Frank Vitale, a long-time member of the NFPA, received the Brass Lantern Award from the Montana Wilderness Association last Saturday. This award was given to recognize his outstanding contributions to wilderness advocacy.
The NFNews site also has an article on Frank’s award — with photos.
For those of you who can’t wait on the mail, the North Fork Preservation Association Summer 2014 Newsletter is now available online in the “Newsletters” section of the website. Enjoy!
Here’s a partial table of contents:
Once the feds remove the grizzly bear from the endangered species list, what happens then? . . .
The grizzly bear answers to a lot of names.
Biologists call it Ursus arctos. They also describe it as an “ecological engineer” or “keystone predator.”
Wordy members of the general public call grizzlies “charismatic megafauna.” Others call them “vermin.” While running for president in 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain famously derided studying grizzlies as a classic example of “Washington, D.C., pork.”
McCain later apologized for misunderstanding the value of Montana grizzly bear researcher Kate Kendall’s DNA hair analysis…
Harvey Locke’s presentation at the upcoming NFPA annual meeting gets a mention in this NPR piece . . .
Waterton-Glacier International Peace park connects over the US-Canada border between Montana and Alberta. However, the two parks don’t match up in their cross-border boundary.
Glacier Park stretches west to encompass the North Fork Flathead River Valley, but the Canadian Flathead is not part of the Park. The Canadian Flathead is Provincial land, akin to state or forest service land in the US, and offering the potential for logging or mineral development. Conservationists have been angling to “Complete the Park” by expanding Waterton into the North Fork Valley.
This idea of completing the Park is not new. Executive Director of Headwaters Montana Dave Hadden said it’s an effort about as old as the Park itself.
The 2014 Bear Fair is coming to Polebridge on August 23, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. It’s a great opportunity to get various groups together and learn about everything from electric fencing to bear spray. The last time there was a bear fair in Polebridge (July 9, 2011), there were 200 people there!
Besides all the good information about bears, the sponsoring groups usually provide lunch, which will be cooked by the Northern Lights Saloon, a tent for presentations, and porta-potties.
Problem is, all this requires money. So, the organizers are asking both groups and individuals for assistance.
Individual donations can be made online here: https://www.mtoutdoorlegacy.org/donate/bear-fair-2014.
Or, contact one of the organizers for more information:
Terence McClelland tmmcclelland@fs.fed.us 406-871-1855
Lindsey Stutzman lindsey.a.stutzman@gmail.com 406-212-1803
Tim Manley tim.manley@bresnan.net 406-892-0802
This summer’s Inter Local meeting is coming up on Wednesday, July 16, at Sondreson Hall. The meeting starts at 1:00 p.m. and is sponsored by the North Fork Road Coalition. Inter Local meetings are held twice each year, winter and summer. These semi-annual get-togethers are intended to encourage open discussion between North Fork landowners and neighbors and local, state and federal agencies.
In other words, it’s a big deal if you have an interest in the North Fork.
Preceding the Inter Local meeting, is the annual FireWise Day Workshop at 9:30 a.m. and lunch at noon. The potluck lunch at noon is also hosted by the North Fork Road Coalition.
Please send agenda item additions or revisions and address updates to Ray Brown: polebridgeray@yahoo.com, 406-892-1431 (mobile), 406-261-6884 (cell).
A good article in the Missoulian discussing efforts to get America’s ethnic minorities more involved with national parks and wilderness . . .
The Civil Rights Act passed on July 2, 1964.
The Wilderness Act passed two months later.
That’s about the closest America’s minorities and its wilderness have been in the subsequent 50 years.
An interesting — and controversial — opinion piece in the New York Times discussing whether we really should leave wilderness alone . . .
You won’t hear it on your summer hike above the bird song and the soft applause of aspen leaves, but there’s a heresy echoing through America’s woods and wild places. It’s a debate about how we should think about, and treat, our wilderness in the 21st century, one with real implications for the nearly 110 million acres of wild lands that we’ve set aside across the United States.
The Daily Inter Lake has a nice write-up on the Polebridge Mercantile’s 100th anniversary . . .
Just before 7 a.m. on Tuesday, the sun is up and working hard to burn off fog that has settled over the Polebridge Mercantile.
Addie Cleveland walks to the front door and unlocks it for the day’s first customer, flipping the sign in the window from closed to open.
Staff members have been at the store since 5 a.m. making the Merc’s famous pastries. Tuesdays are special because not only are workers making treats for the store, they also are baking items for the Whitefish Farmer’s Market.
This is a pretty good overview of the concerns and election-year politics behind the sage grouse preservation issue . . .
An obscure, chicken-sized bird best known for its mating dance could help determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the U.S. Senate in November.
The federal government is considering listing the greater sage grouse as an endangered species next year. Doing so could limit development, energy exploration, hunting and ranching on the 165 million acres of the bird’s habitat across 11 Western states.
Apart from the potential economic disruption, which some officials in Western states discuss in tones usually reserved for natural disasters, the specter of the bird’s listing is reviving the centuries-old debates about local vs. federal control and whether to develop or conserve the region’s vast expanses of land.