You can help support Whitefish Legacy Partners trails for hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers today!
All it takes is two quick emails from you!
1. Click here to help Whitefish Legacy Partners urge the State Land Board to approve Montana Dept. of Natural Resources and Conservation's (DNRC's) implementation of Partners' trails, recreation and land licenses north of Highway 93 - with the blessings of the City of Whitefish!
2. Send an email to DNRC's Greg Poncin at gponcin@mt.gov and urge him to:
a. Support Whitefish Legacy Partners trails, recreation and land licenses south of Highway 93 in the Spencer Mountain area.
b. Establish clear criteria and standards for determining which previously unauthorized "free-ride" bicycle features will be removed, retained or reconstructed to protect public resources and public safety on Spencer Mountain.
We feel this is an opportunity to support a well-organized effort to ensure multiple uses of public trails are compatible with one another.
Click here to read Swan View's letter to Mr. Poncin.
Click here to see Mr. Poncin's letter and map inviting public comment on management of the Spencer Mountain area.
Click here to see a larger version of Whitefish Legacy Partners' map of its overall project.
Click here to read the Daily Inter Lake's article describing how the several parts of Partners plan fit together.
Swan Lake District Ranger Rich Kehr has announced breakneck biking "challenge features" will be removed from the Beardance and Crane Creek Trails this fall and next spring!
This after hiking the trails on October 16 with his new recreation staff, trail volunteer Ron Cron, and Swan View Coalition Chair Keith Hammer.
He deserves your thanks and your urging he remove ALL of them!
Please email Ranger Kehr today at rkehr@fs.fed.us and consider the following:
1. Thank him for finding breakneck biking "challenge features" like ramps and jumps must be removed from these trails to protect public safety and comply with trail objectives of being shared with hikers, horseback riders and other mountain bike riders.
2. Urge him to identify as "challenge features" and remove all log ramps not needed to cross wet areas already remedied by trail tread relocation and rock work. Only three of the many log ramps are actually needed as bridges for foot and bike over wet areas.
3. Thank him for restoring the upper two miles of the Beardance Trail to its historic location, rather than shifting use to an old road infested with weeds and not cleared of fallen trees.
Click here to read the Bigfork Eagle article about his decision.
Click here to read Swan View Coalition's request that Ranger Kehr clarify which log features will be retained to "provide trail passage over wet areas." Our letter PDF includes a 25-photo array that provides the big picture of what went awry on these trails, in violation of "tread lightly and leave no trace" ethics.
Ranger Kehr has sent the message breakneck biking ramps and jumps can't be built at will nor interfere with the use of trails shared by hikers, horseback riders and other mountain bikers.
Your email to him today can help insure the line he draws is clear and need not be revisited time and again on Crane Mountain and elsewhere!
The Summer-Fall 2012 issue of Swan View's News examines how we are navigating collaboration, bullying and vandalism on the Flathead National Forest!
The table of contents is shown below; click here for the entire newsletter in PDF.
URGENT UPDATE: Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks denied our petition to end the trapping of imperiled wolverine in Montana (see page 4 of the newsletter), so we've been left with no choice but to file a lawsuit against MDFWP! Click here to read the update.
Please make a donation today to help cover the costs of the three lawsuits discussed in our newsletter; all needed to protect the habitat of increasingly rare forest carnivores like pine marten, fisher, lynx, and wolverine!
Do it today and Cinnabar Foundation will match your donation!
And don't forget our annual meeting on November 11 (see page 6 of the newsletter).
Swan View Coalition and others in July petitioned Montana to stop trapping wolverine, a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks denied the petition.
Left with no other option, the same groups today filed a lawsuit to stop the trapping.
Montana is the only lower-48 state to still allow trapping of wolverine.
"We're lucky to see wolverine on rare occasions here in the Swan Range of northwest Montana, where they were first studied back in the 1970s, but trapping killed five times more wolverine than natural causes and killed nearly two-thirds of the wolverines being studied in just five years." said Keith Hammer, chairman of the Swan View Coalition. "Trapping must stop if these rare and wonderful animals are to return from the brink of extinction."
Read the Helena Independent article about the lawsuit here.
Read the full USA Today article about the petition here.
Read the lawsuit press release here.
Read the lawsuit complaint here.
Read the petition here to learn more about the habits, needs and threats to wolverine.
1. Click here today to help us secure quiet habitat for fish, wildlife and people - and your donation will be matched by Cinnabar Foundation!
2. Click here and hit the Kudos Hands to let Cinnabar know you appreciate their support of our work!
3. Click here to sign up for Cinnabar's Conserve Montana e-news and a chance to win a buckskin vest by Buckskin Clothier, a pair of Kenetrek Boots or a pair of Red Ants Pants!
Unlike years past, WE MUST RAISE $4,000 PRIOR TO THE HOLIDAY SEASON to meet our Cinnabar Challenge Grant - so ACT NOW to see your donation matched by Cinnabar!
Swan View Coalition has secured quiet habitat for fish, wildlife and people by getting hundreds of miles of forest roads and trails closed to motorized vehicles - but motorcycles continue to abuse the Swan Crest both on and off authorized trails.
So let's get together and protect the entire Swan Range!
Please join the hundreds of other folks that support our work through letter-writing and monetary donations!
Together we can make a big difference!
Motorcycles again this summer were captured in video and photos operating illegally off-trail near Lamoose Lake, as well as causing deep rutting of Alpine Trail #7 where their use is currently allowed.
Read on to see photos and video of this damaging activity and for a link to email your complaint to the Forest Service.
It's high time to get motorcycles out of the high alpine country along the Swan Crest!
(Read Full Article)
Please take a few seconds to let Cinnabar Foundation know you appreciate its support of Swan View Coalition's work:
1. Go to Cinnabar Foundation's ConserveMontana.org.
2. Hit the Give Kudos button near the top center of the page, by the little hands icon!
It's that simple, but very important!
Also remember that Cinnabar has again in 2012 issued us a $4,000 challenge/matching grant, meaning Cinnabar will essentially double your donation to Swan View Coalition.
So why not double your money by making a secure on-line donation today!
Thanks for your show of support for our work!
PS - While you're at ConserveMontana.org, take a few moments to check out the other fine work and groups Cinnabar supports - it's impressive!
Thanks to folks like you, 97% of the comments received by the Flathead National Forest were opposed to felling the best larch trees just to collect the cones for nursery seed. Most suggested non-lethal alternatives such as climbing the trees or using helicopters and lift trucks to fetch the cones.
The Flathead has revised its proposal to consider the use of lift trucks, but it fails to require the use of lift trucks or other non-lethal methods! In fact, other non-lethal methods are not even discussed in the new proposal!
Your email comments on the new proposal are needed by July 7 to once again send a clear message to the Flathead that the public does not want the Forest Service killing the goose that laid the golden egg!
Please send an email today to Marsha Moore at comments-northern-flathead@fs.fed.us . Tell her you want non-lethal cone collection methods to be REQUIRED, and that they may include an array of options such as traditional tree climbing, lift trucks and helicopters. Killing our best larch trees, no matter how few or many, is simply not necessary!
You can read the June 5 revised cone collection proposal here.
You can read Swan View's comments on the revised proposal here.
You can read our alert on the Flathead's initial cone collection proposal here.
1. Bicycling is a great way for people to enjoy the outdoors and get healthy exercise.
2. Flathead National Forest has over 3,500 miles of road open to bicycling, with nearly 2,000 of those miles closed to motor vehicles but open to biking without the hassle of dust and traffic.
3. Bikers, hikers and horseback riders share many miles of "leave no trace" trail on the Flathead. This should not be a problem unless bikers insist on high speeds and/or leave behind unlawful jumps and ramps that are unsightly and increase risks to all trail users.
4. The pursuit of free-ride and other mountain bike speed sports should not occur on multiple use trails due to the potential for conflicts between bikers, other trail users, and wildlife. Big Mountain already has facilities for free-ride and high-speed mountain biking - and plans for more. We urge Flathead National Forest to redirect these activities there.
5. We encourage lower impact hiking instead of mountain biking in Inventoried Roadless Areas because they qualify for future designation as Wilderness (which does not allow biking) and provide some of the Forest's best and most secure wildlife habitat.
6. Bicycling can and should provide a healthy and safe link between our urban areas and public lands if everyone minds their manners, obeys the law, and all agencies pursue meaningful public planning.
Download these principles as a pdf.
Freeride mountain biking has become an increasingly popular sport in the Missoula area over the past decade or so. Advancements in suspension technology have allowed for bikes specifically tailored to more "technical" terrain: steep slopes, jumps, rock drops and log ramps. But Missoula's legal trail system doesn't have much of that. The void is filled by an outlaw culture of freeriders bent on meeting their own demands, even if it means breaking the law. . .
"Historically, the Forest Service has allowed sort of conventional uses: walking down the trail, taking your horse, driving your ATV on a road," [Lolo National Forest's Boyd] Hartwig explains. "The mountain bikers who want a more challenging experience, they've taken it to the next step and said, 'That's not enough for us. We want to construct things. We want to build jumps and bridges,' or whatever. That takes us outside the bounds of what we're allowed to do."
Read the full Missoula Independent article here.
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