From the Wednesday, October 26, 2005 online edition of the Billings Gazette . . .
A Canadian mining company plans to apply for a permit by the end of next month to establish a coal mine in the northern reaches of Montana's Flathead River system.
Cline Mining Corp. confirmed its intention at a meeting in Fernie, British Columbia, last week to pursue a small-mine permit to extract up to 250,000 tons of coking coal each year from the site in the Foisey Creek basin. The company has said production would eventually expand to 2 million tons annually, and plans to begin development on the mine next spring.
The confirmation drew rapid opposition on both sides of the border.
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From the Wednesday, October 26, 2005 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
A Canadian mining company is proceeding with plans to develop a coal mine in British Columbia's Flathead Basin, heightening concerns about mining development expanding well before an adequate assessment of the basin's water, fisheries and wildlife can take place.
At a meeting in Fernie, B.C., last week, Cline Mining Co. officials confirmed plans to pursue a "small mines" permit that would allow extraction of up to 250,000 tons of coking coal annually from a site on Foisey Creek, a tributary to the North Fork Flathead River and Montana's Flathead Basin.
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According to a posting on the Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane site, Cline Mining is having a public information meeting on the Lodgepole mine project at Park Place Lodge in Fernie, BC on October 20th in the Fireside room.
From the Tuesday, October 3, 2005 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
With a rambling sprint from a can-like culvert trap, a female grizzly bear moved into the Cabinet Mountains Sunday, becoming the first transplant for a struggling grizzly bear population in more than 10 years.
And she probably won't be the last, with state and federal agencies planning on several similar transplants from Montana's largest grizzly bear population -- the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem -- to its smallest and most threatened, the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem.
Biologists said it's possible that the bear is pregnant. If so, the transplant to the Spar Lake area in the west Cabinet Mountains could translate to a mother bear with one or two cubs by next spring. That would be a population boom for the Cabinets, where fewer than 15 grizzly bears are thought to exist. . .
She was caught Friday morning in a leg snare in the Spruce Creek Drainage of the North Fork Flathead as part of an ongoing research project that involves capturing female bears and fitting them with radio collars for monitoring population trends in the Northern Continental Divide.
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From a Tuesday, October 3, 2005 posting to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks web site . . .
On Sunday afternoon (October 2) a female grizzly bear was released in the Cabinet Mountains near Spar Lake as part of the program to augment the grizzly population in the Cabinets. The bear was a 7-year-old female captured in Spruce Creek of the North Fork of the Flathead River by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks personnel. This animal has no history of conflicts with humans and was trapped in a backcountry area. The bear was in very good condition and weighed approximately 250 pounds. She is wearing a radio collar and will be monitored at least twice weekly with flights. According to FWP Wildlife Manager Jim Williams, this program is expected to continue in the coming years depending upon the availability of bears for transplant.
This is the first bear transplanted to the Cabinet Mountains since 1990-94, when 4 bears were released during an experimental program designed to test grizzly bear population augmentation techniques. All bears came from the North Fork of the Flathead River in British Columbia and had no history of conflict. Hair snagging techniques and DNA analysis confirmed the presence of at least one of the transplanted bears remaining in the Cabinet Mountains during 2004. The bear identified was transplanted in 1993 as a 2-year-old.