MONTANA - Stopping Illegal Fish Dumping

"Stopping illegal fish dumping in Montana before it’s too late" PBS NewsHour 11/27/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now a story that comes to us via our network of Student Reporting Labs around the country.

Meri DeMarois of the University of Montana and her mentor, Anna Rau of Montana PBS, look at the dangers of illegal fish dumping in that region’s rivers and what is being done to protect Montana’s celebrated fishing traditions.

CAREY SCHMIDT, Fisherman:  Montana’s a special place with these rivers.  Trout fishing is part of our heritage, and especially, you know, native trout, like the Westslope cutthroat or the Yellowstone cutthroat or bull trout.  I think catching those fish is just really special.  It really connects you to the river and to the — to, you know, a part of Montana’s past.

MERI DEMAROIS, University of Montana:  Carey Schmidt began fishing in Montana as a child.  Today, he is a busy lawyer and father, but he tries to get on the river as much as possible to enjoy native fish species.

CAREY SCHMIDT:  I think trout are just a really charismatic species that people want to come to Montana to catch.  If they don’t find trout, they’re not going to come here.

MERI DEMAROIS:  Schmidt has reason to be concerned, because, beneath the surface, there’s more going on that could affect fishing in the state.  People are illegally dumping new fish species like northern pike, walleye, and lake trout into Montana’s waters.

BRUCE FARLING, Executive Director, Montana Trout Unlimited:  Now, what’s happening now, with the illegal introductions, is we have people who aren’t professional biologists.  We have people who are going out there at night, thinking they know better.

MONTANA - From Climate Perspective, Things Worse

"Montana:  Big Sky Country, Big Climate Problems" by Elliott Negin, Huffington Post Blog 8/14/2014

Excerpt

No matter how far you go on vacation, sometimes you can't get away -- especially if you write about science policy for a living.

I recently escaped the steamy confines of Washington, D.C., for the mountains of Montana for some sorely needed R & R.  The last time I set foot in Big Sky Country was 10 years ago, when I attended a grizzly bear conference at a ranch just outside of Yellowstone National Park.  And the first and only other time I visited the state was 35 years ago, when I backpacked in Glacier National Park.

From a climate perspective, things there have gotten worse.

The glaciers I marveled at on my backpacking trip have shrunk considerably, and even then they were a pale approximation of what they once were.  The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that there were approximately 150 glaciers in the area in 1850, and most of them were still there in 1910 when the park was established.  In 1979, when I was fending off mosquitoes at the Continental Divide, the official National Park Service estimate was down to 75 glaciers, and now, according to the USGS, there are only 25 glaciers larger than 25 acres.

At that 2004 conference, I learned that global warming is making it harder to keep a key item in the grizzly bear pantry in stock.  The bears like to feast on high-protein seeds from whitebark pine cones in the fall to fatten up before hibernation time, but the tree is being ravaged by the mountain pine beetle, which develops faster and survives winter more easily thanks to warmer temperatures.

To be sure, the beetles have been around for a long time, and they aren't the whitebark pine's only problem.  The trees also have been suffering from white pine blister rust -- a disease accidentally introduced via imported seedlings nearly a century ago -- and fire pattern changes have enabled other tree species to invade their territory.  But over the last 10 years, beetle outbreaks have intensified.  According to a 2012 U.S. Forest Service study, they "are occurring more rapidly and dramatically than imagined a decade ago."  Since my last visit, the Forest Service estimates the beetle has killed more than 4.5 million whitebark pine trees in Montana alone.

This grim state of affairs prompted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to determine in 2011 that the whitebark pine is in "imminent" risk of extinction due to, among other things, global warming -- the first time the federal government identified climate change as a contributing factor in a tree species' demise.  Budgetary constraints and more pressing agency priorities, however, have kept the tree off the endangered species list.

The fate of the Yellowstone region's grizzlies, meanwhile, has teetered back and forth in recent years.  In 2007, the FWS concluded that they had recovered sufficiently and took them off the threatened species list, which they had been on since 1975.  Two years later, however, a federal district court in Montana put them back on, citing concerns about the whitebark pine.  Regardless, the FWS is again considering delisting the roughly 700 bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, contending they are supplementing their diet with more meat.

Montana Scientists Sound the Alarm

If anyone gets climate in Montana, it's scientists.  During my recent visit I picked up a copy of the Missoulian, Missoula's daily newspaper, and came across an op-ed titled "Climate change is a scientific reality."  Written by University of Montana entomologist Diana Six and five other Montana-based scientists, the July 30 column was essentially a public version of a letter they and 96 other scientists across the state sent to Montana's governor and the state's congressional delegation in late June.

The scientists cited some of the severe impacts global warming is already having on the state -- including longer wildfire seasons and the aforementioned pine beetle -- and warned that the consequences of doing nothing to curb carbon emissions would be dire indeed.

They also chastised Montana politicians for turning a blind eye to empirical evidence.

"Some of Montana's political leaders continue to ignore the most basic scientific findings about climate change," they wrote.  "We hear them say:  'I'm not a scientist so I cannot be sure.'  We are scientists and let us be clear:  The scientific evidence that Earth's climate is warming is overwhelming.  We need to move from debate to solutions."

POLITICS - Congressional Problem Solvers

"Congressional problem solvers" by Jeff Kirkland Helena, Helena Independent Record 8/28/2013

Poll after poll shows that Americans are mightily dissatisfied with Congress and hold the institution in low regard.  Gridlock seems to be the modus operandi, and partisan bickering by many members of Congress seems to put a premium on posturing rather than the cooperation and collaboration necessary to serve the country, the reason for which they were elected.

Now a coalition of more than 80 Congressmen and women, both Democrats and Republicans, are joining together to try to regain communication across the aisle to be able to collectively solve our nation’s myriad problems.  They call themselves “Problem Solvers” and are an outgrowth of a movement called “No Labels.”

These “Problem Solvers” have proposed a legislative package of nine initiatives called “Making Government Work.”  They have worked together to create a package of common–sense bills to address government waste and inefficiencies.

Each of the initiatives is co–sponsored by a Democrat and a Republican.  Some initiatives include:  No Budget, No Pay for Legislators; 21st-century Health Care for Heroes, which would merge electronic health records of the Department of Defense with the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Stay in Place, Cut Waste, which would cut 50 percent of agency travel and replace it with video conferencing.

If you’re interested in good government and the possible regaining of across–the–aisle cooperation, you should take a look at the “No Labels” website.  Check out the list of members and their legislative package.  It is a refreshing approach to finding positive ways to solve Congressional gridlock.  It would be nice if Montana’s Congressional delegation took a look, too, and decided to become “Problem Solvers.”

SUPREME COURT - Who Owns Montana's Rivers?

"Supreme Court Hears Dispute Over Ownership of Montana's Rivers" PBS Newshour 12/7/2011

Excerpt

GWEN IFILL (Newshour): Montana's rivers are pristine and iconic, but they are also at the center of a property rights dispute that went all the way to the Supreme Court today.

A lower court ruled that the power company PPL Montana owes the state $53 million in back payments, essentially rent for its use of riverbeds for hydroelectric plants and dams. But who owns the riverbeds, the state, the federal government or private owners?

The answer to that question could have broad impact throughout the American West, as well as the rest of the country.

Marcia Coyle was in the courtroom for today's arguments, and she joins us now.

COMMENT: Whatever decision the court makes has the potential having a large impact. What I like is WHO is making the argument in court, big hitters from the Bush era on both sides.