The University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station is holding an open house on Tuesday, August 2, from 1 to 5 p.m. The open house includes several hands-on activities, demonstration boat trips on the Jessie B and a number of new research displays, including one on “North Fork Conservation.” See their flyer or check out their web site for more details.
Category Archives: News
Headwaters Montana looking for volunteers to help “complete the park”
From a newsletter sent out yesterday by Headwaters Montana . . .
We need your help. Do you have just one day this summer to spend at spectacular Logan Pass to help complete the world’s first Peace Park: Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park?
Last summer Headwaters Montana sponsored volunteers at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park to collect signed post cards from visitors who support doubling the size of Waterton Lakes National Park into the Flathead Valley in British Columbia (see map here). Volunteers collected the names of over 3,000 supporters last summer alone. The campaign to ‘Complete the Park’ and ‘Protect the Flathead’ now has well over 10,000 visible and vocal supporters.
Each supporter, like you, adds to the mounting inevitability of expanding Waterton Park. And while we already enjoy a super majority of supporters in south-east British Columbia and across the international boundary in Montana, we need to continue to build support to push this effort over the finish line.
We can achieve a breakthrough in the next year with your help.
Continue reading Headwaters Montana looking for volunteers to help “complete the park”
In a weed stomping mood? Now’s the time
If you are concerned about invasive plant species — noxious weeds — there are plenty of opportunities to do something about it within the next few weeks.
The North Fork Landowners’ Association has two “weed roundup” events scheduled. The first, on Tuesday, July 26, will concentrate on the area from the border to Ford Station; the second, Friday, August 19, will work from Ford to Polebridge. See the NFLA online calendar for details.
Glacier Park is also kicking off their second annual Noxious Weed Blitz on Thursday, July 28th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the West Glacier Community Building. You get training on weed identification, surveying and mapping. You also get a free lunch out of the deal. Here’s the core part of the press release announcing the event:
Participants will spend the morning learning how to identify five targeted invasive plant species. After lunch attendants will learn how to conduct invasive plant surveys and map the locations of invasive plants using GPS units. Attending the Blitz will give you the option to continue as a citizen scientist weed warrior during future hikes. The event is free and open to all ages. Lunch will be provided for those who sign up for the event. Please bring gloves for hand pulling weeds, footwear for hiking, and drinking water. To sign up or to find out about other invasive plant opportunities, please contact the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center at (406) 888-7986 or glac_citizen_science@nps.gov.
Read the full press release for more details.
Wolf management pioneer Carolyn Sime leaving Montana FWP
From yesterday’s Missoulian . . .
Carolyn Sime, a pioneer in wolf management in Montana, is leaving her job with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in order to pursue a law degree.
“After 10 years of late-night phone calls, ranch meetings and 20 years of game check stations, I’m ready to try something new,” Sime said this week. “But I leave with some really, really fond memories of the relationships we’ve made and the work toward finding common ground, having open dialogues and civil discussions.”
For more than a decade, Sime was in the epicenter of the wolf management controversy…
Larry Wilson: North Fork threat level still secret
In this week’s column, Larry Wilson covers a broad range of topics, including the Border Patrol’s seemingly excessive secrecy about their operations . . .
It has been another action-packed, fun-filled week on the North Fork, with community service, educational, informative and just plain fun social events. The biggest gathering was for the interlocal meeting, which I would call informative and educational.
For several years, the Border Patrol has been asked about the threat level on the North Fork and whether or not arrests have been made here and, if so, for what offense. The Border Patrol’s reply is that they can tell us arrests have been made but they cannot provide details or inform us about the threat level.
I can understand not being informed about the threat level – that might fluctuate from day to day subject to nationwide possibilities. I don’t understand why we cannot be told about North Fork arrests and what the violations were. Even assuming continuing investigation of a particular event, they could give us details of 2008-2010 arrests. We would then know what to watch for and could even aid the Border Patrol with information.
Logan Pass opening worth the wait
From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .
Larry Leger and Sharon Knight, of Louisiana, came up Glacier National Park on a tour of the West. With the Going-to-the-Sun Road closed over Logan Pass at the time, they decided to extend their stay, traveling to Canada and then Yellowstone National Park.
“We delayed our departure by three days,” Leger said. “It was worth it. This is impressive.”
Leger was standing next to the Big Drift on the Going-to-the-Sun Road when it opened to vehicles July 13. A hundred feet of snow towered behind him.
NFPA annual meeting features bylaw changes, well-known speaker
The North Fork Preservation Association Annual Meeting is coming up soon — Saturday, July 30 — with some significant administrative changes to discuss and a very interesting presentation in the queue.
At the January board of directors meeting it was decided to add two new board member positions (an increase from nine to eleven) as a way of introducing new blood without losing board experience. This is a change to the bylaws requiring a vote of the members at the annual meeting on July 30th. Volunteers wanted. If you would like to be on the board or know someone who should be on the board, please let us know.
This year’s featured speaker is Charlie Russell, the son of famed Albertan outfitter/writer Andy Russell. Charlie, besides writing several earlier books on grizzly bears, is also famous for adopting three orphaned cubs from a Russian zoo that were destined to die because they were outgrowing their cage. These were the first of many orphaned grizzly cubs that Charlie taught to live in the wilds of a very remote part of Russia. He has a book and a DVD, Grizzly Heart, telling about his successes in living with the bears in Russia. The premise he wanted to prove was that grizzly bears are not naturally aggressive and mean, but may become so if their only experience with humans is always aggressiveness and meanness towards them.
The annual meeting will be held on Saturday, July 30 at Sondreson Hall. The potluck starts at 5:00 p.m. with the business meeting and elections beginning at around 6:30 p.m. Charlie’s talk begins at 7:30 p.m.
Wolverine, other animals jump to top of endangered review list with recent agreement
Here’s an excellent article by Rob Chaney posted to today’s Missoulian. Recommended reading . . .
In part because they’re so good at evading biologists, Montana’s elusive wolverines nearly escaped a bureaucratic roundup – and a chance at earning federal Endangered Species Act protection.
Now they’re at the top of the “to-do” list.
Larry Wilson: American flags and automatic bear traps
Larry Wilson covers two big events of the past week: The annual Polebridge Fourth of July Parade and the Bear Fair, both of which were rousing successes . . .
What a great week on the North Fork. The Fourth of July parade was a big success, with some resident-created floats, lots of American flags and handsome kids on unicycles leading the whole thing…
Also this week was the Bear Fair in beautiful downtown Polebridge, which was funded in part by a Forest Service Resource Advisory Committee grant…
Montana sets quota of 220 wolves for Fall hunt
From an AP article posted in today’s Flathead Beacon . . .
Hunters will be able to shoot as many as 220 gray wolves in Montana this fall under rules adopted Thursday by state wildlife commissioners.
The hunt is scheduled to begin in early September and is expected to reduce the predator’s Montana population by about 25 percent to 425 wolves.
A wolf hunt is also planned in Idaho, where officials have not proposed statewide harvest targets or quotas.
Wolves were taken off the endangered species list in an unprecedented move by Congress this spring in Montana, Idaho and parts of Utah, Washington and Oregon.