From the Flathead Beacon . . .
According to Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry, Dupont suffered a heart attack and died Monday morning.
Dupont began his term as commissioner for District 1 in January 2009.
More details will be available later on Monday, Curry said.
Here are a few nuggets kicked up over the past few days . . .
Proposal to release roadless, wilderness study areas gains backers, opponents
A proposed bill to release federal roadless and wilderness study areas to local management and development is gathering lengthy lists of supporters and opponents, even though it’s stalled in Congress . . .
Flathead Lake biological station examines netting, cascading effects
How would Flathead Lake’s complex food web and ecology change if an aggressive netting project started removing 140,000 lake trout every year?
That is considered an important question that has yet to be answered, but it is a subject being addressed in a study being conducted for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes as part of an environmental review for a proposed lake trout netting project on the lake . . .
Wolverine spotted at Whitefish ski resort
A handful of skiers had the rare opportunity to see a wolverine Monday on the front side of Big Mountain.
The sightings later were confirmed by tracks and scat found around a deer carcass . . .
Efforts to extend Waterton Lakes National Park westward to increase protection of the Canadian Flathead are gaining momentum . . .
On a map, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park resembles a slightly-misshapen topographic pizza with a big slice missing.
This week, three leading ecologists with varied backgrounds converged on Whitefish to explain why extending national park protections to that missing piece – which represents a 100,000-acre chunk of Canadian wilderness – is critical to preserving one of the most intact aquatic ecosystems in North America.
The transboundary Flathead River, which on the Montana side is known as the North Fork, is the ecologically potent “Garden of Eden” that straddles the U.S.-Canada border, extending from the Flathead Valley to southeast British Columbia. And while conservationists agree that the region is one of the best protected watersheds in the United States, the missing pie piece north of the border remains independent of Waterton Lakes National Park.
From today’s Missoulian . . .
A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit from conservation groups that want to block wolf hunting and trapping that have killed more than 500 of the predators across the Northern Rockies in recent months.
The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress had the right to intervene when it stripped protections from wolves last spring.
The wolf population has remained stable at that “other” park the last couple of years . . .
Yellowstone National Park officials say the park’s wolf population has stabilized at about 100 wolves over the last two years.
Officials tell the Billings Gazette that represents about a 60 percent reduction from 2007 wolf numbers as elk populations have also declined.
Not exactly startling news, but it’s nice to have official word that high country snow levels are just about back to normal . . .
After a slow start in the last months of 2011, Montana’s snowpack has mostly caught up to historical averages around the state.
The month of February dealt above average snow for the second consecutive month, while increasing snowpack in all major basins, according to snowpack data released this week by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Statewide, snowpack was at 95 percent of average as of March 1. As of Feb. 1, snowpack was at 90 percent of average.
It’s official. According to a note I just received from the folks at the Polebridge Mercantile, the “Merc” is scheduled to reopen, as expected, on May 1st . . .
We are getting anxious to bake you sweet things, float the river and see all of you once again! We are reopening and taking cabin reservations starting Tuesday, May 1st. See you then!
From today’s Missoulian . . .
Montana acreage ranks high on President Barack Obama’s wish list for 2013 landscape conservation initiatives, including possible additions to Glacier National Park, conservation easements in the Blackfoot Valley and the Rocky Mountain Front, and completion of the Montana Legacy Project.
“The fact this has risen to this level, with a White House conference last week, is really important,” said Greg Neudecker, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff member and vice chairman of the Blackfoot Challenge. “The president and secretary of Interior were very complimentary of what folks in the Crown of the Continent have been doing here. It’s great to see them latching on to community conservation.”
Ovando rancher Jim Stone visited with Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Friday at the White House Conservation Conference in Washington, D.C. The meeting grew out of the president’s new America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, which kicked off last year in Ovando before going nationwide.
Larry reports on the recent North Valley Search and Rescue winter training session . . .
Recently, North Valley Search and Rescue held their annual winter training at the Wilson and Ogle cabins. This year, more than 40 members took part in the Saturday training, and “sleep-overs” were held at Wilsons, Ogles, Hoilands and Braunigs. In addition, local residents help out as role players, and we invite others to just visit and learn a little about what we do.
Wide-area mock searches have been more that a little limited in recent years due to Forest Service closure of most public land in the area. This is the result of a behind-closed-doors agreement between the Forest Service, Montana Snowmobilers Association and the Montana Wilderness Association. I guess each of those three got all or part of what they wanted and were willing to give the old raspberry to anyone or everyone else.
Nevertheless, the training was valuable, covering fire building and shelter building as well as map, compass, GPS introduction. Big event was a mock search involving vehicles, ATV and snowmachines. Purpose is to practice actual procedures used in a real search.
This week’s Hungry Horse News has a couple of articles discussing funding worries for Glacier National Park. Short version: Park superintendent Chas Cartwright is clearly expecting additional cuts, whereas Sen. Jon Tester is striking a more optimistic pose — at least as far as road repair money is concerned.