Category Archives: News

Next public meeting on Flathead River Comprehensive Management Plan on May 16

Environmental Issues, News
Elk Crossing North Fork of Flathead River, north of Camas Bridge, March 4, 2016 - Greg Evans
Elk Crossing North Fork of Flathead River, north of Camas Bridge, March 4, 2016 – Greg Evans

The next in a series of meetings on the Flathead River Comprehensive Management Plan is on Wednesday, May 16 at the Heaven’s Peak Room of Cedar Creek Lodge in Columbia Falls from 6 to 8 p.m. . . .

On the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Flathead National Forest, in coordination with Glacier National Park, is seeking public input as it develops a comprehensive management plan for the three forks of the Flathead River.

A series of six public meetings are scheduled over the next six months. The first meeting, on May 16 [actually, the first meeting was in March], will focus on water-quality conditions, management and concerns on the Middle, South and North forks of the Flathead River. It will be held at the Heaven’s Peak Room of Cedar Creek Lodge in Columbia Falls from 6 to 8 p.m.

The meeting will include presentations on current water-quality information, as well as “facilitated discussion on how water quality should be addressed” in the comprehensive river management plan (CRMP), according to the U.S. Forest Service. A brief introductory presentation to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will begin at 5:45 p.m.

Read more . . .

Feds to seek Montana grizzly delisting this fall

Environmental Issues, News,
Grizzly Bear Sow and cubs - NPS photo, Tim Rains
Grizzly Bear Sow and cubs – NPS photo, Tim Rains

The U.S. plans to propose removing Montana’s grizzlies from endangered species act protection this fall . . .

U.S. officials expect to release a proposal this fall that would remove federal protections for grizzly bears in northwestern Montana, home to the largest grizzly population in the Lower 48.

The plan was released Wednesday as part of the U.S. Interior Department’s regulatory agenda for coming months.

An estimated 1,000 bears occupy at least 22,000 square miles in northwestern Montana centered on Glacier National Park.

Read more . . .

UofM survey: Montanans overwhelmingly support public lands

Environmental Issues, News,
Three Types of Public Lands
Three types of public lands: Flathead National Forest is in the foreground, left and right; Montana’s Coal Creek State Forest, including Cyclone Lake, is in the middle distance; Glacier National Park stretches across the background.

No surprises here. A pretty well-designed survey by the University of Montana revealed that people who live in Montana really like their public lands.

But, in a related story, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte say they don’t believe it because “they had the support of local county commissions” for legislation to close down several wilderness study areas (WSA’s). You just can’t make this stuff up.

Anyways, here’s the lead-in for a good article on the survey. A link for the WSA issue follows . . .

The University of Montana 2018 Public Lands Survey showed wide, bipartisan appreciation for the state’s wild places.

“The takeaway for me is, support for policy to protect public land is going up, not down,” said Rick Graetz, director of UM’s Crown of the Continent Greater Yellowstone Initiative, which commissioned the survey. “That’s true on both sides of the aisle. Democrats, Republicans and Independents all see the value of it. That wasn’t true even 10 years ago when we started our program.”

The poll found four out of five Montanans considered public lands an economic benefit to the state, while just 3 percent said their presence hurt the economy.

Read more . . .

Also read: Daines, Gianforte discount poll showing broad support for keeping Wilderness Study Areas (Missoulian)

Flathead Wild and Scenic River water quality meeting May 16th

Environmental Issues, News, , ,
North Fork of the Flathead River - ©Mark LaRowe
North Fork of the Flathead River – ©Mark LaRowe

The next in a series of meetings on developing a comprehensive river management plan for the three forks of the Flathead River is scheduled for May16. It will be held from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, at the at the Heaven’s Peak room in the Cedar Creek Lodge, Columbia Falls.

Here’s the full press release . . .

Flathead Wild and Scenic River: Comprehensive River Management Plan Meeting to Discuss Water Quality

Kalispell, MT. May 3, 2018- The Flathead National Forest, in coordination and partnership with Glacier National Park, is in the process of preparing a comprehensive river management plan (CRMP) for the 3-forks of the Flathead River.

A series of resource-focused public meetings will be held over the next six months, beginning on May 16th. This meeting will focus on water quality conditions, management, and concerns as part of the efforts to develop the CRMP. The meeting will be held at the Heaven’s Peak room in the Cedar Creek Lodge, Columbia Falls, Montana. The meeting will be from 6 pm to 8 pm and include presentations on current water quality information and facilitated discussion on how water quality should be addressed in the CRMP. For those new to the comprehensive river management plan process, an introductory presentation on the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will begin at 5:45 pm. Future meeting topics and a preliminary schedule will be posted on the Flathead National Forest website.

The CRMP will address the current status of the river and the surrounding resources, outline goals and desired conditions, determine user capacity and create a monitoring plan for the next 15 to 20 years. In order to reflect the diverse users of the river and surrounding lands, the public is encouraged to help craft the future management of this designated wild and scenic river to ensure the river and its outstanding resources are maintained and protected.

For more information, please call Flathead National Forest Recreation Program Manager, Chris Prew at 406-758-3538.
Updates on the CRMP can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/flathead/home/?cid=fseprd573051&width=full

Relations between DNRC and Flathead Basin Commission reach a new low

News

Flathead LakeLate last year we observed, “One has to wonder if there’s a connection between the administrative uproar over a pilot program to combat invasive mussels in Flathead Lake and the defunding for supposed budgetary reasons of the organization tasked to oversee the program.”

Since then, relations between the Flathead Basin Commission and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation have reached a new low with the firing — or attempted firing, anyways — of the commission’s executive director. What a mess.

The Missoulian has the story . . .

A simmering dispute between a state agency and a group connected to it, charged with monitoring Flathead Lake’s water quality, has intensified with the dismissal of its executive director for “dishonest, subversive and disruptive” activities — allegations Caryn Miske adamantly denies.

Instead, Miske says she was fired in February “for political reasons and for personality differences” with administrators within the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation as part of a “power struggle” between DNRC and the 23-member Flathead Basin Commission that she formerly headed.

Read more . . .

Last caribou herd in lower 48 ‘functionally extinct’

Environmental Issues, News,
Caribou in Jasper National Park, Canada -Photo by Annie K on Unsplash
Caribou in Jasper National Park, Canada -Photo by Annie K on Unsplash

From the New York Times comes another object lesson on the effects of unbalanced industrial development . . .

The battle to save the so-called gray ghosts — the only herd of caribou in the lower 48 states — has been lost.

A recent aerial survey shows that this international herd of southern mountain caribou, which spends part of its year in the Selkirk Mountains of northern Idaho and Washington near the Canadian border, has dwindled to just three animals and should be considered “functionally extinct,” experts say.

The Selkirk herd had been disappearing for the last several years.

Read more . . .

New U.S. spending bill requires scrutiny of Kootenai Watershed issues

Environmental Issues, News, ,
Kootenai River
Kootenai River

A provision in the recent federal budget bill requires the EPA to get off the dime and work with U.S. and Canadian agencies to do something about mining waste in the Kootenai Watershed . . .

Stemming the flow of dangerous mining contaminants spilling from Canada into the Kootenai River watershed was listed as a priority in the 2,232-page government-spending bill signed by President Donald Trump, marking a hard-won victory for advocates of the endangered river and the communities it supports.

Inclusion of the beleaguered river system in the massive spending bill is another in a recent series of significant steps toward tackling a decade-long problem brewing in the transboundary Kootenai River watershed, where toxic contaminants leaching from upstream Canadian coal mines in the Elk River Valley of British Columbia continue to threaten Montana’s prized aquatic ecosystems.

Spearheading the latest charge to bring attention to the Kootenai is U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, who helped draft the annual budget bill as a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, and who for years has been mounting pressure on the U.S. and B.C. governments to develop a bilateral water quality standard for mining contaminants, including selenium, sulfates and nitrates.

Read more . . .

Hecla Mining challenges its ‘bad actor’ label

Environmental Issues, News,

Hecla Mining wants to dig a couple of mines along the edge of the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Montana wants reimbursed for cleaning up an old mess first. Hecla is challenging this in court . .

An Idaho mining company was due in a Montana courtroom on Thursday to challenge its designation by state officials as an industry “bad actor” because of pollution tied to its CEO.

Hecla Mining Co. wants a judge to block the Montana Department of Environmental Quality from suspending permits for two new silver and copper mines the company has proposed beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, a remote, 147-square mile (380-square kilometer) expanse of glaciated peaks near the Idaho border.

[April 12,] State District Judge Matthew Cuffe scheduled afternoon arguments in the case.

The Coeur d’Alene-based company and its president and CEO, Phillips S. Baker, Jr., were issued violations letters last month because of ongoing pollution at mines operated by Baker’s former employer.

Read more . . .

Prescribed burns scheduled for Flathead Forest this spring

News, ,
Map of 2018 Spring Prescribed Burns - Flathead NF
Map of 2018 Spring Prescribed Burns – Flathead NF

According to this morning’s press release, the Flathead National Forest has a number of prescribed burns scheduled for this spring, weather and circumstances permitting.

Two of these projects are on the North Fork.

The Ninko Cabin Fuels Reduction “targets 3 acres of hand piles associated with fuels reduction adjacent to Ninko cabin along Whale creek road north of Polebridge.”

The Big Creek Administration Site burn “targets 3 acres of hand piles adjacent to the Big Creek learning center facility north of Columbia Falls.”

For more information about these projects, contact the Hungry Horse/Glacier View Ranger District at 406/387-3800.

For specific fire ignition dates and times, follow the forest’s Facebook or Twitter profiles at https://www.facebook.com/discovertheflathead and https://twitter.com/FlatheadNF.

Read the full press release for forest-wide burn project information.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

News

The Flathead Beacon describes a number of events that are planned to observe the 50th anniversary of Wild and Scenic Rivers Act . . .

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and a raft of events and activities are slated to launch this month to observe the milestone of a landmark decision that helped furnish protections on a suite of Montana waterways — the three forks of the Flathead River and the White Cliffs stretch of the Missouri.

Organized in part by Glacier Guides and Glacier Raft Company, which operates near West Glacier, the suite of events to observe the historic Act are well suited for the Flathead River system, where the idea for the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was born as a way to safeguard certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural and recreational values in a free-flowing state for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

The Middle Fork Flathead River originates in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and flows 98 miles to its confluence with the North Fork Flathead River near Columbia Falls. In the 1950s, famed wildlife biologist John Craighead was fighting the proposed Spruce Park Dam, which would have backed the river up 11 miles, writing that wild rivers were a “species close to extinction” and were needed “for recreation and education of future generations.”

Read more . . .