Our Local Grizzly Bear Update:
Several events have occurred and I felt an brief update was appropriate.
Washington Selkirk trap team caught two 2-year-old female grizzly bears in Johns Creek near Sullivan Lake on 6/18. Both bears are wearing radio collars but they were small with an equally small neck in relation to the head. Each bear weighed about 90 pounds and we will see if the collars stay on.
Two young males with existing collars were captured in the Yaak drainage and had their collars refitted within the last several weeks.
An adult male was captured in the Cabinets in Poorman creek on 6/19 and released with a radio collar bear was unmarked and weighed near 400 pounds (approximately 6 years old).
A 3-year-old female was captured by Kim Annis at eh bottom of Silverbutte creek in the Cabinets. The bear had been killing chickens and turkeys and had a history of killing chickens in Whitefish, Mont. The bear was relocated at that time but lost it’s radio collar soon after release. The animal was collared and released in Trail Creek of the West Fisher of the Cabinet Mountains on 6/20.
Submitted by Rhonda Vogl
Free Workshop For Caregivers
Millions of rural caregivers provide crucial support to family members or friends living with memory loss and dementia. These same caregivers often feel stressed and isolated. An online workshop may help them.
The University of California, San Francisco is conducting a study of a new online caregiver workshop. The project is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Caregivers may qualify if they:
- Live in a rural area
- Care for someone with memory loss
- Are 18 years of age or older
- Provide care for at least 10 hours per week
Caregivers who participate in the study of the workshop will be asked to complete four surveys on their caregiving experiences and will receive up to $80 in cash for doing so.
What does the online workshop offer?
The workshop is accessible to rural caregivers whenever they want it, day or night. It teaches caregivers new skills to reduce their stress, take better care of themselves, manage challenging behaviors of their care partners, and plan for the future. Caregivers also get a workbook to keep, support from other caregivers, and information on community resources.
Interested caregivers can go to caregiverproject.ucsf.edu or call the toll-free number 1-833-634-0603 to get more information. Organizations that work in rural communities or have contact with caregivers can use that same contact information.
Submitted By Maritza
Luzanilla
Monkey Pox In
Montana Update
Submitted by Trista Gilmore
Monkeypox Update: As of June 16, CDC and WHO are tracking at least 100 monkeypox cases in the US and additional cases worldwide that have been reported in areas that do not normally report monkeypox.
To date, there have been no confirmed cases of monkeypox reported in Montana. DPHHS urges healthcare providers to be alert for patients who have rash illnesses consistent with monkeypox, regardless of whether they have travel or specific risk factors for monkeypox, and regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Healthcare providers in Montana are requested to report suspect cases to your local health department, and local health departments should notify the CDEpi Section at DPHHS by calling 406-444-0273
Local MSU Students Named to Spring
Semester 2022 Honor Rolls
Courtesy of Montana State University News
Montana State University has announced its undergraduate honor rolls for spring semester 2022.
Students must complete a minimum of 12 credit hours to be on either the President’s List (4.0 GPA) or Dean’s List (3.5 GPA or higher).
Libby: Niklaus Patrick Gier, Timothy Earl Goodman, Samantha Mary Miller*, Ethan A Neff, Isaac James ORourke, Keilen McKay Rausch, Trey Samuel Thompson, Sally Yajun Weber
Troy: Augustus Randall Raul Burch
Federal Judge Halts
Logging Project near Libby Because of Grizzly, Lynx Concerns Ripley Project Paused While USFS Re-Evaluates
By Darrell Ehrlick, of
dailymontanan.com
A federal judge has temporarily halted a large timber logging project in the Cabinet-Yaak Mountains after he said the United States Forest Service failed to properly take into account grizzly bear and Canada lynx population in the area.
The Ripley logging project, which authorized more than 10,000 acres of logging, including more than 3,000 acres of clear-cutting, has been stopped while the Forest Service takes into account the two species.
Much of the case so far has centered on new roads the Forest Service wants to build, calling them “temporary.” However, the lawsuit argues that the Forest Service has a long track record of building those roads for timber projects but never returning them back, which interferes with animal habitat, especially bears’.
Moreover, the Forest Service didn’t properly consider the bears living in the area or the impacts the project could have on the federally protected Canada lynx.
“Roads pose the biggest threat to grizzly bears, and the incredibly high number of roads for this massive logging project would be disastrous for the Cabinet-Yaak population, which is already in a particularly perilous condition,” said Michael Garrity of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, the group that brought the legal challenge. “The fact is the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly population is failing every recovery target and goal.”
The project area where the logging would take place is approximately two miles from the Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Recovery Zone, and court records show that three different radio-collared male grizzly bears have been recorded there in the past five to seven years.
Federal District Court Judge Dana Christensen also said the Forest Service failed to even consider whether Canada lynx were in the area, “USFS instead concluded on its own that lynx will not be present in the projected area and that the project therefore would have no effect on them.”
The court noted that normally the United States Fish and Wildlife Service would be called upon to make the determination if the lynx are in the area, or would be affected.
“The forest service relied on the information vacuum of their own making to refute (the) plaintiff’s assertions of likely irreparable injury to those species,” Christensen said.