Tag Archives: Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

Flathead Wild & Scenic River live webinar, March 30th, 7pm

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Poster announcing Flathead Wild & Scenic River Live Webinar, March 30th, 2022 7:00-8:00 pm MSTFlathead Rivers Alliance is hosting the Flathead Wild & Scenic River CRMP 101: How does management of Wild & Scenic Rivers work? free live webinar on Wednesday, March 30th, 2022, from 7:00-8:00 pm MST. In anticipation of the public participation portion on the Three Forks of the Flathead CRMP draft, this live webinar provides an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of river management plans from regional and local experts. An opportunity for the public to participate in CRMPs only happens every 15 to 20 years. Registration is required for this FREE webinar. If you don’t plan on attending virtually, you can register to receive a video recording and submit your questions via email ahead of time. Learn more: www.flatheadrivers.org/events

Webinar Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6116443358206/WN_E7n1YQ8HTkiwI9wwKy1ZiQ

Also, the Flathead Rivers Alliance is ramping up for the 2022 river season and recruiting 20-30 volunteer team members! Are you passionate about the river system that inspired a national protected Wild and Scenic River system? They are expanding their River Ambassador program and officially launching a River Recreation Monitoring Survey program.

  • April 12th, 2022 6:00-8:00 pm River Ambassador Training 
  • April 14th, 2022 6:00-8:00 pm River Recreation Monitoring Training 

There are a number of ways to give your time including helping with their volunteer programs on the North, Middle and South Forks of the Flathead River. Save the above dates and RSVP at info@flatheadrivers.org if you’re interested in one or both of their volunteer program trainings or other opportunities.

A permit to float the upper North Fork?

Environmental Issues, News,
North Fork Flathead River, May 16, 2018 - by William K. Walker
North Fork Flathead River, May 16, 2018 – by William K. Walker

Well, maybe . . .

The Flathead National Forest is eyeing the prospect of the possibility of a permit system or other crowd controls for the scenic section of the North Fork of the Flathead River. The scenic section, as defined under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, runs from the border with Canada to the Camas Bridge.

The Forest Service, in cooperation with the Park Service, are working on a comprehensive river management plan for the three forks of the Flathead River. Some 219 miles of the river system are protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. But as more and more people come to the Flathead Valley, the rivers are becoming more crowded.

Glacier National Park over the past three summers has seen more than or just under 3 million people each year.

Read more . . .

USPS features two Montana rivers for 50 years of Wild and Scenic Rivers

Environmental Issues, News
The Flathead and Missouri rivers are featured in a stamp series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 - USPS photo
The Flathead and Missouri rivers are featured in a stamp series celebrating the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968 – USPS photo

Spoiler: The Flathead River (well, actually, the three forks of the Flathead River are the wild and scenic part) is featured on one of the stamps. There’s a lot of interesting background here . . .

The sun was rising on the Missouri River when Bob Wick of the BLM took a photo that in 2019 will become a stamp celebrating Wild and Scenic rivers.

Wick was just downstream from Hole in the Rock Campground on the White Cliffs section of the Upper Missouri River. That put him 63 miles from Fort Benton and 20 from Coal Banks Landing.

He remembers steam rising from the river on that September morning. Just enough forest fire smoke was in the sky to turn sunrise a vibrant orange. Cottonwood leaves were starting to turn yellow.

Read more . . .

My wild and scenic dream wedding

News, , ,
Kascie Herron's North Fork Wedding
Kascie Herron’s North Fork Wedding

It seems Kascie Herron, who several of you may know from her activities with American Rivers, got married on the North Fork this summer . . .

No one ever tells you how fast it all goes by – the ceremony, photos, reception, eating, dancing, crying, laughing. The act of getting married will forever be a blur in my memory. All of it except the river.

My husband, Dan, and I were married on June 30 on the North Fork of the Flathead River in northwest Montana. The North Fork was designated a Wild and Scenic River in 1976. Its headwaters begin in Canada and flow south to its confluence with the Middle Fork Flathead, forming the western boundary of Glacier National Park. There are many reasons we chose this place to declare our lifelong commitment to one another. After all, our love for one another grew out of our love for rivers.

Read more . . .

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

News

The Flathead Beacon describes a number of events that are planned to observe the 50th anniversary of Wild and Scenic Rivers Act . . .

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and a raft of events and activities are slated to launch this month to observe the milestone of a landmark decision that helped furnish protections on a suite of Montana waterways — the three forks of the Flathead River and the White Cliffs stretch of the Missouri.

Organized in part by Glacier Guides and Glacier Raft Company, which operates near West Glacier, the suite of events to observe the historic Act are well suited for the Flathead River system, where the idea for the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was born as a way to safeguard certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural and recreational values in a free-flowing state for the enjoyment of present and future generations.

The Middle Fork Flathead River originates in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and flows 98 miles to its confluence with the North Fork Flathead River near Columbia Falls. In the 1950s, famed wildlife biologist John Craighead was fighting the proposed Spruce Park Dam, which would have backed the river up 11 miles, writing that wild rivers were a “species close to extinction” and were needed “for recreation and education of future generations.”

Read more . . .

First river management plan meeting draws big crowd

News, ,

An excellent report on the first Consolidated River Management Plan public meeting held last Tuesday at Cedar Creek Lodge. . .

A large crowd of passionate users of the Flathead River’s three forks turned out for the first of what promises to be a long string of meetings to develop a new comprehensive river management plan.

The plan will encompass the wild and scenic sections of the North, Middle and South Forks of the Flathead.

It does not include the mainstem of the Flathead, the Hungry Horse Reservoir or the South Fork below the Hungry Horse Dam.

Read more . . .