Cabinet Mountains moose population study continues

Environmental Issues, News,

The decline in the Moose population is causing concern and triggering a series of studies in manyparts of the country, including an ongoing effort in the Cabinets . . .

State wildlife researchers darted and captured seven cow moose in the eastern stretch of the Cabinet Mountains south of Libby this week and fitted them with radio collars as part of an ongoing research project.

According to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Research Technician Jesse Newby, biologists are looking at disease load and other measures of the animals’ health, reproductive rates, and calf survival for the collared moose. This brings the total to 16 moose that are radio-collared in the East Cabinets area.

Hunters in the East Cabinets consistently harvest 15-25 moose annually, and concerns about shrinking moose populations have led to a study on disease, parasites, predation, lack of logging, and poor habitat.

Read more . . .

New FWP rules allow landowners to kill wolves

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Landowners can now kill wolves without a license under certain circumstances . . .

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted new administrative rules for killing wolves that pose a threat to landowners’ safety on Thursday.

The rule change stemmed from a bill the Legislature passed in the 2013 session allowing landowners to kill wolves without first getting a license if they threaten human safety, livestock or dogs. But it also gave the agency a chance to clear up some confusing parts of the state administrative law book, according to FWP wildlife management section chief Quentin Kujala.

“It’s not the easiest thing to read,” Kujala said. “We took more than 1,300 public comments on this.”

The new rules also change the definition of a breeding pair of wolves – a crucial part of the federal oversight of sustainable wolf populations…

Read more . . .

Montana’s hibernating bears soon up and about

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

It’s that time of year again when hungry bears start to emerge from hibernation . . .

Montana’s hibernating black bears and grizzly bears will soon be stirring.

Adult males usually emerge first from winter dens in mid-March. When bears emerge from their dens they are physically depleted and food is a priority.

Bears are often tempted to go where raccoons and domestic dogs are getting into garbage. If these animals are already causing problems near-by, consider it an early warning that food attractants are available and need to be removed.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ bear experts stress that conflict prevention steps can greatly reduce the chances of attracting black bears and grizzly bears.

Read more . . .

Debo Powers: Keep North Fork skies and water clear

Commentary, Environmental Issues,

Debo Powers has a letter to the editor supporting the North Fork Watershed Protection Act in this weeks’ Hungry Horse News . . .

My home is the North Fork of the Flathead. I have spent many nights staring up at the stars and northern lights, far from the lights of town.

I still enjoy seeing the faces of people who are visiting the North Fork for the first time. They always seem overjoyed to discover a place that is so wild, so natural and so beautiful in this day and age.

For years, the idea of a Canadian coal mine has loomed just upstream. It took decades of neighbor-to-neighbor diplomacy to convince the Canadians to back off this idea, for the sake of the Flathead River, Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake.

Read more . . .

North Fork Watershed Protection Act would not terminate existing leases

Environmental Issues, News,

Over at the Hungry Horse News, Chris Peterson put together a good report on the remaining mineral leases in the North Fork and Middle Fork drainages . . .

The North Fork Watershed Protection Act passed the House on a voice vote last week — one step closer to becoming law — but the act doesn’t address existing leases in the drainage, some of which are right on the edge of the Great Bear Wilderness.

The act only prohibits any new energy leases in the North Fork and Middle Fork of the Flathead River.

All told, energy companies once held about 246,000 acres of leases in the North and Middle Forks of the Flathead. Since the bill was introduced by former Montana Sen. Max Baucus a few years ago, several companies, including Conoco-Phillips, relinquished their claims.

Read more . . .

A new approach to paying for major wildfires

Fire Information and Status, News,

The Obama administration wants to pay for catastrophic wildfires with natural disaster funds . . .

The Obama administration’s proposed 2015 budget aims to change how the federal government pays for catastrophic wildfires.

In the past, large wildfires were paid for through the Forest Service budget. If a large fire broke out, the service would “borrow” money from funds used for forest restoration and other projects.

In the past, the Forest Service spent about 16 percent of its total budget on firefighting. But in more recent years, that figure has dramatically increased to about 40 percent, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said last week.

Read more . . .

Rob Breeding: Protecting the North Fork

Commentary,

Rob Breeding favors the North Fork Watershed Protection Act. He also likes visiting the North Fork, especially the part where he catches fish . . .

I read about the North Fork long before I visited. This was back in the early 1990s, soon after I’d moved to Montana. Newspaper accounts painted a picture of a wild place filled with interloping Canadian wolves, grizzly bears and unwashed hippies occupying Polebridge.

It sounded amazing.

Still, it was more than a decade before I made it to the North Fork, visiting for the first time shortly after I returned to Montana following a two-state sojourn living away. It was just a drive-by, a Sunday afternoon loop with the family up to West Glacier, then back to the valley via Camas Bridge and the North Fork Road. I remember looking down at the water on that drive and thinking I needed to be there. I needed to be on that river.

I now know well the spot that inspired my reverie…

Read more . . .

‘Passing Wilderness on to the Next Generation’ presentation tomorrow evening

News, ,

Our own Frank Vitale will be a panelist at the next MWA “Wilderness Speaker Series” presentation. Here’s the official announcement . . .

Wilderness Speaker Series
Leaving a Legacy:
Passing Wilderness on to the Next Generation
Thursday, March 13, 2014
7:00 p.m.
Flathead Valley Community College
Arts & Technology Building, Room 139
Kalispell, MT

Our third presentation in our Wilderness Speaker Series will be this Thursday night! Join MWA and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation for an insightful intergenerational panel discussion that will encourage audience participation.

Panel participants:

  • Roland Cheek, retired wilderness outfitter and writer
  • Chris Ryan, retired USFS Region 1 Wilderness Manager
  • Frank Vitale, farrier and wilderness advocate
  • Rebecca Boslogh, Student leader in the University of Montana Wilderness Association student group
  • Jonson England, high school student and BMWF summer intern

See you there!

Crunch time begins for deer and elk

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Montana FWP talks about this critical time of the year for deer and elk populations . . .

Ladies and gentlemen, we are entering crunch time.

That time of the year when spring and winter play a tug of war, and depending on how it goes, deer and elk could be the losers.

Members of the deer family that go into winter in good shape have the energy reserves and body fat to survive those December and February subzero spells. But a long winter that continues through March and April will start to tip over the smallest and weakest.

And if we humans are not careful, we’ll cause some of the bigger animals to tip over.

Already some of our large game species could use a break. January was nice, with a handful of 50 degree days. But February plunged us back into winter, which after all is the season we’re in.

Now the real test for wildlife begins.

Read more . . .

Frank Vitale: Daines not a conservation hero

Commentary, Environmental Issues, ,

Long-time NFPA member Frank Vitale has a few things to say about Congeressman Steve Daines’ rather uneven support for conservation issues. This letter to the editor was published in this week’s Hungry Horse News and is also scheduled to appear in a number of other papers.

While I feel Congressman Steve Daines’ introduction of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2013 is a great step forward, let’s not frame him as a conservation hero. With his political ambitions it would be political suicide if he didn’t support protection of the North Fork.

But let’s look at his overall conservation track record. First of all, he has dragged his feet on supporting one of the largest and most important pieces of conservation legislation in decades: The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act. Rather than getting behind this broad-based, made-in-Montana collaborative he stands to be the biggest spoiler. The Heritage Act is a plan that’s truly citizen based and represents many stakeholders. Support for its protection has been overwhelming. The Front also has some of the wildest country left in the lower 48. Under the Act most traditional uses will remain intact while protecting the most incredible landscapes and diverse ecosystems in Montana.

Then, Steve Daines introduces House Bill HR1526 that would probably make even most folks in the timber industry cringe. He basically throws the collaborative process out the window. His bill would impose mandatory timber targets for the Forest Service. This takes us back to the dark ages – when collaboration was nonexistent – back to the days of the timber wars of the 1970’s and ’80’s.

So is Steve Daines a conservation hero? I hardly think so. The North Fork Watershed Protection Act – while good – is also an easy bone to throw at the conservation community.

Frank Vitale