Bill Walker – Page 13

Glacier Park bridge restoration project update

From the official press release. This mostly discusses the bridge work on the “Inside” North Fork Road, but also note the reference to work on the “North Fork Bridge,” which apparently means the Camas Bridge to us normal people…

WEST GLACIER, Mont. [August 5, 2022] – In a July press release Glacier National Park announced a construction project to rehabilitate 13 bridges throughout the park. Since then, work has begun on the Anaconda, Camas, and Dutch Creek Bridges located on the Inside North Fork Road.

Continue reading Glacier Park bridge restoration project update

Weasel Fire update for the morning of August 5th

Using information from various online resources…

The Weasel Fire, which began in the Kootenai National Forest, made a substantial run yesterday, jumping FS Road 319 and pushing northeast towards the Frozen Lake area and on into Canada north of Tuchuck Mountain.. It is now estimated at 2174 acres. The blaze is currently burning in the Kootenai National Forest, the far northwest corner of the North Fork in the Flathead Forest’s Glacier View district, and a substantial portion is in Canada. See the accompanying map for more information.

According to a note sent yesterday afternoon from Rob Davies, Hungry Horse/Glacier View District Ranger: “We are in touch with the Kootenai NF and the Canadians are in the communication loop as well. This is on Glacier View Ranger District and the lands consist of 5a Backcountry Non-Motorized Year-Round and 1b Recommended Wilderness Area and Tuchuck – Whale Recommended Wilderness. There are no suppression actions planned at this time on the Flathead side of the fire. We will be implementing/evaluating closures, updating signage and assessing any potential values at risk in the area.”

Monitor the Weasel Fire InciWeb site for additional information: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8290/. Also keep an eye on the NFLA website for fire-related postings.

0930: Update from Andy Huntsberger, District Fire Management Officer: “We are… currently working on area/trail closures for this area. We aren’t planning to close Trail Creek Road at this time but areas to the north of Trail Creek Road will be closed and some trails in the area will be affected.”

Bill

Weasel Fire pushes into North Fork; no risk to private property at this point

From Rob Davies, Hungry Horse/Glacier View District Ranger . . .

As of about 1200 today the Weasel Fire on the Kootenai NF has jumped FS Road 319 and is headed northeast towards the Frozen Lake area. It is estimated that about 50 acres of the fire are now on the Flathead National Forest and the overall size is now over 200 acres. We are in touch with the Kootenai NF and the Canadians are in the communication loop as well. This is on Glacier View Ranger District and the lands consist of 5a Backcountry Non-Motorized Year-Round and 1b Recommended Wilderness Area and Tuchuck – Whale Recommended Wilderness. There are no suppression actions planned at this time on the Flathead side of the fire. We will be implementing/evaluating closures, updating signage and assessing any potential values at risk in the area. I have attached a map of the fire from this AM. This does not include the fire growth from today but it will give you an idea of where the fire is located. It should also be noted that there was a Weasel Fire from 2017 (3800 acres) on the Kootenai and Flathead and is directly east of the current Weasel Fire.

I recommend steering folks to InciWeb to find the latest-greatest info about the Weasel Fire: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8290/.

Thanks,
Rob

Area wildfire status, morning of August 4th

Using information from various online resources…

The Weasel Fire in the Kootenai National Forest continues to grow slowly, reaching 162.38 acres according to the IR estimate posted this morning. It still poses no threat to the North Fork.

The Flattop Mountain Fire in Glacier NP continues to skunk around at 0.1 acres.

Weasel Fire Aerial Recon, August 2, 2022 - USFS — Weasel Fire Aerial Recon, August 2, 2022 – USFS

Area wildfire status, morning of August 2nd

Using information from Lynn Ogle, Debo Powers (currently at Cyclone LO) and online resources…

The Weasel Fire in the Kootenai National Forest grew quite a bit yesterday, reaching 150 acres (see attached image). There was some spotting across Road 319 to the east, but it rained for 30 minutes and a helicopter made water dumps, too. It continues to be no threat to the North Fork.

The Flattop Mountain Fire in Glacier NP continues to hold at around at 0.1 acres.

Area wildfire status, morning of August 1st

Using information from Lynn Ogle, Debo Powers (currently at Cyclone LO) and some digging through online resources…

The Weasel Fire is at 30 acres, up from it’s initial 10, and moving towards the northeast. It generated a lot of visible smoke yesterday, but is currently no threat to the North Fork. Location is in the Kootenai National Forest, 26 miles northwest of Polebridge (see image; fire location is in upper left corner).

The hot spots in last year’s Hay Creek burn disappeared from the satellite imagery overnight and there is no smoke from that location.

The Flattop Mountain Fire in Glacier NP continues to skunk around at 0.1 acres.

There were no other verifiable local smoke reports yesterday.

Bill

Area wildfire status, morning of July 31st

Hello, everyone.

This is a summary of local wildfire issues based on information from Lynn Ogle and various other resources. No agency had issued any press releases at the time I put this together at 0720…

Glacier Park: Flattop Mountain Fire, 0.10 acres; initial report 29 July.

Flathead NF: Two hot-spots along the ridgetop in last year’s Hay Creek burn; FNF is sending a ground crew in to check it out; initial report 30 July. (See image below.)

Kootenai NF: Weasel Fire (sometimes called “D3 Weasel”), on the east slope of a ridge to the west of Weasel Creek. It was about 7 acres in extent initially on 30 July, is now 13.50 acres, and is being handled by the Kootenai National Forest. According to Bill Fordyce, “The Kootenai has put a lot of resources on the Weasel Fire. It’s a 10 plus acres. Some of that area burned 5 or 6 years ago so there would be standing dead and down…”

Bill

Approximate position, according to Zoom Earth, of the two hotspots in last year’s Hay Creek burn. The nearest is about 6.5 miles west of Polebridge. We should know more once Flathead NF gets some people up there to look around…
(look for the kind of orangy glows near the left edge of the image. Those spots are *not* to scale, they just indicate rough positions!)

Hay Creek Hotspots, approximate postions, 31 July 22

GNP bridge construction projects begin July 18

According to the official press release, the bridge work in Glacier Park starts off with a couple of items on the “Inside North Fork Road”…

Glacier National Park is starting a construction project to rehabilitate 13 bridges throughout the park. The work will take place over the next two years with funding provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law through the Federal Lands Transportation Program.

The improvements to the bridges will include bridge deck and approach repairs, timber pile replacement and repairs, timber curb replacement, painting, concrete repair, stone masonry repairs, erosion control measures, and more.

Construction begins on two Inside North Fork Road bridges on July 18. The Inside North Fork Road is managed for a rustic experience and is currently open to vehicles in certain sections and provides pedestrian, bicycle, and emergency vehicular access in other sections. Visitors will have pedestrian and bicycle access to Dutch Creek, Anaconda Creek, and Camas Creek.

The Fish Creek Bridge will have limited delays in traffic until it is fully closed to motorized, pedestrian, and bicycle access on September 6, 2022, after Fish Creek Campground closes for the year.

Reminder! First Aid/CPR/AED course next week; only three slots left!

For those of you who missed it in May, Bob Lee will be giving his well-regarded First Aid/CPR/AED class in the North Fork again this summer. It is an all-day course, starting at 9:00am. The date is Tuesday, July 12. The course will be held at Sondreson Hall. Cost will be $45/person. (Make checks out to Red Tail Education and Research.)

If it has been two years or more since you took this course, you need to take it again in order to maintain your certification.

Course size limit is 10 people! Contact Bill Walker (wkwalker@nvdi.com or 406-407-2764) if you wish to attend.

Note! Like last time, the certification cards will be distributed electronically. The emails sometimes get misdirected to spam, so it is important to keep an eye out for that.

Get those issues in! North Fork Interlocal meeting, 1:00pm, July 13th at the hall!

The Summer 2022 Interlocal Agreement Meeting is at 1:00pm, on Wednesday, July 13 at Sondreson Community Hall. This summer’s Interlocal is hosted by the North Fork Landowners’ Association (NFLA). It follows the annual Firewise meeting at 9:30am. Lunch is at noon, with the NFLA providing the main course. If you wish, bring a side dish or desert to share.

Continue reading Get those issues in! North Fork Interlocal meeting, 1:00pm, July 13th at the hall!