Category Archives: News

Easement established to protect grizzly bear habitat in North Fork

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

The Vital Ground Foundation has secured a 160-acre conservation easement in the North Fork Valley, just a little ways north of Columbia Falls.

Here’s the lead-in from the official press release . . .

The Vital Ground Foundation announced today that it has secured a 160-acre conservation easement in the North Fork Flathead Valley of northwestern Montana, roughly five air miles southwest of Glacier National Park. The property is located between the Whitefish Range to the west and the Livingston Range to the east. A conservation easement is a perpetual agreement between a landowner and a land trust that limits future development of the land in order to protect its conservation values.

Focused on protecting habitat specific to the needs of the threatened grizzly bear, the Cedar Creek Conservation Easement is Vital Ground’s first project in this corner of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem (NCDE). As development pressures from the growing community of Columbia Falls push into more remote and wild areas like the protected property, the easement will ensure the permanent protection of the property’s wildlife, riparian and open space values.

Read the entire press release . . .

UN scientists urge stop to mining near Glacier National Park

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Today’s Missoulian has more information on the report by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee scientific mission regarding threats to Waterton-Glacier Park . . .

An international team of UNESCO scientists has recommended a moratorium on mining north of Glacier National Park, a conclusion that echoes the longstanding sentiment of locals on both sides of the border.

“Their conclusions were very sweeping,” said Stephen Morris, “in that there is no possibility whatsoever of proceeding with mining in the Canadian Flathead without having substantial impacts on the World Heritage Site.”

Read the entire article . . .

UN world heritage team report recommends moratorium on Flathead mining

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Although not yet officially published, the report of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee scientific mission sent last September to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier Park is in circulation.

The Associated Press broke the story . . .

U.N. scientists have recommended a moratorium on mining in British Columbia’s Flathead Valley and the creation of a conservation plan for the remote region spanning the United States-Canada border, a U.S. official said Thursday.

Several companies have announced plans to extract coal, natural gas and gold within the Canadian stretch of the valley, which is near Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park and Montana’s Glacier National Park.

But the call for curbs on mining is likely to increase international pressure on Canada to put those plans on hold.

Read the entire article . . .

Tester’s “wilderness bill” far from a sure thing

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Today’s Missoulian has a pretty good status report — with video, no less —  on Senator Jon Tester’s proposed Forest Jobs and Recreation Act.

Here’s the lead-in . . .

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act awaits committee action in Washington, D.C., but back home his fellow Montanans are busy pushing and pulling at the proposed wilderness set-asides and logging mandates.

Read the entire article . . .

Practical politics: Rehberg stance on Tester’s “wilderness bill” a concern

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Watching Senator Jon Tester’s “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act” make its way through the system is a real lesson in practical politics. It made it past the initial, more or less pro forma hearings in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Now, Congressman Denny Rehberg is getting into the act with a series of “listening sessions” around Montana.

An AP article by Matthew Brown posted today offers a good overview of the situation with Rehberg and some interesting analysis. Here’s the money quote:

As Rehberg tours the state this week to gauge public support for the measure, observers say where the Republican comes down could either help seal Tester’s biggest legislative achievement since his 2006 election — or put up a major roadblock to the bill’s success.

Read the entire article . . .

Year-end review of Montana’s first wolf hunt

Environmental Issues, News,

The Missoulian has a good year-end review of Montana’s first wolf hunt.

Here are a few tidbits culled from the article…

The wolf hunt accounted for just over a third of the wolves killed during the past year. Poaching, “control actions” and other events accounted for the rest.

Eleven wolves were taken in Flathead County, the highest single-county total. This includes the two killed legally in the “North Fork Sub-unit.” Overall, three-quarters of the harvest came from seven counties.

Montana FWP must have kept fairly detailed statistics. For instance, the article states that, although most of the wolves killed were healthy, two had a slight case of mange, one had fleas, another had porcupine quills in its shoulder and two reportedly had hernias. (Huh? Hernias?)

For more, read the full write-up . . .

A decade of big fires

Fire Information and Status, News

The Daily Inter Lake has traditionally made a real effort to stay on top of fire season news. Today, they posted a retrospective of the biggest fire seasons of the last decade, all of which, especially the 2001 and 2003 blow-ups, had a big impact on the North Fork.

Here are the links . . .

‘Mega-fires’ change landscape

2001: The year Moose Fire roared for 71,000 acres

2003 a monster year for fires

2007 fires scorched more than 400,000 acres

Ninth World Wildlife Congress addresses Transboundary Flathead threats

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Here’s an item your friendly web-weenie meant to post earlier. Alas, the press of business sometimes interferes with such things…

The resource development threats to the Canadian Flathead, and the Trans-boundary Flathead in general, have become a bit of a cause célèbre. Enough so, that they were a significant point of concern at the 9th World Wilderness Congress (“Wild9”) held in Merida, Mexico last month. The World Wilderness Congress is not some annual meet-and-greet; it’s a major international event. The one in Merida was only the ninth such meeting since 1977.

Two items from Wild9 are of particular interest to efforts to protect the Transboundary Flathead.

The first is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on “Cooperation for Wilderness Conservation between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.” According to an announcement sent out by Dave Hadden of Headwaters Montana, “The MOU establishes a voluntary framework for cooperation and coordination of parks and wilderness areas important for conserving wildlife of all three nations. Further, the MOU establishes a fresh, new benchmark for transboundary cooperation and provides an excellent opportunity for Canada and the U.S. to apply the principals of the MOU to finding a solution the Transboundary Flathead.” National Geographic has a good write-up on the provisions of the MOU.

Wild9 delegates also passed a resolution targeted specifically at the Canadian Flathead. Again, letting Dave do most of the work: “Wild 9 delegates unanimously passed ‘Resolution 5‘ calling for ‘the Governments of Canada and British Columbia to take action for the protection of the Flathead River Valley and wildlife connectivity in Canada’s Southern Rocky Mountains’.”

Winter road closures in effect at Glacier Park

News,

It’s official. As of yesterday, most roads in Glacier Park are closed to motorized travel until the snow comes off in the spring. For North Forkers, this means that Camas Road is closed, so no cutting through the park for the next few months.

For more details, including information on road closures, winter entrance fees and procedures, and winter camping and backcountry access, see the press release.

Check the latest road conditions by visiting the park’s Road Status Page.