Category Archives: News

Gold mining threat to North Fork growing

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Uh, oh. It appears the threat of a gold mining operation in the trans-boundary North Fork is growing. From today’s online edition of the Missoulian . . .

Expanded gold exploration north of Glacier National Park has Montana interests worried about downstream environmental and economic impacts.

“The mining company has apparently made a business decision that investment in the Canadian Flathead may bear fruit for them,” said Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association. Hammerquist called the gold exploration “just one more example of an industrial land use that fails to recognize the importance of this area.”

Located about 10 miles north of the Montana border, the mining zone drains south into the North Fork Flathead River. That waterway forms the western edge of Glacier Park before spilling into Flathead Lake.

For decades, the two countries have battled over Canadian coal mining proposals, often pulling the federal governments into the fray.

Read the entire article . . . [link repaired]

Parks could help protect species as climate shifts

Environmental Issues, News,

From today’s online edition of the Missoulian . . .

The country’s national parks – iconic cultural emblems for millions – could hold the key for species protections in a warming world, according to a report released Monday.

“This is a unique moment in time,” said Tom Kiernan, “to leverage the power of America’s national parks for change.”

Read the entire article . . . [link repaired]

Interior Chief and other pols to visit North Fork

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Looks like Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, as well as both of Montana’s Senators will be visiting the North Fork today. There’s the story from the Missoulian . . .

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will travel into the remote North Fork Flathead River Valley on Tuesday, a watershed long threatened by mining proposals from the Canadian north.

He will be accompanied by Montana’s Democratic U.S. senators, Jon Tester and Max Baucus.

Read the entire story . . . [link repaired]

Wilderness debate heats up

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Here’s an interesting article in today’s Missoulian discussing the renewed debate over designation and expansion of wilderness areas . . .

For more than three decades, millions of Montana federal acres have been de facto wilderness.

Over the past few weeks, those slumbering lands have been shoved back into the spotlight. And last Wednesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared the nation’s 40 million acres of “inventoried roadless lands” were properly protected by a 2001 Clinton administration prohibition on development.

But the 10th Circuit Court in Wyoming is deliberating on a mirror-reverse case, where a lower-court judge has declared the Clinton rule is wrong. That would leave standing a subsequent Bush administration rule allowing states to make their own rules governing federal roadless land.

And in between, Sen. Jon Tester’s proposed Forest Jobs and Recreation Act might open 1 million acres of Montana roadless land to logging, according to some of its critics.

Read the entire article . . . [link repaired]

Time for peace in the Flathead Valley

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Today’s Vancouver Sun has a first-rate article — with photos and video, no less — concerning the often contentious issues surrounding preservation of the Canadian Flathead Valley. Very nicely done. Recommended reading.

Here’s the lede . . .

GRIZZLY WIDE PASS — No one knows for sure when humans first discovered this impossible place.

Perhaps it happened on a warm summer evening like this one, an awe-struck group of backcountry travellers watching the mountain goats brave an amphitheatre of sheer rock atop southeastern B.C.’s Flathead Valley.

Read the entire article . . .

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 . . .