Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks released end-of-month totals for hunting season so far. The Daily Inter Lake has the story, including the wolf numbers . . .
So far this hunting season, hunters have taken 44 wolves in Montana.
The overall statewide quota is 220 wolves spread across 16 hunting districts.
In Northwest Montana’s six districts, a total of 17 wolves have been harvested; the quota of allowable wolf kills is 71.
From today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
Stretched across a state and two provinces, the Crown of the Continent is one of the last wild places in America and now it is being highlighted in a report by the U.S. Department of Interior promoting the outdoors.
The report, to be released this week, features two prominent projects in each state that reconnect the public with nature. Here in Montana, that includes both the Crown of the Continent – the region encompassing Glacier and Waterton Lakes national parks and surrounding areas all the way south to Missoula – and the Fort Missoula Regional Park.
Posted yesterday evening to the Missoulian (includes a nice map) . . .
U.S. Sen. Max Baucus announced Friday he will sponsor a bill to expand the wilderness on the Rocky Mountain Front, saying the proposal has a good chance of being the first wilderness designation in the state since the early 1980s.
Conservationists who have been working on the Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act for about six years tout the measure as a compromise among varied groups aimed at keeping development and road access on the Front at its current levels. Opponents have said more wilderness designations could hinder access, mineral exploration and ranching operations.
October, as usual, is a big month for bear-human conflict . . .
The busy season for bear management is well under way in Northwest Montana.
Over the past two weeks, Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear conflict biologists have captured and relocated eight grizzly bears from the northeast portion of the Flathead Valley, according to a news release Friday from the state wildlife agency. A ninth was captured in the Yaak.
Three of the grizzly bears were captured north of Columbia Falls; five others were captured east of Montana 206.
A few of our readers have seen the polar bear migration in person. Now, thanks to a grant from the Annenberg Foundation, it is possible to watch it online. [Note: Although it was up yesterday, the web site is broken right now.]
From an AP article posted to the Flathead Beacon site . . .
In the harsh, remote wilds of the Canadian tundra, a wolverine scampers up to a polar bear snoozing near the shore of the Hudson Bay. The bear rises and makes a half-hearted charge, driving away the fierce, badger-like animal.
The brief encounter Thursday was streamed live to computers around the world through a new program that aims to document in real time the annual migration of hundreds of polar bears outside Churchill, Manitoba.
After 10 years of squabbling, the “roadless rule” is back in force. From today’s Missoulian . . .
A decade of uncertainty over managing public roadless lands may have cleared with last Friday’s federal appeals court ruling.
A three-judge panel from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed that a 2001 rule governing inventoried roadless areas was the law of the land. That dovetailed with earlier 9th Circuit Court rulings saying the same thing.
The decisions prohibit road construction and timber cutting in 58.5 million acres of inventoried roadless areas, including 6.4 million acres in Montana. That covers about 30 percent of the national forest system.
Not unexpectedly, the request by a number of environmental groups for an emergency injunction against this year’s wolf hunt was denied . . .
A federal appeals court has turned down an emergency request by wildlife advocates seeking to stop gray wolf hunts underway in the Northern Rockies.
In a ruling Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the emergency injunction sought by three advocacy group but said it would consider the request during oral arguments scheduled for next month.
From today’s Missoulian . . .
A group of wolf advocates have requested an emergency halt to wolf hunting in the Rocky Mountains, one week before the general rifle season begins in Montana.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater and WildEarth Guardians want to return the gray wolf to federal Endangered Species Act protection.
Some pretty interesting news about grizzly bear recovery from today’s Missoulian . . .
An increasing grizzly bear population is expanding east from the Rocky Mountain Front in western Montana as individual bears discover that the plains contain abundant food, a grizzly bear expert says.
Mike Madel of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks said some bears appear to have discovered that food sources are better on the plains than in the mountains. He noted that in the past young bears trying to make it on their own were showing up on the plains, but now there are adult females that are passing their knowledge to their cubs.
Sen. Tester’s Forest Jobs and Restoration Act may be inching towards passage this year. From today’s Missoulian . . .
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Restoration Act is included in the Senate’s Interior Department appropriations bill, giving it a chance of passage in the 2012 federal budget.
The bill provides annual funding for the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Forest Service wildland fire management.
The 183-page bill was released Friday.
For further information, check out Sen. Tester’s Forest Jobs and Restoration Act mini-site.