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Saga of Monica and her cubs ends tragically

Environmental Issues, News, Photos & Images, , , ,
Monica with three cubs, June 8, 2020 - W. K. Walker
Monica with three cubs, June 8, 2020 – W. K. Walker

Here’s the latest from Tim Manley on the tragic saga of Monica and her three cubs. It was posted to Facebook in the early morning hours of September 6th. Scroll to the end of this post for a photo gallery  . . .

Update on the grizzly bears… well, it was a difficult week. One that I would rather not repeat. I have read some of the comments and I understand everyone’s concerns and feelings. I think it is important to put a few things into context so everyone knows what transpired.

I am not going to mention names or locations but I think most people have heard about some of the locations where these incidents occurred. We tried to prevent further conflicts from occurring, but as you will see, this family group of bears were very food-conditioned and the property damage was extensive and knowing what they were going to do next was difficult to predict.

The adult female grizzly bear was known as Bear #418 or as we called her “Monica”. Based on the annual cementum of her premolar, her age was 20 years old. She was originally captured in 2004 as a sub-adult on the east side of the mountains at the site of a calf depredation. They didn’t know if she was the bear that killed the calf but the decision was made to relocate her to the west side of Glacier Park. She remained in the North Fork for 17 years and spent a majority of her time in Glacier Park, but denned in Hay Creek and on Cyclone.

Continue reading Saga of Monica and her cubs ends tragically →

NFPA Annual Meeting postponed!

News

Dear North Fork Preservation Association membership and supporters,

In our organization’s 39th year of hosting our annual meeting in July, for the first time ever we have made a very difficult decision to postpone our gathering due to the early arrival of a wildfire named Hay Creek Fire. At present the air quality index (AQI) is 153, “unhealthy.”  Stage 2 fire restrictions are now in effect, and there have been a number of trail and road closures in the North Fork.  Thursday through Saturday of this week are forecast to be 90 to 91 degrees and sunny, and wind is expected to prevail from the west.  We learned Saturday night that this fire will likely continue until season-ending moisture in the fall. Much of the North Fork is under a pre-evacuation warning and the fire is, as of today, 0% contained. Lastly, we realize that hosting an event would put more pressure on already limited fire management resources.

We are currently working out the details for a fall gathering which will hopefully include less smoke, more colors and all of your smiling faces. Please stay tuned and thank you for your continued support of our mission and we hope everyone stays safe during this extended fire season.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Flannery Coats
|NFPA President

Reminder: Sally Thompson to speak at NFPA Annual Meeting, July 31

Action Alerts, News

Hello friends of the North Fork Preservation Association!

JOIN US!
For the NFPA Annual Meeting
Saturday, July 31 at Sondreson Community Hall

Our speaker this year is
Sally Thompson who co-wrote People Before the Park: The Kootenai and Blackfeet before Glacier National Park.
We would love for you to be among our honored guests.

5:30pm:  Potluck supper

6:45pm:  Short business meeting to elect officers and members of the Board of Directors and report on the work of NFPA

7:30pm:  Speaker

We are excited to spend an evening with all of you, share with you what we’ve been up to, and look forward to a great presentation.

NOTE: The Hay Creek Fire is active in the North Fork. We do not at this time expect it to interfere with our meeting. Of course, wildland fires do not always behave as expected. For information on the Hay Creek Fire, monitor InciWeb at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7712/. More frequent, community-related bulletins can be found on the NFLA site: https://nflandowners.org/.

People Before the Park - cover

A letter to the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission regarding wolf management

Documents, Environmental Issues, News,

Collared Wolf - courtesy USFWSHere’s the text of  a letter sent yesterday by the North Fork Preservation Association to the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission regarding wolf management. See also yesterday’s alert regarding the situation…

Dear Montana Fish and Wildlife Commissioners:

The mission of the North Fork Preservation Association is to champion stewardship of the natural resources and protect the exceptional biodiversity of the North Fork of the Flathead River.  We live simply in the North Fork, off the grid, make concessions for our wild neighbors, and, best of all, the ecosystem contains a full complement of wildlife, which also forms the foundation for our thriving recreation-based economy. Wolves and grizzly bears roam freely through our public (96%) and private (4%) lands here in relative harmony with the human residents.  Sustainable population levels of ungulates have coexisted with wolves, bears, and other carnivores for a very long time here.

We were dismayed to see our 2021 Legislature pass many new bills that undermine the role of the FWP wildlife biologists and managers who make their professional decisions based on the best science available.  These new bills are not based on science but rather on emotions, especially the bills regarding wolves.  We are asking the Commission to maintain the pre-legislature status quo and avoid the significant, detrimental changes to wolf management.   We support FWP’s professional management processes, and we hope that the Commission will continue to support FWP by taking a long, hard look at the newly proposed options and select those options for wolf management that preserve FWP’s ability to professionally manage them—Option 1, Limited New Tools.

While we understand that the Legislature indicated that it wants a smaller wolf population in Montana, each region should be evaluated on its own merits by the professional managers at FWP.  We hope that a reasonable status quo harvest throughout Montana and our 2-wolf quota in the North Fork will be upheld by the Commission.  Please support “Option 1—Limited New Tools” for management of wolves.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Flannery Coats, President
For the NFPA Board of Directors

ALERT: Less than a week to challenge horrific Montana wolf harvest proposals!

Action Alerts, Environmental Issues,

Gray Wolf

Several horrific bills were passed by the 2021 Montana Legislature that will harm wolves and grizzly bears! These include significant reduction of the wolf population through neck snaring, longer seasons, hunting at night with spotlights, larger bag limits, bounties, etc. These proposed changes are based on the angry emotions of a few legislators, and prohibit MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) from being able to reasonably manage wolves and bears based on the best science available. The FWP Commission will be voting on these proposed detrimental changes in August. We have until 5pm on July 26 to get comments to our commissioners against these disastrous new laws. Please comment before July 26! In your letter, please recommend “Option 1—Limited New Tools.” For more information & online comment submission go to: https://fwp.mt.gov/hunt/public-comment-opportunities  and click on 2021 WOLF SEASON. You can also email the individual commissioners at:

Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission members

Last call to get involved with FRA River Ambassador program

News,

From our friends at the Flathead Rivers Alliance (FRA) . . .

In coordination with Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park, we are thrilled to launch the FRA River Ambassador program THIS SUMMER. This is last call for summer 2021 volunteers to serve as River Ambassadors. These representatives will essentially act as liaisons with the public at popular river access sites, and disseminate information about river safety and etiquette. Our Ambassadors will also have the opportunity to collect data related to river use in order to supply our agency partners with accurate and current information. This is our first year so we are still sorting out logistics, and there may be other tasks and opportunities for our Ambassadors to tackle this summer. If you are interested in being an FRA River Ambassador, we invite you to join us at our last information and training session on July 1st from 4-8pm. Information session will be at Hungry Horse Ranger District, followed by training at West Glacier field site. Please RSVP to info@flatheadrivers.org so we can plan accordingly. If you wish to participate, but may have a scheduling conflict with training let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate.

Get those issues in! Interlocal meeting July 14, 1:00pm, at Sondreson Hall

Action Alerts, News
Bob Dunkley explains Park plans for the Polebridge Ranger Station, post Red Bench Fire, at the 1989 Interlocal at Sondreson Hall.

Hi, folks.

The Summer 2021 Interlocal Agreement Meeting is at 1:00pm, on Wednesday, July 14 at Sondreson Community Hall. This summer’s Interlocal is hosted by the North Fork Preservation Association (NFPA). It follows the annual Firewise meeting at 9:30am. Lunch is at noon, with the NFPA providing the main course. If you wish, bring a side dish or desert to share.

For those of you who are new to this, Interlocal meetings are held twice each year, winter and summer. These semi-annual get-togethers are intended to encourage open discussion between North Fork landowners and neighbors, and local, state and federal agencies. In other words, it’s a big deal if you have an interest in the North Fork.

As a convenience (it’s not required), I’m serving as a central point of contact for issues that North Fork organizations and individuals would like to see addressed by the various government agencies represented at the meeting. If you’ll send me your issues by the afternoon of Tuesday, June 29, I’ll pass them on to the various organizations in enough time for them to prepare their presentations. (Note: Please do not respond via Facebook. Use my email address, wkwalker@nvdi.com.)

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Bill

Undeniable – John Murray’s lifelong work to permanently protect the Badger-Two Medicine from oil and gas drilling.

Commentary, News
The sun sets over the Badger-Two Medicine area near Browning in March 2016 - AP
The sun sets over the Badger-Two Medicine area near Browning in March 2016 – AP

Good article from Patagonia’s web site . . .

The Badger-Two Medicine is sacred ancestral land of the Blackfeet Nation along the Rocky Mountain Front in northern Montana, just south of the Canadian border. Here, 8,000-foot limestone peaks notch the sky and pristine rivers cut through deep canyons before spilling out onto the rolling plains. These lands are home to the principal origin story of the Blackfeet people, who trace their creation to the headwaters of Badger Creek and Two Medicine River; and even today, one can still see the same sweeping vistas, find many of the same wild animals, such as grizzly bears, lynx, golden eagles and cutthroat trout, and hear the same sounds as those who lived here 10,000 years ago—as long as the Blackfeet people have been here. It’s home to the spiritual Medicine Grizzly and where tribal members still practice traditional ceremonies.

For years, the Blackfeet have been fighting to save the Badger-Two Medicine from the irreversible fate of development. And one tribal member, John Murray, 72, has spent the better part of his life protecting these lands from the threat of oil and gas extraction that’s hovered over them for nearly two decades—although attacks to Blackfeet homelands started long before that.

Blackfeet territory once spanned from present-day North Dakota, west to the Rocky Mountains, to the mouth of the Yellowstone River and up the Saskatchewan River to Lake Winnipeg, John begins. He is speaking to me from his office in Browning, Montana, (population just over 1,000) on the 1.5 million-acre Blackfeet Indian Reservation. His tone is measured, which puts listeners at ease, and gently commands full attention. John is a masterful storyteller, often bringing a tale in such a graceful circle that, after you’ve become so immersed in the story itself, you’re surprised to find he’s carried you back to the original point—and delivered you there with a much greater understanding than you had before. His desk is laden with mountains of paper, including the US Forest Service proposals and industrial projects on tribal land that require his immediate consultation. Outside, beyond Browning, winter melts from mountains that had been Blackfeet homelands for a geologic timespan that dwarfs rushed bureaucratic deadlines. “That was land that in our origins was what we called our world,” he says.

Continue reading . . .