An interesting item from the Daily Inter Lake . . .
The Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center in Glacier National Park hosted 45 students for the Glacier Lake Ecology BioBlitz on May 25 and 26.
The students were from Flathead and Columbia Falls high schools in Northwest Montana, De La Salle Collegiate High School from Warren, Michigan, and Luther College from Decorah, Iowa.
Students observed loons nesting, feeding, calling and interacting on lakes in the North Fork area of Glacier National Park.
Biologist Lisa Bate counts birds during the annual Christmas bird count in Glacier in 2010.
Lisa Bate recently got some well-deserved recognition for her work with Glacier Park’s birds and bats . . .
While Glacier National Park is known for the grizzlies and goats, Lisa Bate has long been more interested in its birds and bats.
“It’s fun to bring attention to something that’s not a large carnivore,” she said last week. Bate has done groundbreaking work in the Park, most notably studying its harlequin ducks and its diverse, though seldom seen, bat population.
While those two species might not grab headlines, they face just as many threats due to climate change and other factors as the mega fauna species.
“I like the underdogs and I try to give them a voice,” she said.
Glacier National Park continues its boat inspections and permit process for this summer as part of an ongoing aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention program. Westward expansion of zebra and quagga mussels, and other aquatic invasive species transported mainly on recreational watercraft, is driving regional water resource managers to ramp up existing AIS prevention strategies. Mussel infestations are increasing across the country, and present greater threats to park waters as more boats testing positive for mussels are intercepted in the northwest each year.
Invasive mussels are found on boats within Montana or passing through Montana on a regular basis. Eurasian watermilfoil and other invasive aquatic plants are also present in western Montana waterways, necessitating a high degree of vigilance to prevent spread.
A National Park Service inspection is required for all motorized and trailered watercraft. A self-certification permit is required for all non-trailered, hand-propelled watercraft. Park managers encourage all boaters to thoroughly clean, drain, and dry their watercraft and/or fishing equipment before coming to the park to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.
“We realize that recreational boaters will face added time and inconvenience while recreating in Glacier National Park,” said Brian McKeon, supervisor for the AIS Inspection Program. “The consequences of Aquatic Invasive Species becoming established in park waters at the headwaters for the Columbia, Missouri and Hudson Bay watersheds are dire for aquatic ecosystems, recreational opportunities, and economic concerns downstream.” Continue reading Glacier Park’s aquatic invasive species prevention program continues→
Curious bears investigate a bear trap in Glacier National Park – courtesy National Park Service
Here’s the annual announcement of the ongoing grizzly monitoring project in Glacier Park. It came with a really cool photo this time . . .
A long-term program to monitor grizzly bears in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem continues this summer in Glacier National Park. Park officials said Wednesday that wildlife managers will begin work next week to deploy bait stations, trail cameras and traps to capture grizzly bears.
The bait stations and trap sites will be marked with brightly colored warnings and closure signs. Visitors are asked to respect the posted signs and stay out of the bait station sites. The trapping efforts will continue into October.
The grizzly bear monitoring program began in 2004 and is led by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Glacier National Park is in the initial stages of developing an ambitions fisheries plan . . .
Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow announced last week the launch of a two-year comprehensive planning process to address large-scale issues affecting the park’s iconic lakes and streams, including non-native invasive species and climate change.
“Glacier National Park’s native aquatic ecosystems are essential in maintaining regional biodiversity,” said Mow. “However, the Park’s lakes and streams are increasingly threatened by non-native invasive fish and other organisms, and by the impacts of climate change. This plan will evaluate a variety of methods for addressing these threats in a comprehensive way.”
Park officials say the purpose of the plan is to develop an integrated and adaptive approach to the restoration, conservation and future management of native aquatic species and their habitats across the park, including the federally-listed threatened bull trout and the state-listed westslope cutthroat trout.
To submit public comments online or view the scoping document, visit parkplanning.nps.gov/FishAquaticsPlanEIS. Comments can also be mailed to: Superintendent, Glacier National Park, Attn: Fish and Aquatics Plan/EIS, P.O. Box 128, West Glacier, Montana 59936.
Another sign of spring: Glacier Park announces a couple of prescribed burns in the North Fork . . .
If you see smoke emanating from the North Fork in Glacier National Park in the next few weeks, there’s a good chance it’s part of a couple of planned burns for the area.
Two prescribed fire projects are planned along the Inside North Fork Road area of Glacier National Park in the next month, depending on weather and fuel conditions, according to a press release.
National Park Service (NPS) fire crews plan to burn 100 acres in the vicinity of Sullivan Meadow, approximately two miles east of Logging Ranger Station. The primary objectives of the burn are to reduce the number of understory trees serving as “ladders for fire” underneath mature ponderosa pine; to thin out trees that established after the 1999 Anaconda Fire and the 2001 Moose Fire; and to expose mineral soil to provide a seed bed for natural ponderosa pine regeneration.
Glacier Park is still on-schedule to begin snow removal on April 1, starting with Camas Road. The Flathead Beacon has a good write-up . . .
The true mark of spring’s arrival in the Flathead Valley, the plows in Glacier National Park are rumbling to life this week to embark on the monumental task of clearing Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Park crews are slated to start April 1 with the Camas Road before turning their attention to the park’s iconic 52-mile thoroughfare. Clearing the narrow two-lane road is a challenging task that usually takes 10 weeks depending on weather conditions and snowpack levels. The mountain highway is considered one of the most difficult roads in America to plow. In years past, crews have been hampered by avalanches and significant obstacles, such as the Big Drift, a one-mile section of Sun Road near Logan Pass where typically over 100 feet of snow accumulates in winter.
The current snowpack levels are at 96 percent of average, according to the Flattop Mountain SNOTEL site, a U.S. Geological Survey site sitting at 6,300 feet elevation in the park.
Back in 1872 a Salish and Kootenai Warrior named Running Coyote was on the outs with the tribe. He had a wife on one side of the divide and a Blackfeet wife on the other side of the divide.
In an attempt to make amends, Running Coyote along with Blackfeet Warriors Greengrass Bull, Boy Chief and Calf Tail captured several buffalo calves near Buffalo Lake on Blackfeet lands and took them over the Continental Divide to the Salish and Kootenai as a gift.
It didn’t work out for Running Coyote, he still wasn’t forgiven. But the buffalo remained and two other men, Michel Pablo and James Allard took possession of the herd. About 26 years later, the reservation was opened up to homesteading and the free-ranging herd of about 300 animals had to go.
Denise Germann, the source for many Glacier Park and Flathead Forest stories referenced here over the years, is headed for Grand Teton National Park . . .
The latest news from Glacier National Park spokeswoman Denise Germann is that Denise Germann is leaving her job with Glacier National Park.
Germann confirmed Thursday that she has accepted the position of public affairs officer for Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Germann filled in as Teton’s spokeswoman for three months this fall, and said she went without any intention of pursuing the position permanently.
