News - Montana Wildlife Federation

Montanans need to review east Crazies land exchange proposal

November 9, 2022November 9, 2022 by Frank Szollosi

Much has been said and written about the east Crazy Mountain-Big Sky land exchange proposal, which has just been released by the U.S. Forest Service for public comment. For decades, solutions to unlocking public land access between checkerboarded private landholdings within the Custer Gallatin National Forest which surround the Crazy Mountains have proven elusive to scores of good faith efforts. Our interests include protecting critical elk, mountain lion, and black bear habitat – among other species – and enhancing public access. We respect property rights, agriculture and ranching, and the sacred significance of these lands to the Apsáalooke (Crow).

Two years ago, members of Montana Wildlife Federation’s Board of Directors thoroughly debated our engagement with the Crazy Mountains Working Group – a locally led collaboration of hunters, ranchers, recreationists, and other community members. One of our Board members, John Salazar, a Livingston hunter, and longtime conservation leader, joined the group and has kept us in the wildlife federation plugged into the discussion. He’s done great work building relationships while seeking solutions to an intractable public land impasse.

In 2020, MWF issued a letter that spelled out conditions for our organizational support of any land exchange. We asked then that “any proposal to accomplish this trade move forward administratively by the Forest Service to give the public the opportunity to review and comment on it.” We stand by that as 2022 draws to a close, and as the Forest Service rolls out the proposal for its 45-day public comment period. That official period will be followed by a Forest Service draft decision notice, and then an additional 45-day objection period. We believe there continues to be time for the collaboration, dialogue, and advocacy that is necessary to strengthen the conservation values of the proposal. We look forward to reviewing all aspects of the proposal and how it aligns with our access goals and conservation vision across the east Crazies landscape.

During this critical period, we recommit to working together with willing participants. We’ll encourage our members and Affiliates and the general public to read the proposal for themselves and be part of the Forest Service administrative process. We’ll show up and listen at the public meetings that are being organized from Big Timber to Big Sky. And we ourselves will continue to listen to and meaningfully evaluate the many spirited arguments about these extraordinary lands.

Last year, we provided the working group with additional detailed concerns, such as limiting the use of so-called “e-bikes” and other mechanized uses that demonstrably disrupt wildlife, and, to further long-term habitat and access goals, we seek a “first right of refusal” that would give public land agencies an opportunity to purchase any future private land that would one day be listed for sale. Our vision, as relayed to the Forest Service, is a “consolidated land pattern in public ownership that would ensure key wildlife habitat and important corridors are protected, provide for public access and recreation, and also allow multiple use opportunities where appropriate.”

We were encouraged by our recent meeting with the Forest Service where they reminded us that the new Custer Gallatin Forest Plan, along with a new federal Backcountry designation, prohibits new road construction, mining, wind farms, heli-skiing, and other disruptive activities, as well buildings and infrastructure on public land, while allowing for public land grazing that is of critical importance to local ranchers and rural communities like Big Timber.

Finally, this past fall I had an amazing opportunity to participate in a flyover of the Crazy Mountains with local landowners, a tribal researcher, and fellow conservationists. From the single-propeller Cessna, I could see high alpine lakes teeming with native fish, a herd of elk, and eagle nests; I learned of ancient Crow vision quest sites at the summits. Ranching operations appeared to be woven into the landscape neatly, and the potential for a harmonious outcome actually became easier to see from that perspective. The risks of not finding a hard-earned, negotiated solution after so many years seem even more urgent as real estate and population growth both rapidly escalate in the communities that surround the Crazy Mountains.

Crazies eco-flight with Rob Sisson, Erica Lighthiser, Francine Spang-Willis, Frank Szollosi and Charlie Rein. Photos by EcoFlight.

By Montana Wildlife Federation Executive Director Frank Szollosi

The Wonder of Willows: Stream Restoration along Flint Creek

November 3, 2022 by Guest Profile

Stream restoration and Willow planting site on Flint Creek, Photo by MWF staffer Ilona Wilde.

Did you know that willows along streams and rivers play a huge role in preventing erosion while also creating cover and food for insects and fish? Willow’s root systems hold banks and shorelines in place, their shade keeps the water cool and healthy for fish, and insects like Caddis and Salmonflies use the cover of willows to stage their reproduction.

Willows are being transported from a nearby creek to the restoration site. Photo by MWF staffer, Ilona Wilde.

There are over four hundred species of willows around the world, with at least 45 species present in Montana. Thanks to the plant’s natural rooting hormone, willows can be easily transplanted and established by planting the stems into the water table, a process called live staking. For thousands of years, willows have been collected and utilized for many uses including harnessing their root growth hormones, which can be brewed into a “tea” to create a rooting solution for other plants. Willows have also been used medicinally for many generations in Indigenous cultures and contain the anti-inflammatory sagen Salicin, the original ingredient of aspirin.

The Willow Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate (AGEP), a collaboration between Salish Kootenai College, Sitting Bull College, and the University of Montana, explains: “In a number of Native American cultures, willows symbolize inner wisdom; an open mind with the stability and strength of age and experience. Willows represent flexibility and adaptation, surviving and thriving in challenging conditions.”

MWF Western Field Representative Ilona Wilde and a BSWC member are planting willows along Flint Creek. Photo by Bonnie Goslin.

In an effort of collaborative stream restoration, MWF’s Western Field Representative Ilona Wilde, accompanied by her faithful 4 legged field assistant Skylark, recently joined Trout Unlimited and Big Sky Watershed Corps (BSWC) members for a brisk autumn day of planting willows on Flint Creek outside of Hall, Montana. Over 700 willows were collected nearby the week prior, and the crew dug holes with a hydraulic stinger, rebar, and mallets to submerge the willow cuttings into the water table along the creek.

This project has been a multi-year collaborative effort by many groups including Trout Unlimited, Granite Headwaters Watershed Group, and private landowners to restore a stretch of Flint Creek identified as having high potential for water quality and wildlife improvement. The first step of the project included channel improvement and deepening pools throughout the stretch of the creek. The next step was enhancing riparian vegetation where much of the woody vegetation has been overgrazed. After fencing off the surrounding woody vegetation from grazing, the final stage of this restoration process is establishing willows along the banks.

A crew member uses rebar and a mallet to dig a hole 2 feet deep to plant willows into. Fenced in woody shrub areas can be seen in the background. Photo by MWF staffer Ilona Wilde.

The total restoration process included approximately 4,000 willow cuttings, 10 large wood structures, over 2,000 wood plants installed in 12 wildlife-fenced planting units, and an improved fencing system for grazing management. Efforts of planting willows in high density along this stretch will not only stabilize the streambank and improve habitat but their shade will also keep water temperatures down for Montana’s cherished coldwater trout fisheries.

For more information on Trout Unlimited’s Efforts to restore the watershed, visit tu.org

For more information on Willow AGEP: A Model to Advance Native American STEM Faculty, please visit their website to read about their work on Indigenous Science throughout Montana.

By Western-South Central Field Representative Ilona Wilde

Collaborative conservation takes many hands

October 27, 2022 by Guest Profile

Collaborative conservation takes many hands, and we’re all about partnering with other organizations, groups, and individuals to push good work forward. Our North-Central Field Representative, Morgan Marks, has a unique role as she is MWF’s first dual hire with our partner and an affiliated organization, @National Wildlife Federation (NWF). For the past two summers, she has been coordinating, recruiting, and managing volunteers, and we’re excited to share her newest blog written for NWF with all of you so we’ve included part of it below!

Conservation Work Benefits from Many Hands

By Morgan Marks

We’ve been at it again! A summer spent in the field carrying out focused restoration work to retain water on the landscape for longer. Together with volunteers, we’ve covered a lot of ground, putting the building blocks in place to restore critical wildlife habitat in riparian areas.

What might surprise many people is that beavers are our mentors. And we’re not alone. Folks across the nation are learning lessons from beavers, including a rancher in Nevada, who was featured in the New York Times. We’ll own it: We’re proud to be among the crowd taking lessons from one of nature’s wisest creatures.

Nature knows the way, and we’re learning to listen. If we pay close attention, we’ve discovered she’ll tell us which direction to take and how we can restore places to benefit both wildlife and communities. It’s all about using low-tech restoration practices, and working with natural elements such as rocks, willows, logs, and sticks to build dams, like beavers would.

Surprised? You shouldn’t be. These practices are tried, tested, and monitored over time.

Bureau of Land Management staff securing willows in trucks and a trailer. Credit: Morgan Marks

Collaborative Conservation in the Badger-Two Medicine

September 21, 2022September 20, 2022 by Guest Profile

Written by North-Central and Eastern Field Representative, Morgan Marks, with edits by Peter Metcalf, Executive Director of Glacier Two Medicine Alliance.

We wanted to make sure you saw the news about the recent federal court decision reinstating the last oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine portion of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. This long-contested lease, owned by Solenex LLC of Louisiana, had originally been canceled in 2016 when the Department of Interior determined its development would have unacceptable impacts on the outstanding wildlife habitat and Blackfeet cultural values and uses of the area. Solenex challenged this decision and initially prevailed, only to be overturned in Circuit Court in 2020. The case was remanded to the lower court and this month that court again reinstated the lease. In his Sept. 9 opinion, Judge Richard Leon determined the lease had been properly issued back in 1982 and therefore could not be subject to cancellation.

For decades various conservation groups – including at different stages the Montana Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation – and the Blackfeet Nation have fought to prevent oil and gas development in the Badger-Two Medicine. These efforts have led to the voluntary retirement of 46 of the original 47 leases issued in the early 1980s without any development whatsoever occurring. The conservation and tribal groups involved in the current litigation – which does not include Montana Wildlife Federation – have vowed to fight on until the Solenex lease is likewise eliminated.

We’re sharing this news because Montana Wildlife Federation believes in informing our supporters and members about such issues because it is paramount for us to keep our wild places just that – wild, and to keep a strong focus on attacks occurring throughout the state impacting public access and our public lands. Montana Wildlife Federation has been a part of a coalition of diverse organizations and community members working together to protect the Badger-Two Medicine, all with different missions and different values, but each intentionally coming together to stay informed and work to advocate for this ecologically and culturally important landscape. The Badger-Two Medicine is far too critical for wildlife habitat, migration, and connectivity and to allow drilling to ever take place.

Coverage has been extensive, including articles shared from Montana Public Radio, Hungry Horse News, and Earthjustice.

[Photo is of the Solenex LLC site within the Badger-Two-Medicine. Map shared from Wild Montana, formerly Montana Wilderness Association. — The photo is of the Solenex LLC site within the Badger-Two-Medicine. Map shared from Wild Montana, formerly Montana Wilderness Association.

The Solenex LLC oil and gas lease encompasses 6,200 acres near Marias Pass on the outskirts south of Glacier National Park on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. The Solenex Corporation wants to develop the land and begin to drill. This oil and gas lease is the last remaining lease of about 200 oil and gas leases that were sold within the region. The Badger-Two-Medicine landscape connects to Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, and the Blackfeet Nation/Blackfeet Indian Reservation/Pikuni.

The landscape is sacred to the Blackfeet Nation and has long been a space for hunting, gathering plants, and holding ceremonies. The Badger-Two-Medicine is the homeland of the Pikuni (Blackfeet) and Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis (Kootenai). Snowmelt flows from mountain peaks which provides drinking water to the reservation and communities further east. The landscape is home to outstanding wildlife habitat that includes meadows and forests along with many incredible opportunities for recreation and getting outdoors, including hunting and fishing.

MWF believes the landscape must not only be protected for recreation and wildlife habitat but that it is also paramount to recognize the importance of this place for wildlife migration and connectivity. Many species of wildlife rely on the Badger-Two Medicine as a migration corridor between Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, including elk and Grizzly bears.

In the Hungry Horse News article, Peter Metcalf, the Executive Director of Glacier Two Medicine Alliance, was quoted as stating: “We have had to overcome many setbacks throughout this nearly forty-year effort to prevent irresponsible energy development from these ecologically and culturally vital lands. Yet despite the immense obstacles, we’ve managed to prevent any development and retire 46 other leases. The narrative is clearly trending toward protecting the Badger-Two Medicine and I’m confident we will ultimately eliminate this final lease too.”

MWF is in full support of our partner organizations who have funded, advocated for, and been involved in the lawsuit against reinstating the Solenex LLC oil and gas lease, each of which has worked hard for decades to remove all oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two-Medicine. MWF wants to see a Badger-Two-Medicine with zero oil and gas leases and we will continue to advocate and be a part of the coalition working to make this vision a reality.

Please check out our partner’s websites for more information, sign up for their newsletters, and sign up for MWF’s newsletter to stay up to date on news, volunteer opportunities, and work in the Badger-Two-Medicine.

Montana Wildlife Federation

Wild Montana

Glacier Two Medicine Alliance

The Wilderness Society

Pikuni/Blackfeet Nation

The featured photo above was taken by Peter Metcalf/Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance. A backpacker looks over the Solenex lease site in the Badger-Two Medicine area with Glacier National Park in the background. The proposed energy development in this area of Blackfeet sacred land threatens vital wildlife habitat and connectivity, clean water, Blackfeet archaeological sites and cultural practices, and the outdoor heritage and way of life important to our local communities.

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Fence Pull

September 14, 2022 by Guest Profile

On a crisp August morning, a group of volunteers, conservation representatives, and National Wildlife Federation (NWF) staff gathered around a llama trailer at the West Fork Boulder trailhead. The llamas and people had come together for a unified purpose: increase connectivity for wildlife in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. How can llamas impact wildlife migration connectivity? In this case, they played a key role in carrying out metal fence posts and fencing removal materials from a grazing allotment fence over 3 miles into a wilderness area.

A crew member and four-legged field assistant carry fencing pliers into a fence pull site. Photo courtesy of Ilona Wilde, MWF.

As the crew of 14 people, 6 llamas, and 1 dog set off on the trail, the cool morning air quickly faded to heat as the sun warmed its way through the absence of trees from a decade past wildfire burn.

This area is an important wildlife migration corridor for the many wildlife species in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem including grizzly bears, black bears, elk, pronghorn, and mule deer. Removing barbed wire fences helps increase connectivity and reduce injury from fence collisions, especially for species that have evolutionarily adapted to travel under these fences versus attempting to jump over, such as pronghorn. In the West Boulder, the primary objective of the fence removal was to remove dilapidated materials from the wilderness as livestock grazing is being phased out in this area.

Upon arrival at the grassy meadow site, everyone grabbed fencing pliers and wire cutters and began taking apart a rusted quarter mile stretch of fencing. Once removed, the 4 strand barbed wire was wound up into rolls and wrapped in towels and padded mats to be loaded onto the outside of everyone’s packs.

The llamas took the brunt of the load by packing out the metal posts, and the group slowly led them back along the trail with the outside of their own packs loaded down with wire.

Crew members loading metal posts on the llamas panniers and barbed wire onto individuals packs. Photos by Kit Fischer and Ilona Wilde.

Through the heat of the day and weight of heavy packs, the crew morale stayed high. After unloading the first round of barbed wire and posts, the group ambitiously set off to remove one last section of fence on the other side of the river. The location for the final project turned into an early evening hike along hillsides of ripe raspberries and black currants overlooking the river. The final stretch of fence was removed and packed out, and the crew headed back to camp for a well deserved celebration.

The West Fork Boulder River. Photo by Ilona Wilde, MWF.

People jumped in the river to cool off, and all cheered around a BBQ to commemorate the end of a long 12-hour and 17-mile hiking day. It was hard work, but worth it. These efforts are part of a regional effort to remove retired fences and decrease wildlife collisions. Projects like these are essential for connecting wildlife migration routes and improving migration corridors.

A huge thank you to Kit Fischer and Randy Newberg for their thoughtful planning and staff from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, NWF, National Parks Conservation Association, and volunteers for their hard work on this collaborative conservation project.

If you are interested in learning more about wildlife programs across the Northern Rockies region, please contact Kit Fischer at FischerK@nwf.org or if interested in becoming involved with future field work opportunities, please contact Ilona Wilde at ilona@mtwf.org.

By Western- South Central Field Representative Ilona Wilde.