fire retardant lawsuit
Judge Clears Mark Rey and Forest Service of Contempt
U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, overseer of the Forest Service, calmly walked out of the U.S. District Court in Missoula Wednesday evening cleared of contempt charges.
District Court Judge Donald W. Molloy ruled that although the Forest Service dragged its feet in completing environmental analyses on the effects of fire retardant on fish, his previous court order was eventually complied with.
Judge Molloy said the issue of contempt was unfortunate, but it at least got the government agency moving.
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Guest Commentary: George Wuerthner's "On the Range"
Rethinking Forest HealthI just read through a portion of the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF) revised plan. Among the major components of the plan is support for “vegetation management,” a euphemism for logging. The BDNF plan calls for “treating” its forests by logging to “restore” its ecological health. It has become commonplace for the Forest Service to justify logging for forest health reasons instead of timber production. We no longer log just to get the raw material for lumber and profits for timber companies. We log the forest to restore ecological health, or so the agency suggests. [more]
commentary
The Skinny on Streamside Setbacks in Western Montana
Would you set up a tent on an empty highway?
Paul Hansen, a former University of Montana professor, asked this question at a February streamside setbacks workshop in Kalispell. Though the answer may be a simple one for many folks, a similar question has generated extensive public comment across several western Montana counties: would you build a house in the flood plain?
Hansen reminded Flathead County residents that just because you might not see cars coming when your tent goes up doesn’t mean you won’t get run over when the traffic starts. And the same holds true for building a house right on the banks of a beautiful creek or river: though that land is dry at the time, streams tend to roam over time, which might include a wet side-trip right into your living room.
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Bison Reintroduction Discussed
Revamping the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge Conservation Plan
Officials from the Lewistown-based U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) held a public meeting in Bozeman on Thursday, answering questions and taking comments on the formation of a 15-year comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Montana’s treasured Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR), the second largest national refuge in the lower 48. The previous plan was written in 1986.
The 1.1 million acre refuge along the Missouri River and Fort Peck Reservoir in northeastern Montana is home to well over 200 species of birds and a host of mammals including bighorn sheep, elk, pronghorn antelope, swift fox and the endangered black-footed ferret. The CMR is also a major recreational use area for hunters and fishermen.
The FWS extended the public scoping comment deadline to February 29, 2008. There will be two more public comment periods after plan alternatives and a draft are formed. The FWS hopes to have a final plan finished by Fall 2011.
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Power to the People
Energy Expansion Across the West
Resort communities require a lot of kilowatts, and bustling Big Sky, Montana is no exception to this rule; between 1996 and 2005 there were 660 new residential units built in Big Sky – a dramatic 8.2 percent increase. And this does not include the Moonlight Basin and Yellowstone Club ski resorts.
In order to meet the energy needs of Big Sky, Northwestern Energy is planning to upgrade the existing 69-kV power line from Four Corners to Big Sky with a 161-kV line. Northwestern is also seeking to bypass state and public review through right-of-way agreements with private landowners to build the 35-mile, $20-$30 million line.
In order to serve a slightly larger growing population, the West Wide Energy Corridor federal plan is buzzing right along with a public comment period closing on Thursday, February 14, 2008. The corridor could affect nearly 3 million acres in 11 Western states.
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wilderness lecture series
Climate Change Impacts More Than Glacier’s Glaciers
Thanks to a changing climate, not only may Glacier National Park need a new name, but eventually a new mascot. The park’s iconic mountain goats are already feeling the impacts of climate change, said Dan Fagre, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Glacier National Park.
“This is ironic because the mountain goat is the icon of Glacier National Park,” Fagre told a mixed crowd of students and community members at the University of Montana Tuesday night.
Mountain goats are not the only species impacted by a changing climate. Rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns will provide some species opportunity expand their range, while others will shrink or die out altogether.
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Western Biofuels Research
Camelina Biofuel Development Center Slated for Bozeman
Sustainable Oils, a new joint venture between Seattle-based Targeted Growth and Houston-based Green Earth Fuels, will be expanding in Bozeman soon. The research and development center will provide genetically refined seeds to Montana camelina producers and will also purchase camelina crops produced from those seeds through contractual agreements. The harvest will then be refined to produce biodiesel – 100 million gallons worth by 2010, according to the company.
The European Camelina sativa plant is particularly suited for Montana’s cool, arid climate. Recent support for biofuel production of camelina from Governor Brian Schweitzer and Montana Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester is creating a friendlier environment for camelina producers in Montana; first-time camelina growers in the 32 counties covered by Montana's Agro Energy Plan can now recoup some of their seed costs.
“I believe Montana is going to be the poster child for developing a crop like this because of the great support from Helena and the industry at large,” Sustainable Oils President Donald Panter posits.
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Delisting the Gray Wolf
Montana Extends Comment Period for Potential Wolf Hunting Season
With the federal government inching toward removing the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) is allowing the public until February 13, 2008 to comment on the proposed wolf season.
According to MFWP, there were a minimum of 316 wolves in Montana at the end of 2006. There are approximately 1,500 wolves in the Northern Rockies.
Among the three Northern Rockies wolf states (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming), Montana is leading the way in an effort to manage the wolf as any other wildlife species. In 2001, a broad-based, citizen-led Wolf Management Advisory Council released a report followed by the MFWP’s draft Montana Wolf Conservation Management Planning Document in 2002. This process laid the framework for Montana's current management plan.
Montana’s process stands in contrast to Wyoming’s wolf management plan, which the federal government rejected in 2004. Federal delisting is currently stalled pending a lawsuit over the new Wyoming plan.
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Documentary Looks at Wolf Reintroduction
Of Wolves & Men: An Interview with William Campbell
No wildlife species is as iconic and controversial as the wolf. Canis Lupus is a symbol of wildness and healthy ecosystems to some, but to others it is a callous killer and an economic threat.
Loathed and loved, the American Gray Wolf has gone through a tumultuous history in the West. They were hunted as vermin to virtual extinction by the early 20th Century, reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, and now are around 1,500-strong across the Northern Rockies. Biologists say wolves are officially recovered in the West and should be removed from the Endangered Species List, but – true to form – disagreements over wolf management between pro-wolf and anti-wolf groups has delisting at a standstill.
In 1999, journalist William Campbell began a documentary film to tell the story of what wolf reintroduction meant for people living in wolf territory. The result, “Wolves in Paradise,” sheds invaluable light on this story, giving a face and a voice to the many people trying to live with this species.
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Introducing...
A New Magazine: The New West
The best way to check out The New West magazine is to subscribe. We want to know who’s interested in The New West, so we have made the magazine available free to qualified subscribers who answer a short questionnaire.
In the Spring Issue and online here:
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- Montana’s Cash Cowboy
- Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
- Essay: The Family Farm, Version 2.0
- Essay: Tracks Across A Landscape
- Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
- Design Showcase: The Big and Little of Western Building
- Stuff It: Can Wolf Hunting Help Conserve the Species?
- Traffic Perplexes New Western Communities
- Boise in Its Own Little Bubble
- Revenge of the Resource Economy
- Spotlight North Idaho: On the Agenda: Youth, Growth & Silver
- Spotlight North Idaho: Players of the Panhandle
- Spotlight North Idaho: Coeur d’Alene Tribe Rides the Idaho Boom
