As is usual this time of year, our “Wildfire Information” page has gotten a few updates.
The “Wildfire Information” page is a collection of wildland fire information links, including prescribed burns, applicable to the Flathead and Kootenai National Forests and Glacier National Park. There’s also a group of links for Canadian wildfire information.
And remember . . .
TO REPORT A WILDLAND FIRE – CALL (406) 758-5260 OR CALL 911
Glacier Park has had several lightening triggered fires over the past week or so. Most are along the west face of the Continental Divide in the North Fork and most are pretty small. There are trail closures in several areas, including the Quartz Lake Loop and the Logging Lake drainage. The Hungry Horse News has a good summary . . .
Glacier National Park has closed some trails and a portion of the Inside North fork Road from Polebridge down to Logging Creek as it battles several small fires in the region.
The fires aren’t large, about a tenth of an acre or so, but there is one at Grace, Logging, Cummings Meadow and Quartz Lake.
Small fires at Bowman Creek and Big Prairie have been put out. Firefighters were also working on a small blaze on Snyder Ridge. Yesterday, a helicopter made water dumps on the fire, scooping water out of Lake McDonald. Visitors could also see helicopters getting water out of the North Fork of the Flathead…
The Daily Inter Lake has an interesting article on a device invented to provide fast, sensitive and mobile detection of invasive mussels . . .
The pristine waters of Flathead Lake that have supported local residents’ way of life for centuries are being threatened by invasive species that have devastated lakes and waterways across the country.
The arrival of the first documented zebra and quagga mussels in Montana could mark the beginning of the end for the crown of the continent’s signature landscape, according to experts at the Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS).
These invasive species have infested lakes in almost every state in the U.S., corrupting indigenous ecosystems, clogging drainage and irrigation systems and crashing the economical and recreational value of beaches and harbors.
Here’s a good piece by Chris Peterson of the Hungry Horse News on the progress in grizzly bear management over the last few decades . . .
While tragic, Glacier Park’s Night of the Grizzlies did much to change grizzly bear and human backcountry use. “It was a lightning rod to the core of the Park Service,” said Glacier Park biologist John Waller.
While the Wilderness Act had been passed three years before that tragic night in 1967, there was no Leave No Trace ethic — leaving or burying garbage was common in bear country. Even Roy Ducat and July Helgeson buried the remains of their sandwiches before they camped for the night, a Hungry Horse News story noted.
Philosophy toward bear management changed quickly after the incident. Grizzlies were not nearly as common in Glacier in the late 1960s as they are today. They also weren’t protected, Waller said. The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973 and grizzlies were listed as threatened in 1975.
Here’s a pretty good write-up on the Interior Department’s revisions to the sage grouse conservation plan put into place a couple of years ago . . .
A task force is recommending changes that could loosen protections for the greater sage grouse, a Western bird species renowned for its elaborate mating dance.
The report comes out of a review by the Trump administration of a massive Obama-era conservation plan for the bird which is imperiled by loss of habitat.
The administration says the revisions are aimed at giving states more flexibility. But critics argue that the changes favor mining and petroleum companies and could hurt the bird’s long-term prospects.
A closure order was issued this afternoon in the Kootenai National Forest as a result of the Gibraltar Ridge Fire in the Eureka area.
This closure affects travel from the North Fork over Trail Creek into the Kootenai. The Forest Service is posting signs at the North Fork Road/Trail Creek Road junction, and at the Tuchuck Trailhead.
This also affects the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT). Notifications are going up at strategic trailheads for the PNT in both the Kootenai and Flathead Forests.
For more information on the Gibraltar Ridge Fire, see the Inciweb page at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5474/
Leif Haugen, the man in charge at the North Fork’s Thoma Lookout (and all around nice guy), is the subject of a “Great Big Story” short film titled “The Lone Lookout: The Man Protecting Montana’s Forests.”
Here’s the intro:
For the past 24 years, Leif Haugen has spent his summers living alone atop a mountain in Montana’s pristine wilderness. As a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service, Leif is charged with protecting the surrounding landscape, watching for signs of fire from his solitary perch. Spending up to two weeks alone at a time, he spends his days unwinding amid the peace and quiet, watching as the world passes him by.
This article from the New York Times most definitely does not serve as the starting point for an informed discussion on wildfire management. It does, however, highlight some interesting issues . . .
With long strides, Chad T. Hanson plunged into a burned-out forest, his boots kicking up powdery ash. Blackened, lifeless trees stretched toward an azure sky.
Dr. Hanson, an ecologist, could not have been more delighted. “Any day out here is a happy day for me, because this is where the wildlife is,” he said with a grin.
On cue, a pair of birds appeared, swooping through the air and alighting on dead trees to attack them like jackhammers. They were black-backed woodpeckers, adapted by millions of years of evolution to live in burned-out forests. They were hunting grubs to feed their chicks.
Another nice Sunday spread by the Missoulian. This one, by Rob Chaney, concerns the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act . . .
Alec Underwood accidentally hooked one of the biggest justifications for passing the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act as he floated by Belmont Creek last week. A 21-inch bull trout snatched the artificial hopper he’d tied to his tippet in hopes of hitting a cutthroat. The Montana Wilderness Association conservation associate got the raft to shore, jumped in the water and quickly unhooked the fish. It torpedoed back into the cooler depths of the channel.
Without those cold waters, and without those tributary streams, the Blackfoot River would hold no bull trout. As is, the fish known as the grizzly bear of the trout world faces the same challenge as its land-based predatory kin — near extinction due to loss of living space. Anglers must release any bulls they catch, unharmed.
In hopes that one day bull trout might be legal game fish in the Blackfoot again, Underwood and a flotilla of fellow advocates want to build support for the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act. The bill offered by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, would add about 80,000 acres to the Bob Marshall, Mission Mountain and Scapegoat wilderness areas.
The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument is officially on the “do not touch” list . . .
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke says he will not recommend changes to Montana’s Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument as he continues to review national monuments for possible elimination or reduction.
Zinke says the monument is one of the only free-flowing areas of the Missouri that remains as explorers Lewis and Clark saw it more than 200 years ago.
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock had asked Zinke to keep the Breaks monument unchanged as he reviews 27 national monuments designated by previous presidents. President Donald Trump ordered the review, calling many monument designations land grabs by the federal government. Monument designations protect federal land from energy development and other activities.