Environment
hot springs
Montana’s Snowpack Bodes Well—If It Doesn’t Melt Too Fast
Montana’s cool La Nina year has meant that much of the state’s high country snow pack is close to its historic average, but according to regional experts, how long it sticks around depends on this spring’s temperatures.
“What happens over the next three weeks of May is going to be critical,” said Jesse Aber of the Montana Drought Committee. “We’re kind of holding our breath and crossing our fingers.”
According to Aber, warm spring weather can dash all hopes that the snow pack will carry on into summer, easing drought conditions and possibly reducing the intensity of the coming fire season.
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Column: Idaho
Army Shipping Contaminated Kuwait Sand to Idaho LandfillThe U.S. Army is shipping 6,700 tons of contaminated sand to Idaho from Kuwait. It will arrive at American Ecology in Grandview, Idaho, sometime in May.
Grandview, population 470, is 42 miles south of Boise in Owyhee County.
The sand is from Camp Doha in Kuwait, a former Army warehouse complex used by Army Forces Central Command. The sand absorbed depleted uranium when some spent ammunition was caught in a fire (addition May 1:during the first Gulf War.)
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new west news brief
Feds Say Bull Trout Still ThreatenedAfter five years of review, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has determined that bull trout, one of Montana’s largest native trout, should remain protected under the Endangered Species Act, the AP reports.
"The health of bull trout populations varies by location but overall, the species in the United States still needs protection," said Ren Lohoefener, director of Fish and Wildlife's Pacific Region.
Bull trout, considered the most environmentally sensitive cold-water fish around, have been listed as a threatened species in the Lower 48 for ten years. But in recent years, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, the former governor of Idaho, and the Idaho congressional delegation have contested the trout’s status as “endangered.”
Click here for more.
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Guest Commentary: George Wuerthner's "On the Range"
State Management of Wolves Recipe for ConflictA month ago the wolf was delisted under the Endangered Species Act and state wildlife agencies were permitted to take over wolf management. Most state wildlife agencies profess a desire to minimize human-wolf conflicts. Yet their management plans are, without exception, guaranteed to create greater conflicts.
All state wildlife agencies (and FWS employees in charge of managing wolves are as guilty) conveniently ignore the socio-biological relationship of predators like the wolf which makes any indiscriminate killing of animals counter productive. Just as a hundred years of coyote persecution has failed to reduce rancher/coyote conflicts, so called wolf "management" by the states will have the same effect.
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from timberlands to subdivisions
Officials Challenge Mark Rey on Plum Creek Road Easements
The dust kicked up by closed-door negotiations between the U.S. Forest Service and Plum Creek Timber Company to amend forest road easements brought Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey to Missoula Monday, where he apologized for keeping western Montana counties in the dark but did little to ease concerns that local communities will increasingly bear the burden of Plum Creek's transition into residential real estate.
Rey, a Bush Administration appointee and overseer of the Forest Service, said he's "extremely sensitive" to the effects the development of Plum Creek's timber lands could have -- increased firefighting in the wildland-urban interface, road maintenance and other public service costs, plus environmental impacts -- "but that sensitivity does not empower me to write new laws," he said, and in the end Plum Creek can do whatever it wants with its land.
"You ought to think harder about executing these responsibilities yourselves," he said, whether through zoning or other means.
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New West News Brief
Yellowstone Bison Slaughter Halted, Meat Distributed to Food Banks
With more than half of the Yellowstone National Park bison population removed this season due to slaughter, winter weather and hunting, the Interagency Bison Management has halted all additional deaths and are holding 255 cows and calves until the grass greens.
Meanwhile, an estimated 600,000 pounds of meat from the slaughtered 1,700 bison is currently being distributed to Montana tribes and food banks, reports the Billings Gazette. An additional 700 are estimated dead due to weather.
The Montana Food Bank network recently purchased 15,000 pounds of bison meat that will be distributed to 189 banks throughout the state, perfect timing with the February recall of 143 million pounds of Californian beef.
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12 Groups file on first day allowed
Environmental Groups Sue to Reverse Wolf Delisting
As expected, a coalition of 12 environmental and animal-rights groups filed suit today in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont. seeking to overturn the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rockies from protection under the Endangered Species Act.
The lawsuit seeks a immediate injunction to protect gray wolves from public hunting and aims to return the wolf to federal management under the Endangered Species Act. Gray wolves were officially delisted on March 28th.
“We’re trying to prevent the wolf slaughter from going forward,” said Doug Honnold, managing attorney of the Bozeman office of Earthjustice, the legal organization representing the coalition.
The groups argue state management plans fail to provide adequate protection for the species, especially against indiscriminate public hunting. Instead of protection, state management actually promotes the killing of wolves, Honnold said.
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NewWest.Net Conferences
Designing the New West
The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.
A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.
Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference.
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the abcs of h20
Understanding the Basics of Water Law in Montana
In Montana, and throughout the Intermountain West, water law affects every part of our lives and communities.
Priority dates dictate the volume and distribution of water from wells and streams. Landowners must put the water to beneficial use without waste to retain their right to use the State’s water. News articles about water issues illustrate that many people are confused about Montana’s water laws, even landowners and local officials.
Here are the key points to understand the basics of Montana water law.
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growth and rivers
Making the Case for Streamside Setbacks
Streamside setback regulations protect a stream from “death by a thousand cuts” hydrogeologist Dr. Chris Brick told City Club Missoula at its monthly luncheon Monday.
By themselves, a single home or a stretch of rip-rapped bank do not present much danger to a stream, but collectively, all the structures, armored stretches of bank and cleared riparian vegetation do, said Brick, the staff scientists for the Clark Fork Coalition, an organization focused on community development and environmental protection of the Clark Fork River.
“What we’re concerned about is how we can maintain our Montana values for our streams and rivers in the face of lots of people wanting to come here,” Brick said.
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