Tag Archives: North Fork Flathead

Whitefish Range Partnership reaches consensus on Forest Plan recommendations

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

The Hungry Horse News posted their article on the recent Whitefish Range Partnership meeting . . .

A group of stakeholders have reached consensus on a collaborative document for future management of the North Fork area.

The Whitefish Range Partnership has been meeting for the past several months in preparation for the upcoming Forest Plan revision process for the Flathead National Forest. The meetings were moderated by former state senator and secretary of state Bob Brown, of Whitefish.

Most stakeholders said the process went well.

Read more . . .

Montana bat studies may help determine cause of White Nose Syndrome

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Scientists are trying to determine the cause of White Nose Syndrome, a disease that has killed some 7 million bats in North America so far. A great deal of this works focuses on Montana, including the North Fork area . . .

Where bats hibernate, how warm or cold, and how dry or damp the environment is, are questions being asked as researchers and recreationists explore Montana’s caves.

Bat Specialist Dr. Cori Lausen with Wildlife Conservation Society Canada says some species of bats are facing potential extinction because of the White Nose Syndrome which has been decimating bat populations along the east coast, and is spreading west…

Lausen has studied bats in the North Fork Flathead River drainage in Montana, and just this past summer began surveying the caves of the Flathead River Valley on the north side of the border. She said this area is good for bat hunting because of the numerous cave formations in the area.

Read more . . .

Grizzly captures planned in Northwestern Montana

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Plans are afoot again this year to capture grizzly bears for research purposes . . .

Biologists will begin capturing grizzly bears in northwestern Montana this month as part of ongoing research into the population of the threatened species.

The work will take place in the Blackfoot Valley, along the Rocky Mountain Front, in the Swan and Clearwater River Valleys, within Glacier National Park, and in the North and Middle Forks of the Flathead River.

Continue reading . . .

Wolf impact on northwest deer populations small

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Field and Stream magazine has an articel up on the impact wolves are having on deer populations in this corner of the country. Short version: Mountain lions and coyotes take far more deer than wolves, but the effects of all three are dwarfed by the impact of the weather. The North Fork gets a specific mention in the discussion . . .

In 2011, for the first time ever in Idaho, hunters harvested fewer mule deer than whitetails–big news for a state with a deer harvest that has long been dominated by muleys, and whose recent-big game headlines have been dominated by wolves and stories of their impacts (some exaggerated, some true). Wolf kills, scat, howls, and tracks… are frequent reminders of wolves’ presence in the Western whitetail woods.

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Larry Wilson: Much of North Fork is already ‘wilderness’

Commentary, Environmental Issues, ,

Larry responds to yet another op-ed on the North Fork wilderness issue . . .

I had never heard of a “liberal conservationist” until that label was applied to me by Matthew Chappell in a recent letter to the editor in the Hungry Horse News.

My opposition to a wilderness on the Whitefish Range led Mr. Chappell to believe that I oppose all wilderness and want motorized vehicles to be allowed everywhere.

He supposes that I might want a parking garage at Polebridge and maybe even a Pizza Hut on Trail Creek.

In fact, his suppositions are just so much horse apples. I do not oppose all wilderness. I do oppose a Whitefish Divide Wilderness for what I believe are good reasons.

Continue reading . . .

Visitor from Colorado drowns in North Fork

News,

For those of you wondering about the radio traffic, a visiting Colorado man drowned in the North Fork just south of Camas Creek yesterday. North Valley Rescue supported the recovery efforts . . .

A 67-year-old man from Colorado who was visiting family in Whitefish drowned Tuesday while fishing in the North Fork Flathead River.

Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the man was wearing waders and fishing with a relative near the river’s confluence with Camas Creek when the two got separated by a bend in the river. “The local guy went to look for the other guy who was just downstream and could not find him,” Curry said.

Continue reading . . .

Bow hunter takes North Fork wolf

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

A hunter took a wolf at the beginning of bow season, closing the North Fork wolf hunt until gun season opens . . .

An elk hunter with a wolf license shot a wolf on the fourth day of archery season just west of the Whitefish Divide, prompting Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to close the North Fork Flathead’s wolf management Unit 110.

It is the only hunting district in the state that retains a quota for wolves.

Only two can be harvested per year in the district, which covers the North Fork west of Glacier National and extends over the Whitefish Divide into Lincoln County.

Continue reading . . .

Grizzly captured west of Great Falls moved to North Fork

News, ,

The North Fork has a new grizzly, shipped in from east of the divide . . .

A 390-pound grizzly bear captured west of Great Falls near Simms on Wednesday night has been collared, tagged and relocated to the north fork of the Flathead River, near the Canadian border.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bear Management Specialist Mike Madel said the young male and his sibling are responsible for the deaths of three goats earlier this week.

The bear’s sibling was not captured and will remain on the east side of the divide, because bears tend to get in more trouble when they’re together, Madel said.

Continue reading . . .

North Fork offers more remote experience at Montana’s Glacier National Park

Travel Articles, , , , ,

Susan Gallagher did a nice Associated Press piece about the North Fork that is getting national and world-wide distribution today. Just for fun, the “continue reading” link below sends you to New Zealand to read the rest of her article . . .

The Blackfeet Tribe named the greater Glacier National Park ecosystem “the backbone of the world.” Use the park’s remote, northwestern entrance and the bumpy access road will have you feeling like you drove over each vertebra. But you’ll be grateful you made the trip.

For an out-of-the-mainstream take on America’s 10th national park, go to its northwestern expanse, the North Fork. It invites “a more self-reliant visitor,” the National Park Service says in its Glacier literature.

The North Fork doesn’t have the grand old lodges like those near Glacier’s principal gateways, but this piece of paradise isn’t without comforts. Rustic, marvelously tasty and memorable, they are in Polebridge, a mile (1.6 kilometre) from the park’s northwestern entrance. This off-the-grid community increasingly reliant on solar power is the hub for an area where the summer population numbers maybe a few hundred, up from five to 10 in the winter.

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Improvements to Quartz Creek fish barrier on the way

Environmental Issues, News, , , , ,

The battle to keep non-native lake trout out of the Quartz Creek drainage continues . . .

Following National Park Service approval and an environmental analysis, Glacier National Park officials will move forward with modifications and improvements to the existing Quartz Creek fish barrier to try and suppress lake trout and other non-native fish from getting into Quartz Lake, the park announced Monday.

Located in the North Fork of the Flathead River drainage and the park’s North Fork District, Quartz Lake is believed to be one of the last remaining strongholds for bull trout in park waters west of the Continental Divide. The lake was believed to be the largest on the west side of the park accessible to lake trout but not yet colonized by them. However, lake trout were detected in 2005, threatening the long-term persistence of the Quartz Lake bull trout fishery.

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