Conservation group worries about park funding cuts

Here's a story from Jim Mann of the Daily Inter Lake as he talks about how the potential US Government deficit could affect Glacier National Park and in turn the local economy of the communities around Flathead Lake.

The National Parks Conservation Association is sounding an alarm over the potential impacts on parks if the so-called congressional “supercommittee” fails to develop a plan for trimming $1.2 trillion from the federal budget over the next 10 years.

If the committee of 12 lawmakers fails to do so by a Nov. 23 deadline, a mechanism in the legislation that established the process in August would initiate $1.2 trillion in across-the-board federal spending cuts.

The association calculates that could result in 9 percent cuts to National Park Service budgets, or about $231 million.

“If the supercommittee process fails, there will be real consequences for our national parks, jobs, visitors, and communities across the country,” said Craig Obey, NPCA’s senior vice president of government affairs. “The federal deficit debate should be about smart budgeting that strengthens communities, produces jobs and protects the heritage that binds us as a national community.”

In a report released last week, the organization stresses the importance of national parks as economic engines that support and define surrounding communities.

Glacier National Park is the namesake for more than 150 businesses in the Flathead Valley and the park has an estimated economic impact of at least $2.5 billion, according to research conducted by state tourism officials about eight years ago.

“Glacier’s impact to our economy is enormous, there’s no doubt about that,” said Michael Jamison, Crown of the Continent program manager for the association. “And now we’re asking the community to return the favor by supporting the park that supports the economy. It’s a two-way street.”

You can read the full story on the Inter Lake's website here.

Untamed New England Adventure Race Journal

Co-worker Ali Bronsdon is currently doing the Untamed New England Adventure Race and sending updates via email. It's a three-day race through New Hampshire and Maine and from the sound of it... it's pretty freaking crazy. Without further delay, here's the first update from Ali...

After three fun, including one red-eye, flights last night, I've already been up for 24 hours. A little sleep tonight and race start tomorrow around noon. You can follow online at untamedne.com. Our team is #14 GOALS ARA 2. We're packed with enough food and spare clothes for 40 miles of paddling/portaging, an orienteering relay (unknown length), 3 small conservation projects, a 30 mile bike, 35 mile trek, including a ropes course. 

So, we're carrying A TON OF CRAP! It's the most, by far that I've ever had to carry, so we'll see how the heavy load will affect energy. Also, the orienteering relay could be at night, which means COLD and wet, coming off the water. We won't see our gear/food bins until after that 35 mile trek, so we're thinking Friday night or Saturday morning. Then it's a 12 mile trek/swim, and 65 mile bike with a waterfall rappel and more conservation projects mixed in. The end of the bike marks the end of the official course, but there is an optional bonus rogaine section at the end, where we will try to nab as many points as we can before the race time ends. This will be where strategy and race planning will come into play. 

Teams that are in better mental shape should be able to plan the better attack and get more points on the rogaine. We are planning to sleep in one of the transition areas, maybe Friday night for an hour or two, depending on where we are. We haven't seen any maps yet, so things may change, but this is as much as I can tell you and the last time I can update before Sunday. I'm sure I'll have some good stories by then... hopefully we'll make it to the finish!
Thanks for all the support!

Oh and meanwhile, I'll be sitting on the couch eating Cheetos tracking the race. I'm that cool.

Jack Hanna is pretty awesome

So I spent roughly half an hour last night surfing the internet looking for a way to survive a bear attack. None of them were very helpful.

You’d think the people writing the articles would try to be helpful and somewhat optimistic. Things like “By doing these actions, you too can survive a bear attack” would be nice. However, their tone was more like a goth kid trying to explain the meaning of life to you. “You probably made the bear angry and unless there’s a hill you can run up too with a Sherman tank waiting for you, you’re pretty much screwed.”

Thanks, Internet.

However, zookeeper and all around nature stud Jack Hanna has given us all new hope. Remember when he would bring snakes on the Late Night show to eat Jay Leno. Along with hoping the snakes would actually eat Leno, I always marveled at how calm Hanna was when handling the animals.

“This snake it the most poisonous in North America… and I’m going to put it in my armpit.”

He was just as calm two weeks ago hiking in Glacier Park with his wife Suzi and three other hikers. Walking on the Grinnell Glacier Trail, he encountered a Grizzly Bear and her two cubs.

Hanna had the group back track and get about 30 feet above the trail to let the Grizzlies walk by. One of the snotty cubs decided to stop and get fussy.

“The one youngster stops… and the hair starts going on its back and I said, ‘Oh shoot’,” Hanna told the Daily Interlake.

At this point, I would have done two things.

1. Wet my pants.
2. Pushed my fellow hikers down on the trail and make a run for it.

Hanna is not that kind of guy though, which makes sense. He’s the Chuck Norris of outdoor people and I’m the Kevin Federline of journalists.

He busted out the bear spray and laid down a cloud of smack down to ward of the bear. It came within ten feet before getting a wiff of the stuff, shook its head and bugged out.

Say hello to Jack Hanna, professional zoo person and grizzly bear enforcer. How many famous people can say they’ve came face-to-face with a large furry bear and survived?

Except for perhaps any guest stars on “Care Bears” nobody can really make that claim except for Hanna. I mean we can only imagine if the likes of Danny Bonaduce and Snooki were on that Glacier Park trail.

Rafting on the Flathead

Make sure you catch the outdoors section in the Lake County Leader in a few weeks as I'll have a white water rafting story thanks to the generosity of the Flathead Rafting Co.

See the guy screaming in the back? Yeah that's me.