Forest Service to hold public meetings in early December

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A couple of public Forest Service events are coming up the first week in December.

The fall Northern Continental Divide Grizzly Bear Ecosystem (NCDE) Meeting is planned for Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014. The focus of this annual meeting is to share available information from within the NCDE. The meeting is in Missoula. Read the official press release for details.

On December 3 and 4, the Flathead National Forest is hosting two open house sessions in December on the topic of Vegetation Modeling Efforts for Forest Planning. These sessions are a follow-up to the two sessions that occurred last August. The first meeting is at the forest supervisor’s office in Kalispell, the second is at at the Swan Ecosystem Center in Condon. Again, the press release has the details.

Study estimates 36 wolverines in Glacier Park

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A recently concluded study found Glacier Park to have the third highest density of Wolverines in North America . . .

Results from a multi-year DNA study of Glacier National Park’s wolverines show a relatively high density compared to other regions where the rare carnivores are known to exist.

Park biologist John Waller, along with about 50 volunteers, set up “hair traps” for wolverines from 2009 to 2012.

The traps consisted of a deer leg from roadkill bolted to a pole. Wire brushes were attached to snag hair from any animal that tried to climb the pole to gnaw on the leg.

Read more . . .

B.C. coal mining pollutants increase in Montana watershed

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

In case anyone wonders why it was so important to oppose resource extraction activities in the transboundary Flathead watershed, just take a look at events in the nearby Elk River drainage . . .

With renewed plans to expand coal-mining operations in southeastern British Columbia’s Elk River drainage, located upstream from one of Montana’s world-class transboundary watersheds, researchers and government agencies are intensifying scrutiny on environmental hazards spanning the border.

The concerns center on increasing amounts of coal waste byproducts leaching into the heavily mined Elk River and its many tributaries, which drain into two bodies of water shared by B.C. and Montana – Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River – both of which are showing increased levels of mining contaminants like selenium in the muscle tissue of fish species.

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Is a gunshot like a dinner bell for bears?

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A group of researchers is performing a very interesting study on how bears and hunters interact . . .

From almost four miles away, the grizzly bear appeared to have picked up the elk carcass’ stench.

Researchers were able to revisit the grizzly’s trek as it walked along the edge of a lake, eventually swimming across the end of the water to reach the carcass, because the bear was wearing a GPS collar. The same location information showed the bear visiting and moving away from the carcass several times in following days.

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Suit filed over lynx habitat

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A number of conservation groups feel the feds are being too restrictive when it comes to lynx habitat designation . . .

Wildlife advocates sued the federal government Monday after it declined to designate some areas in the West as critical habitat for the imperiled Canada lynx.

WildEarth Guardians and three other groups assert that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service improperly excluded the southern Rocky Mountains of New Mexico and Colorado from 39,000 square miles of protected habitat for the elusive, forest-dwelling wild cat.

The plaintiffs, who filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana, also say the agency left out important habitat in portions of Washington state, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.

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Young ‘conflict bears’ not always chronic offenders

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Young nuisance bears aren’t especially likely to re-offend after relocation . . .

Yearling grizzly bears busted for getting into trouble and relocated are not any more likely to offend again than bears with a clean rap sheet.

“If a bear gets in trouble, it doesn’t mean it’s a chronic offender,” said Mark Haroldson, who conducted a study for the U.S. Geological Survey in Bozeman.

Although the research is still preliminary, Haroldson said the data came partly from information collected in the late 1970s and 1980s as bear managers sought to reverse the decline in grizzly bear populations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by separating young bears from conflict mothers. The thought was that the mothers might be teaching the yearlings bad behavior.

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Eastern Shoshone oppose grizzly bear delisting, trophy hunting

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The Eastern Shoshone Tribe took a strong stance in favor of continued protection for grizzly bears . . .

Leaders of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe said they oppose any U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to remove grizzly bears from the endangered species list.

Shoshone Business Council members passed the measure unanimously. They also voted to ban grizzly bear trophy hunting on the Wind River Reservation…

“The Eastern Shoshone Tribe … will not permit the State of Wyoming to inflict its policies on Eastern Shoshone tribal lands,” the Eastern Shoshone Business Council wrote in a release Thursday. “The leadership on the Wind River Indian Reservation rejected proposals to permit the trophy hunting of wolves on our land when the wolf was delisted from the ESA, and we hold that same position in relation to the grizzly bear.”

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Missoulian pushes for post-election action on North Fork Watershed Protection Act

Commentary, Environmental Issues, , ,

In a post-election editorial, the Missoulian advocates action on the North Fork Watershed Protection Act . . .

…The act is aimed at placing permanent protections on the side of the Flathead watershed that falls within the United States. The Canadians have already granted such protections on their side of the border, honoring a longstanding agreement between our two countries. Unfortunately, and frustratingly, the U.S. has not held up its end of the bargain by prohibiting new oil, gas and mining activity in the North Fork.

The legislation has widespread, bipartisan support. But in today’s politically divided Congress, even the most worthy bills can be held up by partisan gridlock.

Hopefully, all three of Montana’s congressional delegates make it their first order of business to work together to get the North Fork Watershed Protection Act approved by Congress at last…

Read more . . .

Environmental groups will sue to protect fisher

Environmental Issues, News, ,

A lawsuit is in the works to force federal protection for the fisher . . .

A coalition of environmental groups warned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it plans to sue over the agency’s decision not to protect the fisher under the Endangered Species Act.

“Fisher in Montana are being decimated by trapping and logging,” said Arlene Montgomery of Friends of the Wild Swan, one of the five groups suing the government. “While the Fish and Wildlife Service delays protection, the Northern Rockies fisher faces imminent threats to its survival.”

The groups initially asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to give the fisher protection in 2009. The agency ruled there wasn’t enough information on what kind of habitat the fur-bearing carnivore needed in the northern Rocky Mountains. The groups appealed again in September 2103, and the agency had one year to respond. That deadline was reached this September.

Read more . . .

Bat bio-blitz expands knowledge of region’s bats

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

This summer’s bat survey throughout the U.S. and Canadian Flathead Valley gave researchers valuable new information about the region’s bat population . . .

Given the ill perception of bats, the winged mammals might not figure prominently into the public’s catalog of critters worth protecting in Montana, but if western bat populations plummeted, as they have in other parts of North America, residents would take notice.

Millions of bats are dying across eastern North America because of a fungal disease called white nose syndrome, and the potential for dramatic ecological imbalances has researchers scrambling to learn more about the fungus.

Bat biologists in the Flathead Valley of Montana and British Columbia recently conducted a so-called “bio-blitz” of research, compiling data they will add to last year’s bat inventory in the Upper Flathead River drainage – the first formal inventory of its kind – and releasing a report called “July 2014 Bat Inventory of Flathead River Valley.”

Read more . . .