Ecologists urge increased protection for Canadian Flathead

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Efforts to extend Waterton Lakes National Park westward to increase protection of the Canadian Flathead are gaining momentum . . .

On a map, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park resembles a slightly-misshapen topographic pizza with a big slice missing.

This week, three leading ecologists with varied backgrounds converged on Whitefish to explain why extending national park protections to that missing piece – which represents a 100,000-acre chunk of Canadian wilderness – is critical to preserving one of the most intact aquatic ecosystems in North America.

The transboundary Flathead River, which on the Montana side is known as the North Fork, is the ecologically potent “Garden of Eden” that straddles the U.S.-Canada border, extending from the Flathead Valley to southeast British Columbia. And while conservationists agree that the region is one of the best protected watersheds in the United States, the missing pie piece north of the border remains independent of Waterton Lakes National Park.

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US appeals court allows wolf hunts

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit from conservation groups that want to block wolf hunting and trapping that have killed more than 500 of the predators across the Northern Rockies in recent months.

The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress had the right to intervene when it stripped protections from wolves last spring.

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Yellowstone wolf population remains stable

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

The wolf population has remained stable at that “other” park the last couple of years . . .

Yellowstone National Park officials say the park’s wolf population has stabilized at about 100 wolves over the last two years.

Officials tell the Billings Gazette that represents about a 60 percent reduction from 2007 wolf numbers as elk populations have also declined.

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Montana snowpack just about back to normal levels

News, Snow Conditions,

Not exactly startling news, but it’s nice to have official word that high country snow levels are just about back to normal . . .

After a slow start in the last months of 2011, Montana’s snowpack has mostly caught up to historical averages around the state.

The month of February dealt above average snow for the second consecutive month, while increasing snowpack in all major basins, according to snowpack data released this week by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Statewide, snowpack was at 95 percent of average as of March 1. As of Feb. 1, snowpack was at 90 percent of average.

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Obama proposes $29M in Montana land conservation projects

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

Montana acreage ranks high on President Barack Obama’s wish list for 2013 landscape conservation initiatives, including possible additions to Glacier National Park, conservation easements in the Blackfoot Valley and the Rocky Mountain Front, and completion of the Montana Legacy Project.

“The fact this has risen to this level, with a White House conference last week, is really important,” said Greg Neudecker, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff member and vice chairman of the Blackfoot Challenge. “The president and secretary of Interior were very complimentary of what folks in the Crown of the Continent have been doing here. It’s great to see them latching on to community conservation.”

Ovando rancher Jim Stone visited with Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last Friday at the White House Conservation Conference in Washington, D.C. The meeting grew out of the president’s new America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, which kicked off last year in Ovando before going nationwide.

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Larry Wilson: Search and rescue practice

Commentary, News, , , ,

Larry reports on the recent North Valley Search and Rescue winter training session . . .

Recently, North Valley Search and Rescue held their annual winter training at the Wilson and Ogle cabins. This year, more than 40 members took part in the Saturday training, and “sleep-overs” were held at Wilsons, Ogles, Hoilands and Braunigs. In addition, local residents help out as role players, and we invite others to just visit and learn a little about what we do.

Wide-area mock searches have been more that a little limited in recent years due to Forest Service closure of most public land in the area. This is the result of a behind-closed-doors agreement between the Forest Service, Montana Snowmobilers Association and the Montana Wilderness Association. I guess each of those three got all or part of what they wanted and were willing to give the old raspberry to anyone or everyone else.

Nevertheless, the training was valuable, covering fire building and shelter building as well as map, compass, GPS introduction. Big event was a mock search involving vehicles, ATV and snowmachines. Purpose is to practice actual procedures used in a real search.

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Wyoming passes wolf management bill; lawsuits likely

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Who says politics is a lost art? The Wyoming legislature just passed a rather schizoid wolf management bill — wolves are nuisance predators, except where they aren’t . . .

The Wyoming Legislature has sent Gov. Matt Mead a bill to change the state’s wolf-management law — a critical step toward ratifying the agreement the governor reached with the federal government last year over how to end Endangered Species Act protections for the animals.

However, uncertainty remains over possible legal challenges to Wyoming’s wolf management plan. Many hunters and ranchers in the state worry that a large wolf population poses an unacceptable threat to other wildlife and livestock.

Under the bill now awaiting Mead’s signature, the state would allow trophy hunting for wolves in a flexible zone around Yellowstone National Park beginning this fall, while classifying wolves as predators that could be shot on sight in the rest of the state.

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Better bear trap earns patent for Montana inventor

Environmental Issues, News, ,

The humble culvert trap is getting a high-tech upgrade . . .

U.S. Patent No. 8,112,934 B2 showed up in Ryan Alter’s mailbox last week, and grizzly bears everywhere are hibernating a little easier now.

The East Missoula entrepreneur has spent three years field-testing a better bear trap – one that phones home when it’s caught something, remotely releases wrong bears and can even reset itself. The patent means Alter Enterprises can start marketing its invention to bear managers and researchers around the world.

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