Audubon recognizes John Frederick

Flathead Audubon recently presented longtime Polebridge resident John Frederick with its Conservation Achievement Recognition to honor his efforts to keep the North Fork of the Flathead wild.

Frederick has worked for 35 years to protect the natural values of the North Fork. In the 1970s, Frederick won an Ohio Achievement Award for his efforts in recycling as president of Waste Watchers Inc.

Seeking wilder country, he moved to the North Fork in 1978. He began operating the North Fork Hostel in Polebridge in 1979.

Coal mining and road paving proposals in the North Fork sparked him to help form the North Fork Preservation Association in 1982. He has served as the group’s president for 24 of its 34 years.

During the battle over the coal mine proposal, Frederick bought 10 shares of Rio Algam stock. He traveled to Toronto six times to protest their coal mine at the annual stockholders meeting. His actions generated national awareness of the issue in Canada and helped get the International Boundary Commission involved, an action that eventually led to Rio Algam losing interest in the project.

Frederick has also been involved in local land-planning issues as chairman of the North Fork Land Use Advisory Committee and a member of the North Fork Improvement Association. North Fork subdivisions are now required to have 20-acre minimum lots.

Frederick continues to be involved in Flathead National Forest planning issues, including the current effort. As a board member of Headwaters Montana, he is involved in supporting the goals of the Whitefish Range Partnership and an expansion of Waterton National Park into the Canadian side of the North Fork, as well as new wilderness areas on the U.S. side of the border.

Frederick sold his hostel a few years ago but continues to live in the North Fork from May to November. He winters in Costa Rica, soaking up the warmth his many winters in Polebridge failed to provide. Keeping joints limber allows Frederick, along with others, to clear abandoned trails in the North Fork for the public’s use.