Smoke plume from Thompson Fire August 9, 2015 – Rachel Jenkins photo
Chris Peterson of the Hungry Horse News gets the prize for best coverage of the Thompson Fire this morning . . .
A wildfire fire in the southern backcountry of Glacier National Park put up an impressive plume Sunday, forcing the closure of several backcountry campgrounds in the potential path of the blaze.
The Thompson Creek Fire was roughly 500 acres and is burning west of the Upper Nyack Creek campground. Thompson Creek is about 14 miles north of U.S. Highway 2 one of the most remote areas of Glacier. The fire currently does not threaten any roads, but at least two hikers were airlifted safely from the blaze.
But fire has the potential at burn into the Cut Bank Pass area. Temperatures are expected to be in the 90s for the next few days with gusty winds as thunderstorms roll through.
Smoke plume from Thompson Fire looking up Harrison Creek, August 9, 2015 – Rachel Jenkins photo
An evening update on Glacier Park’s Thompson Fire . . .
A wildfire reported in the Thompson Creek drainage area in Glacier National Park had grown to an estimated 200 acres by 8 p.m. Sunday.
The fire is located about a mile southeast of Mount Thompson and about eight miles north up Nyack Creek from U.S. 2. A Type 3 team was ordered for the fire.
Ema Braunberger, public affairs officer for the Flathead National Forest, said a helicopter was on the scene and other heavy helicopters were en route.
A new blaze, the Thompson Fire, was reported in Glacier Park a little before 2:00 pm this afternoon. According to the Kalispell Interagency Dispatch Center entry, it is around 200 acres (estimates vary wildly) and two helicopters are already working on-site. A type 3 team has been called in.
The fire is located in Glacier Park’s Thompson Creek drainage, below Mount Thompson and about 12 miles east of Lake McDonald. Thompson Creek is a tributary of Nyack Creek.
Grizzly bear recovery in the Cabinet-Yaak region is proceeding slowly . . .
Despite the robust recovery of grizzly bears in the forested mountains of Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and the surrounding landscape, the great bear’s future across the region remains far from certain.
The recovery zone spanning the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, Yaak River basin and areas in between— about one quarter of the size of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem — has about one 20th of the grizzly population, growing at about half the rate.
The Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear population contained 45 bears in 2012 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last conducted a population estimate. Wayne Kasworm, a grizzly bear biologist for the agency, estimates that population at about 50 today, half of the 100-bear recovery target identified after the population’s 1975 listing as “threatened” under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Trail camera photos confirm that Oregon’s famous wandering wolf, OR-7, has fathered at least two new pups.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist John Stephenson said Thursday that brings to seven the number of wolves in the Rogue pack, which lives on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in the Cascades of southwestern Oregon. That includes three pups from last year.
Biologists had confirmed the second set of pups last July, but didn’t know how many.
The Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center at Glacier National Park is hosting a brown-bag luncheon presentation by graduate student, Wesley Sarmento. The free presentation, “Mass Visitation and Mountain Goats: Ecology and Management of an Alpine Icon,” is Wednesday, August 12, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the park’s community building in West Glacier.
Wildlife habituation at Logan Pass is a priority concern in the new Going-to-the-Sun Road Corridor Management Plan. Sarmento will talk about his research project tracking habituated goats to understand how people influence mountain goat behavior and ecology.
Sarmento has studied wildlife professionally for over seven years and is currently a Master’s student at the University of Montana. As a National Geographic “Young Explorer” he conducted conservation research of the world’s largest wild sheep in Mongolia. His has also conducted wildlife research in Northern Alaska and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
The east side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park is open to vehicle access from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Drivers should drive cautiously and be aware of firefighting activities along the road due to the Reynolds Creek Fire.
Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow said, “In consultation with the incident management team managing the Reynolds Creek Fire, we have opened the east side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road for visitor vehicle travel from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.”
There will be no visitor travel during the evening, night and early morning hours. Mow said, “We believe the night closure is in the best interest of the firefighters working in the area and the visitor. He said access may increase or decrease according to fire activity and safety.
Smoke may be visible and may reduce visibility at times, so visitors are required to drive slowly. Active fire may be visible from the road, and visitors should watch for falling debris such as rocks and tree limbs, as well as fire-weakened trees. Almost 500 hazard trees, fire-weakened trees, have been removed from along the road. If anyone sees or encounters debris or fallen trees on the road, do not attempt to remove it, but please report it to a ranger or closest visitor center.
Firefighters will be working and firefighting equipment will be staged along the road. Visitors will not be able to stop or park along the road or in pullouts between the St. Mary Campground and Siyeh Bend. However, the Rising Sun area will have limited access to concession operations. Siyeh Bend is located approximately one mile east of Logan Pass.
Bicycle travel is not allowed in the fire areas, but cyclists may transport their bikes via the park shuttle system. The park shuttle service will operate as normal, although there will be no shuttle stops in the fire area. The only shuttle stops on the east side at this time will be Rising Sun and Siyeh Bend.
The Glacier Boat Company will resume boat tour operations at Rising Sun. The Rising Sun Camp Store operated by Glacier National Park Lodges will reopen on Saturday, August 8, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. The Rising Sun Motor Inn and the Two Dog Flats Grill will remain closed at this time.
The Rising Sun Campground is anticipated to be closed most of the season.
Road rehabilitation work on the Going-to-the-Sun that was happening before the fire will continue, and visitors may encounter delays.
An alternate to the Going-to-the-Sun Road is U.S. Highway 2 along the southern boundary of the park. Alternate transportation options for traveling the Going-to-the-Sun Road include the park’s free shuttle system or concession-operated interpretive tours with Glacier National Park Lodge’s Red Buses or Sun Tours Cultural Tours.
Access to trails on the east side of the park along the Going-to-the-Sun Road is limited. All trails within the fire perimeter are closed. The Piegan Pass Trail from Siyeh Bend is open for hiking to the north, but not accessible to the south. The Siyeh Pass Trail is only open to Siyeh Pass, and is closed in the Baring Creek. The Gunsight Pass Trail remains closed from the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Gunsight Pass. Trails accessing St. Mary, Virginia, and Baring Creek Falls are closed. Please check the on-line trail status information at http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/hikingthetrails.htm or ask a park ranger at one of the park’s visitor centers.
The feds have until August 17 to make a decision on a suspended old lease in the Badger-Two Medicine region . . .
A federal judge has had enough in a longstanding delay on a Louisiana’s oilman’s attempt to explore the Badger-Two Medicine region for oil and gas.
On July 27, U.S. Disitrict Court Judge Richard Leon gave the U.S. Department of Interior 21 days to come up with a resolution on the decision whether to lift a lease given to the Solonex Corp. owned by Sidney Longwell near Hall Creek back in 1982.
The leases are just a few miles south of Glacier National Park near Marias Pass in some of the wildest country in the region.
Reynolds Creek Fire Perimeter August 3, 2015 – click for bigger version
Reynolds Creek Fire crews are starting to give priority to getting the eastern section of Going-to-the-Sun-Road re-opened . . .
Glacier Park Superintendent Jeff Mow said Wednesday that he expects the east side of the Going-the-Sun Road will open soon to vehicle traffic. “It should open easily within a week, unless something dramatic changes,” he said.
The road was closed from Logan Pass to St. Mary on July 21 due to the Reynolds Creek Fire. But firefighters now have the fire nearly 70 percent contained and firefighting efforts have centered on the road corridor itself, as crews continue to remove hundreds of hazard trees and hit hot spots along the highway.
The fire burned very hot along some sections of the highway. The fire, by western standards, isn’t very big — about 4,000 acres, but its influence was largely along an eight-mile stretch of the highway, from roughly Deadwood Falls to Two Dog Creek.
