FYI - Thought you people might be interested in looking at these post fire/current harvest of the Red Eagle Fire near St. Marys, MT, on the Blackfeet Reservation.

These shots, taken Saturday, Jan 27th, are facing northwest from the Blackfeet Reservation and looking into Glacier National Park. It's surprising how fast harvest gets started, after a fire, on the Blackfeet Reservation.

Looks like there's a some prep work being done in St.Marys (Divide Creek) in anticipation of some flooding this spring. There were large dozers and excavators in the creek channel making it wider and deeper, only, I dont think they can make it wide enough or deep enough to hold the potential flood waters, they just dont have enough money or manpower. For the sake of the entrance and the visitors, I hope it's a light moisture spring, or things could get very interesting up there. . .

Having just watched An Inconvenient Truth this weekend, I am worried about our whole planet and you just added to the concern. Your images are great. Living next to a forest preserve where the rangers cut down a whole line of trees to bring back the prarie, and we need more trees planted, so many things we humans do seem contradictory!

Have you seen that documentary? What did you think of it?

It made me want to buy huge numbers of that DVD and send it out with any marketing.

I have not seen the piece.

Post fire harvest is a complicated issue. To begin, each physical location is uniqe and will require its own set of perscriptions. In this case, some removal is okay - IMHO - this forest has not seen a fire in a long time and therefore some thining was neccessary to maintain a healty system. That said, too much removal, and no reprod is not acceptable - both of which will happen in this area.

Too much removal reduces the amount of biomas (much of the nutriance is gone - the carbon is unlocked) but the woody deris is important no less. wood also helps to hold back the soil durring snow and rain events. The town of St. Marys WILL flood, and by removing all the trees, there is NO hope to hold back the soil or the water. Moreover, in this area particularly, the wind will level the place, so if you leave it thin, like the photos, it wont matter, the wind will level it all by next fall.

Too many roads and access are the other draw backs. Once the road's are in, they are in, they will not be removed untill God removes them. This allows for continued access, poaching, and further damage to things such as water quality.

Tony,

I'm planning a return trip to Glacier this Summer. I usually camp but will be bringing the family so will finally spring the cash to stay in a hotel. I prefer the Eastern side but what do you think conditions will be like this summer there?

IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL FOR SURE AT THIS EARLY STAGE.

If we get a rain on snow event in April, May, or June, there could be issues with the hotel, and if that happens, you wont be using the east entrance because of how it's designed. The NPS in their wisdom, or stupidity depending on how you look at it, built the entire east entrance over a very large and once very active alluvial fan. That fan is about a mile or more across and has for many years been void of surface run off. Divide Creek no longer occupies it's river channel as it once did, instead it's been diked and trenched in order to channelize and move the water through and into st marys lake without first allowing it to meander across the natural fan. Now that there is nothing to hold back the spring thaw and with the divide creek channel as small as it is, massive volumes of water will completely alter the current path of the stream. More than likely, they will allow the creek to re occupy some of its former river channel in order to save the town from massive destruction due to flooding.

It's going to be interesting to watch it over the next 10 years or so. I'm one person that believes that divide creek should be allowed to once again re occupy its river bed and to me that includes the alluvial fan. . .

So, that's it for now. There really is not much snow, but that could change in a matter of weeks if we get some real big storms to blow in. I've seen it put down 10-20 feet in a few days as late as June.

Keep in mind that Many Glaciers still is a great bet!!!!

Check back later. . .