Sperry Chalet is Seeking an Artist

Sperry Chalet is again looking for an artist to stay at the chalet for two weeks this year. If you're a professional artist, or know an artist who may be interested, you may want to check-out the Art at Sperry Chalet residency program. All you have to do is create original pieces of artwork and interact with backcountry visitors. For 2013 the residency dates will be August 11th through August 24th. Applications are due by May 17th.

I'm not really sure what's going to inspire you while you're up there, though...

Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

Ranger-led Snowshoe Hike to Taggart Lake in Grand Tetons

Grand Teton National Park ranger naturalists invite visitors and area residents to discover the wonders of winter and boost their heart rate during an exhilarating snowshoe hike to Taggart Lake. Join a park ranger from noon to 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 6th, for a moderately strenuous snowshoe trek to Taggart Lake at the foot of the Teton peaks.

Those participating should wear warm layered clothing and sturdy insulated boots, and bring along an energy snack and water. To join this ranger-led activity, meet at noon in the Taggart Lake parking area on the Teton Park Road, just three miles north of Moose Entrance Station.

With its blanket of pristine snow, the Teton landscape becomes a wonderland to experience and explore. This afternoon excursion offers participants an opportunity to learn about the magic and unique elements of the winter season while getting some exercise in an inspiring setting. The 3.5 hour-long snowshoe hike gains 400 feet of elevation and covers a round-trip distance of 3 miles. Previous snowshoeing experience is not required and a limited number of snowshoes may be available for anyone without their own at a cost of $5 for adults and $2 for children, 8 years and up.

Space is limited, therefore reservations are required. Call the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center at 307.739.3399 to sign up.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes to List Wolverines as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced yesterday that it is seeking information from the scientific community and the public on a proposal to protect the North American wolverine as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service is also seeking comment on two proposed special rules designed to facilitate management and recovery of the species should it receive protection.

An estimated 250 to 300 wolverines now occur in the lower 48 states, where the species has rebounded after broad-scale predator trapping and poisoning programs led to its near extinction in the early 1900s. According to the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, most are believed to inhabit Montana. According to the latest assessment from the Glacier National Park Wolverine Research Project, 28 wolverines were documented to be living within the park.

Extensive climate modeling indicates that the wolverine’s snowpack habitat will be greatly reduced and fragmented in the coming years due to climate warming, thereby threatening the species with extinction. Wolverines are dependent on areas in high mountains, near the tree-line, where conditions are cold year-round and snow cover persists well into the month of May.

The Service does not consider most activities occurring within the high elevation habitat of the wolverine, including snowmobiling and backcountry skiing, and land management activities like timber harvesting and infrastructure development, to constitute significant threats to the wolverine. As a result, the Service is proposing a special rule under Section 4(d) of the ESA that, should the species be listed, would allow these types of activities to continue.

Under the proposed 4(d) rule, take of wolverines associated with hunting and trapping would be prohibited if the species is listed. The Service is seeking input on the appropriateness of prohibiting incidental take of wolverine in the course of legal trapping activities directed at other species.

In support of ongoing federal and state agencies to protect the wolverine from extinction, the Service is simultaneously proposing a special rule under Section 10(j) of the ESA to facilitate potential reintroduction of the species to its historical range in Colorado. The reintroduction effort, which is still under consideration, would be led by the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Currently, wolverines occur within the North Cascades Range in Washington and the Northern Rockies of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and a small portion of Oregon (Wallowa Range). Populations once existed in the Sierra Nevada of California and the southern Rocky Mountains in the states of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Currently, one individual male wolverine is known to inhabit the Sierra Nevada and one male wolverine resides in the southern Rocky Mountains. Both are recent migrants to these areas.

Most wolverine habitat in the contiguous U.S. – more than 90 percent – is located on federally-owned land, with the remainder being state, private or tribally owned.

If the proposed listing rule is finalized, the Service will add the wolverine to the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. The listing would protect the wolverine as a threatened species in the contiguous (or lower 48) states as a distinct population segment (DPS) under the ESA.

The Service will open a 90-day comment period beginning February 4, 2013, to allow the public and stakeholders an opportunity to provide information or comments regarding the proposed listing and 4(d) rule and the proposed 10(j) rule. A draft Recovery Outline will also be available for comments. During that time, the agency will also seek peer review of the proposed listing and proposed rules from the scientific community. Comments will be accepted until May 6, 2013.

Last year, the President directed that any future designations of critical habitat carefully consider all public comments on relevant science and economic impact, including those that suggest methods for minimizing regulatory burdens. If the listing is finalized, any potential critical habitat designation will include a full analysis of economic impact, including impact on jobs, and will strive, to the extent permitted by law, to avoid unnecessary burdens and costs on states, tribes, localities and the private sector.

At this time, the Service finds that critical habitat is not determinable, as the agency needs additional time to assess the potential impact of a critical habitat designation and to identify specific areas that may be appropriate for critical habitat designation. The Service seeks comments on the reasons they should or should not designate critical habitat for the wolverine, and what specific areas might be considered for designation.

The move to list wolverines as endangered could run into resistance from the state of Montana. Montana is the only state, other than Alaska, to offer a wolverine trapping season, which allows the harvest of five wolverines a year over the mountainous western portion of the state. Since 2008, an average about three wolverines have been harvested annually.

Jeff Hagener, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, said in a press release yesterday that "Our primary concern is to maintain the authority and ability to manage Montana's wildlife. No matter what the ultimate decision turns out to be, Montana will make a strong case to maintain authority to manage its wildlife, including the ability to trap other species, like wolves, that may sometimes share habitat with the wolverine."

Trapping for wolverines, however, will remain closed for the foreseeable future. In December, in lieu of a federal decision on the wolverine's federal status, a state district court judge in Helena granted a temporary restraining order that blocked the opening of Montana's 2012-13 wolverine trapping season.

Hagener said that while Montana harbors the healthiest wolverine population in the nation, the federal Endangered Species Act doesn't readily allow for listing populations along state lines based on species health and tailored management practices.

For more information about wolverine conservation, copies of the proposals, and details on public meetings and hearings, visit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service website.


Jeff
Hiking Glacier National Park

New push for Cell Phones, Internet Access in National Parks

Do cell phones and internet Wi-Fi belong in national parks? Apparently the National Park Service thinks so.

The National Park Hospitality Association, a national trade association that represents businesses that provide lodging, food services, equipment rentals, transportation and other visitor services in the National Park System, is strongly advocating the expansion of cellular and internet “connectivity” inside national parks. This upcoming March the association will be holding it's annual meeting in Washington DC. Among the six agenda items is "Cell and WiFi access enhancement efforts". In their December 2012 Newsletter, the NPHA published this news item:

NPS/NPHA EFFORTS TO ENHANCE CELL AND WIFI SERVICE IN PARKS

Verizon and a team involving ViaSat brought temporary top-notch internet and cellular telephone service to Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim for NPHA’s Grand Thoughts at the Grand Canyon. The infrastructure was nearly invisible and the resulting capabilities were widely praised – and prompted NPS Deputy Director Peggy O’Dell to propose a pilot effort in five parks as a team. NPHA members submitted a list of 11 parks to NPS along with a project overview which included the following goals:

1) Provide a basic level of non-fee internet access at all major, developed visitor areas in the national park system.
2) Provide basic cell phone service at all major visitor areas in national park units, as well as along most roads and at major sites such as trailheads.
3) Deliver timely, park-focused information within national parks through smart phones, tablets and computers.
4) Give individual parks discretion on where cell phone service is available, and whether the service provides full or emergency-only service.
5) Identify and employ best available and practical technologies that minimize visual impacts of cell and internet access systems.
6) Create special gateway zones at park entry points using downloadable data to replace both low-power radio systems and printed material hand-outs.
7) Design a system that is financially sustainable, generating revenues adequate to install, maintain and upgrade internet access. To do this, concessioners are offered the opportunity to develop and operate these systems, either individually or through a collaborative venture with other concessioners.
8) Offer additional bandwidth where possible to park visitors on a fee basis.
9) Coordinate efforts of the NPS, concessioners and friends organizations to create official park apps which can be readily downloaded to all major mobile channels, and which work to aid park visits, even when not connected to the internet, through GPS and other technologies.

Deputy Director O’Dell delivered the recommendations to the NPS Regional Directors and assigned John Wessels (NPS Intermountain Regional Director) and Sue Waldron (NPS Assistant Director for Communications and lead for the NPS “Go Digital” component of A Call to Action) to work with NPHA. The list is now being reviewed by the regional and park teams and final selections of five (maybe more!) sites will occur early in January. A strategy session in February involving NPS, NPHA and communications firms is likely.

Opponents of the connective service argue that intrusive technology goes against the idea of parks being a refuge from modernity. That it interferes with solitude. A press release from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility even stated that the plan was "a giant step toward ‘Disney-fying’ park interpretation..."

There is also the concern of distracted drivers on national park roads. There are reports of wildlife being killed as a result of drivers texting and talking on cell phones in some of the larger parks.

Then there's the argument that outdoor adventurers have, and will continue to abuse the increased connectivity to call for unneeded rescue efforts. There's a sense that some people are more willing to engage in reckless behavior, knowing that there's a safety net of emergency responders just a phone call away.

What are your thoughts? Do cell phones belong in the wilderness? Are Wi-Fi hot spots important to have in certain areas, such as near visitor centers? If you've reached a scenic overlook, or the top of a mountain after a tough hike, would you feel that some of the wilderness experience has been degraded if several people around you are talking on cell phones?


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park

New Hyper-Accurate, Hyper-Local Weather App

Over the last several years technology has been creeping into wilderness at an ever increasing pace. The latest technological innovation actually seems to be a really good idea.

A company by the name of Nooly announced on Monday that they have released the world’s most localized and reliable weather app for iPhones and Androids. They claim the app is capable of predicting the exact minute it will rain or snow and can do so effectively, wherever you are, for every 0.4 square miles (1 square kilometer).

Nooly brought in two of the world’s top scientists in cloud physics and short-range weather prediction, Professor Daniel Rosenfeld of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and Professor John R. Mecikalski of the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Professors Rosenfeld and Mecikalski are widely recognized for their development in understanding and prediction of the evolution of clouds and storms, including hurricane and tornado formation. They have worked with a number of federal agencies, including NASA, NOAA, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), and the European Organization for Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

Using their deep background and expertise, the Nooly scientific team has built a series of meteorological and physical algorithms that track and process, in real-time, data from two NASA / NOAA satellites, over 260 NOAA radars, and other meteorological sources. The result is Nooly, an impressive weather application that predicts, in 5 minutes interval, when rain or snow will start, get worse, and end. Nooly processes information for over 30 million locations throughout the United States and southern Canada, resulting in hyperlocal weather conditions for every road, park and point of interest. For the past year a live beta version of Nooly has been available for download in the US, achieving over 50,000 users, who have helped Nooly test and refine its hyperlocal predictions.

The Nooly app is now available on iPhone® and Android™ for free. For more information, please visit www.nooly.com.


Jeff
Hiking in Glacier National Park