Our Summer 2014 edition of Swan View's News describes how new Forest and Travel planning rules dovetail with the Wilderness Act of 1964!
It explains how now, more than ever, we need to advocate for more Wilderness designations and wildland recovery!
Be among the first to DONATE NOW and Cinnabar Foundation will again double your money!
Click here to view or download the Summer 2014 newsletter.
Here is the table of contents:
Please DONATE NOW to support the critical work described in our newsletter!
Fish, wildlife and people are counting on us - and you!
The Hungry Horse News has reported on our contention that areas to be logged on the Flathead National Forest should not be nearly doubled in trade for a bit of recommended wilderness!
If you haven't already, please send a quick email to Flathead Forest Supervisor Chip Weber at flatheadplanrevision@fs.fed.us and tell him you oppose relaxing protections for threatened grizzly bears and threatened lynx in order to increase the suitable timber base - under the Whitefish Range Partnership or elsewhere on the Forest!
F.H. Stoltze Lumber Company, a Whitefish Range partner, sued the Flathead in 1976 when it tried to decrease its suitable timber base to better protect water quality and because "taxpayers couldn't afford road building costs necessary to cut old growth" that extensively! And now it has partners Montana Wilderness Association and Headwaters Montana saying "all parts of the [Whitefish Range Partnership] Agreement must move forward together," which is otherwise known as horse trading!
Fish, wildlife and people cannot afford to have the Flathead's suitable timber base inflated once again and they need more than a handful of roadless lands protected as wilderness!
Again, please email the Flathead Forest Supervisor at flatheadplanrevision@fs.fed.us and tell him fish and wildlife need all roadless lands recommended for Wilderness and a reduced suitable timber base to protect critical habitats, not a bunch of horse trading!
If you recently received an alert from Montana Wilderness Association and Headwaters Montana, we urge you to NOT endorse the logging increase called for in the Whitefish Range Partnership Agreement.
As the alert indicates, the substantial increase in the Flathead National Forest's "suitable timber base" would require the removal of Endangered Species Act protection of the threatened grizzly bear.
Here's what the alert does not detail about the Agreement:
1. Existing protection of grizzly bear habitat would then be relaxed to allow more logging!
2. The Agreement would "challenge existing lynx management strategies" to increase the suitable timber base in this threatened species' critical habitats also!
The Flathead National Forest seized on this idea the moment it was announced and has proposed to increase the suitable timber base forest-wide, not just in the Whitefish Range!
Don't let the government use your endorsement of the Whitefish Range Partnership as a vote to "de-list" the grizzly bear and weaken protections for griz and lynx forest-wide.
Tell Forest Supervisor Chip Weber you don't support the Agreement's proposal to increase logging at the expense of grizzly bear, lynx and other wildlife - email flatheadplanrevision@fs.fed.us !
Click here and a bit more on why this is such a bad idea will appear below.
(Read Full Article)
Swan View Coalition testified before a Federal Advisory Committee on May 29, 2014, detailing how "collaboration" on the Flathead National Forest is being used to marginalize the best available science and those who use it to protect fish and wildlife. Click here to read Keith Hammer's testimony.
Hammer's testimony includes links to sources indicating the Whitefish Range Partnership intended to front-load the Flathead National Forest's Forest Plan revision collaborative by being "first out of the chute." His testimony and that of F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber's Paul McKenzie (a Partnership member) showed that the Partnership's proposal to nearly double the lands slated for logging in the Whitefish Range was indeed applied across the Forest during the Forest-wide collaborative and involves relaxing standards for the protection of threatened grizzly bear and lynx habitat.
(Read Full Article)
Our Winter-Spring 2014 edition of Swan View's News announces our 30th anniversary, the Wilderness Act's 50th, and invites you to join our Citizen reVision of the Flathead Forest Plan!
It also describes how corruption at the Udall Foundation, a federal agency charged with managing collaboration and conflict resolution, has helped poison the Flathead Forest Plan "collaboration."
Click here to view or download the Winter-Spring 2014 newsletter.
Here is the table of contents:
Please DONATE NOW to support the critical work and investigations described in our newsletter.
Fish, wildlife and people are counting on us and you!
To add your name, group or business to this list of "Citizen reVision" supporters, simply email keith@swanview.org!
Citizens
Frances Alderson, George Alderson, Sandra Babich, Bill Baum, Roger Benson, Edd Blackler, Denise Boggs, Stephen Braun, Henry Bright, William Browne, Larry Campbell, Linda Christensen, Bob Clark, Philip Crissman, Norma DeLang, Ralph DeLang, Sheryl Eaglewoman, Paul Edwards, Larry Evans, Donald Gee, Chris Gotschalk, Reverend Joan Grant, Alan Gratch, Sallie Gratch, Bob Hammer, Kathy Hammer, Keith Hammer, Jon Heberling, Robert Hermes, Joel Holliday, Dr. Brian Horejsi, Cindie Jobe, Todd Johnson, Chris Jolly, Lloyd Jones, Jeff Juel, Steve Kelly, Darlene King, Dennis King, Matthew Koehler, Robert Korechoff, Gayle Langford, Norma Linsky, Norma Lockwood, Gary Macfarlane, Donna Marx, Thomas Marx, Pat McClelland, Dr. Riley McClelland, Eileen McGurty, Brian Mehall, Jill Mehall, Gail Metcalf, Arlene Montgomery, W.R. Montgomery, Anne Morley, Greg Morley, Bob Muth, Laurie Muth, Claudia Narcisco, Laura Negin, George Nickas, Marylin Olsen, Brian Parks, Brian Peck, Helen Pilling, Thomas Powell, Dr. Thomas M. Power, Steve Raiman, Ernie Reed, David Richmond, Kathy Richmond, Joni Schumann, Roger Sherman, Susan Sherman, Jeff Smith, Phyllis Sobczyk, Terry Sobczyk, Edward Sohl, Leslie Stoltz, Margaret Strainer, Jan Verhoef, Joel Vignere, Susan Waldron, Pam Willison, Howie Wolke, Edward Zyniecki.
Groups
Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Big Wild Advocates, Conservation Congress, Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Citizen Task Force, Friends of the Bitterroot, Friends of the Clearwater, Friends of the West, Friends of the Wild Swan, GOAL - Tribal Coalition to Protect the Grizzly, Jimmy St. Goddard - Blackfoot Tribe's Medicine Chief, Montana Chapter Sierra Club, Montana Ecosystems Defense Council, Rocky Mountain Blues, Swan View Coalition, Wilderness Watch, Wildlands Defense, WildWest Institute.
Businesses
Big Wild Adventures, Coon Hollow Canvas, Morley Canoes, Silvertree Inc.
Please send a quick email today to help secure Wilderness in the Northern Swan Range!
Email the Flathead Forest Plan Revision Team at flatheadplanrevision@fs.fed.us .
Urge them to recommend Wilderness designation for all roadless lands in the Northern Swan Range in their new Forest Plan!
Thank you!
Visit our swanrange.org page for more information.
Please take one minute, one click to support our proposal for Flathead Forest Plan revision - the "Citizen reVision!"
We've sent a proposal to the Flathead National Forest that would create a Forest Plan favoring the conservation of fish, wildlife, wild lands, and quiet recreation over the excessive logging and mechanized recreation that have put many species on the path to extinction.
Clicking here will set up your email message to the Flathead National Forest, its planning contractor Meridian Institute, and to us so we can add you to the list of folks supporting the Citizen reVision! Just add your name and any further comments to your email, then hit "send."
Or simply email keith@swanview.org and we'll take care of things for you!
Our Citizen reVision would promote human health and address climate change by leaving more carbon-storing trees in the forest and by cutting back on the miles of roads and motorized vehicles wasting fossil fuels.
You can read or download a two-page summary of the Citizen reVision here.
You can read or download the entire Citizen reVision here.
Thank you for taking a moment to support fish, wildlife and quiet recreation on the Flathead National Forest!
"Many foresters have long assumed that trees gradually lose their vigour as they mature, but a new analysis suggests that the larger a tree gets, the more kilos of carbon it puts on each year."
This new study reported in the journal Nature helps counter the Forest Service and industry argument that logging native and old forests will help sequester more carbon in the younger vegetation and help reduce global warming.
Even more work remains to be done, however, to convince the Forest Service and industry to leave dead trees in the forest to continue sequestering and recycling carbon. The Department of Agriculture recently awarded a $10 million grant to five universities and Northern Rockies research stations to figure out how to turn dead trees into biofuels. Read the Missoulian article here and our response to it here.
It is time to work with nature, not against it!
Be in good cheer this Holiday Season and pat yourself on the back while you are at it!
Montana just designated Lake Alva as "no wake," returning a bit of peace and quiet to nesting loons and thoughtful paddlers!
Thanks to people like you, the Missoulian reports that 66% of public comments supported no wake or no motors for Lake Alva!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HAPPY NEW YEAR, and THANK YOU for your generous response to our calls to action!
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