lynx habitat cited
Bitterroot Resort Thwarted Again
The U.S. Forest Service turned down the Bitterroot Resort’s third request for a special-use permit to use national forest lands for Nordic and alpine skiing and mountain biking, Perry Backus of the Ravalli Republic reports.
Resort officials said Wednesday they are reworking their request and will likely resubmit it within a few weeks.
The new federal conservation regulations for Canadian Lynx put into place this spring made Lolo Forest’s lynx habitat the number one concern for the Forest Service during the reviewing process. Also, ski trail maintenance could disturb elk wintering habitat, and clearing trees for alpine skiing in the Bitterroot Forest could ruin the view from the Maple Creek area, Bitterroot National Forest Supervisor Dave Bull told Backus.
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A lot to swallow
Photo: Snake Eats Fish
Allan, one of our favorite guys at Worden's Market in Missoula, was fishing this week on Monture Creek near the Blackfoot River when he spotted this snake having a (big) bite to eat and snapped the photo.
Allan says when he arrived a the scene, the snake must have just caught the sculpin and the fish was still alive (but looking very sad). The snake swallowed the fish a "short while later."
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WHERE IS THE HOUSE BILL?
Congress Needs to Walk the Talk on Recreation Fees
On June 18, finally, Congress started seriously looking into the runaway recreational fee charging policy of federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service (FS), but it's still just talk. We've had enough of that, so let's just spike this pay-for-play policy, which is at best an extreme stretch of the legal authority given agencies by Congress--"given," sort of, I should say, since our elected leaders never even debated it or voted on it.
Even though it's moving at glacier speed, we at least have the Baucus-Crapo Bill, S. 2438, introduced in the Senate to spike the Recreation Access Tax. This is clearly a bipartisan issue, ripe for election-year politics. Now, we need a sponsor for a similar bill in the House.
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SOUTH DAKOTA'S WALLEYE FISHING DESERVES ITS REPUTATION
The Eyes of Oahe
If you like to fish for walleyes--often called "eyes" because they need such big ones to gather as much light as possible down at the bottom of the lake where they almost always dwell--you're probably like me and dream about fishing South Dakota's Oahe Reservoir.
I finally had my chance last week, and now, I'm already trying to figure out how to get back there for more.
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NRA to Unload $40M Against Obama
The National Rifle Association plans to spend about $40 million on this year's presidential campaign, with $15 million of that devoted to portraying Barack Obama as a threat to the Second Amendment rights upheld last week by the Supreme Court, Jonathan Martin at Politico.com reports.
"Our members understand that if Barack Obama is elected president, and he has support in the Senate to confirm anti-gun Supreme Court nominees, [the District of Columbia v. Heller decision] could be taken away from us in the future,” Chris Cox, head of the NRA’s political arm, told Politico.
Ben Smith, a Politico.com blogger, says the consequences might be "tougher going in some of those long-shot states, notably Montana and Alaska, where gun rights are big but where Obama may out-organize McCain."
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newwest.net's summer photo contest
H2Ography - Give Us Your Best Western Water Shot!
Whether it's whitewater rafting or a tranquil float in a tube, dousing flames or farming, fly-fishing or camping at an alpine lake, summer in the West is all about water. And so NewWest.Net presents H2Ography, our 2008 summer photo contest. Give us your best water shot and win cool prizes.
The online contest, hosted by Flickr, is sponsored by the Rocky Mountain School of Photography and Missoula-area businesses The Dark Room, The Canoe Rack, and Big Dipper Ice Cream. It's open to pro and amateur photographers alike, shooting in the Rocky Mountain region.
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the montana legacy project
Baucus, Plum Creek, Conservation Groups Announce Massive Land Deal
Standing just below the summit of Kalispell’s Lone Pine State Park, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., today announced the purchase of 320,000 acres of Plum Creek Timber Company-owned land by two conservation groups, calling the deal, “the largest land purchase, for conservation purposes, in American history.”
Dubbed, “The Montana Legacy Project,” The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land are buying the acreage for $510 million, and will finance payments on the land over the next three years through private and public sources, with the federal government paying for about half the cost through a forestry conservation bond mechanism Baucus inserted into the recently passed Farm Bill.
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In the Shadow of the Lady of the Rockies
A night storm: I am driving home from Butte on I-90. Speeding down the grade to Anaconda I watch lightning bolts striking to the northeast. Some of them are probably falling on the ranch. The wind is strong enough to jog the steering wheel in my hands and with the windows down and stereo off I can hear thunder.
I drove to Butte earlier this evening. The sun was just starting the think of setting and this storm was creeping into the valley. The scattered cumuli of day were overhead, but to the west above Mount Powell the sky darkened like a bruise. The dark clouds spread.
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Late Fun in the Summertime
Montana Rivers Peak, Late Season Moisture May Curtail Fire Season
It’s the weekend to get out and enjoy the rivers, as they've reached their max and the weather is going to be 80’s-90’sF and sunny across Montana. To many of us, it seems like an amazing year of river flows, but not so.
“This is historically a normal year in Montana,” said Mel White, chief of the data management unit for the USGS in Helena. “We have just forgotten about what normal is because we’ve had a drought in effect for at least the past seven to eight years.”
Because of the unusually high snowpack along with the timely late May and June rains, the rivers have continued to rise up to this point. White concluded they have peaked and starting on their way down.
“It’s a good thing,” said White. “Due to the increase moisture in the high country, it will keep the fisheries happy and curtails our fire season.”
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Western Nature Writers
An Interview with David M. Armstrong
David M. Armstrong is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado and the author of several books, including the recently published third edition of Rocky Mountain Mammals (University of Colorado Press, $19.95), a guide to the mammals of this region and those in Rocky Mountain National Park in particular. Packed with photos and facts, the book is worth its weight to lug on a backpacking trip. I recently interviewed Professor Armstrong via email about the best way to spot mammals in the wild, the projected fate of the pika, changes he's observed in Rocky Mountain National Park, the dearth of Bigfoot sightings there, and how we should "honor [our] cousin," the montane vole.
New West: Have you noticed any changes in Rocky Mountain National Park over the years?
David M. Armstrong: The fauna of any place is a dynamic phenomenon, a “work-in-progress,” and changes are sometimes subtle. Obvious changes in recent decades have been the substantial increase in the number of elk in the National Park and vicinity, ups and downs in numbers (hence visibility) of bighorn sheep and beaver, the increase in the number of black bears in recent years, the establishment of moose in the National Park (from introduced population in North Park).
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