Waiting out high water

My winter project, a 15-foot stitch-and-glue wood drift boat, has yet to be in the water. We almost launched June 15, but that was near the beginning of this second spike of high water. Maybe next week. I'll be scouting the North Fork Flathead River in my raft this week.

I named the boat Zobe after my twin daughters, Zoe and Abbe.

Another death

A western Montana river claimed another life Sunday, as a man is missing and presumed drowned after a rafting accident on the Blackfoot.

Wear a PFD and be safe.

Mine opposition grows

More groups are lining up to fight proposed mining in the Flathead River drainage just across the Canadian border from Glacier National Park. Both mountain-top removal and coalbed methane development has been considered in the headwaters of the North Fork Flathead River.

Wolf, griz caught on film

A motion-sensor camera in Glacier National Park caught this amazing video of a wolf interacting with a grizzly bear sow and her cubs over an elk kill. The bluff charging and hind-end nipping looks more like play than a serious dispute. It reminds me a bit of my setter Jack going at it with the house cats.

RIP: David Dedmon

Tetser fighting Plum Creek give away

Here's one reason why we like Sen. Tester so much.

Tester honored or supporting hunting and fishing

Safari Club International named Montana Sen. Jon Tester legislator of the year.

Working to protect the Jefferson

Angling groups and ranchers have developed a plan to maintain flows in the Jefferson River in times of drought. Not much of an issue this year, but chronic water shortages in the past have depressed fish populations.

Be careful out there

The sad news out of the Bitterroot this weekend is the death of guide Dave Dedmon. Dave was floating the East Fork of the Bitterroot on Sunday with his wife Sharon when their boat hit a sweeper and flipped. Dave suffered a head injury in the accident and drown.

There's more from the Ravalli Republic here.

I first met Dave about 15 years ago when he first came to the Bitterroot to work as a deputy with the Ravalli County Sheriff's department. The hook was that Dave was teamed with Rocky, a drug sniffing German shepherd police dog. Dave and Rocky formed the first K-9 unit in the Bitterroot. Later Dave and Rocky went to work for the Hamilton police department. I was just a cub reporter back then, still new to newspapering at the Ravalli Republic. The feature I wrote about Dave and Rocky was one of the first of my career.

More recently Dave was an unsuccessful candidate for the GOP nomination for county commissioner in Ravalli Country. I spoke to him shortly before the election and we joked a bit about what he was getting himself into, and, of course, if he really want the job. We both knew what a headache that job can be. But for as long as I knew him, Dave was dedicated to public service.

Dave was no doubt scouting the East Fork for the trips he had booked this week and next. I work as a guide and Dave had hired me to help out on those trips. I would have been on the water Sunday myself, but I had my kids with me and decided to wait until conditions improved.

Our condolences to Dave's wife Sharon and his family. Dave was a good man. I was pulling for him on election day.

Rivers on the rise

Warmer weather following a fresh dusting of June snow should send a new slug of runoff down western Montana rivers this weekend. Snowpack is now hovering around 200 percent of average for many western Montana watersheds. Check the USGS stream conditions site here for the latest on river flows in your area.

Get your snow shovel out

So much for this so called spring. Montana rivers should be ready to fish just in time for hunting season if this keeps up.

Obama against Flathead mine

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama opposes plans for a mine in the Canadian headwaters of the Flathead River.

Sweet deal for Plum Creek

Why am I not surprised that the former timber industry lobbyist now under employ in the Bush administration wants to hand Plum Creek a sweetheart deal at the expensive of Montana communities and county governments? Can January 2009 come soon enough?

If Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey gets his wish, the tangled knot of roads and subdivisions in the forest interface of Montana will only get worse. How many firefighters will have to risk their lives to keep Plum Creek's new subdivisions from burning down?

Access deal close?

A deal may be in the works to settle Montana's debate about accessing streams and rivers using highway easements at bridge crossings. Settling this issue once and for all is in the best interests of all concerned. Anglers will benefit from the improvements at crossing that will ease access. And landowners, who are fighting an upriver battle, will benefit by ending their battle against popular access laws. This has been a PR disaster for the folks — such as ranchers — who have hitched their wagon to this unpopular cause mostly promoted by out-of-state, and ridiculously wealthy, landowners.

Setbacks: Montana's new challenge

OK, so this isn't really a new challenge. However, efforts to actually do something about development encroaching on Montana river's is new. Down in Ravalli County folks are grappling with the setback issue. And in the Flathead, groups representing hunters and anglers are pushing the issue to the forefront as well.