From today’s Missoulian, here’s a good overview of the current status of Sen. Jon Tester’s proposed Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. Short version: Still stuck in committee because of debate over the logging mandate . . .
The first questioner at Sen. Jon Tester’s Monday public forum in Missoula wanted to know how the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act was coming along.
Here’s a good overview from today’s Missoulian of the trade-offs involved with two recent federal court rulings concerning wolf and grizzly bear management. Chris Servheen’s comments regarding the potential negative impact on grizzly bear recovery are particularly interesting . . .
Wolves and bears don’t behave well in courtrooms.
But the two big predators are likely to spend the next 18 months there as their advocates and enemies try to untangle them from the federal Endangered Species Act.
Last week, Montana wildlife managers decided to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy’s Aug. 5 decision placing the gray wolf back under federal protection. Meanwhile, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials in Missoula appealed another Molloy ruling that prevented state management of Yellowstone ecosystem grizzly bears.
It’s that time again. Here’s a good overview from today’s Flathead Beacon on dealing with noxious weeds, especially knapweed . . .
As the summer weather begins to wane and most guests head home, a rather unwelcome visitor makes its presence known in the Flathead Valley. Knapweed is in full bloom, and officials say the valley is approaching the best time to attack them.
“It’s definitely that time of year,” Flathead County Weed Control and Parks and Recreation Director Jed Fisher said. “Most noxious weeds are going to seed right now.”
From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .
The Flathead County Planning Board last week recommended limiting the size of extractive industries in the North Fork, but took pains to disassociate itself from a much-publicized memorandum of understanding between Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell.
That memorandum, signed earlier this year, calls for a ban on mining in the North Fork of the Flathead River in the United States and Canada.
Current county regulations require extractive industries in the North Fork Zoning District be of a “small scale,” but it is undefined and has not been implemented.
The board’s recommendation, which will be considered by the county commissioners, would limit extractive industries to five acres in size and allow no more than 20,000 tons of material to be removed each year. Those limits parallel limits set out in the Canadian-U.S. agreement.
As many of you know, July 31st was Chuck Jonkel Night …er, uh… the NFPA Annual Meeting at Sondreson Hall. We had a great pot luck dinner and, following the business meeting and elections and such, hosted an excellent talk by Charles Jonkel, one the world’s preeminent bear researchers (more about him here).
Chuck, as usual, drew a big crowd. We also presented him with a surprise birthday cake to celebrate his recent 80th birthday . . .
Chuck is on the right; John Frederick, NFPA President, is on the left. It was excellent cake!
Here’s an interesting article from the past week’s Hungry Horse News . . .
A deal to permanently protect the North Fork of the Flathead could come soon, Montana Sen. Jon Tester said last week.
“Maybe as soon as September we could get an agreement that is binding,” Tester said in a conference call with reporters last Thursday.
From yesterday’s Daily Inter Lake . . .
A diverse group of people and organizations who care about the Crown of the Continent are working with The University of Montana Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Policy to organize a conference that will celebrate and build upon the region’s remarkable natural and cultural heritage.
The two-day conference – “Remarkable Beyond Borders: Shaping the Future of the Crown of the Continent” – is open to anyone interested in the past, present and future of the region. It will take place Thursday and Friday, Sept. 23-24, at the Bayshore Inn, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta.
Conference web site: http://crownroundtable.org/2010Conference.html
From today’s Missoulian (we *ahem* covered this four days ago) . . .
The smoke we’re seeing in western Montana is coming from wildfires in British Columbia
Bridget DeRosa of the National Weather Service in Missoula said that while it was hazy in the Missoula and Bitterroot valleys, visibility was still more than 10 miles on Saturday. But it was reduced to 6 miles in the Flathead Valley around Kalispell.
Posted early this morning to the Missoulian’s website . . .
A measure that would ban federal-land mining along Glacier National Park’s western edge has passed a major Senate hurdle, and has been expanded to provide water-quality protections for nearby communities…
…the bill banning future federal mine leases has been expanded from its original to include the watershed upstream of Whitefish Lake, the nearby Haskill Basin drainage, and the wild and scenic Middle Fork Flathead corridor.
From the Associated Press . . .
Montana’s U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester announced today that their federal legislation to protect the Upper Flathead Valley has cleared a major hurdle.