JUNK FOOD FOR FISH

Pollution Altering Alpine Lakes

What seem to be pristine alpine lakes high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park are getting greener, and not in a good way.

A report in the current edition of Science finds that those lakes are being swamped with nitrogen from the atmosphere, caused by pollution from cars, factories, feed lots and fertilizer. The nitrogen is essentially fertilizing lakes that aren’t used to being fertilized, causing a growth of algae and threatening to harm the fish at the top of the food chain.

In addition to our carbon footprint, researchers say, human activity leaves a more subtle nitrogen footprint that is affecting natural systems around the world, even in some of the most remote places.

Missoula's Coming Attraction

Plans Unveiled for First-Ever Forest Service Museum

The U.S. Forest Service has been around for 104 years, said a bevy of speakers who gathered today under blue skies on a stubbled field in Missoula. And as important as the USFS has been all that time, it’s never been honored with a museum. “Why is that?” one of the day’s dignitaries asked audience members munching sandwiches under a tent.

Missoula Mayor John Engen had an answer.

“You actually have to let your stuff get old before you can have a museum,” he told the crowd, to applause and laughter.

It seems the USFS and its stuff are plenty old enough to deserve what they’re finally getting: a museum that honors the legacy, hard lessons and achievements of one of the nation’s most important agencies. The end result will be the National Museum of Forest Service History (NMFSH), a $12 million, 300,000-square-foot, energy-efficient building in Missoula with a theater, research and meeting rooms, exhibits, education center, a collection of some 40,000 artifacts, and more.

Canis of Wormis

Wolves Shot, Boycotts Called, Fur Flies

Game officials and wolf hunt fans often say the same thing when it comes to the wolf hunt in Idaho and the upcoming one in Montana. Don’t worry, they say. Wolves are fast, nocturnal and darn hard to draw a bead on.

The question of just how tough they are to shoot even came up in federal court, where U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Monday heard a plea by environmental groups for an injunction to stop the wolf hunt seasons.

“Isn’t there evidence ... that with fair-chase hunting, not many wolves will be killed?” Molloy asked.

Yes, that’s right, as Steven Strack, attorney for the Idaho Fish and Game Commission, explained during the hearing. “There are nine million acres of wilderness areas in Idaho,” Strack said. It’s hard to even spot a wolf without using a helicopter, traps, baits or motor vehicles like ATVs (which are not legally allowed in the hunts), he noted.

The news from Idaho this week seemed to, well, blow a hole in that theory.

The Wolf Hunt Frontlines

Three Views of the Wolf Wars: A Hunter, Advocate, and Game Official Speak Out

Twenty five miles upriver from St. Maries in the town of Calder, John Walters eats a burger in the cafe. On his table by the window newspapers are opened to pages with wolf pictures. A recent ruling by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission that establishes the latest attempt at a hunting season for gray wolves in Idaho is the top story.

Walters, one of the directors of the Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, planned to be first in line to buy a hunting tag when they went on sale Monday for $11.25 per resident. He called his attorney a few days before an injunction was filed Aug. 20 by Earthjustice to stop the hunt. Thirteen groups were named in the suit.

He asked his attorney whether he could sue Fish and Game for fraud if the heavily advertised wolf hunting season didn’t transpire. “He said no, because an injunction hasn’t been filed yet to close the season,” says Walters, between bites of his burger.

Walters has been fighting for years for the right to kill wolves or sue the federal government for what he calls an illegal introduction of wolves into the state. A barrel of a man with long hair going gray, he’s a former construction worker who was injured on the job and now collects disability.

The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho native moved to the St. Joe Country in 1983 after years of advocating for the Fish and Game department that he is now at odds with. The agency, in Walters’ opinion, has turned tail on the hunting public—people who buy hunting licenses and who expect Fish and Game to manage the herds so hunters can bag bulls and bucks.

Power in the West

Small Hydro: The Wave of the Future?

Big public utilities these days are turning to the wilderness to produce power—on streams that are so remote, hardly anyone complains, according to a fine Wall Street Journal story by Jim Carlton.

The article kicks off with news about how the Snohomish County Public Utility District (from the area north of Seattle) is building a small hydroelectric-power plant on “picture-perfect” Youngs Creek in the Cascades foothills—with little opposition.

According to the story: “So-called small hydro plants like Youngs Creek are sprouting up across the country, with around 500 potential sites identified by a federal study in Washington state alone.”

The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act

Montanans Overwhelmingly Support Tester’s Forest Bill, Poll Shows

The Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, landmark legislation introduced last month by Montana Sen. Jon Tester, enjoys strong support from Montanans in nearly all walks of life, according to a new statewide poll.

The poll, conducted in late July by Boulder, Colorado-based Harstad Strategic Research (HSR), found that 7 in 10
Montanans support the new bill, which focuses on job creation, forest management, clean water protections, and issues relating to wilderness and the economy.

Guest Column

Grizzlies, Fleece and Ibuprofen, Oh My

I could have dealt with the pain, but the chocolate fudge Clif bar lodged somewhere mid-sternum made the ascent up Mist Ridge early in the morning the ultimate endurance test.

I should have taken the time this morning to cook my gruel-like instant oatmeal, but the mosquitoes around our campsite were relentless, attacking in wave after tenacious wave, like the Normandy invasion. Both the insect cloud and the presentation of my freeze-dried food dampened any appetite I could have summoned. So I set off to gain 1,000 feet in altitude in a two-mile climb, fortified with what felt like a handball from the gym stuck in my esophagus.

This was day three of a backpack trip in Yellowstone National Park’s (YNP) Pelican Valley, so my pack should have been lighter. Despite its custom fit and the titanium products I was packing, it felt as if I were carrying another person on my back -- giving a piggyback ride to a sadistic imp.

Wolf Warring

Wolves Will Be Shot, Legally or Not, Idaho Official Says

An Idaho Fish and Game commissioner told a gathering of Western attorneys general that hunters are so angry about Idaho's wolf population, they will hunt the animals in the state's backcountry this fall -- whether the law allows it or not.

"It will either be a state-authorized one or it will be an illegal one," Commissioner Randy Budge said about the upcoming hunt, according to Idaho Mountain Express staff writer Jason Kauffman.

Wilderness Deflected

NREPA: New York Times Praises Wilderness Act, Unfortunately?

A New York Times editorial today calls for the passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, saying it's a "truly enlightened environmental policy" that would balance "the needs of both nature and local economies." So what's the problem?

Foes already complain the bill is an elite Easterner's idea being foisted on the West. And no matter how misguided it might be, the "you ain't from aroun' here, are ya?" backlash can be fierce.

An anti-NREPA Facebook group by today's count has 3,090 members. (Not pulling any punches, it's called Don't Mess With the West: Oppose Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.)