John Frederick memorial May 19

May 17, 2018Newsnfpa

John Frederick at the 1987 Polebridge Forth of July parade — John Frederick at the 1987 Polebridge Fourth of July parade

[Location update! Due to uncertainties in the weather and flooding at the hostel, the memorial has moved to Sondreson Community Hall. For those not familiar with the area, the Hall is about 7 miles north of Polebridge, just south of the Whale Creek bridge.]

John Frederick, one of the founders of the North Fork Preservation Association and, for a total of about 25 years, its president, died on November 15, 2017. On May 19, friends, family and admirers will gather at 1:00 p.m. at the North Fork Hostel to remember John’s life and his contributions to the North Fork. Here (lightly edited) is the announcement circulated by Oliver Meister, owner of the North Fork Hostel . . .

We are celebrating John’s life at the North Fork Hostel on May 19, 2018 at 1:00 p.m.

Everybody is welcome. We will tell John stories and share memories. There will also be music and mementos.

Bring a chair, lounger or hammock. Don’t forget an umbrella if it rains.

We will have a BBQ after we’re done with the remembering. Bring a side or dessert if you want to stick around for it.

Please join us!

Next public meeting on Flathead River Comprehensive Management Plan on May 16

May 12, 2018Environmental Issues, NewsFlathead Rivernfpa

Elk Crossing North Fork of Flathead River, north of Camas Bridge, March 4, 2016 - Greg Evans — Elk Crossing North Fork of Flathead River, north of Camas Bridge, March 4, 2016 – Greg Evans

The next in a series of meetings on the Flathead River Comprehensive Management Plan is on Wednesday, May 16 at the Heaven’s Peak Room of Cedar Creek Lodge in Columbia Falls from 6 to 8 p.m. . . .

On the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Flathead National Forest, in coordination with Glacier National Park, is seeking public input as it develops a comprehensive management plan for the three forks of the Flathead River.

A series of six public meetings are scheduled over the next six months. The first meeting, on May 16 [actually, the first meeting was in March], will focus on water-quality conditions, management and concerns on the Middle, South and North forks of the Flathead River. It will be held at the Heaven’s Peak Room of Cedar Creek Lodge in Columbia Falls from 6 to 8 p.m.

The meeting will include presentations on current water-quality information, as well as “facilitated discussion on how water quality should be addressed” in the comprehensive river management plan (CRMP), according to the U.S. Forest Service. A brief introductory presentation to the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will begin at 5:45 p.m.

Read more . . .

Feds to seek Montana grizzly delisting this fall

May 11, 2018Environmental Issues, NewsEndangered Species Act, grizzly bear recoverynfpa

Grizzly Bear Sow and cubs - NPS photo, Tim Rains — Grizzly Bear Sow and cubs – NPS photo, Tim Rains

The U.S. plans to propose removing Montana’s grizzlies from endangered species act protection this fall . . .

U.S. officials expect to release a proposal this fall that would remove federal protections for grizzly bears in northwestern Montana, home to the largest grizzly population in the Lower 48.

The plan was released Wednesday as part of the U.S. Interior Department’s regulatory agenda for coming months.

An estimated 1,000 bears occupy at least 22,000 square miles in northwestern Montana centered on Glacier National Park.

Read more . . .

UofM survey: Montanans overwhelmingly support public lands

May 11, 2018Environmental Issues, Newspublic lands, wilderness study areasnfpa

Three Types of Public Lands — Three types of public lands: Flathead National Forest is in the foreground, left and right; Montana’s Coal Creek State Forest, including Cyclone Lake, is in the middle distance; Glacier National Park stretches across the background.

No surprises here. A pretty well-designed survey by the University of Montana revealed that people who live in Montana really like their public lands.

But, in a related story, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Greg Gianforte say they don’t believe it because “they had the support of local county commissions” for legislation to close down several wilderness study areas (WSA’s). You just can’t make this stuff up.

Anyways, here’s the lead-in for a good article on the survey. A link for the WSA issue follows . . .

The University of Montana 2018 Public Lands Survey showed wide, bipartisan appreciation for the state’s wild places.

“The takeaway for me is, support for policy to protect public land is going up, not down,” said Rick Graetz, director of UM’s Crown of the Continent Greater Yellowstone Initiative, which commissioned the survey. “That’s true on both sides of the aisle. Democrats, Republicans and Independents all see the value of it. That wasn’t true even 10 years ago when we started our program.”

The poll found four out of five Montanans considered public lands an economic benefit to the state, while just 3 percent said their presence hurt the economy.

Flathead Wild and Scenic River water quality meeting May 16th

May 3, 2018Environmental Issues, NewsComprehensive River Management Plan, Flathead River, water quality, Wild and Scenic Riversnfpa

North Fork of the Flathead River - ©Mark LaRowe — North Fork of the Flathead River – ©Mark LaRowe

The next in a series of meetings on developing a comprehensive river management plan for the three forks of the Flathead River is scheduled for May16. It will be held from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, at the at the Heaven’s Peak room in the Cedar Creek Lodge, Columbia Falls.

Here’s the full press release . . .

Flathead Wild and Scenic River: Comprehensive River Management Plan Meeting to Discuss Water Quality

Kalispell, MT. May 3, 2018- The Flathead National Forest, in coordination and partnership with Glacier National Park, is in the process of preparing a comprehensive river management plan (CRMP) for the 3-forks of the Flathead River.

A series of resource-focused public meetings will be held over the next six months, beginning on May 16th. This meeting will focus on water quality conditions, management, and concerns as part of the efforts to develop the CRMP. The meeting will be held at the Heaven’s Peak room in the Cedar Creek Lodge, Columbia Falls, Montana. The meeting will be from 6 pm to 8 pm and include presentations on current water quality information and facilitated discussion on how water quality should be addressed in the CRMP. For those new to the comprehensive river management plan process, an introductory presentation on the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act will begin at 5:45 pm. Future meeting topics and a preliminary schedule will be posted on the Flathead National Forest website.

The CRMP will address the current status of the river and the surrounding resources, outline goals and desired conditions, determine user capacity and create a monitoring plan for the next 15 to 20 years. In order to reflect the diverse users of the river and surrounding lands, the public is encouraged to help craft the future management of this designated wild and scenic river to ensure the river and its outstanding resources are maintained and protected.

For more information, please call Flathead National Forest Recreation Program Manager, Chris Prew at 406-758-3538.
Updates on the CRMP can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/flathead/home/?cid=fseprd573051&width=full

Relations between DNRC and Flathead Basin Commission reach a new low

May 3, 2018Newsnfpa

Late last year we observed, “One has to wonder if there’s a connection between the administrative uproar over a pilot program to combat invasive mussels in Flathead Lake and the defunding for supposed budgetary reasons of the organization tasked to oversee the program.”

Since then, relations between the Flathead Basin Commission and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation have reached a new low with the firing — or attempted firing, anyways — of the commission’s executive director. What a mess.

The Missoulian has the story . . .

A simmering dispute between a state agency and a group connected to it, charged with monitoring Flathead Lake’s water quality, has intensified with the dismissal of its executive director for “dishonest, subversive and disruptive” activities — allegations Caryn Miske adamantly denies.

Instead, Miske says she was fired in February “for political reasons and for personality differences” with administrators within the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation as part of a “power struggle” between DNRC and the 23-member Flathead Basin Commission that she formerly headed.

Read more . . .

We’re back!

May 1, 2018Site Updatesnfpa

Sorry about the website’s inaccessibility for the last week, folks.

We were caught up in a perfect storm of web hosting incompetence, forcing us to pack up and move elsewhere. There may still be a few minor hiccups here and there, but the site should be back on its game now.

The process has been beneficial, if painful. Our new home is more spacious, comfortable and up-to-date. With any luck, we won’t have to go through this again for a long time.

Last caribou herd in lower 48 ‘functionally extinct’

April 16, 2018Environmental Issues, NewsCaribou, Selkirk Mountainsnfpa

Caribou in Jasper National Park, Canada -Photo by Annie K on Unsplash

From the New York Times comes another object lesson on the effects of unbalanced industrial development . . .

The battle to save the so-called gray ghosts — the only herd of caribou in the lower 48 states — has been lost.

A recent aerial survey shows that this international herd of southern mountain caribou, which spends part of its year in the Selkirk Mountains of northern Idaho and Washington near the Canadian border, has dwindled to just three animals and should be considered “functionally extinct,” experts say.

The Selkirk herd had been disappearing for the last several years.

Read more . . .

New U.S. spending bill requires scrutiny of Kootenai Watershed issues

April 15, 2018Environmental Issues, NewsKootenai River, mining, seleniumnfpa

A provision in the recent federal budget bill requires the EPA to get off the dime and work with U.S. and Canadian agencies to do something about mining waste in the Kootenai Watershed . . .

Stemming the flow of dangerous mining contaminants spilling from Canada into the Kootenai River watershed was listed as a priority in the 2,232-page government-spending bill signed by President Donald Trump, marking a hard-won victory for advocates of the endangered river and the communities it supports.

Inclusion of the beleaguered river system in the massive spending bill is another in a recent series of significant steps toward tackling a decade-long problem brewing in the transboundary Kootenai River watershed, where toxic contaminants leaching from upstream Canadian coal mines in the Elk River Valley of British Columbia continue to threaten Montana’s prized aquatic ecosystems.

Spearheading the latest charge to bring attention to the Kootenai is U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, who helped draft the annual budget bill as a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, and who for years has been mounting pressure on the U.S. and B.C. governments to develop a bilateral water quality standard for mining contaminants, including selenium, sulfates and nitrates.

Read more . . .

Carolyn Kormann: Ryan Zinke’s Great American Fire Sale

April 15, 2018Commentary, Environmental Issuespublic lands, Ryan Zinkenfpa

Here’s a well-researched piece by New Yorker staff writer Carolyn Kormann discussing U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan ZInke’s efforts to open up more public lands for resource development. Kudos to Debo Powers for spotting this one . . .

Not long ago, the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, began distributing “vision cards” to its employees. The front of each card features the B.L.M. logo (a river winding into green foothills); short descriptions of the Bureau’s “vision,” “mission,” and “values”; and an oil rig. On the flip side is a list of “guiding principles,” accompanied by an image of two cowboys riding across a golden plain. Amber Cargile, a B.L.M. spokeswoman, told me that the new cards are meant to reflect the agency’s “multiple-use mission on working landscapes across the West, which includes grazing, energy, timber, mining, recreation, and many other programs.” Individual employees, she added, can opt to wear or display the cards at their own discretion. But, according to the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which obtained photos of the cards and shared them with the Washington Post, supervisors in at least two B.L.M. field offices have been verbally “advising that employees must clip them to their lanyards.” Some workers, speaking to the Post anonymously, said that they felt they had no choice but to comply.

Read more . . .