Category Archives: News

Crown of the Continent weed guide available

Environmental Issues, News

Today’s Missoulian has an article about a new publication regarding invasive plant species (i.e., weeds). Beware of one bad pun . . .

Go ahead. Pick the flowers.

And to be sure you’re picking the right ones, the botanists at Glacier National Park have published a brand-new field guide. Several field guides already cover the park’s wilds – guides to mammals and guides to birds, rock guides and track guides and star guides and even an outhouse guide.

But this latest – “Invasive Plants of the Crown of the Continent Field Guide” – is the first of its kind, a window into the wide world of weeds.

Read the entire article . . .

Tester’s forest bill faces challenges

Environmental Issues, News, ,

The Flathead Beacon has a good overview, minus the sound bites and PR-speak, of the challenges faced by Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. Here’s the lede . . .

Jon Tester’s recently introduced Forest Jobs and Recreation Act may be the most significant piece of legislation he has created in his, still relatively short, career in the U.S. Senate.

Read the entire article . . .

Opponents line up for wolf hunt lawsuit

Environmental Issues, News,

As expected, this year’s proposed wolf hunt may produce more lawsuits than dead wolves. Here’s the latest, as posted yesterday on the Flathead Beacon web site . . .

Supporters of proposed public hunts of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies are intervening in a federal court case brought by environmentalists who want to stop the hunts.

The federal government in May removed more than 1,300 wolves in Montana and Idaho from the endangered species list, opening the door to the first hunts in decades. Environmentalists later sued to restore federal oversight.

Read the entire article . . .

Full text of proposed “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act” available

Documents, Environmental Issues, News, , ,

For those of you who prefer your information raw and unfiltered, this page has links to the full text of Sen Jon Tester’s proposed “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act” and to the associated “Proposed Land Designations” map: http://tester.senate.gov/Legislation/forestresources.cfm.

A comfortable chair and beverage of choice recommended prior to reading.

Flathead National Forest to receive improvement funds

News, ,

According to an article in today’s Missoulian, national forests throughout Montana are scheduled to receive a big pot of stimulus fund money for general improvements to infrastructure.

Flathead National Forest is getting money to fix up a number of cabins — finally — and explicit funding for trails maintenance. Here are the applicable bullet points from the article:

– Trail maintenance and reconstruction in the Flathead, Kootenai and Lolo national forests in partnership with the Student Conservation Association and Montana Conservation Corps in Flathead, Lincoln and Sanders counties, $2.995 million.

– Undertake deferred maintenance projects, including replacing roofs, windows, shutters, appliances, propane heaters and floor coverings, in six cabins in the Flathead National Forest in Flathead County, $186,000.

Read the entire article . . .

At Seeley Lake meeting, Tester says he wants wilderness bill hearings by fall

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Sen. Jon Tester’s wilderness bill road show was in Seeley Lake today. The Missoulian posted a report that reveals a few additional tidbits . . .

Flanked by two wilderness areas, miles of mountain trails and millions of trees that could be cut, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester made his pitch Saturday for the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act he introduced in the Senate on Thursday.

It was a hot sell but not a hard one. The thermometer rose steadily toward 90 degrees in the parking lot of the Seeley Lake Historical Museum and Chamber of Commerce barn south of town. Some of the 125 in attendance fanned themselves with “Thank You Sen. Tester” signs.

Read the entire article . . .

[Updated to adjust link.]

Polebridge gets a yurt

News, ,

Housing in Polebridge is nothing if not eclectic — a motley collection of cabins, a few houses, a trailer or two, a couple of tipis and now, a yurt. The Flathead Beacon has the story . . .

Nomads first used yurts as portable homes in the harsh steppes of Central Asia. Now Will Hammerquist uses one as a rental in Polebridge.

Hammerquist, Glacier program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, owns a piece of property with a friend in Polebridge. Over the weekend, he invited a Troy-based company called Shelter Designs to his property to give a public demonstration on how to set up a yurt and answer any questions people had about the circular dwellings. Hammerquist plans to rent out the yurt.

Read the entire story . . .

Excellent local coverage of Tester’s “new-style wilderness bill”

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

The Daily Inter Lake posted a set of well-written articles late last night on Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, including an interesting overview of previous efforts. Looks like Jim Mann had a long, hard day putting all this stuff together.

Here are the links and lead-ins . . .

Tester unveils new-style wilderness bill

Backed by loggers, outfitters, conservationists, hunters and anglers, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., unveiled forest management legislation for the state, with wilderness designations, on Friday in Townsend.

The 80-page Forest Jobs and Recreation Act is largely based on the input of collaborative groups involving diverse interests over the last few years.

Bill includes 25 wilderness areas

The Jobs and Recreation Bill includes 25 new wilderness designations in Montana, many of them small, and Sen. Jon Tester says that is a reflection of how the bill was tailor-made through years of collaborative negotiations.

Williams recalls past wilderness proposal battles

Former Montana Rep. Pat Williams unsuccessfully tried to pass wilderness legislation 16 times during his 18 years in Congress, but he says things have changed since then and Sen. Jon Tester’s proposal stands a better chance.

Tester’s forest plan gets the big reveal

Documents, Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

The Missoulian is all over Senator Jon Tester’s “Forest Jobs and Recreation Act” (mostly called “Tester’s wilderness bill” throughout the week). The big reveal was at a meeting in Townsend Friday afternoon. The Missoulian posted a basic write-up shortly thereafter, followed by two lengthier articles early Saturday morning.

What’s the North Fork connection? The projects in the bill are the thin edge of the wedge. Tester is proposing a fairly basic change in the way the Forest Service works with all local communities.

Here are the links and ledes for the two most recent Missoulian articles, as well as a map showing the areas affected.

The smell of sawdust hung in the air Friday as U.S. Sen. Jon Tester stood in front of a small lumber mill and announced his plans to create almost 700,000 acres of new Montana wilderness, designate a new national recreation area and mandate timber harvests on thousands of forested acres.

Called the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, Tester’s bill is the first effort to set aside new wilderness in Montana in a generation. Most of the new wilderness, more than 500,000 acres, would be in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

Yet most of the talk Friday was about all the other things Tester’s bill would do, specifically requiring timber harvests, directing different kinds of timber removal — like cutting small trees for biomass generators — and creating new kinds of contracts timber companies could make with the federal government.

Read the entire article . . .

Public lands logging would see big changes if U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act becomes law.

That’s either a needed compromise to break deadlocks in Montana’s wilderness debate, or a step toward breaking up the U.S. Forest Service, depending on whom you talk to.

Read the entire article . . .

And also: A map of the proposed land designations in PDF format.