Category Archives: News

Government releases wildfire strategy aimed at protecting sage grouse

Environmental Issues, News,

The feds have developed a wildfire strategy they hope will help protect sage grouse . . .

A federal wildfire strategy released Tuesday aims to protect the West’s sagebrush country that is home to a struggling bird species and to help prevent the sage grouse from being classified as threatened or endangered later this year.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell was in Boise to announce the plan making greater sage grouse habitat a priority for fire prevention and response, focusing mainly on the Great Basin region of Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and California.

The plan comes as the federal government and Western states scramble to implement plans meant to halt the decline of sage grouse populations and habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is under a court order to decide by Sept. 30 whether the sage grouse merits protections from the Endangered Species Act.

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Motorists hauling watercraft must stop at AIS inspection stations

Environmental Issues, News,

Montana really doesn’t want folks importing aquatic invasive species. From the official press release . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks officials reminded private and commercial boaters yesterday that state law requires all motorists hauling watercraft—from trailers with motorboats or inflatable rafts to canoes and kayaks perched atop cars and pick-up trucks—to stop at inspection stations.

The annual education and enforcement effort, which this year includes multiple chances to win prizes from an array of local sponsors, is to further curb the risk of aquatic invasive species from attaining a foothold in Montana waters.

Seventeen well-marked inspection stations will again be in operation beginning Thursday, May 21 through September at key border crossings, along major highways, and on heavily used water bodies. Motorists who stop will have their equipment checked—and cleaned if needed—and get information on how to enter a raffle for prizes to be awarded throughout the boating season.

Montana law requires private motorists and outfitters and guides hauling watercraft—including motorboats, sailboats, kayaks, canoes, rowboats, rafts, jet skis and even small kick boats popular among some anglers—to always stop at AIS watercraft inspection stations for a brief interview and equipment check. Most inspections take fewer than five minutes but failure to stop could lead to a $135 fine.

Last year, nearly 35,000 watercraft were inspected at Montana’s roadside stations. A total of 54 motorboats and three non-motorized watercrafts were found to have been fouled by zebra mussels and other AIS contaminants and hundreds more contained standing water or noninvasive vegetation.

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Flathead Forest Forest Plan Revision receives more than 19,000 comments

Environmental Issues, News,

Joe Kreuger and his staff at the Flathead National Forest have got their work cut out for them. The proposed Forest Plan triggered a lot of feedback . . .

The Flathead National Forest received over 19,000 public comment submissions for its proposed revision of the forest plan, according to the agency.

Forest officials are still sorting through reams of emails and letters following the May 15 deadline for public comment.

Joe Krueger, project leader and forest planner for the Flathead National Forest, said his team continues to count the number of submissions that were filed and some that were postmarked by last Friday may still be arriving.

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Montana looking at tighter trapping restrictions near Glacier and Yellowstone

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

Montana FWP wants to tighten trapping rules near national parks to protect Canada Lynx . . .

Montana wildlife officials are considering stricter regulations in an effort to reduce the chances of Canada lynx being caught in traps set for other animals outside Glacier and Yellowstone national parks.

The plan presented to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission on Thursday is part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit filed in 2013 by three environmental groups over trapping in the threatened species’ habitat.

Several of the settlement’s statewide restrictions are already in place, but additional changes are needed in special zones near Yellowstone National Park and a wider area outside Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks attorney Aimee Fausser said.

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Montana wishes to cut bobcat quotas

Environmental Issues, News,

Montana FWP wants to cut back on the Bobcat take . . .

Montana wildlife officials are considering cutting bobcat quotas across a broad swath of central and northern Montana.

John Vore of Fish, Wildlife and Parks says agency officials have seen a drop in bobcat numbers in those areas. He attributes the decline to a cyclical population shift, but says the agency doesn’t want to exacerbate the drop through hunting and trapping.

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Kootenai National Forest’s East Reservoir timber sale draws lawsuit

Environmental Issues, News,

The Kootenai National Forest is drawing fire from the Alliance for the Wild Rockies over a large timber sale it has in the works . . .

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies has sued the Kootenai National Forest over a logging project it claims will lose almost $2.6 million in tax dollars.

“The EIS for this logging project is so full of misrepresentations, omissions and egregious violations of a host of federal laws that we really had no choice except to challenge it in court,” said Michael Garrity, the environmental group’s executive director.

“It’s so bad, even the Forest Service had to acknowledge that it was violating its own forest plan, and then sought to illegally amend the forest plan to exempt itself from protecting grizzlies, bull trout and lynx as required by the Endangered Species Act,” he said.

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Also read:

Group Sues to Halt Massive Logging Project in Kootenai National Forest

Big timber project appealed

Chickens and boneyards attract grizzlies

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A good report on discussions of bear attractants at the recent Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem grizzly bear management meeting . . .

Chickens continue to be a problem for bear managers in the Flathead Valley, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear specialist Tim Manley told Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem bear managers last week.

Manley said of the 10 bear complaints he’s responded to so far this spring, nearly all of them involved bears getting into chickens, ducks or both. The most effective way to keep bears out of coops and feed is electric fencing or electric wiring over gates and doors.

He showed a comical video of a grizzly bear attempting to get through the door of a coop with an electric screen over it. The bear was shocked, ran away and never came back. He also showed a video of just how well bears catch chickens — pouncing on chickens like they were salmon and swallowing them just as fast.

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Presentation Monday on wolverines in Glacier National Park

Environmental Issues, News,

From the official press release . . .

The Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center at Glacier National Park is hosting a brown-bag luncheon presentation about wolverines in the park by Dr. John Waller on Monday, May 18, from 12 – 1 p.m. at the park’s community building in West Glacier.

Dr. John Waller is the park’s carnivore ecologist and has been actively seeking to expand knowledge about wolverines in Glacier National Park. Wolverines are one of the least studied animals in the United States. Research indicates that Glacier National Park has the largest reproducing population in the lower 48 states.

The Glacier National Park Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center hosts brown-bag lectures throughout the year. Learn more about the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center at http://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/nature/ccrlc.htm.

Yellowstone to Yukon honors Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for conservation work

Environmental Issues, News,

The Y2Y folks honored the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for their conservation efforts . . .

Members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes received the inaugural Ted Smith award for conservation collaboration at a ceremony Friday.

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative gave the honor to Dale Becker, head biologist for the CSKT Wildlife Management Department. Becker and the tribal government were instrumental in creating a system of wildlife crossings over and under U.S. Highway 93 as it passes through the Flathead Indian Reservation. The award also highlights CSKT’s efforts to create the nation’s first tribally designated wilderness and its support for reintroducing trumpeter swans to historic range

The award commemorates the legacy of Ted Smith, who helped found the Y2Y network of organizations and interested conservationists.

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Ron Wakimoto changed how we think about fire

Environmental Issues, History, News,

Here’s a good write-up on Ron Wakimoto, an eminent fire researcher who has had a big impact on modern wildland fire management . . .

Some fire scientists burn down hillsides. Some burn up whole fire policies.

Ron Wakimoto has done both, developing research that helps save the lives of firefighters and helps return fire to the woods after a half-century of fighting to keep it out. Last week, he wound up more than three decades of teaching fire science at the University of Montana’s School of Forestry.

“Ron has been a leader in terms of teaching, and we wanted the students to be able to hear from an elder,” said Colin Hardy, director of the U.S. Forest Service Fire Sciences Laboratory, just before Wakimoto spoke to the annual Mike and Maybelle Hardy Lecture audience last Thursday. “He taught us we need to think about fire management, not just fire suppression. On the political and management side, it’s about air tankers and people on the ground and big iron – it’s a big show. But among fire managers today, Ron’s speaking to the choir.”

In large part, Wakimoto taught the choir…

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