NFLA – Page 23 – North Fork Landowners Association

Reminder: Land use plan amendment needs your support on August 10th!

[Updated to add links to download the text amendment documents.]

This Wednesday, August 10th is the North Fork Land Use Advisory Committee’s presentation of our revised text amendment to the planning board! Last June, the planning board had issues and our proposal was tabled. Since then a sub-committee has been revising the text amendment in conjunction with the county planning office and a work session with the planning board. This product has been pared down based on recommendations and, although we are confident, we need your support. This support consists of emailing (best option) or writing to the planning office (time sensitive), or showing up at the meeting in person or via zoom. Please encourage your friends and neighbors. Below, I have listed the county email site they prefer, the date, time and location of the meeting, and the planning board zoom link. Please note we are 8th — last on the agenda. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know!

Randy Kenyon
Chair, NFLUAC Continue reading Reminder: Land use plan amendment needs your support on August 10th!

Weasel Fire update for the morning of August 7th

Weasel Fire on August 5, 2022, by Leif Haugen, Thoma Lookout

Using information from various online resources…

According to this morning’s IR (heat mapping) pass, the Weasel Fire gained another 38 acres yesterday and is now estimated at 2312 acres (the estimate posted last night was 2384 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 in Canada. See the attached map for fire location and extent.

The US and Canada are working together to control the Weasel Fire. From the InciWeb site: Jurisdictional collaboration is occurring between the Incident Management Team (IMT) in the United States located in Eureka, Montana and the BC Wildfire Service Incident Management Team in Canada, located in Cranbrook. The two IMT’s are closely coordinating on wildfire management and are sharing resources as required.

The area closure associated with the fire was increased to include segments of both the Kootenai and Flathead Forests yesterday. For the North Fork, this affects an area above Trail Creek Road north to the border and from the Whitefish Divide east to the Frozen Lake Road vicinity. Trail Creek Road remains open. See the attached map for details.

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.

Weasel Fire update for the morning of August 6th

Weasel Fire - Extreme Fire Behavior, August 4, 2022 - USFS — Weasel Fire – Extreme Fire Behavior, August 4, 2022 – USFS

Using information from various online resources…

The Weasel Fire gained another 100 acres yesterday and is now estimated at 2274 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 in Canada. The Weasel fire has done a fair bit of spotting beyond the main perimeter and is still quite active. See the accompanying map for information on the fire’s extent.

There’s no official word yet on North Fork area trail and road closures, although it is safe to assume that at least some of the trails and Forest Service roads north of Trail Creek Road will be off-limits. There are no current plans to close Trail Creek Road itself.

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.

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

August/September/October Wildland Fire Potential Outlook

Greetings, All!! As you can tell, fire season is upon us, as Lynn Ogle has pointed out.

Here is the latest monthly outlook for August, September and October.
The good news of course is that we benefited from a cold, wet June and the first half of July. The bad news is of course the hot, dry weather that has been parked over us for the past couple of weeks or so. That is forecasted to persist for a while, and we are forecasted to have a more active than normal fire season for the month of August:

Continue reading August/September/October Wildland Fire Potential Outlook

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