NASA celebrates Earth Day with ‘global selfie’ event

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For Earth Day 2014, NASA is trying to get people to submit “selfies” (self portraits, usually taken with a cell phone or tablet) from all over the world. It might be fun to send in several against a North Fork background. Here’s the core part the official press release . . .

For the first time in more than a decade, five NASA Earth-observing missions will be launched into space in a single year. To celebrate this milestone, NASA is inviting people all around the world to step outside on Earth Day, April 22, take a “selfie,” and share it with the world on social media.

Designed to encourage environmental awareness and recognize the agency’s ongoing work to protect our home planet, NASA’s “Global Selfie” event asks people everywhere to take a picture of themselves in their local environment.

On Earth Day, NASA will monitor photos posted to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ and Flickr. Photos posted to Twitter, Instagram or Google+ using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie or to the #GlobalSelfie Facebook event page and the #GlobalSelfie Flickr group will be used to create a crowd-sourced mosaic image of Earth – a new “Blue Marble” built bit-by-bit with #GlobalSelfie photos.

NASA’s 17 Earth science missions now in orbit help scientists piece together a detailed “global selfie” of our planet day after day. Insights from these space-based views help answer some of the critical challenges facing our planet today and in the future: climate change, sea level rise, freshwater resources and extreme weather events. NASA Earth research also yields many down-to-Earth benefits, such as improved environmental prediction and natural hazard and climate change preparedness.

For more information on getting involved in the #GlobalSelfie Earth Day event, visit:

http://1.usa.gov/PfjXln

For more information about NASA’s Earth science activities in 2014, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/earthrightnow

Glacier Park starts plowing out Camas Road first

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Glacier Park has turned the snowplows loose, starting with Camas Road . . .

Spring in Glacier National Park means firing up snow plows in the annual effort to clear park roads of snow.

Park plow crews hit the road Tuesday, starting with Camas Road on the west side of the park. When that’s completed, they will start work on Going-to-the-Sun Road, park spokeswoman Denise Germann said.

On the east side, plow crews began work on the Chief Mountain Road. They will move on to the St. Mary, Many Glacier and Two Medicine areas next before heading up Sun Road.

Read more . . .

Note: You can keep an eye on plowing status and road openings by visiting this page: http://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/goingtothesunroad.htm. Click on the “more…” link in the “Road Status” section. (Don’t try going to the “Road Status” page directly as it may not update correctly.)

Snow still building up at altitude

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Above the valley floors, it’s been a heavy snow year. (There’s still plenty around our place.) . . . .

While snow at lower elevations around the Flathead Valley has melted, mountain snowpack remains well above average due to cool weather and continued precipitation, and the National Weather Service says the stage is set for some flooding in Western Montana.

That may come as no surprise to the folks at Whitefish Mountain Resort, which still has a whopping 151 inches of settled snow at the summit of Big Mountain.\

Resort spokeswoman Riley Polumbus said that measurement exceeds the highest measurements in recent years for early April. In 2011, the last big late snow year on the mountain, 144 inches was measured. In early April 2008, the snow depth was 140 inches at the summit.

Delisting of Yellowstone region grizzlies moves forward

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a little closer to removing grizzly bears from the endangered list in the Yellowstone area . . .

Work to remove grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem from federal endangered species protection is moving forward.

That’s what Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s grizzly bear recovery coordinator, told members of the Yellowstone Ecosystem Subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee in Jackson, Wyo., this week.

A new rule removing the bears from the endangered species list could be finished by the end of the year.

Read more . . .

Park’s glaciers illustrate climate change impact

Environmental Issues, History, News, ,

The Flathead Beacon posted an interesting profile of the work of Dan Fagre, a USGS  research ecologist stationed at Glacier Park . . .

Twenty-two years ago, when Dan Fagre first walked up to the Grinnell Glacier, its icy mass towered overhead. Today, it’s about as high as his knees.

Grinnell is one of the few glaciers that still exists inside the 1 million acres of Glacier National Park. But just because Grinnell and the other glaciers find shelter inside the preserve doesn’t mean they are not endangered. In fact, due to rising temperatures, scientists believe the park’s namesake bodies of ice will be gone in a few decades. In 1850, it’s estimated that there were 150 glaciers inside the park; today there are just 25. Fagre, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, says it is one of the most visual examples of climate change in the continental United States.

Read more . . .

Southwest Montana grizzly bear management plan approved

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According to a recent press release, Montana FWP now has a plan in place for managing grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem if/when the bears are removed from the endangered species list . . .

As more than 700 grizzly bears begin to emerge from winter dens in southwestern Montana, state wildlife officials say a recently updated conservation plan shows Montana is well prepared to take over management of the federally threatened species.

The plan, approved by the Montana Fish & Wildlife Commission in February, was developed over the past year in conjunction with a programmatic environmental impact statement. The update addresses state management options once the Greater Yellowstone Area’s more than 700 grizzly bears are removed from the federal list of threatened species.

Read more . . .

Further reading: The management plan is available online at fwp.mt.gov. Click “SW MT Grizzly Bear Management Plan.”

National Forest Northern Region 2013 Year in Review available

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This year, the Northern Region’s annual report is even available in a number of ebook formats. Here’s the official announcement . . .

The Northern Region’s 2013 Year in Review highlights a wide range of feature articles, information and photos that showcase national programs and priorities at work on the ground here in the Northern Rockies. This overview features numerous partnership and collaborative projects and national emphasis programs that have taken hold and are growing in scope each year in the Region.

The review features write-ups and photos about individual projects at the district and forest level, as well as national initiatives and program accomplishments that cross management and state boundaries. The contents highlight how these efforts improve forest health, revitalize resilient landscapes and restore watershed functions in projects whose impacts literally span coast to coast.

The 2013 Year in Review also contains information submitted by partner and collaborative groups, further conveying the improved results the agency has seen through these multi-layer partner and collaborative efforts across the Region.

The publication is available as a .pdf document, and also available in limited traditional hard copy format from most national forests and grasslands, as well as major visitor center locations.

Incorporating new technology for today’s mobile audiences, the Forest Service’s Northern Region has released its 2013 Year in Review in electronic format on a variety of smart phones and other handheld and tablet devices.

Because there are a number of eReader formats, check the directions or software for the specific device in order to download and then read or convert the file.

Download the file for Kindle (.mobi).

Download the file for Apple iBooks, Nook and Android-based e-readers (.epub).

The Northern Region, also called Region 1 within the agency, is comprised of 13 forests and grasslands, and manages more than 25 million acres of public lands that include Wilderness areas, Wild & Scenic River corridors, plus many other scenic and recreational opportunities.

The NFPA is giving Facebook a try

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We have, heaven help us, started a Facebook page for the North Fork Preservation Association. It’s a bit of an experiment in hopes that this will provide yet another way for folks to keep an eye on the NFPA and its activities.

Material posted to our weblog will also be posted to Facebook and continue to be announced on Twitter. So, there are now four ways to keep in touch: watch the web site, monitor the web log’s news feed, follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

The North Fork Preservation Association Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/nfpreservationassociation. Don’t forget to “like” us.

Montana Public Radio interviews Secretary Jewell

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Montana Public Radio interviewed Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell during her tour of this corner of Montana (text and audio) . . .

Senators Jon Tester and John Walsh recently hosted Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell on a tour of Montana, stopping at Glacier Park to talk about protection of the trans-boundary North Fork Flathead River.

Jewell said grassroots efforts hold a lot of sway with policy makers as chances for them to hear people’s voices on issues they find important.

She said securing protection of the North Fork of the Flathead is a great example of people from all over the spectrum coming together for a common goal.

Read more . . .

Group of lawmakers wants wolf protections preserved

Commentary, News, ,

More blow-back from that rejected federal wolf study . . .

Federal lawmakers pressed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on Wednesday to drop the administration’s plan to end federal protections for gray wolves across most of the Lower 48 states.

Seventy-four House members signed onto a Wednesday letter to Jewell that cited a peer-review panel’s recent conclusion the government relied on unsettled science to make its case that the wolves have sufficiently recovered.

Gray wolves were added to the endangered-species list in 1975 after being widely exterminated in the last century. Protections already have been lifted for rebounding populations of the predators in the northern Rockies and Great Lakes regions.

Read more . . .