NFLA – Page 52 – North Fork Landowners Association

May 1 Wildland Fire Outlook

The May 1 Wildland Fire Outlook is posted: http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/predictive/outlooks/monthly_seasonal_outlook.pdf

This is showing the Northern Rockies as a pretty normal active fire season beginning in mid-July. We will get better predictions as we get farther into the season – the July 1 Outlook will be the one I am looking for.

There will be a lot of activity in Alaska, Hawaii, the Southwest and the Great Basin Areas. Glad to see that Western Oregon and Washington got good moisture over the winter.

NFLA 2016 Spring Newsletter

NFLA members should have received their copy of the 2016 Spring Newsletter in the mail by now. This year’s newsletter includes not only a note from President Randy Kenyon and some excellent stories about upcoming activities on the North Fork, but a paper version of the 2016 NFLA calendar, a signup form, and an updated version of the Emergency Services fact sheet.

A thousand thank yous to Allen Chrisman and all of his helpers in putting together this year’s newsletter and getting it mail. All of your neighbors appreciate the time and effort spent in making this happen.

PDF versions of this newsletter as well as newsletters from years past may be downloaded from the NFLA Newsletter page. Check it out here and enjoy all of the summer activities.

New North Director Needed

NFLA President Randy Kenyon announced recently that North Director Paul Marotz resigned from the NFLA Board of Directors. Randy is asking folks who live north of Whale Creek (just north of Sondreson Hall) to think about who they might like to nominate for a replacement or volunteer themselves. The current plan is to present candidates to the membership for a vote, hopefully at the June meeting.

Forest Service Seeks Comments on NEPA Decision

Rob Davies , District Ranger for the Flathead National Forest, says …

We will be issuing a NEPA decision for a small simple project that was presented at the Inter-local Meeting last February.

We would like to know if anyone has concerns or wishes to provide comments on this project. Please read the attached letter for details.

Essentially the State and the Forest Service want to breach a log jam and several small beaver dams where migrating bull trout were blocked from upstream movement to their normal spawning area (last fall). The work would be accomplished using a Spider Backhoe…… if you never have seen this type of heavy equipment it is really interesting…….. it’s essentially a small excavator but instead of using steel tracks, it moves on 4 robotic-like legs so that soil and vegetation disturbance is very minimal.

We would like to complete this work before peak runoff occurs this spring so natural flows will help scour and maintain the channel. Normally bull trout projects never remove or disturb large wood in streams but in this case, the Flathead bull trout populations are so depressed from other Lake issues…… doing all that we can to assure spawning success is important.

Read the full announcement here. To provide comments, or if you have questions or concerns, please contact me at 406-387-3801 or rdavies@fs.fed.us by Wednesday, March 30, 2016. I appreciate your input on this proposal.

2016 Winter North Fork Patrol Meeting Update

Mark Heaphy reports that the North Fork Patrol recently held their annual winter meeting. Here are some highlights: The North Fork Patrol has about 150 properties signed up and almost all have been physically checked at least once this winter. The good news is that out of all of those checked only one had any problem, a damaged vent stack. They plan to get business cards that say “North Fork Patrol” that they may opt to leave at places checked, writing notes on the back with the date, etc. And the Patrol is getting close to putting up the new sign near the southern end of the Home Ranch Bottoms pavement, replacing the old one that’s falling down.

The Patrol has also recently made several updates. They have a new email…. northforkpatrol@hotmail.com that folks can use to get in touch with them. They have also updated their signup form (click here to get the new form). Finally, the Patrol has updated the Emergency Services on the North Fork information sheet (click here to see the new sheet). It is strongly recommended that you print out this new version of the form, fill in your GPS coordinates, and have it handy in case of an emergency.

A patrol member will be making a complete report at the first NFLA meeting scheduled for Saturday, June 4. And you can get more information about the North Fork Patrol by going to their web page.

FLAP Letter to the Flathead County Commissioners

President Randy Kenyon has sent a letter dated February 18th to the Flathead County Commissions in support of the FLAP (for more information about the FLAP, please see our post by clicking here.) Following is the content of that letter:

Flathead County Commissioners
Flathead County Courthouse
Kalispell, MT 59901

To the Commissioners:

The North Fork Landowners’ Association represents some 270 member landowners in the North Fork of the Flathead. In a briefing to the North Fork Interlocal meeting on February 17, we learned of the project to be proposed under the Federal Land Access Program to improve the north end of the North Fork Road through improved base course, drainage, and gravel surfacing.

We welcome the improvement to the North Fork Road and we believe the project has importance for several reasons:

· Improved primary access to the US Forest Service Canadian Border River Access Site. This is a very important and popular recreation access point for river float trips for the public.

· Improved access for U.S. Border Patrol to their primary road access to the Canadian Border in the North Fork. The Border Patrol provides critical Border security at a point that is vulnerable to cross border traffic in a remote setting.

· Improved access for Flathead County Law Enforcement and Emergency Services to respond to emergency calls from residents along this section of road. This includes the full range of law enforcement responses as well as structural fire and ambulance services.

· Improved primary access for US Forest Service firefighting resources to respond as necessary to wildland fire starts. The Forest Service has the wildland fire protection responsibility in the North Fork and safe, rapid access is critical to support their mission.

· Improved access for Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in management of their lands north of Trail Creek.

This section of the North Fork Road consists of native materials only, and has had no gravel improvement in its history. The improved access provided by the project will increase service to the public, and increase safety for both public access and emergency responses. We commend the Border Patrol on their financial commitment to the project as an indication of the importance of this project to their mission.

Sincerely,

RANDY KENYON
President

2016 North Fork Interlocal Meeting Notes

Allen Chrisman attended the 2016 Interlocal meeting that was held on February 17, 2016 hosted by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Click here for a complete copy of his notes. Allen, thank you for being so diligent. Everyone is going to appreciate these detailed notes.

Lois Walker sent the following from her Interlocal notes. Thanks Lois!

Gary Danzig, Staff Officer for the Flathead National Forest, briefed the Interlocal on a proposal that the Forest Service is preparing to submit under the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP). Montana has received $22M a year in FLAP funds so far. Flathead County first submitted and got approval for a project to pave the approach to Blacktail Mountain, first one mile over private land and then an additional distance to reach USFS land. One quarter of the cost to build the new bridge over the South Fork this summer will also be paid for with FLAP money.

The program requires 13.42% in matching funds; i.e., $134K for every $1M in FLAP money and has been extended for another 5 years, with $19M a year allotted for Montana.

The project that the Forest Service wants to submit, in cooperation with Flathead County, Border Patrol (Homeland Security), and Glacier Park, would rebuild the North Fork Road from the border eight miles south and apply a gravel lift, and rebuild the road from the Merc to the Polebridge entrance to the Park, also with new gravel. That represents $1.5M in total work.

The proposal document should be ready by May, to be signed by GNP Superintendent Jeff Mow, Flathead Forest Supervisor Chip Weber, and Border Patrol station chief Kip Stratton, plus the county commissioners. The Project Decision Committee will meet in June and July. There will be heavy competition from other projects in Montana.

Homeland Security has pledged to come up with $100K in funding. The Park Service will throw in a little more. The county’s part will be to provide gravel from the pit on Whale Creek, which they will re-open.

They are asking for letters of support from North Fork organizations and individuals, saying that we’ve heard about the proposed project to improve sections of the North Fork Road and we support the idea. Address letters to:

Flathead County Commissioners
c/o David Prunty
Flathead County Road Dept.
1249 Willow Glen Drive
Kalispell, MT 59901

And Kip Stratton from the Border Patrol has asked that copies be sent to him as well:

Kip Stratton
US Customs and Border Protection
Whitefish Station
1295 Hwy 93 West
Whitefish, MT 59937

Marietta Downes Has Passed

We received word yesterday from Lois Walker that Marietta Downes passed away yesterday, January 17. Marietta was born in 1936 at Mason City, Washington and came to the North Fork with her husband Lee. Many North Forkers have fond memories of Marietta and she will be missed.

Lee and Marietta were interviewed by Tom Edwards in 2012 for the North Fork History Project. You can listen to their interview here.

Carl Pittman has Passed

We recently heard that Carl Pittman, long time North Forker and good neighbor, died on December 2, 2015 at his home in Newberg, OR after a brief decline from accelerated renal failure.

Carl was born June 7, 1931, in Caldwell, Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City. He attended UCLA and Oxford for his bachelors and masters degree and “half of a PhD.” He and his wife Linda came to the North Fork for the first time in the summer of 1964. Over the next decades, Carl and his family enjoyed all that the North Fork had to offer including floating, fishing, hiking, and visiting with neighbors.

Carl is survived by his wife Linda. Carl and Linda were interviewed for the North Fork history project in August of 2015. You can read all about them and listen to their interview on the North Fork History Project web page.