Montana is considering limits on wolf trapping near Yellowstone National Park . . .
Restrictions on gray wolf harvests around Yellowstone National Park are under consideration as the state prepares to kick off its inaugural wolf trapping season Dec. 15…
Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commissioner Shane Colton says closing some areas to trapping or setting strict quotas will be on the table during a Monday commission meeting.
Work on the “National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy” is in its final stages, with the public comment period starting December 15. This will likely have a significant impact on wildfire management and generate quite a bit of controversy. The Missolian has an excellent report, with links to supporting documents. . . .
Wildfires and weather share a common problem: We all talk about them, but what can we do about them?
The federal government hopes to answer the wildfire question with a three-year strategy session that’s wrapping up this month. But there’s no guarantee the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy will save an acre of forest. In fact, it might force the nation to decide how much it’s willing to let burn.
Reference: “National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy” page at forestsandrangelands.gov.
It looks like Northern Montana is going to see quite a few snowy owls again this year . . .
The large white bird with black markings on its feathers, perched on a fence post in northern Montana, scanned a snow-covered wheat field as if its head were on a swivel.
Arctic snowy owls, like the young female spotted on the plains north of Rudyard in Hill County last week, are eye-catching with brilliant white coats and 5-foot wing spans. They are turning heads again in some locations in the northwest United States this year, including western and north-central Montana.
Here’s a rather upbeat look at species recovery efforts across Montana . . .
Montanans are living in wild times.
For proof, just look at the big picture. There are elk, bison and bighorn sheep grazing in the prairie regions of Eastern Montana where they had previously been exterminated. Large predators like grizzly bears, mountain lions and gray wolves prowl the western forests of the state after declining to record lows.
In the state’s rivers, Yellowstone and westslope cutthroat trout, as well as endangered pallid sturgeon, are being planted to enhance their declining populations. Even in towns and cities wildlife are resurging as geese crowd golf course ponds, mule deer nibble on resident’s shrubbery and ducks, rabbits and Merriam’s turkeys commonly strut across manicured lawns.
There’s an interesting guest piece at the Flathead Beacon today discussing the threats to Montana from various aquatic invasive species . . .
Of the many challenges facing Montana’s lakes and streams, perhaps the most pressing but controllable is the threat posed by aquatic invasive species, or AIS. Aquatic invasives include non-native plants, mussels, pathogens and fish that threaten environmental, commercial, and recreational resources.
Grizzly bears have recovered in some areas to the point where some very limited hunting may be permitted in a couple of years . . .
With bear-human conflicts on the rise, wildlife managers in the Northern Rockies are laying the groundwork for trophy hunts for grizzlies in anticipation of the government lifting their threatened species status.
It’s expected to be 2014 before about 600 bears around Yellowstone National Park lose their federal protections, and possibly longer for about 1,000 bears in the region centered on Glacier National Park.
Yet already government officials say those populations have recovered to the point that limited hunting for small numbers of bears could occur after protections are lifted…
Chas Cartwright, Glacier Park’s current superintendent, retires the end of this year. (He’s staying in the area, though.) The Flathead Beacon has a nice write-up . . .
It takes a stretch of the imagination for a suburban boy growing up in the cityscape of Detroit to grasp the mountains and untamed nature of Glacier National Park. It requires setting foot inside the sylvan world of one of America’s most pristine places, witnessing the silver ridges and discovering some of the last natural backcountry in the Lower 48.
Chas Cartwright vividly remembers the first time he visited…
The Missoulian posted a pretty nice article today discussing the North Fork’s shift from summer’s bustle to winter’s quiet. The Polebridge Mercantile and the North Fork Hostel both get mentions, as well as some other people and places . . .
The knuckles whiten, the undercarriage rattles and the trappings of civilization recede.
This is the route to Polebridge . . .
The issue of how the EPA should regulate logging roads comes up before the Supreme Court this Monday . . .
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to switch gears on more than 30 years of regulating the muddy water running off logging roads into rivers.
At issue: Should the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keep considering that muddy water the same as water running off a farm field, or start looking at it like a pipe coming out of a factory?
Wolverine trapping in Montana is blocked — for now, at least . . .
The wolverine trapping season in Montana has been halted after a Helena judge approved the request by eight conservation groups and an individual.
District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock issued a temporary restraining order Friday morning that suspends the trapping, snaring or killing of wolverines in Montana until after a preliminary injunction hearing scheduled for Jan. 10.
The wolverine trapping season was scheduled to begin Saturday, Dec. 1 . . .