[young_local]

I know that the Harvey Pass is not in the proposed park, that’s why I ask you to think of it as being in, and then see what I’m saying… I know where the park is, like you said, the furthest 1/3rd from Fernie.. there are still outfitters in that area.

The government was supposed to compensate all the fishing guides for their terrible job at the Fish Management Plan.. that money is yet to be seen, and the honest guide/outfitters are still paying for the plan that is yet to be put in place.

[young_local]

"A place for quiet recreation set aside forever"

Quiet recreation? Glacier National Park has just under 2 MILLION visitors annually. How is that a QUIET place for recreation? Come on, you know that if a park in our part of the Flathead is approved then it opens the door to major developement in that area. Take a look at photos of glacier BEFORE the park, and tell me that it doesn’t look better as a natural, beautiful place without a massive amount of visitors each year. So what I want from Wildsight, is for them to guarantee that by fighting for a park in the proposed part of the flathead, there WILL NOT be the development of paved roads, rest stops every 2 km, sight-seeing buildings built at the most beautiful viewpoints around, permanent bathroom facilities, etc, etc, etc…. If you can guarantee this, then you would have MUCH more of the local support.

Ryland- what is better for the wildlife of the Flathead:
a) the outfitters that have been successfully managing the land for a hundred years.
b) permanent structures built along the way and connected to glacier/waterton, exposing it to over a million visitors each year. (and obviously having effects on the wildlife) On my "trip to the sun" last year, I only saw two mountain goats- they were licking the salt off of my tires. WOW! natural, beautiful… no- it was actually quite upsetting.. if that development hadn’t been there, we could have drove up an old dirt road, and hiked the rest of the way- to see the goats in their natural habitat.

I know you enjoy skiing early season pow in Harvey Pass, so let me ask you this.. if the park was proposed to cover that area, you’d be pretty upset right? Knowing that most likely you’ll never be able to ski those big lines again, and that if there is skiing allowed, you’d have to share it with a hundred times more tourists than the odd Albertan that you see now.
So now take that situation, and think about you skiing those early season lines as a career, and every line you ski puts a meal on the table for your wife and children. But wait, now there’s a park there, and you can’t ski it. No food on the table, so you might have to move out of Fernie and go somewhere to find a job to support your family.

Sounds pretty bad, hey? Now make that a reality for the guides/outfitters that work in the part of the proposed park area.

[young_local]

"Responsible sportsmen recognize that core protected areas are required to sustain healthy populations for better hunting outside its boundaries. Currently there is less than 5 acres of wildlife sanctuaries in all of Southeastern BC. The closest being Waterton-Glacier National Park to the South and Kootenay and Glacier National Parks to the north.

British Columbia should do its part in contributing to the core protected area of Waterton-Glacier and fill in the missing piece. If this is not done the core protected area is incomplete. Just look at a map to see the big chunk missing out of it where BC protrudes into it."

Ryland-
I respect what you guys have done and the hard work put into everything, but there’s one place where Wildsight always misses the mark. It’s when it comes down to addressing the many locals who depend on the Flathead as part of their livelihoods, be it with hunting or fishing, and the other locals that use the Flathead to recreate in frequently. What you guys always say is that we should do our part to protect the wildlife, but never admit that the wildlife in the flathead is not in danger because of hunters/outfitters. We all agree that a mine would ruin what you and I both know as the best place to spend a weekend, so why not leave it at that and not take away the use of the Flathead from all of us?
The Fernie Rod and Gun club, GOABC, RMEF, and many others have a GREAT handle on the wildlife situation in the flathead. We are the ones out there constantly, and have eye-witness experience to the abundance of many animals in the flathead. Last year I saw more grizzly bears in the "park" area then ever before, so I don’t believe that we as outfitters and hunters are doing any harm by controlling the population of our wildlife. This part of BC has a great reputation for doing what is right, and what needs to be done to both control rising populations of species, and help rebuild declining populations (have a look at what the 4-spike regulation for mule-deer did, or the 6-spike bull elk rule) Take grizzly bears, before 2000 there was an outstanding decrease in the population of grizzlies in all of southern BC, so the government shut down all hunting of grizzly bears – didn’t help-. It wasn’t until there were better regulations on grizzly bear hunting that we finally were on the right track (Many thanks to the late Bob Fontana). This is because the guide/outfitters know how to properly control the population- a park would create problems because there just isn’t enough land to support all the grizzlies without proper control. I believe if there were to be a park, we would see a decline in grizzly bear population.

A quote from one of wildsight’s publications way back. "The Flathead is home to an astounding 16 species of carnivores, ranging from the mischievous pine marten to the towering grizzly bear. Six species of hoofed animals (ungulates), roam the spacious valley bottom and serrated mountain tops ‚Äì including elk, bighorn sheep, moose and mountain goat. The density of grizzly bears here is greater than anywhere else in the interior of North America."

Hunting has been going on in the flathead valley for a hundred years, and look at what we have? ^
Drop the park idea- we don’t need it. But keep up the good work with the rest of your conservation efforts.

[young_local]

Hi,

Can you post any pics of the elliptical up here and provide a bit more information about it.. how long have you had it etc

Thanks

[young_local]

"louisss" wrote:

Hi! i have a pair of Burton cartel size large.I used them for a couple of season, they could easy do one more season.I want 60$ thanks and happy riding!call me or email.# 250-430-1355

Are these mens or ladies?
Still looking, just getting some advice from friends I will get back to one of you soon! Thanks for the responses.

[young_local]

you won’t find these in Fernie… try cranbrook or calgary.

[young_local]

"slacklocal" wrote:

without the pressures from Wildsight and UNESCO they would be mining there right now.

Come on now, you know that is untrue. You can’t possibly believe that without Wildsight and UNESCO there would be mining there right now.. Wildsight was NOT around twenty years ago, when the older generations of LOCALS were out enjoying the Flathead, like many of us younger guys like to do now.. Guess what? There was the same amount of methane/oil/gas/coal there then, and there wasn’t mining.. What did Wildsight change? Wildsight did some good things, yes, it brought some awareness to this part of the country/province that maybe the big shots in Vancouver would never have found out about.. But does everything have to be so uber-slanted "tree-hugging" (for lack of a better word) b.s that turns the average every day guy into an evil, o-zone killing, nature-hating bastard? Enough with the fear mongering. Why doesn’t Wildsight attack Tembec Inc. for the logging the are doing/have done in that valley?

By the way, I am still on the fence about the flathead park issue.. as I grew up hunting, fishing, camping, and enjoying the flathead. I would hate to see it turn into a park, as it would bring more tourists and more development then any of you think (take a look at glacier, the road to the sun, etc… these places never used to be paved, with rest stops every 5km which include permanent bathroom facilites and many other concrete buildings and other un-natural objects.) As of right now, the Flathead is more natural then it would be if it were turned into a park… Why can’t we have no park & no mines? Bill has kept that so far, lets have some faith in him.

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