The U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service have decided not to appeal a ruling issued in March 2024 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen DeSoto, which determined that the Flathead National Forest’s current road management plan is inadequate for new logging projects. In light of the agencies choosing not to appeal, on February…
Missoula, Montana—Today, several conservation organizations and grizzly bear proponents released their vision that bolsters support for a unified grizzly bear population within the Northern Rockies—offering a holistic framework for recovery, management, and sustainable coexistence between bears and people. Titled “A New Vision for Grizzly Bear Recovery in the Northern Rockies,” the report from nine conservation…
This proposal to mine into the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness and create a potential future superfund site endangers our public lands, threatens species, water quality, and local communities.
The year 2025 begins the 9th calendar year of our defense of the ancient forest at Black Ram, in the northwest corner of Montana’s Yaak Valley. As part of our ground-truthing of the Black Ram proposal and the ancient inland rainforests that help comprise it, we have realized the necessity of preserving the area as…
As we wrote last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has proposed a plan to manage grizzly bears as a new, smaller distinct population segment (DPS). Under this plan, the area in which grizzlies are currently protected via the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which encompasses the lower 48 states, would be drastically reduced…
On January 8th, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) rejected petitions from the states of Wyoming and Montana to strip federal Endangered Species Act protections from grizzly bears in the Northern Rocky Mountains. The decision also addresses a court-ordered settlement with the State of Idaho, denying a petition to the US Fish and Wildlife…
Come check out our new office space that sits along 17 Mile Creek nestled between the Saddle Mountain and Roderick Roadless areas in the Yaak. We will have presentations from both YVFC Staff and a Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Bear Management Specialist. Please bring a potluck dish to share, a chair, and your favorite…
Can a single tree, once a seed and now a guitar, inspire a movement to save an ancient forest? The Black Ram Guitar Fest, set for September 28, 2024, at The Wilma in Missoula, is betting on it. This groundbreaking event, presented by The Montana Project in partnership with the Maclean Literary Festival and Whitefish…
The event will benefit the creative grassroots environmental movement to protect the ancient “Black Ram” forest in Montana’s Yaak Valley—birthplace of the Black Ram guitar—as well as all remaining mature and old-growth forests on U.S. public lands. The evening will advance the efforts to protect the Black Ram forest by designating the region as the…
On August 17, 2023, a federal judge ruled against the United States Forest Service in the Black Ram logging case, effectively halting the project. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Donald W. Molloy found that the USFS violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) with regard to the climate harms of logging thousands of…
YVFC is happy to announce that you can now purchase a YVFC-sponsored Montana specialty license plate featuring art by Monte Dolack! Please keep us in mind as you renew your license plates this year. Buying a customized plate financially supports the YVFC mission and helps raise awareness everywhere you go! See the official plate here.
Check out what’s happening this month with the Yaak Valley Forest Council in our May newsletter, now available here.
A recent article in High Country News highlights the importance of preserving areas like our beloved Yaak Valley as refuges to support retention of biodiversity as human induced rising global temperatures are altering our climate. Areas mapped in the referenced study, including the Yaak Valley, due to multiple factors are shielded from warming temperatures and…
Join Yaak Valley Forest Council partnered with Wild Montana on a mellow Mother’s Day wildflower walk to Shannon Lake. Tucked in the northern foothills of the Cabinet Mountains, the Shannon Lake Trail winds through a narrow, forested basin with minimal elevation gain. Along the trail, we will discuss native and non-native plants, with a major…
Beaver can be one of our best partners in mitigating the drying effects of climate change. Unfortunately, beaver were mostly trapped out by 1860 and are still trapped in Montana. Beaver are key players in proper watershed function. Their dams create natural water storage of spring runoff, recharging groundwater and enhancing late summer stream flows….
YVFC celebrated Earth Day by cleaning up garbage strewn around the Sylvanite (4th of July) Dump Site in the Yaak River Valley. It’s vital that we all do our part to prevent human and bear conflict, so please make sure that your trash makes it into the dumpsters, and close and lock the lid before…
Happy Earth Day! The days are lengthening, temperatures warming, and our runoff waters beginning their descent into our streams, rivers, and lakes. As the bears emerge from their hibernation so do the YVFC crews stretch and yawn themselves awake, prepping their gear and making ready to mobilize for another year of restoring the Yaak’s watersheds…
YVFC attended the 2023 Crown Managers Partnership Meeting. The YVFC crew enjoyed spending time with this wonderful group, and sharing the work that we all do to make this a healthier world. Led by Blackfoot Nation Elders and youth, the bio-cultural day was spent sharing landscape-scale perspectives and the significance of place and ways of…
Today is International Beaver Day! At YVFC our Headwaters Team works hard to preserve crucial habitat for healthy tributaries and all that relies on them for survival. In the Yaak Valley we are lucky to have the majestic keystone species, the beaver! They add so much to thriving ecosystems, and are very important to retain…
On March 16, 2023, the USFS released the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail Comprehensive Plan Environmental Assessment. The current Northern Route infringes on four of the six designated Grizzly Bear Recovery Zones, including the high-elevation, prime grizzly bear habitat in the Yaak region that prior to the trail proposal provided secure habitat within the Cabinet/Yaak…
Today is World Water Day! Whoop whoop! This World Water Day is about accelerating change to solve the water and sanitation crisis. We are thankful to live in Northwest Montana with an abundance of clean and healthy waterways. At the Yaak Valley Forest Council our Headwaters Program is all about restoring and protecting clean and…
Today is International Day of Forests! Protecting old and mature forests is the single cheapest and best solution we have for fighting–mitigating—the rate of climate change: in Montana, and globally. Tell your legislators you’re calling from the Yaak and want the ancient forest of the Black Ram preserved. Some of the trees in this irreplaceable…
The Yaak Valley Forest Council’s Headwaters Restoration Partnership Project (HRPP) had a busy year in 2022. The projects are developed to collect data from the tributaries in the Yaak watershed to determine the health and restoration priorities with our partners. The Yaak Valley Forest Council has continued, for the second year, a water quality monitoring…
A new bill is being introduced at the federal level, co-sponsored by Montana Senator Steve Daines, that will impact grizzly population dynamics throughout their range. This will impact the Cabinet-Yaak population of grizzlies that are dependent on explorer bears from other regions, particularly females, migrating into their population. Learn more here.
December 14, 2020 (YAAK, Montana)—Today, the Yaak Valley Forest Council together with Save The Yellowstone Grizzly are offering a supplemental reward for the recent killing of a Yaak Valley grizzly bear. An adult female grizzly bear was brutally killed in the Yaak Valley in late November. The killer or killers shot the bear, partially skinned…
For Immediate Release: (YAAK, MT) – Today the Yaak Valley Forest Council (YVFC) announced its opposition to the Black Ram timber sale on the Kootenai National Forest (KNF) in northwest Montana. “Here we go again. The KNF thinks they can still have their way and ignore the 25 remaining Yaak grizzly bears and clearcut the…
(Troy, MT) – The Vaak Valley Forest Council (YVFC) today stated its opposition to pending legislation sponsored by U.S. Senator Steve Daines that would de-list federal protections for grizzly bears and another bill that would allow for remote area clearcutting under misleading definitions of fire protection and public safety, which would have negative consequences on…
Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness, the organization dedicated to protecting 80,000 acres of roadless area along the Idaho-Montana border, has launched a podcast. You can check it out here.
The Flathead Beacon has published an article about the reroute of the Pacific Northwest Trail, read it here.
Most Yellowstone grizzlies are up and about now, including Grand Teton’s celebrity matron “399,” who at 23 is truly an ancient bear. Emerging after seeming death, bears embody the miracle that is spring. After dozing for months in dens without eating, drinking or defecating, they arise as specimens of health, having lost fat but little…