FWS begins report on Canada lynx

Environmental Issues, News,

Here’s a pretty good article on the difficulties faced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in evaluating the status of the Canada lynx . . .

Jim Zelenak has a long winter workload ahead of him.

He has to count a wildcat few people ever see, one that wanders with all the regularity of the Northern Lights, carrying so much legal and political baggage that it’s only now getting a five-year status review first assigned 15 years ago. Zelenak wants to know all we can know about the Canada lynx.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started its formal five-year status review of the predator many people confuse with the more common bobcat. But lynx are bigger (18-20 pounds), more specialized (large paws ideal for hunting in snow) and considerably rarer than the more adaptable bobcat.

And the agency is looking to the public for any available lynx information, according to spokesman Ryan Moehring. That includes potential threats like habitat loss or disease, conservation actions that have improved lynx survival and observed changes in lynx populations. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 1.

Read more . . .

Feds begin review of Canada lynx threats

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Although focused primarily on the Canada lynx situation in Maine, this article offers some useful general observations, as well . . .

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is starting a review of federally protected Canada lynx at a time when the largest population of the cats in the Lower 48 appears to be poised for a decline.

The end of clear-cutting in Maine with the Forest Practices Act of 1989 has allowed forests to fill in, taking away some of the habitat preferred by snowshoe hares upon which lynx feed, potentially reducing populations of both species, said Jim Zelenak, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Montana.

Read more . . .

Roger Semler takes National Park Service wilderness management job

News,

Many of you will remember Roger Semler who was Glacier Park’s Polebridge district ranger several years ago. After a 10-year stint with the state of Montana, he is moving back over to the Park Service to head their wilderness stewardship division . . .

Longtime Montana outdoors ranger and manager Roger Semler has been appointed director of the National Park Service’s wilderness stewardship division in Washington, D.C.

Semler spent the past 10 years with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks as chief of operations for state parks.

Before that, he was the wilderness manager for Glacier National Park and the Polebridge district ranger. He also served at Katmai National Monument, Hawaii Volcano National Park and Gates of the Arctic National Park.

Read more . . .

Wolf reintroduction 20 years later

Environmental Issues, History, News, ,

Has it been only 20 years? . . .

Twenty years after their ancestors were released here in one of the most controversial wildlife projects of the century, wolf howls punctuated the cold winter air Monday to the delight of dozens of wolf watchers…

It was 1995 when the first eight wolves live-trapped in Canada were placed inside fenced enclosures in Yellowstone to acclimate them to the area in hopes they would not immediately bolt back to their homeland – called a soft release…

Read more . . .

Public invited to brown-bag presentation about World Parks Congress

News,

This might be interesting.

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 the recent World Parks Congress on Wednesday, January 21 from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. at the park’s community building in West Glacier.

Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow and US Geological Survey Research Ecologist Dan Fagre will share their experiences from the 2014 IUCN World Parks Congress, held in Sydney, Australia this past fall. Mow and Fagre attended the conference and will present their observations on how Glacier National Park fits into the world of global conservation. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Read more . . .

Bill would take wolves off endangered list in 4 states

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A bill is in the early stages that would take gray wolves off the endangered species list in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Wyoming . . .

Several members of Congress are preparing legislation to take gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Wyoming off the endangered list in an attempt to undo court decisions that have blocked the states from allowing wolf hunting and trapping for sport and predator control.

U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., is leading the effort, his office confirmed Tuesday. Co-sponsors include U.S. Reps. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., Dan Benishek, R-Mich., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.

Read more . . .

Animal tracks in Glacier Park

News, , ,

Patti Hart has an excellent article — with photos —  over on the Mago Guide site about last Saturday’s “North Fork Animal Tracking and Sign Interpretation” course sponsored by the Glacier Institute . . .

Yesterday Team Mago spent the day learning about how to identify animal tracks in the snow. This adventure began when we saw a news release from the Glacier Institute advertising “North Fork Animal Tracking and Sign Interpretation” with Brian Baxter, a wildlife researcher and forester who has spent a number of winters studying animals such as the wolverine, lynx, fisher, marten and instructing outdoor educational programs in Glacier Park. We had been tromping around the North Fork for years in both summer and winter and had often seen tracks/scats, wondering if the animal was canine or cat.  That’s pretty pitiful.  So when this course was announced, we jumped at the chance.

Read more . . .

North Fork article appears in Flathead Living

Travel Articles,

A somewhat breathless article about the North Fork appears in the most recent edition of Flathead Living . . .

No matter the season, the trappings of civilization abate on the journey to Polebridge, the nagging fixtures of workaday refinement receding the further one travels north over this far-flung, off-the-grid landscape, its remote, rugged terrain stripping away the polished layers of urbanity like acetone.

Driving through the wild and scenic North Fork Flathead River corridor, the cell phone signal and chirping email notifications are the first to retreat, their attendant, tech-induced anxiety quieted and retooled with a streak of uncompromising individualism that runs deep through the valley and its scant population of year-round residents, who are handily outnumbered by the wildlife.

Read more . . .

Tribes join effort to keep federal protections for Yellowstone region grizzlies

Environmental Issues, News,

Tribes in the region want to retain full protections for grizzly bears in the area around Yellowstone National Park . . .

Leaders of American Indian tribes in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains are signing onto an effort to retain federal protections for grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to decide this year whether it will move to lift protections for the roughly 1,000 grizzlies scientists say live in the Yellowstone region.

The campaign to enlist tribal backing for continued protections — including a prohibition on hunting — is being coordinated in large part by wildlife advocates.

Read more . . .

‘Coexistence Is Possible: Humans, Wild Animals and Nature’ presentation Jan. 12

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Elke Duerr, a frequent visitor to the North Fork, is, among many other things, a filmmaker. She is showing a short video on coexistence of wolves and people at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 12, in the United Way conference room of the Gateway Community Center. Her press release has the details . . .

Coexistence Is Possible:  Humans, Wild Animals and Nature
A look at our relationship to wild animals and the natural world from the perspective of Unity Consciousness

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
— Mahatma Gandhi

If you talk to the animals, they will talk with you, and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them, you will not know them and what you do not know, you will fear.
What one fears, one destroys.
— Chief Dan George, Tsleil-Waututh Nation

Elke Duerr is a bi-national filmmaker, conservationist, interspecies communicator and founder and director of the nonprofit Web of Life Foundation W.O.L.F.  Drawing on her experience with endangered Mexican Gray Wolves and wild American Bison, Elke will present a short video about successful coexistence between wolves and humans at our January meeting.

Elke writes that our human relationship with wild animals and wilderness has historically been one of fear and preference for domesticated animals and tamed nature. She believes that to preserve all life forms on this planet, this story has to be rewritten to one of coexistence with each other with mutual respect. All life forms have roles to play in the ecosystem.  We cannot just take out the ones we do not like, favor one over the other if we want to stay in balance.

Elke will explore with us different ways of coexisting peacefully with wild animal species, and a new story of why we all belong in the web of life. She will tell stories about how to conduct ourselves in a healthy way when we live with large wild animals as our neighbors, understanding who wild animals really are, and how old stories and myths have shaped our current relationships based on fear of them and what each one of us can contribute to change those stories.

Elke is currently editing a video project about our last endangered wild bison entitled “Bison Nation” and getting ready to publish a children’s book with teachers’ guide and curriculum concerning our successful coexistence with wolves.  She loves to present her work with endangered wolves and bison and their role in the ecosystem in public and private schools and is now scheduling presentations in the larger community.  To learn more about Elke’s work, visit weboflifefoundation.net.

Please join us at 7 pm on Monday, January 12, in the United Way conference room of the Gateway Community Center, Highway 2 West, Kalispell.