Oil, gas dilemma for Blackfeet Tribe: Revenue versus environment
BROWNING - A dramatic expanse of snow-marbled mountains runs like a borderline along the Blackfeet Indian Reservation's western edge, where a sea of rolling foothills intersects the rugged Rocky Mountain Front.
The wild landscape is striking for its beauty, but it is also symbolic. It marks a political boundary between the Blackfeet Nation and Glacier National Park, which shares its eastern border with the tribe as well as a rare and pristine ecosystem rich in wildlife and natural resources. Grizzly bear recovery areas and spring rangeland transect the boundary with tribal lands, as do quaking aspen, ground water, roving elk herds, bighorn sheep, wolves, eagles and bull trout.
But with virtually all of the Blackfeet Reservation's 1.5 million acres leased for oil and gas exploration, and renewed interest in development on a tract of land directly adjacent to Glacier National Park's eastern border, conservationists are actively working to protect the region from energy exploration.
Although the deal could be a financial windfall for a tribe badly in need of resources, some stakeholders are raising questions about what safeguards are in place to protect the land's natural resources and cultural significance.
Opponents to the exploration are concerned that it signifies the industrialization of Glacier Park's eastern front, and worry the idyllic landscape could soon be bristling with oil wells and flare stacks unless a moratorium is enforced.
"If I were still on the tribal council, I would be strongly motivated to vote against exploration on the western boundaries," said Tom Thompson, of Heart Butte, a former Blackfeet tribal councilman who for 16 years served as superintendent of Browning Public Schools. "The degradation to water purity, natural resources and the cultural significance of the land would be too damaging. We just can't afford it."
Unemployment among reservation residents hovers around 70 percent, and tribal government operates on a shoestring budget. If the oil and gas exploration is successful and wells go into production, royalties are set at 20 percent and the tribe stands to reap substantial benefits.
Bears Project Glacier Park - News
The park is considering closing Bear Lake Road at night and some days during the winter, and closing Glacier Basin Campground during the summer to allow for a construction staging area. Regardless of the inconvenience, Gamble said the construction is
The Glacier Basin Campground may also be closed through 2012 to provide a safe staging ground for the project contractor. Visitors should expect delays of up to 40 minutes when the road is open to vehicles, Patterson said. She said the park expects
You should by now have the feeling this is no walk in the park. At about 2.25 miles, the road traverses springs through some old mining projects. There is an old mining track heading west; ignore it. This area of the fire was especially hot.
The South Town Site Committee is waiting to hear back about the status of the South Town Site Project. “Cars are being towed away,” said supervisor Tommy O'Malley, who had signs posted at the Park and Ride to help get rid of abandoned vehicles.
It marks a political boundary between the Blackfeet Nation and Glacier National Park, which shares its eastern border with the tribe as well as a rare and pristine ecosystem rich in wildlife and natural resources. Grizzly bear recovery areas and spring
Wolverine the Creator « The Wolverine Blog
Here is a brief legend of Wolverine creator of the tribe of the Innu of Quebec:
"Long ago, Kuekuatsheu [Wolverine] has built a large boat like Noah's ark, and put all the various animal species in it. There was a lot of rain and the earth was flooded. He told the vision to dive into the water to get mud and rocks, where it mixes together to an island. This island is the world we live in now with all animals. "
I took this from an article in the Boise Weekly about a conference last week Jeff Copeland.Unfortunately, I did not know about the conference in advance, or I would have publicized, but the legend is beautiful. "Kuekuatsheu" is the word from which one of the French names of the animal, "caracajou," drift, early French trappers in Quebec knew that the animal by name Innu and adapted to pronunciation French.
More recently, a writer in Washington State has had an encounter with a wolverine in the Cascades, and if the author of the message was not impressed enough to consider the wolverine a Creator God, the degree of excitement was almost an accident.It's nice to see so many people amped up about gulose.
Closer still, the dogs in a wooded area a wolverine camping just south of Glacier National Park. The Wolverines, who guard the camp was speculated a young animal, was not injured and then left the area. It might have been a minor who was in the dispersion of the campsite, but in any case, it is further evidence that attractive as the garbage must be managed carefully to the campground - not just for the sake of bear, but the wolverine as well.
Related to issues facing the Wolverines, a recent study suggests that the consequences of the disappearance of species to climate change may be greater than originally thought. Up to one third of all species may go extinct, but even within species that remain, up to 80% of genetic diversity may be lost. For the Wolverines, we could see this if gulose remained on the landscape of the Arctic, but people with unique haplotypes were lost because people further south have died off.Mongolia gluttons, for example, have an apparently unique haplotype (mng1) that would disappear if the wolverine has been removed from mountain ranges to the southern margin of their range. This in turn would reduce the genetic diversity of the species as a whole, reducing the options for the Wolverines and the rest eventually leading to genetic bottlenecking and perhaps extinction down the road. Not a happy thought for the Wolverines or the other species that could be affected.