This evening, Glacier Park personnel killed the “Old Man Lake” grizzly. Despite resuscitation efforts, one of her cubs died from the effects of a tranquilizer dart. The Flathead Beacon and Missoulian have the story . . .
Grizzly Cub Transferred from Glacier Park
Human-conditioned grizzly bear killed by rangers in Glacier Park; cub dies from tranquilizer dart
By demand, here’s the latest on the “Old Man Lake female” grizzly bear. This article appeared in today’s online edition of the Missoulian . . .
Three people are camped beneath the cliffs at Morning Star Lake, in the stone-cold shadow of Medicine Grizzly Peak.
Unlike other Glacier National Park campers, these three are packing rifles, and tranquilizer guns, and a big bear cage. They’re here to catch and kill a grizzly bear, and to carry her cubs off to the zoo — and that has outraged a handful of bear lovers.
This is not strictly North Fork news, but is likely of interest to a lot of folks who follow this site. From Thursday’s online edition of the Missoulian . . .
She’s up in the Nyack Creek wilderness right now, working huckleberry hillsides with her two cubs, but this old grizzly will come back. She always comes back.
That’s the problem. That’s why this time, when she returns, she’ll be killed.
The Missoulian covered yesterday’s visit to the North Fork by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar with a nice write-up and about five minutes of video. Here’s the lead-in . . .
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, on a swing through Montana to highlight water issues, came to the North Fork on Tuesday to see the confluence where the South, Middle and North forks join to make the Flathead River. But the crowd milling below Blankenship Bridge, about 10 miles north of Columbia Falls, kept him from water’s edge.
Finally Salazar linked arms with Democratic Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester. Then, turning to Baucus, who has fought upstream development for decades, Salazar said, “Show me your river, Max.”
The North Fork Flathead is not, of course, Max’s river; but it has run steadily through the senator’s political career, countless gallons of wild and scenic water under Baucus’ bridge.
Read the entire article . . . [link repaired]
Yesterday’s visit to the North Fork by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, accompanied by Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester, and Chas Cartwright, superintendent of Glacier National Park, is getting lots of coverage.
Here’s the lede from the Flathead Beacon’s write-up . . .
Standing near the bridge below the confluence of the North Fork and Middle Fork of the Flathead Rivers, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday he hopes there can be some type of designation protecting Glacier National Park and the Flathead Basin from upstream natural resource development in place by next year.
From today’s online edition of the Missoulian . . .
The country’s national parks – iconic cultural emblems for millions – could hold the key for species protections in a warming world, according to a report released Monday.
“This is a unique moment in time,” said Tom Kiernan, “to leverage the power of America’s national parks for change.”
Read the entire article . . . [link repaired]
According to an article posted today at the Hungry Horse News web site, the Inside North Fork Road, after two-and-a-half years of dinking around, finally opened again this morning . . .
Glacier National Park officials announced the opening of the Inside North Fork Road to all traffic as of mid-morning Friday, July 10. The Inside North Fork Road is the Park’s oldest, built in 1901 when oil was struck near Kintla Lake. The Inside North Fork Road is a 28-mile narrow, bumpy, gravel road between Fish Creek and Polebridge, providing access to some of the Park’s most pristine wilderness areas.
Last Tuesday’s Globe and Mail carried an article on the move to place Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park on the UN list of endangered World Heritage Sites due to the proposed Cline Coal Mine in the Canadian Flathead and other possible resource extraction activities in that area. (Thanks to Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association for catching this one.)
A stunningly beautiful park that spans the Canada-U.S. border in southwestern Alberta may soon be added to an infamous United Nations list of the world’s most threatened special areas.
In a session in Seville, Spain, next month, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will consider a petition by 11 conservation groups asking that Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park be designated a World Heritage Site in Danger.
“If that happens, it would be a really big black eye for both Canada and the United States,” Ryland Nelson, a spokesman for one of the petitioning groups, Wildsight, said yesterday.
Read the entire article . . .
From today’s online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
On the eve of its centennial year, Glacier National Park is primed for a long overdue wilderness designation, Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright said Tuesday at a Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Read the entire article . . .
From this week’s online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
Sen. Max Baucus last week said he would push to have the North Fork of the Flathead designated as a World Heritage Site in Danger, a dubious distinction as Glacier National Park turns 100 next year.
The North Fork will see the international limelight in June, when Will Hammerquist, the Glacier representative of the National Park Conservation Association and Ryland Nelson, of the Canadian environmental organization Wildsight, will testify in front of a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage panel.
Read the entire article . . .