved in two separate studies that looked at the effectiveness of bear spray and firearms in bear attacks . . .

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