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Woefully Unprepared

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Bugle Editor

The Natural Resources Defense Council has released a report on how well states are preparing to meet the challenges of how climate change will affect their water resources.
Ready or Not: How Water-Ready is Your State?
So how ready is Montana? Unfortunately, we rank in the bottom of the class. Montana is among the dozen states that “are not acting and remain woefully unprepared.” Not really much of a surprise I guess, given the bad rap any kind of “planning” has taken in the Treasure State, but pretty sad none the less. According to NRDC;

Water Readiness Map

To date, Montana has not made much progress with regard to planning for water resources in general, let alone planning for likely climate change impacts such as increased drought and flooding.

They predict “The state could suffer nearly $80 million in crop losses annually by 2050 as a result of climate change,1 and the disappearance of glaciers in Glacier National Park and the reduction in suitable habitat for coldwater fisheries could impact the number of visitors—some 10 million annually—who come to the state and contribute billions to the state economy.”

Since the 1950s, Montana has seen an average temperature rise of 3 degrees C and we could see a 5-degree rise by the turn of the century.

The rate of warming during the winter and spring has significantly exceeded the warming in the summer. Precipitation patterns also have changed, with the Northern Rockies experiencing less winter snow and the southeastern plains receiving more spring and fall rain. In addition, eastern Montana has experienced a 10 percent decrease in annual precipitation over the past 100 years. Across the west, peak spring runoff occurred 10 to 30 days earlier in the 1948‒2000 period than it did prior to that time. However, the most notable impact of climate change has been the disappearance of alpine glaciers as a result of accelerated melting during the spring and summer season. Of the 37 named glaciers in Glacier National Park, only 25 remain, with 11 of the 12 glaciers lost having disappeared since 1986.

But why plan for the obvious? This is only the greatest threat our state will face for the next century or so. We like living on the edge.

(cross-posted with Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited)

Filed under: Button Valley News, Climate Change, Montana Environment, Montana News, Montana People, Montana Politics, Water, Wildlife and Environment | Leave a Comment »

D+

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Bugle Editor

Montana Headlines:
Public Service Commissioner Brad Molnar receives record fine for ethics violations - [Political Practices] Commissioner Dennis Unsworth also ordered Molnar to pay nearly $15,000 to partially cover the costs of the investigation. Unsworth found that Molnar improperly solicited and received gifts from NorthWestern Energy and PPL Montana and unlawfully used state resources for political purposes.

Suit filed against new Political Practices commissioner to obtain documents – [Dave] Gallik resigned in January after some members of his staff accused him of falsifying his state timesheet and performing private practice attorney work from his state office.

Not the kind of stuff you want to be seeing in large-print just as the Center for Public Integrity releases its report on the corruption risk for state governments. Montana received a D+ due to these and other issues. The good news is that only puts the Treasure State at #27 on the list. So, in a list of states with terrible risk of corruption in state government, Montana is only crappy.

Here’s how we scored:

  • Public Access to Information = F
  • Judicial Accountability = F
  • State Pension Fund Management = F
  • Ethics Enforcement Agencies = F
  • Lobbying Disclosure = F
  • But hey, we got an A for Internal Auditing, so we at least keep good track of our corruption.
  • We got a B for Procurement. We’re good at getting the money, it’s just that nobody knows where it goes.

But the reality in Big Sky country doesn’t always match the image, in part because finding money to boost transparency is a tough sell in light of more basic needs like schools and services for the poor.

Partly as a result, access to public records varies by agency and sometimes lags behind advances in information technology. Weak disclosure requirements and inadequate staffing frustrate efforts to monitor lobbying and track the assets of officials responsible for overseeing public funds.

Ethics laws suffer from ambiguity and weak enforcement, and a rash of top-level hires by the current administration has raised questions of cronyism. Meanwhile, the state’s ban on corporate campaign contributions and its tough disclosure requirements for campaign financing are under legal attack.

So hey, maybe a 68%, D+ rating ain’t so bad, considering that the legislature isn’t even in session for nine months yet.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Montana News, Montana People, Montana Politics | Leave a Comment »

Agenda 22 is Evil Too!

Posted on March 18, 2012 by Bugle Editor

In our ongoing quest to alert Bugle readers to threats to the rights of True Americans, real or imagined. We have posted stories on UN Agenda 21 and those true patriots opposing the attempt by George Soros, the lame-stream media and the Zionist UN to corrupt our government, abolish our God-given property rights and form a One-World Government.

By now, we all know the threat posed by the 20 year old non-binding UN document, Agenda 21, outlining such insidious threats as “smart growth”, “environmental sustainability” and other dire perils to the American way of life. Agenda 21 would have all good Americans living in high-rise ghettos, taking cold showers and riding bicycles on government-sponsored, so called “Bike Paths” while FEMA prepares concentration camps for conservatives in our national forests.

Now another sinister UN menace has come to light in the form of UN Agenda 22, another innocuous-sounding 20 year old document adopted by the UN General Assembly that purports to set “Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities of Persons with Disabilities”. This malevolent plan suggests advisory goals for the treatment of the handicapped based on the UN Standard Rules. The plan;

  • Weaves disability aspects into all planning and activities from the very beginning of any product whether it is a disability-focused project or not;
  • Pays special attention to women and children, since they tend to be especially vulnerable groups;
  • Uses the local authority to act as a good example;
  • Determines specific long-term objectives and measures for implementation; and
  • Includes a method of evaluation and review.

Of course, any True Patriot can easily wade through the UN double-speak and drill down to their pernicious plan for World Domination. Along with our “so called President” Barack Hussein Obama and his Socialist cohorts, the UN intends to weave “human rights” for the disabled into every faction of our lives. After we have all become accustomed to thinking that handicapped people are just the same as everybody else and entitled to a place in our society, the Soros-dominated, one-world extremists  will begin the second part of their hideous plan by expanding the definition of “disabled”. Led by the corrupt  and socialistic Obama Administration, homasexulism will be declared a disability. Gays and lesbians will come to expect the same rights and respect as bible-believing Christians. The very fabric of our society will be rent asunder! Who knows where this slippery slope will lead in the UN-dominated society envisioned by the pinko-liberal New World Order? We can, of course conceive of a world where “people of color” are considered disabled and therefore the ACLU will demand that they be given the same rights and privileges now granted only to white Christian males.

Ever vigilant my friends! The corrupt UN, the Zionists and the liberal extremists will never cease in their quest for global domination and it is up to real bible-believing, gun-totin’, tea-drinkin’ Christian Americans to thwart their evil agenda at every turn.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Crazy, Montana News, Montana People, Montana Politics | Leave a Comment »

Must-Read Article

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Bugle Editor

Whether you fish, hunt or just shoot marbles, you need to read this post by Ben Long in the High Country News Range Blog today. Ben relates some of the more insidious attacks on our outdoor heritage in recent memory.

“Sportsmen” stab Theodore Roosevelt in the back

One state at a time, Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife is dismantling the very idea of a public wildlife resource, and replacing it with special privileges for the privileged.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the attacks on our hunting and fishing traditions, but this type of hooey will surely will show up in Montana during the next legislative session. Sportsmen for Fish & Wildlife, sounds pretty nice hey? “Sportsmen” looking out for your elk, deer and fish? Well, maybe unless you are one of us Teddy Roosevelt socialists who believe that game and fish belong to us all and are not just a perk for the 1%. SFW is more about seeing that large landowners get paid for doing the right thing and making sure they get the perks they deserve, at our expense, due to their exalted status.

[SFW Founder, and Mitt Romney pal, Don] Peay described that egalitarian doctrine, found in Alaska’s state constitution and laws throughout the West, as “socialism.” It offers no economic incentive for landowners to kill predators, improve big game habitat and even provide food and water for target species.

That’s what rich landowners need, more economic incentives ($$) to support conservation. In the Alaska case that resulted in the resignation of the Fish & Game Conservation Director, special “rights” were sought for wealthy landowners;

In return, landowners would get special hunting permits “that the landowner would be allowed to use or sell, perhaps with special authorizations such as the ability to hunt outside normal hunting seasons on their lands.”
The proposal is modeled on similar programs in western states like Utah and Colorado, where it has been promoted by chapters of the advocacy group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and its sister organization Sportsmen for Habitat. The organization has a big expo in Salt Lake City every year where it auctions special permits.

These are just some of the ways that wildlife and public lands have been pushed to the forefront in our new political climate. Our outdoor heritage is under siege from all quarters and it requires us to be even more vigilant to protect our wild legacy and see that we are able pass it on to our children and grandchildren.

No fewer than 13 bills in the House of Representatives — some already reported out of committees — would end protections that our public lands have enjoyed for decades. The Antiquities Act, which was passed in 1906 and used by 15 Republican and Democratic presidents since, is under fierce attack. It provides each president with the opportunity to protect important public lands. Another law threatened by legislation is the Wilderness Act, which preserves important landscapes in their natural condition for recreation ranging from camping and hunting to fishing and hiking.

We don’t need polls or politicians to tell us that this is one of the most important issues to all westerners. Our public lands and wildlife are important to all of us, not just to hunters, hikers and fishermen. They are under attack by a multitude of forces who see opportunities to extract profit from our “socialist” heritage. We will need to be very attentive to statements made by politicians and by those who back them during the upcoming elections and especially during next year’s Montana State Legislature.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Crazy, Montana Environment, Montana News, Montana Politics, Wildlife and Environment | Leave a Comment »

Montana FWP Abandons Native Fish

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Bugle Editor

The primary culprit in unleashing a hungry hoard of invasive lake trout on native fish populations of the Flathead has decided to step away from the table and give up the fight to save our remnant populations of native fish in favor of protecting an exclusive and declining lake trout fishery. Since the 1980s, Montana FWP has been working in a collaborative process with other agencies and organizations designed to restore native bull trout and cutthroat trout in northwest Montana. On March 1,

Just over a week after the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes decided to expand an environmental review process for a controversial lake trout netting project on Flathead Lake, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has withdrawn its support for the process.

The current process has been under way since 2009 when CSKT proposed a reasonable plan to remove lake trout from Flathead Lake using netting and angling. FWP agreed to sit down with other stakeholders to craft a reasonable solution. At that time, Jim Satterfield, Regional Manager for FWP Region 1 in Kalispell said;

…the department’s legal counsel has determined that such an effort would have to be preceded by a full environmental impact statement and public review process.

“It’s reasonable to say that when you’re talking about removing 50,000 fish from the largest natural lake in the West that probably rises to the level of an EIS,” Satterfield said. “It’s a substantial impact on the environment and the public.”

Last week the Tribes agreed to move to a full-blown EIS process and FWP backed away once again. Even though the EIS is undeniably incomplete at this point, Bruce Rich, FWP State Fisheries Bureau Chief gave the lame excuse, “Our staff believes that the draft EIS, in its present state, is incomplete in both content and process.” and they walked away from the table. He is, of course, talking about a plan that FWP has been intimately involved in crafting for the past three years.

North Fork Bull Trout

In 1999, in setting up a collaborative panel to create a rational plan to restore bull trout in Montana, former Governor Marc Racicot said;

The bottom line of all this is simple: the bull trout is a native Montana fish, and Montanans have not only a legal but a moral obligation to maintain viable populations of native species. We owe it to future generations of Montanans to be good stewards of resources that are as much theirs as ours.

In 2000, that Montana-created Bull Trout Restoration Plan set a goal;

The goal of the Montana Bull Trout Restoration Plan is to ensure the long-term persistence of complex (all life histories represented), interacting groups of bull trout distributed across the species range and manage for sufficient abundance within restored RCAs [Restoration/Conservation Areas] to allow for recreational utilization.

FWP has never been comfortable with that goal. Since 2002, CSKT has hosted the Mack Days fishing contests on Flathead Lake in an attempt to control the exploding lake trout population. FWP reluctantly agreed to support this weak effort. From 2000 to 2010, the lake was jointly managed under a co-management plan by both FWP and CSKT. In 1999, FWP estimated the population of catchable-sized lake trout (>16 inches) at 353,732. Today that population has swelled to over 500,000 with a total population now estimated to be near 2 million fish. Clearly attempts to reduce the lake trout population by recreational angling have failed. Research indicates that the current management has only succeeded in keeping the lake trout population at about 5% below carrying capacity.

With Flathead Lake overstocked with lake trout, they have been pioneering out into the rest of the watershed, invading 10 of 13 lakes in Glacier National Park connected to Flathead Lake that were once home to healthy populations of bull trout and cutthroats. They have invaded the Swan Lake drainage and are decimating perch populations in the upper Stillwater.

The bull trout population continues to decline. In the last round of redd counts in the North Fork Flathead spawning streams, only single-digit redd counts were found for four of the five index streams. Under these conditions, the agreed-to co-management plan clearly calls for exploring taking further steps to reduce the lake trout population. Those steps will likely involve netting to remove a greater proportion of nonnative lake trout. FWP has never been on-board with this obvious escalation, but decided to join other stakeholders in exploring prudent solutions to restoring declining native fish populations. When the obvious solution became one that did not agree with the FWP’s narrow view, they decided to no longer support the entire collaborative process.

For generations, Montanans had access to a truly unique and productive fishery. Inland salmon to more than 20 pounds and large healthy cutthroat roamed the Flathead River Watershed. We lost access to that fishery due to declining numbers of native fish more than 20 years ago. We have lost more than 50% of those native populations. Now we are in danger of entirely losing those native fish to predation by an excessive and impaired lake trout population exclusive to Flathead Lake and due to mismanagement of the fishery. The agency charged by the citizens of Montana with protecting and recovering our outdoor legacy has unilaterally decided that they don’t even want to talk about making changes to the current untenable management. Like a petulant child, FWP has decided that they don’t want to be associated with any plan that may actually have a chance to succeed in accomplishing a recovery of our native fishery. The real losers, other than our valued native fish, will be the sportsmen of Montana who will now have no voice in crafting the ultimate plan.

Email Bruce Rich, FWP Bureau Director, and let him know that the sportsmen of Montana deserve to have a voice in this important decision. We need to be a part of a reasonable solution.

(cross-posted from Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

Bonner County Line – Effective government stops here

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Bugle Editor

Finally, somebody gave the Bonner County Property Rights Council something to do. They have begun their agenda to destroy effective government in Idaho, one county at a time. KEA reports today,
Bonner County PRC Officially Opposes Everything – Including Clean Drinking Water

In their first official action, the PRC has rejected a draft ordinance by the county Planning and Zoning Commission to establish a “Watershed Protection Overlay District”. The purpose of the proposed ordinance was to establish rules and regulations to protect surface waters that are used by municipalities for drinking water. Protection districts for groundwater already exist. The chairman of the PRC rejected the proposed ordinance in order to protect upstream landowners from loss of their God-given rights to pollute their water as they see fit. The chairman finds that the proposed protections in the draft ordinance are “unreasonable, unnecessary, and arbitrary.” The “Ordinance is presumed likely to be wasteful as compared to a system of voluntary free-market transactions in land-use rights which would efficiently allocate resources to the highest and best uses.” “Free-market transactions in land-use rights”, not really sure what that is, but it must pretty good.

In his rambling review of the ordinance, and rebuttal to sane arguments from the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Idaho Rural Water Association, the (nameless) PRC chairman calls the Watershed Protection Overlay District a “Zone of Coercion Overlay”. In his own private theater of the absurd, the chairman arbitrarily decided;

If the party challenging the validity of an ordinance carries the burden of proving that it is unreasonable and arbitrary, then the proponents of the ordinance should naturally carry the burden of proving that it is reasonable and non-arbitrary prior to passage.

If the PRC can stop something as simple as protecting drinking water supplies in Bonner County, it becomes clear from here forward no planning, zoning, regulation or black helicopters will be allowed in northern Idaho. “The full PRC will consider the Chairman’s proposed draft on Monday, March 12, 2012 at its 6:30pm meeting.” I would be exceedingly surprised if the full council doesn’t agree with the full eight-page recommendation by the chairman down to the last comma.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Climate Change, Crazy | Leave a Comment »

Doomsday Update

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Bugle Editor

UPDATE UPDATE 02/29: Just when you think things are going fine,

The Wyoming House of Representatives on Tuesday narrowly voted down legislation to launch a study into what the state should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States.

House Bill 85 was rejected 30-27 in a final House vote, as opponents said the task force wasn’t needed and that the bill’s message had already been delivered thanks to significant national media coverage of the legislation in recent days.

Not to worry, meanwhile on the floor in Cheyenne:

Bill to lure Ultimate Fighting to Wyoming advances
Wyoming House endorses bill to overturn federal birth control mandate
Wyoming Senate backs ending raises for state retirees
Driving fast bills speed through Wyoming Legislature

Gosh, I miss it when the Montana Legislature isn’t in session.

Damn, it seems that Wyoming legislature has no sense of humor at all. They have decided to drop the amendment to HB85 that would require the Judgement Day Task Force to study the purchase of attack aircraft and an aircraft carrier. Have can you have a task force without a flagship? The task force however, will continue forward with plans to explore creating the state’s own currency in the event of complete and utter economic collapse. “Wyoming – which has a comparatively good economy and sound state finances – needs to make sure it’s protected should any unexpected emergency hit the U.S.” How sound that economy would be if they lose all the customers for their coal is not explained. I would expect that they don’t really mean “currency”. I can’t see paying for Armageddon with anything but good old Wyoming gold. It would have been nice though to see that rendering of the USS Wamsutter on the hundred dollar bill.

To maintain some semblance of levity, the Legislature has at least decided to move forward with likely unconstitutional,  HB82 requiring drug testing for Wyoming welfare applicants. At the time of application, citizens would be notified that they are suspected of being druggies merely because they are applying for welfare. The bill would,

“Provide notice of drug testing to each individual at the time of application. The notice shall advise the individual that drug testing will be conducted as a condition for receiving POWER benefits and that the individual must bear the cost of testing.”

In the case of two parent families, the bill would “Require that for two parent families,  both parents comply with the drug testing requirement”. I didn’t see anything in the bill that would resolve the conflict if only one parent tested positive.

In another example of the lack of humor in Wyoming, one amendment would have changed the language from, “Drug screening for applicants for temporary assistance for needy families.” to “Drug screening for applicants for temporary assistance for needy families and Wyoming state legislators.” For some unknown reason, that amendment, by Rep. Jim Byrd of Laramie failed to pass the House.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Montana News | 2 Comments »

Pipeline? What Pipeline?

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Bugle Editor

UPDATE 02/27: I don’t want to be the one to say I told ya so…

WASHINGTON — The White House is throwing its support behind a decision by TransCanada to build a portion of the Keystone XL pipeline, even though the project will result in more oil going overseas and potentially higher gas prices.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Remember that little pipeline that the President refused to permit last month? Guess who is building that very same pipeline on U.S. soil? It seems that somebody forgot to tell TransCanada that they need our permission.

But though the project exists in a state of suspended animation, TransCanada — the company that wants to connect the tar sands in Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico — is preparing to build anyhow.

They continue to move ahead just as if there never was a decision. Their action shows the utter disregard of business for the majority opinion of the American people. We have a foreign corporation building an illegal pipeline on American soil, and even threatening U.S. property owners with legal action under U.S. eminent domain laws if we don’t comply with the company’s demands.

TransCanada has sought to dissolve a restraining order granted a week ago, saying it is legally entitled to pursue eminent domain proceedings along the proposed pipeline route under existing state and federal laws—though it says it has no plans to begin any construction.

No plans? Then just why is the Canadian oil giant bullying landowners and threatening U.S. citizens with confiscation of their private property? Of course what this really shows is the complete and utter disregard that corporations have for people. When Obama rejected the permit, it was big news everywhere. Since then, nobody cares. We are back to worrying about what Brangilina wore to the Oscars. Meanwhile, TransCanada has unleashed a hoard of lobbyists into the halls of Washington to convince lawmakers that the entire American economy will crash if we don’t build the XL pipeline and mine every last drop of horrible tar sands oil.

The really, really depressing point to all this is that their lobbying will work. We will allow the pipeline to be built. We will acquiesce to the destruction of millions of acres of boreal forest, polluting of millions of cubic feet of water, Exxon, TransCanada and Keystone profits will skyrocket, Wall Street will love it and  you and I and Zamboanga will breath the result for the next 100 years. Business has a longer attention span than you and I. They can, and are, very focused on what they need to do to increase profits and they are more than willing to spend the necessary money. They think long term, we only pay attention from day to day and they know it.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Climate Change, Energy Industry, Montana Environment, Montana News, Montana People, Montana Politics, Water | Leave a Comment »

Sagebrush Doomsday

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Bugle Editor

Our friends in Wyoming are taking a lot of well-deserved heat over HB85 introduced by State Representative David Miller, R-Riverton, in the Wyoming Legislature. The so-called “Doomsday Bill” bill passed the House on first reading by a voice vote.

AN ACT relating to governmental studies; providing for a task force to study governmental continuity in case of a disruption in federal government operations; providing for a report; providing appropriations; and providing for an effective date.

Now, I lived in Wyoming for eight years so I know they are crazy. Some would even say as crazy as Montana, but this bill is a bit over the top even for Wyoming. It sets up a task force to study what Wyoming should do in the event of the apocalypse. The legislation would appropriate $32,000 dollars to fund the task force to decide how Wyoming should react to the “Potential effects of a situation in which the federal government has no effective power or authority over the people of the United States;”Part of the feasibility study would involve,

Conditions under which the state of Wyoming should implement a draft, raise a standing army, marine corps, navy and air force and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier.

I know, I know, that sounded pretty crazy to me to, even for Wyoming, so I went directly to the bill on the Wyoming Legislature website. Yep, it’s in there, “acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier“. No mention of plans to increase the size of Boysen Reservoir. Thankfully, the crack team of mathematicians over at Under The Mountain Bunker has crunched the complicated numbers to find that Wyoming would have,

182,000 men between the ages of 18-65 for the draft and ‘standing army.’ And that would be to defend, WHAT, exactly? All the valuable sagebrush and asphalt and dirt? The endlessly blowing wind? The antelope? WITH AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER?

It’s certainly comforting to know that our neighbors to the south are doing all the heavy lifting in order to provide, at least those of us in southern Montana, a place of refuge from the almost certain, coming zombie apocalypse. Maybe they will even give us a ride on the aircraft carrier. It’s also nice to know that the Montana Legislature isn’t the only last, best place for crackpot conventions. I can’t wait to read the committee task force report.

Thanks to Michael Shay down at Hummingbirdminds for keeping us apprised of the fun stuff going on in this Wyoming legislative session.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Climate Change, Energy Industry, Montana Environment, Montana News, Montana People | 6 Comments »

Become The Jackass

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Bugle Editor

“Ninety per cent of these jackasses that are complaining about the Keystone pipeline in Washington, D.C., one year ago wouldn’t have even known where the Keystone was. While we were doing the heavy lifting here in Montana and in South Dakota and in Kansas and Oklahoma … in Washington, D.C. … all these great defenders had never heard of Keystone before,”

Brian Schweitzer, Montana Governor – 02/23/2012

___________________________________________________________________

The Truth:

Oil sands mining is licensed to use twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary uses in a year.-At least 90% of the fresh water used in the oil sands ends up in ends up in tailing ponds so toxic that propane cannons are used to keep ducks from landing.-Processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes. -The toxic tailing ponds are considered one of the largest human-made structures in the world. -The ponds span 50 square kilometers and can be seen from space.-Producing a barrel of oil from the oil sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.

Filed under: Button Valley News, Climate Change, Energy Industry, Montana Environment, Montana News, Montana Politics, Science | Leave a Comment »

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