Category Archives: News

Scores of wildlife biologists criticize Holland Lake Lodge proposed expansion

The Holland Lake Lodge project continues to draw fire. You’ll see some familiar names in the signature block . . .

Holland Lake Lodge

United States Forest Service
Swan Lake Ranger District
Attn: Shelli Mavor (Holland Lake Lodge)
200 Ranger Station Road
Bigfork, Montana 59911

Re: 1950 (0110): Proposed Holland Lake Lodge Facility Expansion

To: Flathead National Forest Supervisor Kurtis Steele,

Commercialization of wildlife habitat on public lands for corporate profit is wrong

We are 38 Montana professional wildlife biologists and habitat managers with a total of 1,196 years of experience who have served as university faculty, commissioners on the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, or as professional agency staff with the U. S. Forest Service; Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks; U.S. Geological Survey; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. National Park Service; and Tribal wildlife agencies.

An “adventure lifestyle” corporation, POWDR Inc., has proposed to expand Holland Lake Lodge, which operates on public land via a USFS special use permit. This proposal is apparently fully supported by the Flathead Forest Supervisor who said: “Improvements at the Holland Lake Lodge and the East Holland Lake Connector Trailhead would offer the opportunity to satisfy some of the increased demand for outdoor recreation on public lands in the Swan and Flathead Valleys.” This project will not “satisfy increased demand for outdoor recreation” but instead will massively increase demand with many negative impacts of outdoor recreation in prime grizzly bear and lynx habitat.

Continue reading Scores of wildlife biologists criticize Holland Lake Lodge proposed expansion

Judge reinstates drilling lease in Badger-Two Medicine

Badger-Two Medicine Region
Badger-Two Medicine Region

The zombie case that just won’t die…

A federal judge on Friday reinstated the last remaining drilling lease on land in the Badger-Two Medicine region near the Blackfeet Reservation, renewing the threat of industrialization on lands held sacred to the tribe even as its cultural leaders pledge to continue their fight.

“It’s just more of the same from people who refuse to consult with the Blackfeet Nation about the industrialization of our last cultural refuge,” John Murray, the Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, said in a prepared statement. “We’ve lived under this kind of reckless threat to our sacred lands for decades, and we will never surrender to roads and drill rigs in the Badger-Two Medicine.”

The long-disputed energy lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area flanking Glacier National Park was canceled in 2016 under then-U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court in 2020.

Continue reading . . .

Keeping it wild: how mules help preserve the last untamed places in the US

Chinese Wall - Bob Marshall Wilderness
Chinese Wall – Bob Marshall Wilderness

Here’s an excellent article centered on the Bob Marshal Wilderness. NFPA founding member Frank Vitale gets more than just a passing mention.

(And there’s even a link back to this website. See if you can find it.) . . .

Here’s a partial list of things you cannot, under any circumstances, take into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, in Montana: chainsaws, mountain bikes, ATVs, tractors, wheelbarrows. If it has gears, it stays home. If it’s mechanical in any way, it’s a no-go.

Those are the rules deemed necessary to protect the United States’ 803 federally designated wilderness areas. The Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, with its 1,849 miles of trails, happens to be one of the biggest.

The Bob, as it is affectionately called by Montanans, is home to wolves, grizzlies, elk, moose and mountain lions. The pristine territory is more than 1.5m acres, roughly eight times the size of New York City. And thanks to the 1964 Wilderness Act, it is not crossed by a single road. Drones and bush planes are also, today, strictly forbidden.

But here’s what you can take along for the ride instead: the humble mule.

Continue reading . . .

New Study Shows Risks of Moving Grizzlies

Trail camera in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem shows a sow grizzly and two cubs at a hair corral site used to collect DNA samples - Wayne Kasworth, USFWS
Trail camera in the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem shows a sow grizzly and two cubs at a hair corral site used to collect DNA samples – Wayne Kasworth, USFWS

Looks like the success rate for relocating grizzlies is not very encouraging . . .

Moving grizzly bears is no easy task. It’s far better to let them move themselves.

That’s the takeaway from a new study published in The Wildlife Society’s Journal of Wildlife Management. The investigation analyzes 40 years of grizzly translocation events performed in Alberta, Canada. It determines that out of 110 attempts, just 33 translocations—or 30 percent—succeeded.

That conclusion supports some long-established foundations for our work here at Vital Ground. Wildlife managers use translocation both to remove problem bears from an area and to bolster recovering grizzly populations. In either case, the new research demonstrates that relocating bears is far from a cure-all.

Continue reading . . .

Great article on the NFPA’s 40th!

NFPA LogoChris Peterson of the Hungry Horse News wrote a great article on the History of the North Fork Preservation Association on the occasion of its 40th anniversary . . .

The year was 1982. The Canadians were eyeing lopping off the top of a mountain just north of Glacier National Park for the Cabin Creek coal mine.

The results for the North Fork of the Flathead River would have been wide-reaching and deleterious for the Park and the river.

So a few like-minded North Forkers got together and decided to fight the mine…

Read more . . .

Reminder: NFPA Annual Meeting & 40th Anniversary July 23 at Sondreson Hall!

NFPA Annual Meeting & 40th Anniversary!

July 23, 2022, at Sondreson Community Hall
Whale Creek Bridge & North Fork Road

Sondreson Hall, circa 2010

Our speaker this year is Sally Thompson who co-wrote People Before the Park: The Kootenai and Blackfeet before Glacier National Park, a detailed review of the indigenous peoples that inhabited the Glacier area before it became a National Park

We would love for you to be among our honored guests.

5:30pm:           Delicious indigenous meal catered by Qene’s Catering

6:45pm:           Short business meeting to elect officers and members of the Board of
Directors and report on the work of NFPA

7:30pm:           Speaker

We are excited to spend an evening with all of you, share with you what we’ve been up to, and look forward to a great presentation.

Bear Resistant Containers Available for Loan or Purchase

Grizzly trying to open Kodiak Can
Grizzly trying to open Kodiak Can

NFPA/Polebridge Bear Smart is offering Kodiak brand 96 gallon bear resistant garbage containers for loan or purchase at a reduced price. This opportunity is being made to the Polebridge community with the help of grants and private donations.

Purchase price per canister is $300.
Canister Loan Program fee is on an able-to-pay basis.

Kodiak Can

Cans are available now! Please contact Suzanne Hildner sdhildner@icloud.com or (406) 253-3263 to purchase or rent.

Help the Polebridge Community be BEAR SMART!!

The North Fork Preservation Association together with Humanities Montana hosts a Montana Conversation: “An Inconvenient Grizzly” with Greg Smith

Sow grizzly bear spotted near Camas Creek in northwestern Montana. - Montana FWP
Sow grizzly bear spotted near Camas Creek in northwestern Montana. – Montana FWP

The North Fork Preservation Association hosts Montana Conversation “An Inconvenient Grizzly” with Greg Smith on July 4th at 3:00pm. The program is being presented at Home Ranch Bottoms 8950 North Fork Road. The presentation is free and open to the public. Funding for Montana Conversations is provided by Humanities Montana through grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Montana’s Cultural Trust, and private donations.

Humans have been on the North American scene for an estimated 30,000 to 15,000years. Our arrival was preceded by the grizzly bear by perhaps 20,000 years – who would cross the same tenuous landscape bridge, arriving in North America some50,000 to 60,000 years ago. It is estimated that by the time of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, upwards of 5,000 to 10,000 grizzly bears roamed the American West. The settlement period of the West would see a dramatic decline in grizzly bear numbers and a corresponding decrease in available habitat. Now, as New West meets Old West,grizzly bear numbers are a focal point of concern and contention. Join Smith in biological, cultural, and philosophical look at the grizzly bear in contemporary Montana.

Greg Smith lives in Bozeman and was a Ranger Naturalist and Back-country Ranger in Glacier National Park for nearly 20 years. A longtime believer in the power of education,Smith now works with kids and adults as a storyteller, naturalist and historian. In his spare time, Greg enjoys trail running, backpacking, Nordic skiing and traveling the world on his bike.

For more information, please contact Flannery Freund at (406) 888-5572.

Chuck Jonkel’s mementos burgled

Chuck Jonkel
Chuck Jonkel

Arrgh!!! . . .

Burglars looted the late grizzly researcher Chuck Jonkel’s Missoula home twice last week, stealing not only historic bear memorabilia but current wildlife research files.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks bear manager Jamie Jonkel, Chuck Jonkel’s son, discovered the break-in on Monday at the home near the base of Mount Sentinel. The thieves had apparently spent hours rooting around in the house, taking the senior Jonkel’s collections of bear pins and jewelry, rare coins and stamps, spotting scopes, and other personal items. They also took several things belonging to Jamie Jonkel, including his FWP work computer and a sack full of thumb-drives loaded with photos and videos of grizzly management activity.

Read more . . .

‘Smarter than the Average Bear’ – Polebridge Bear Smart Program makes the news

Monica with three cubs, June 8, 2020 – W. K. Walker
Monica with three cubs, June 8, 2020 – W. K. Walker

This summer’s second Polebridge Bear Smart Program training session made the news! Here’s a very nice article by Tristan Scott just published in the Flathead Beacon . . .

The sun was just peeking out from behind the Livingston Range last Thursday morning when Northwest Montana’s leading grizzly bear management specialist arrived at the site, but it was already too late. Beer and soda cans littered the patio outside the Northern Lights Saloon in Polebridge. Shredded candy bar wrappers and the salty contents of a Lay’s potato chip bag decorated the lawn. An upended trash bin and a flattened rucksack might have been confetti cannons broadcasting the refuse of the prior evening’s festivities.

It resembled a scene straight out of a bear-aware nightmare…

Continue reading . . .