Trout Unlimited worried about Canadian logging in Flathead

Members of Flathead Valley Trout Unlimited are worried about potential timber harvest in the headwaters of the Canadian Flathead.

Two companies, Jemi Fibre and Canfor, hold privately owned forestland or lease government "crown" land within the watershed.

Jemi recently purchased 130,000 acres in the Flathead and Kootenai watersheds. Canfor holds the area's provincial crown timberland under a license "tenure" agreement.

Jemi's holdings include approximately 10,000 acres of Sportsmans Ridge, encompassing Foisey and McLatchie creeks, both major tributaries of the North Fork Flathead headwaters. According to U.S. Geological Survey fisheries biologists, 30-40 percent of all bull trout spawning occurs just downstream of these tributaries. The Canadian Flathead becomes the North Fork of the Flathead in the U.S. and is the western boundary of Glacier National Park. For decades, the U.S. and Canada sparred over coal and gold mines in the Canadian Flathead. After decades of negotiation, the province and the U.S. agreed not to mine the drainage.

Now the dispute is turning toward logging. Americans and many Canadians want to see at least part of the Flathead drainage in Canada made into a national park by expanding Waterton Lakes National Park west to the river. Previous logging in the region has already raised alarms with U.S. biologists and fisheries interests. Now this latest logging has heightened the concern.

"The river sections immediately downstream and within Jemi Fibre's holdings contain the most critical spawning and rearing habitats for these native fishes of Montana and British Columbia, supporting the highest densities of bull trout spawning nests in both systems," said Clint Muhlfeld, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center stationed in Glacier National Park.

Canfor proposes to road and log the last valley bottom unroaded wildlands area in the watershed. The harvest area would require a new access bridge across the North Fork River.

Richard Hauer, Director of the University of Montana's Institute on Ecosystems, and long-time researcher at Flathead Lake Biological Station, said implementing proper safeguards, particularly when logging sensitive streamside areas, is critically important to the long-term sustainability of the fishery.

"Poor logging practices will significantly impact water quality, and therefore the bull and cutthroat trout populations," he said. "I am extremely skeptical of any logging so near to the premiere bull trout and cutthroat trout spawning area in the entire Flathead drainage. Data repeatedly gathered over the past 30 years has shown that a logging operation, even if conducting best management practices, cannot be done without a significant impact to water quality and the fishery."

But a Jemi spokesman said the company has no plans to log the entire drainage or harm the fishery.

"Jemi Fibre will not log the entire 2,000 hectares that is tributary to the Flathead. There will be forest left that will account for riparian buffers, other wildlife values, immature timber, non-productive land and inoperable ground," the company said in a statement to the Hungry Horse News. "Jemi has no immediate plans to log within the Sportsman's Ridge parcel. If we do, our forestry practices will meet or exceed the requirement of the Private Managed Forest Land Council Regulation of British Columbia. As we have done in the past, Jemi will seek input from parties interested in our operations and use this input to shape our management practices in a productive manner ... Harvesting practices in the vicinity of fish streams are governed by federal and provincial regulations on both private and public land in British Columbia and there are strict guidelines which we adhere to when operating adjacent to these watercourses."

But American anglers are still concerned.

"The North Fork native trout fishery is special for Montana, British Columbia, and both Canada and the United States," said Larry Timchak, Chapter President of Flathead Trout Unlimited. "Locals have helped bring about international pressure to stop inappropriate coal mining, and it looks like we need international pressure to make sure logging is done appropriately. If Jemi logs these creeks as they've logged in other forests they own, the Flathead is in real trouble."

Canfor owns the lumber mills in the area and has agreed to take the trees Jemi cuts. Canfor is a certified timber company, which means that they log in an environmentally sustainable manner, but Jemi is not certified, Trout Unlimited claims.