Vital  Habitat  surrounding the Power line draws the wildlife  Deer ,Elk , Moose, Bear to frequent cross  at this  funneling area.

   Problem is Hunters, shooters also found that road hunting,  parking and waiting they have to cross in front of them.  This I know because Dad invited his friends and relatives hunting and that was the sure way for Elk—Bear in the 1960’s.

   River 1/4 mile down the mountain, Is where they water,  Hay fields also draw the local big game,  for feeding and the wintering area in the Bissell area draws  deer and elk seasonally.

         Bonneville Power Administration  Power Lines

                                                                   Salish Mountains Wildlife Corridor

  page  7

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Kerry R. Hubble      March 22  2012

  Page 7

   Eventually an Animal bridge will have to be and this seams to be the best...only place

  Wildlife Crossing  Habitat we would like to see with ground cover

  

      There's  960  untouched  Flathead N.F.S. acres  backing an adjoining  our  land. We have lodgepole forest to the highway  only 6 miles Northwest of Whitefish. This Vital Habitat, brushy, unlogged, un thinned and road less is prime wildlife habitat. Re growth from the great fire of 1910, This is where they hold up.

This is the place they cross Beaver Lake North targeted to be logged off

Northern Divide Grizzly Bear Project

   Bonneville  Power  Administration...

 

    We need some help....We  would request that small trees  be allowed to grow to the height of 7’   under the lines, then we can thin or crews  can.    Some of these power Lines run through our land  but most run through the Flathead National Forest. I have  tried to contact  you for permission to plant or ask If you could leave the trees alone in this area but to no avail...

 

                    please contact  me  Kerry R. Hubble 

               Wilderness Building Systems inc.

                                Cell  406-253-0659

   

hepl

        Why we need the help from Bonneville Power

   

    For the last 75 years, the valleys population  has steamrolled  over  the land.    Timber, wetlands and  brushy places  are almost all gone.  Land owners, and foresters, and governments, with good intent, are piling up and burning natural  vegetation and woody biomass and planting  with crops and grass.  Replacing  the  much needed wild animal habitat.  Today encroaching  the steep hillsides, most all the valley floor  river bottom are lost, a natural ecosystem is disappearing.  We are  literally over cleaning, sanitizing our woods. 

       The sprawl is pushing the wildlife around and into pockets,  forcing them through funnels.  Some adapt as they migrate, seeking larger forests  for protection.  they must survive the gauntlet of non sportsmen, open areas, roads, highways,  dogs,  some kids with rifles, wire fences.   Not all make it across to the forest.  We would like to help wildlife  get across the valley, better, faster  and safer.

 

        Bonneville Power Line   50 years ago was not of any concern with its swath cut through the timber there was a sparse population and plenty of forest land for miles. Today that's all gone, but at this funneling point its now vital and could easily help the sly wildlife trying to keep  in the shadows of the forest canopy as they work there way across the busy Stillwater Valley.

 

               This is a natural animal bridge  across the valley 

 

    Let us  quietly  direct them peacefully  to a place to sneak across the northerly end of flathead valley skirting the fields, fences, towns, subdivisions, highways, tracks, rivers, harassing dogs  and things that cost them their demise.

 

     We have a location where they are naturally using, funneling  an ancient  migrating route! the highway crossing here they think is the safest! This is one of the last places where the forest touches the highway, has no fences, a half mile dash to connect  the Eastward Whitefish Range,   North Fork, Glacier National Park  area to the  Westward Yaak, Kootenai, Flathead National Forests.  If you study the maps  Polson –Missoula  Montana to here they cant make it east to west with out encounters with people, cars, barbed wire and such. This place is the nearest, secluded, closest place to cross east to west.

hep

      At this forest crossing  and Spencer Lake we  would like to allow native trees and brush to grow to a height of 7’ before its cut out. That allows a safer wildlife friendly corridor for the wild life  travel through and slow the “firing line effect” it invites  numinous hunters   an easy advantage for road hunting and long range shooting in both directions. Some of this is Private land and most is Flathead National Forest.