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Critical Lands and Natural Resources Information
Overviews:
Descriptions of specific areas:
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Flathead river islands.
South of Kalispell, where the river is braided.
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Foys Bend.
Important wetlands and riparian forests that help protect bull trout winter habitat.
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Sloughs.
Oxbow wetlands that once were bends in the river.
Success stories:
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Protection for McWenneger and Weaver Sloughs.
Conservation easements keep these critical lands in private ownership while protecting them from development.
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Erosion along the Stillwater arrested by volunteer driven project.
South of Kalispell, the west bank of the Stillwater was eroding fast, a foot or more a year. Unless something was done, and done quickly, the riverbank would end up on the doorstep of Kalispell's vocational-agricultural education center. Along with others, the Flathead Lakers acted, holding back the river. Critical Lands Project director Constanza von der Pahlen tells the story, and provides some nifty photographs of the stoop, shovel, and sweat phase of the project.
Reports:
Note.
All of the Critical Lands reports are multi-megabyte PDF files that will choke your browser. Download by right-clicking and choosing the functional equivalent of save target as, PC; click and hold for Mac OS 9 or lower; Option-click for Mac OS X.
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