National Geographic SPECIAL on Yellowstone 2015

Yellowstone wolfNational Geographic photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols was ready to retire after he published his most-recent project focusing on Serengeti lions.

However, when National Geographic asked him to stick around for a yearlong assignment in Yellowstone National Park, and then kept hounding him about it, Nichols agreed.

"Can you do with wolves what you did with lions?" National Geographic asked him, Nichols said.

That's what Nichols has worked on for the past six months and will continue working on for another six months.

Not only is he photographing wolves while in Yellowstone, but also bears, scenery, tourists and those who live and work on the land surrounding the park.

An article on Yellowstone, written by David Quammen of Bozeman, and Nichols' photos will run in the November 2015 edition of the magazine.

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Wolverines in Court: Suing for Survival

WolverineA coalition of wildlife and conservation groups are suing the federal government, claiming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service broke the law by not giving the wolverine protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The suit, filed this morning in U.S. District Court in Missoula, has been anticipated for weeks, following last spring's decision to not place wolverines on the list.

Federal biologists have argued the wolverine populations in the high country of the Northwest have been increasing in recent years, with estimates placing their numbers as high as 300.

However, the suit brought by Earthjustice says there's evidence to the contrary, arguing the number of the elusive mammals is actually falling, and in danger of dropping further because of the impacts from climate change. And the suit challenges the FWS' assumptions, saying the decision wasn't based on hard data about climate changes and how that will effect the mountain snowpack where the wolverines raise their young.

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Is Birdseed for People Too?

By Kathleen Clary Miller

Kathleen MillerKathleen Clary Miller has written 300+ columns and stories for periodicals both local and national, and has authored three books (www.amazon.com/author/millerkathleenclary). She lives in the woods of the Ninemile Valley, thirty miles west of Missoula.

“MILLET!” the e-mail from my friend Sharon read.  She has been seeking the guidance of a naturopath to accompany the physician we both see who has diagnosed us with the very beginnings of osteoporosis.   “We are supposed to eat millet for breakfast because it’s packed with nutrition…and best of all, it’s gluten free!” she wrote as if announcing that it was drizzled with hot fudge sauce.

            Isn’t millet birdseed? I think to myself but do not type as I recall that I did once own a parakeet that lived forever.  As far as going gluten free, my daughter Kate and I both tried it, as an experiment to see what the hubbub is about.  We wondered if our holistic lives might be transformed, even though we have no medical reason for the sacrifice.  After going gluten free for a month, my heart goes out to those suffering from Celiac Disease who have no option but to eliminate it from their diet. 

            Like adopting any new trend, at first it felt like a healthy adventure.  Like January 2 of a New Year’s resolution, eliminating pancakes, pasta, and piecrust was invigorating and saintly.  But by the time Kate came home a month later for a visit I felt myself shutting out all thoughts of pizza, a downward spiral that could lead to the need for counseling.  Before anti-depressants we had mashed potatoes.

My sister contributed to the gathering a ten-pound assortment of our favorite See’s Candy, which Kate and I devoured like wild bears just out of hibernation between guilt-free bites of gluten-free bread that tasted like a damp sponge and holier-than-thou chips that barely crunched.   One downfall leads to another and so I promptly baked Hollywood’s Monastery of the Angels Pumpkin Bread, loaded with luscious flour. 

            “I tried eating gluten-free for a month, and I just don’t feel any different!” Kate announced, the corner of her mouth dusted with crumbs from her winning simultaneous combination of blessed bread and sinful dark chocolate nougat.  “That’s because you don’t have Celiac Disease,” I pointed out.  Neither do the rest of us who find ourselves thinking we are supposed to suffer anyway.

            After she returned to her home in Pennsylvania, Kate Skyped to display a bag of Trader Joe’s rolls while reading the ingredients.  Chia, flax, millet, sunflower, pumpkin, sesame—you name the seed, it was present, with flour being the last item on the list.       “Do you think this much flour could hurt me?” she asked while watching her mother gnaw on a thick slab of sourdough.  I told her she will probably live as long as my parakeet.

 

Montana Lures Bay Area Biotechs

biotechAfter selling heart failure drug developer Corthera Inc. to Novartis AG, Stan Abel wanted to slow down. His father was sick. His wife was pregnant with twins.

So he went to Montana, and there he’s stayed even while leading his newest venture, SiteOne Therapeutics Inc. out of an incubator in San Francisco.

But Abel is far from the only life sciences entrepreneur or academic to land in Big Sky Country. Montana, the land of gold, silver and copper deposits, now is striking biotech veins.

MORE>>>San Francisco Business Times

 

 

Glacier, Yellowstone Set New Records for Visitors

Glacier ParkThere are still three months to go, but Glacier National Park has already set a new all-time record for park visits, topping the previous record that's more than three decades old.

Glacier has been on a near-record pace all year despite a slow start to the summer and a few snowy spells that closed the popular Going-to-the-Sun Road.

According to the latest figures released by the National Park Service on Thursday, Glacier has seen more than 2.2 million recreation visitors pass through the gates through Sept. 30th. The actual number is 2,238,761.

That's not only almost 39,000 more people than the most recent near-record year during the park's centennial in 2010, it also shatters Glacier's previous all-time record of 2,203,847 visitors back in the 1983.

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Missoula: Flannel City Face-Off

Flannel City FaceoffGrunge rock is more than 20 years in the past, but flannel has never really gone out of style in the Northwest, especially for outdoor wear. And now, Missoula has a chance to prove that by winning the "Flannel City Face-off".

Casual wear clothing brand Duluth Trading Company is sponsoring the online contest giving people a chance to vote for the "Most Flannel City in America". The contest has already moved into the quarterfinals, with the Garden City narrowly bearing Burlington, Vermont in the first round.

Now, Missoula is facing off against Duluth itself, and was trailing by a dozen votes in the balloting through Wednesday morning. Other first round winners included Denver and Cleveland in Missoula's bracket, and Portland, Maine; Charleston, West Virginia; Anchorage and "The U.P.", or Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

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Best Places to Work in Montana

Best Places to work in MontanaSix Montana places have been chosen by Outdoor Magazine as the Best Places to Work.

Outside annually recognizes the top 100 companies in the United States that help their employees strike the ideal balance between work and play.

The companies listed are Seeley Lake Elementary - which tops the list at #1, PartnersCreative in Missoula, Ecology Project International in Missoula, Mercury CSC and Foundant Technologies in Bozeman, and the Flathead Beacon in Kalispell.

Outside Magazine Executive Editor said these companies set the standard for workplaces that really value their employees and offer an experience that's fulfilling inside and outside the office.

The 100 amazing companies on the 2014 list made it through a year-long vetting process.

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A Fascination With Owls

By Kyle Ploehn

Kyle PloehnKyle Ploehn is an artist, illustrator and writer living in Billings Montana. He likes to spend the few hours he isn't painting hiking the mountains of Montana.

The first part of a series of owls painted in the style of scratchboard illustration. I continue to explore my fascination with owls in this piece and push the acrylic medium in different ways. These images are almost ghosts, fragmented memories of great birds in search for something lost in time. I've always been a fan of haunting, misunderstood ghost stories of displaced people always searching for the ones they lost. I kind of feel that stories like that are fading, replaced by more crowd pleasing horror ghosts and reality shows of ghost hunters. So my owls are lost ghosts searching for the misplaced sense of wonder in the unknown.

The original is still available, an 18x24, framed for $650.

8x10 matted to 11x14 prints are available for $45. Contact me at [email protected], if you're interested in purchasing a print. Or stop by my website at http://kyleploehnart.com

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. (Not to Drone On)

drones in YellowstoneA third man goes down for using a drone in Yellowstone National Park. Donald Criswell of Molalla, Oregon, was charged with violating the National Park Service's ban on unmanned aircrafts. He allegedly flew over the crowded Midway Geyser Basin and close to bison in August. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty to the charge of violating a closure and was fined $1,000.

In September, Theodorus Van Vliet of the Netherlands pleaded guilty to controlling an unmanned aircraft that crashed into Grand Prismatic Spring.

Andreas Meissner of Germany also pleaded guilty in September to charges from operating a drone, which crashed into Yellowstone Lake in July.

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