Category Archives: News

Wolf protections expected to be lifted by congress

Environmental Issues, News, , , , , ,

A pretty good AP article posted to today’s Flathead Beacon . . .

An attachment to a federal budget bill needed to avert a government shutdown would take gray wolves off the endangered species list across most of the Northern Rockies.

Wildlife advocates conceded Tuesday the wolf provision was all but certain to remain in the spending bill after efforts to remove it failed. Congress faces a tight deadline on a budget plan already months overdue, and the rider has bipartisan support.

It orders the Obama administration to lift protections for wolves within 60 days in five Western states.

Protections would remain intact in Wyoming, at least for now.

Continue reading . . .

Wolf delisting almost certain to be passed by congress

Environmental Issues, News, , , , , ,

It now looks very likely that wolves will be removed from the Endangered Species List. Late last night, Senators Tester and Baucus successfully placed a rider in the “must pass” budget bill that restores the 2009 U.S. Fish and Wildlife rule returning management of gray wolves to state-level control in Montana and Idaho. The rider also prevents judicial review of that rule.

In other words, it looks like there will be wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana this year.

Here’s the actual text of the rider, as posted to Sen. Jon Tester’s web site:

SEC. 1713. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the order and judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09–CV–118J and 09–CV–138J on November 18, 2010.

‘Wolfer’ author to discuss hunting predators, appreciation for reintroduction

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Yeah, I know, another wolf post. But this one is a little different, not to mention pretty interesting . . .

Carter Niemeyer didn’t set out to become an expert on wolves.

For the first 26 years of his career, the author of “Wolfer, A Memoir” was the man behind the gun who killed predators that threatened livestock.

This week, Niemeyer will tell that part of his story in appearances around Missoula.

He’ll also let people know how he learned to appreciate the need to bring wolves back to the American West.

Continue reading . . .

With wolf settlement dead, wolf advocates rush to keep federal protections intact

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

Wildlife advocates are scrambling to remove from the federal budget bill a provision that would lift protections for gray wolves in Montana and Idaho.

John Motsinger with Defenders of Wildlife said Monday his group would continue to fight the provision “until it’s a done deal.” But time is running out, with final language for the bill expected to be released Monday.

Continue reading . . .

Judge Molloy rejects settlement to lift wolf protections in Montana and Idaho

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

This is not a huge surprise. Molloy refused to budge from his previous position that the Endangered Species Act does not provide for a staged withdrawal of protections based on political boundaries . . .

A federal judge has denied a proposed settlement agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 10 conservation groups that would have lifted endangered species protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula on Saturday rejected the agreement that could have led to public hunting of some 1,300 wolves in the two states.

In the 24-page decision, Molloy cited the court’s lack of authority to put part of an endangered species population under state management and expose that population to hunting, noting, “Congress has clearly determined that animals on the ESA must be protected as such,” and the court couldn’t “exercise its discretion to allow what Congress forbids.”

He also said he couldn’t approve the settlement proposed in March because not all the parties involved in the case agreed with it. Part of the argument for the settlement was that it could end litigation, but Molloy noted that was unlikely given the opposition by some to the proposed settlement.

Continue reading . . .

Pending U.S. budget bill includes language to lift wolf protections in Montana and Idaho

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

From an AP article posted to the Missoulian’s online site . . .

Gray wolves in Montana and Idaho would be taken off the endangered list under the budget bill pending before Congress, two Western lawmakers said.

Inclusion of the language to lift protections for wolves was confirmed by the offices of Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson on Saturday.

Continue reading . . .

Montana snowpack above average; streamflows expected to be double last year

Flood Information, News,

Here are some up-to-date numbers on snowpack and expected stream runoff from today’s Missoulian . . .

Snowpack across the state of Montana remains above average, and spring runoff flows should be nearly twice what they were last spring.

Snowpack numbers statewide show 120 percent of average, and a whopping 185 percent of last year’s paltry snowpack . . .

Columbia River drainages – Kootenai, Flathead, Clark Fork and Bitterroot – range from 107 percent of average snowpack to a whopping 129 percent in the Flathead drainage.

Continue reading . . .

Harsh winter hammers county roads

News,

Here’s another one of those obligatory, periodic road pieces.

It will come as no surprise to anyone on the North Fork that winter was pretty hard on local roads. An article in today’s Daily Inter Lake discusses this. It also provides some statistics on this year’s cost-shared dust abatement program . . .

Flathead County roads are in bad shape this spring, the county’s public works director told commissioners Tuesday.

“I’ve never seen it this bad in my career,” Dave Prunty responded when Commissioner Dale Lauman asked him if there is “an extraordinary amount of road breakup this year.”

Continue reading . . .

Larry Wilson: ‘The Road,’ a history

Commentary, News, , ,

This week, Larry Wilson discusses the state of the North Fork Road this mud season and compares it with conditions in past decades . . .

I made two round trips from Trail Creek to Columbia Falls this week and one of my neighbors asked how I fared on the terrible road. My reply was that I thought the road was really good – for the time of year.

How you view the North Fork Road is a matter of perception. If you compare it to Interstate 90 it is always awful. In fact, by comparison, it isn’t a road at all, it’s a nearly impassable ditch.

If you compare it to how it was in 1950 it is greatly improved…

Continue reading . . .