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Welcome to the quarterly River to Lake newsletter.
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Conservation and Restoration
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New conservation easement protects Wiley Slough
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Wiley Slough. Ashley Creek, to the right, connects the Flathead River and the slough. Photo by Constanza von der Pahlen, Flathead Lakers.
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Dean Robbins, a 4th generation descendant from settlers living along Wiley Slough, donated a conservation easement to the Flathead Land Trust of 26 acres, stretching over 982 feet of shoreline, to "pass the legacy of open space for wildlife and farming on to future generations."
The conservation easement on Wiley Slough (also known as Weaver Slough) is located north of Somers, between Flathead Lake and the Flathead River. It is adjacent to another 1,235 acres of previously protected private lands, enhancing protection of important conservation values.
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Wiley Slough is one of six naturally created oxbow lakes associated with the previous course of the Flathead River. Oxbow wetlands are crescent-shaped lakes lying along a winding river. The oxbow is created over time as erosion and deposits of soils change the river’s course, cutting off the oxbow from the river’s channel.
Robbins is able to appreciate the numerous wildlife and migratory birds that use Wiley Slough through a blind hanging off the shoreline, and built with the assistance of Flathead Audubon and Flathead Land Trust volunteers.
An intact strip of riparian and wetland vegetation around the slough provides important nesting habitat for birds, and minimizes disturbances during critical migration periods. The open space provided by the farms also supports valuable wildlife habitat.
Weaver Slough is an important site for mallards, pintails, ruddy ducks, shovelers, pileated woodpeckers, kingfishers, great blue herons, double-crested cormorants, Canada geese, and bald eagles. It supports abundant populations of beavers, muskrats, river otters, and mink, and provides year-round habitat for ring-necked pheasants, wild turkeys, Hungarian partridges, and white-tailed deer.
Waterfowl move between the wetland sloughs and Flathead Lake for food and nesting cover. The riparian and wetlands associated with the sloughs provide critical habitat for river otter and other wildlife that travel along the river.
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You can help protect Flathead waters by reducing the amount of stormwater and pollutants coming from your property and entering our local streams and lakes. Building a rain garden in your yard is relatively easy, and now made even easier by the Flathead Rain Garden Initiative.
This beautiful website has a step-by-step guide, the DIY Workbook, to help you plan and design your rain garden. You can also contact someone at the Flathead Conservation District or the City of Kalispell for guidance, to learn about a Rain Garden event in your neighborhood or potential funding assistance.
Rain garden have many benefits. They can:
- filter out pollutants, like oil and grease from driveways and pesticides from lawns, before they reach our groundwater or city storm drain, which eventually ends up in our streams, rivers, and lakes,
- create a beautiful space in your garden,
- attract local birds and important pollinators (if choose native plants),
- reduce flooding and erosion of stream banks,
- recharge our groundwater aquifers by helping water soak into the ground.
Get started on your Rain Garden here.
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Strong public support for proposed Somers Beach
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The Sliters family is working with the Flathead Land Trust, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and other Flathead River to Lake Initiative partners to create a state park and public access site on their Somers' property, on the North Shore of Flathead Lake.
North Shore Flathead Lake, photo by Constanza von der Pahlen.
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The proposed project would provide much needed recreational access on the lake, as well as protect 60 acres of wetlands, and a bird viewing area.
The proposal is in its early stages as it goes to the Montana State Parks and Recreation Board for review. Letters of support poured in from the public. Susan How, a Somers resident wrote: “Most often, I see families, and it makes me think how important it is that local children grow up with an appreciation and attachment for this stunning natural feature of our Valley. It is every generation’s responsibility to preserve and protect that resource, and coming generations need to form the attachment with the lake that will make them good future stewards of it.”
Read more about this proposed project at:
Popular Somers Beach could become state park, Daily Inter Lake, 3/28.
Somers Beach – An Opportunity for New Public Access on Flathead Lake, Flathead Land Trust, 4/2.
Shifting Sands at Somers Beach, Flathead Beacon, 4/6.
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Flathead Land Trust secures grants to protect wetlands
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The Flathead Land Trust secured two $100,000 North American Wetland Conservation Act (NAWCA) grants to conserve nearly 80 acres of wetlands and riparian habitat in the Flathead Valley southwest of Kalispell.
One of the wetlands, known as Reed's Slough, was a birding stop in a Bike and Bird Tour six years ago (Bike and Bird Tour, photo by Constanza von der Pahlen).
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Dozens of participants enjoyed the chirps of Red-wing blackbirds competing with the Yellow-headed blackbirds while hanging on to cattails.
The other project is along Mill Creek, near where it flows into the Flathead River. Both these wetlands are used by thousands of migrating waterfowl, over 100 species of birds, and other wildlife.
"Half of Reed's Slough is already protected with a conservation easement. This project expands protection to the entire wetland," said Laura Katzman, Land Protection Specialist with the Flathead Land Trust.
The land trust is working with MT Fish, Wildlife and Parks to provide a safe bird viewing area for the public along this wetland. Check future events for a Bike and Bird Tour of this wetland!
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The Blanchet siblings' gift that keeps on giving
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Over 50 years of farming in the Flathead, Richard and Grace Blanchet witnessed the rapid loss of farmland in the Flathead Valley. In 2005 and 2006, the siblings donated conservation easements on their adjacent farms, a total of 320 acres along the Flathead River south of Columbia Falls, to protect the agricultural and open space values of their land for future generations. (Richard and Grace Blanchet, photo courtesy of Montana Land Reliance)
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Last year, the Blanchet siblings went even further by gifting the property to the Montana Land Reliance on their will. The proceeds raised by selling the conservation property will allow the land trust to protect more farm land in the Flathead Valley.
Recently, the Montana Land Reliance submitted an application for a federal grant on behalf of a landowner along the Flathead River in Creston. If the grant is approved, the Blanchet's gift will be used, together with the federal grant, to purchase a conservation easement on over 700 acres of prime agricultural soils. Purchased conservation easements are used to compensated landowners for restricting development on their land and conserving specific land values like productive soils for farming.
"The valley is losing farmland at an unsustainable rate and once it’s gone, it’s gone," said Mark Schiltz, the Western manager for the Montana Land Reliance. Whenever conservation groups secure grants, a large portion of the funding is invested and redistributed through our local economy. Most important, these lands are critical natural assets for future generations.
Read "Blanchets leave legacy in donated farmland," Daily Inter Lake, 4/14.
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Join our efforts to conserve the natural beauty and heritage of Flathead River and Lake.
Your donation to the R2L Conservation Fund helps R2L partners secure grants that require private match and conserve our special natural heritage.
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Conservation funding protects our natural heritage against competing land development values. It is an investment in our most productive farm soil, clean water, abundant fish and wildlife habitat, and the natural beauty and quality of life we enjoy in this valley.
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Flathead birds and climate change - A moving target
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Whether you are one of the 45 million American enthusiasts who like to watch, feed, or listen to birds, Kianna Gardner's story, "Continuing shifts in climate and land use may impact birds," recently published in the Daily Inter Lake, is an engaging read.
"Very few people know how valuable birds are to us... At 400 billion in number, they completely balance our ecosystems.
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Without birds, we would be dead and the system would collapse. It would be as simple as that” - Gardner quotes Denny Olson, Flathead Audubon Educator, saying.
"Birds help with pest and insect control, they distribute nutrients, and are natural plant pollinators. They work as a clean-up crew scavenging and picking at dead animals until they can decompose into the soil," writes Gardner.
A study last year by Audubon scientists concluded that two-thirds (389 out of 604 or 64%) of North American bird species are at risk of extinction from climate change. The good news is that the study also concludes that taking action to reduce impacts from climate change could make a huge difference for 76% of birds at risk.
The results can be seen in a user-friendly online tool, called “Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink," that allows users to check on any of 604 North American bird species and how their range will shift with different climate change scenarios, which birds are most vulnerable, and how their range may shift in Montana, the Flathead, or nationwide.
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In the Flathead, wildfires, heat, urbanization, and heavy rains are expected to impact birds the most.
Domestic and feral cats are already a big culprit for declines in bird populations, as well as housing development leading to loss of important bird habitat, collisions with buildings and vehicles, and the consumption of poisons, such as pesticides.
Past conservation efforts have shown that we can make a huge difference for birds. The full recovery of bald eagles on the brink of extinction in the 70s and thriving waterfowl numbers - due to strong federal funding for wetland conservation - are two stories of success when we take decisive action.
In the Flathead, we can help birds in many ways. Planting native shrubs and trees in our backyards, helping conserve wetlands, and teaching our cats to stay indoors, are just a few ways.
Check the following recommendations by the American Bird Conservancy for how to help our birds: Top Ways You Can Help Birds, from Coffee to Collisions.
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Due to the ongoing COVID-19 health pandemic, most field trips and events have been postponed or cancelled. Below are a few events you can either do online or outdoors while social distancing.
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May - Flathead Lake Mussel Walk Challenge - outdoors
Join in community efforts to monitoring for invasive mussels around Flathead Lake's shores. For more information and guidelines check the Flathead Lakers' Mussel Walk Challenge.
May 16 - Smith Lake Bike and Bird - Postponed
Check the Flathead Land Trust's events page for a new trip date later this summer.
May 19 - Birds and Native plants of Flathead Lake State Park - Cancelled
Check Flathead Audubon's events page for future field trips and new on-line bird tours and learning opportunities, including the Bird's Rock! video (coming out soon). Also, check their Facebook page for bird facts, trivia, and prizes.
Wednesday, June 17 - Flathead River to Lake Initiative meeting
The next R2L Initiative quarterly meeting on Wednesday, June 17, from 9:00 am to noon, at MT Fish, Widllife and Parks conference room, in Kalispell. For more information, contact Constanza von der Pahlen at 406-883-1341 or constanza@flatheadlakers.org.
Wednesday, July 15 - Rain Garden Workshop
Join the Flathead Conservation District on July 15, from 6 - 8 pm, to learn about how to build a rain garden in your yard and reduce pollution from entering our waterways. For more information contact Samantha Tappenbeck at (406) 752-4220.
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Webinar 1: The History of Beaver and the Ecosystem, on the role beavers and beaver dam analogs can play in the restoration of valley bottoms. Presenters Kent Sorenson, Habitat Restoration Biologist, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Amy Chadwick, Lead Ecologist, Great West Engineering. Association of State Wetland Managers Webinar, recorded on March 11, 2020. Watch here.
The Geography of Risk, on the the risks, damages, and costs posed by unchecked development on barrier islands, floodplains and wetlands; the the likelihood of larger losses in an age of changing climate; and the ongoing efforts to make coastal communities more resilient. Natural Floodplain Functions Alliance Webinar, recorded on March 10, 2020. Watch here.
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