This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the glaciers of Glacier National Park. (See the Montana section.)
Idaho
This new web site looks interesting: Boiseleaks.
o o o
Crews working to remove derailed BNSF train leaking fuel into Kootenai River
o o o
Reader C.B. sent us this: Idaho cold case of outlaw missing since 1916 solved by DNA, genetic genealogy
o o o
Three dead, four injured in Silver Mountain avalanche: What we know
Montana
DSV spotted this: Glacier National Park Quietly Removes Its ‘Gone by 2020’ Signs. The article begins:
“Officials at Glacier National Park (GNP) have begun quietly removing and altering signs and government literature which told visitors that the Park’s glaciers were all expected to disappear by either 2020 or 2030.
In recent years the National Park Service prominently featured brochures, signs and films which boldly proclaimed that all glaciers at GNP were melting away rapidly. But now officials at GNP seem to be scrambling to hide or replace their previous hysterical claims while avoiding any notice to the public that the claims were inaccurate. Teams from Lysander Spooner University visiting the Park each September have noted that GNP’s most famous glaciers such as the Grinnell Glacier and the Jackson Glacier appear to have been growing—not shrinking—since about 2010. (The Jackson Glacier—easily seen from the Going-To-The-Sun Highway—may have grown as much as 25% or more over the past decade.)
The centerpiece of the visitor center at St. Mary near the east boundary is a large three-dimensional diorama showing lights going out as the glaciers disappear. Visitors press a button to see the diorama lit up like a Christmas tree in 1850, then showing fewer and fewer lights until the diorama goes completely dark. As recently as September 2018 the diorama displayed a sign saying GNP’s glaciers were expected to disappear completely by 2020.”
o o o
Avalanche victims were expert snowmobilers from Anaconda
Eastern Oregon
Judge revokes grazing permit for Oregon ranchers pardoned by Trump
o o o
Oregon: Attacks On Gun Rights for 2020 Have Begun
o o o
Republican Knute Buehler announces 2020 run for Congress
Eastern Washington
A follow-up article on an event that I’ve already briefly mentioned: Several cars trapped overnight inside monster tumbleweed pile in eastern Washington. A snippet from the article:
“The Associated Press quoted Washington State Trooper Chris Thorson, who said five cars and one 18-wheel semi truck were trapped in the tumbleweeds over New Year’s Eve night. The road did not reopen until about 4:30 a.m. New Year’s Day.
“People were still stuck at midnight and rung in the new year trapped under the weeds,” Thorson said.
Thorson posted on Twitter that tumbleweeds were piled 20 to 30 feet in places.
By 8 a.m. Wednesday, officials reported that one abandon car was still trapped in the tumbleweeds, but no one was found inside.”
o o o
Spokane sets record with Friday snowfall, another snowstorm expected to hit
o o o
Friday snow dump causes more than 100 collisions in Spokane, cancels classes
Wyoming
Bill would restrict gun buyback programs
o o o
Lincoln Chafee, who recently moved to Wyoming, files to run for president as Libertarian
o o o
Western states face huge cleanup liabilities from coal mining, new report finds
Send Your News Tips
Please send your American Redoubt region news tips and event announcements to JWR. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.
Re. Judge revokes grazing permit for Oregon ranchers
The Federal Government believes that it owns 43% of land in the American Redoubt. We are truly ‘occupied territory’.
This was calculated based upon 100% of the land area of Oregon and Washington. FedGov does not recognize the American Redoubt. That needs to change.
Montana Guy: The government will never recognize or acknowledge anything that is not part of “them”.
Wish and hope in one hand and poop in the other hand. Which hand will fill up first?
The government does own the land in question. IF they sold it then rich landowners would own it. Is that what you want? Try hunting on land that rich landowners own.
One Guy,
You bring up a valid point. it is the other uncomfortable side of the coin. Perhaps make the public land available only in 20-40- acre parcels that an average person could afford. Just thinkin .
I would be 100% in favor of that providing there was a stipulation that prevented anyone from buying up those smaller parcels.
However I go camping on federal land for months every year and am so thankful that these public lands owned by all Americans are “public”. So hopefully they wouldn’t sell it all.
According to the Constitution for the united States of America, Article One, Section 8, the federal government is restricted from “Owning” any land that is within the boundaries of any State admitted to the Union. It DOES own and control 10 square miles of land known as the District of Columbia which is NOT a state of the union. All other lands are leased to the government for useful purposes such as forts, docks, building, etc. Once the lease is given up the land then returns to the control and disposal of by the State it is in.
This is how I came to own a missile site. Biggest basement in the county and not easily broken into. No missile provided though …
LT. Mike, you should see the DC license plates. They say, “No taxation without representation”. Really made my blood boil to think about the irony of those people living off the expansive government teats and claiming they are not represented. I will never support statehood for DC.
You would be surprised to know I agree with you. I don’t think that federal, state or local governments should own any land. Maybe the schools and statehouse but even then I think that they should pay full property taxes on it.
However, IF the federal government were to divest themselves of all this land do you think for a second that you or I would get to buy any of it. And once the rich and powerful owned all this land (and probably foreigners and foreign countries too) do you think you could even step foot on it. Given the realities, i.e. the government does own it and we can all walk it and camp on it, I prefer the status quo.
One guy ,,,well well I’m one of those ‘rich’ guys with square miles of land ,not acres ,you want to hunt my land ? Let me tell you why I say NO. Not never ,start with cut fences ,cows shot and hind quarters taken the rest left to rot ,garbage dumped ,solar panels used for target practice,line shacks stripped of anything of value ,and that’s just a start , as for the rich part we pay taxs on that land ,as for the new pickup we are just partners with the bank or such , we feed you for that if things go right we might make minimum wage ,IF WE ARE LUCKY , now some city folks we do allow to hunt stop in and help out with jobs we need help with ,like fixing fences ,or picking up the garbage some slob left behind ,or the tuff job of helping cleaning out coyotes or coming by with a gift certificate for dinner at the local spoon ,
And we are rich ,we get to see the sunrise and the sunset ,and see all the stars ,and watch a new borne calf take it’s first steps ,packing a rifle is just a tool ,some thing extra to carry , my 25.35 has been packed by a rancher for over 120years ,
Just a rich rancher ,,,,,,,,,,,, HA HA
I doubt you are the rich landowner I was thinking of. I had Ted Turner in mind, not Joe Nobody. I am a supporter of land rights and if you own 40 acres or 400 acres or 4000 acres I am happy for you and respect your right to allow or not allow hunting.
Good repartee, friends. According to my understanding, if the federal government owns the land, that means it belongs to us. I know there are officials who will fuss and restrict. Still, it belongs to us.
Carry on
I hunt and camp on public land every year. It’s the best thing about the West.
I think we all feel terrible when we hear of senseless deaths,such as the recent snowmobile
fatalities.
The avalanche victims leave behind family,loved ones,and friends whose lives will never be the same again.
We snowmobiled for years until our bodies told us it was time to sit by a good fire.
The need for speed and the thrill of high marking was fine for the younger folks. This not the
time to play the blame game.
I just wish these dang kids would be careful.
Lincoln Chafee: a man of conviction. Republican (1985-2007), Independent (2007–2013), Democratic (2013–2019), Libertarian 2019-?
Can you think of a better VP choice for Michael Bloomberg. Read their resumes before you laugh…
Glaciers represent a dynamic balance between positive input (winter snowfall) and negative removal (meltwater drainage, especially but not only in the summer, and evaporation). A glacier’s mass balance must be determined by measuring the entire ice body, not merely its lower boundary. Glaciers differ from snowpacks and snow fields because they deform slowly down-slope (due to gravity and having enough thickness that the lower layers deform gradually and “flow”). Under nearly all glaciers is a network of drainage streams and water films. These essentially “lubricate” glacial flow and increased subglacial water pressure (from increased melting) can “float” the ice mass and accelerate their downslope motion. Indeed, “glacier surges” are a known process by which glaciers flow faster (and appear to “grow” if we only monitor the downhill glacier limit front end) while in fact the glacier is also thinning and wasting away “in the near future”. Thus we can be fooled into thinking a glacier is growing when in fact it is shrinking but has a “last gasp” surging flow death rattle. This matters to those around the globe and in our mountainous regions who rely on glacier meltwater sources because their water supply will be confined to spring melt (if there’s no glacier) rather than gradually all year (if a glacier is holding “dynamically steady” under a stable climate). Glacier National Park is, in fact, losing substantial ice mass. Maybe the 2020 predictions were off, but the glaciers are definitely shrinking. [this was my Masters research topic]
FYI Glacier National Park commentator who wrote the article mocking the 2020 deglaciation prediction (Roger I. Root) is a lawyer who has zero published reports, articles or training in geology, glaciology, meteorology nor climate studies. He is entitled to his opinion, but that opinion isn’t founded on any actual training or field experience, nor does he present any facts except an observation that Park signage is being updated. Mock GNP if you wish but if your retreat depends on mountain runoff as your water source, I suggest you seek other info sources.
Glacial melt is not very drinkable. It is full of suspended sediment. (That is what gives it such a pretty color.)
Yes, as JWR notes, glacial meltwater is sometimes full of very finely ground “rock flour” which results in a beautiful turquoise color. Home owners using it for drinking and consumption would benefit from a settling pond, in-line filters (which will need to be periodically replaced) or from sinking a spring box near the water body/channel and below the water table (thereby letting surrounding sand & clay pre-filter the suspended glacial rock flour). Further down the natural drainage system, natural processes and riparian vegetation will eliminate increasingly more of the rock flour (which largely consists of inert quartz because finely ground reactive materials, i.e. metal minerals, combine with oxygen and other substances to settle and/or neutralize). The point being that assuming your home is closer to the valley floor than the mountain high country, you might be unknowingly relying on glacial melt and should understand your long term water source options “in a changing world”.
SurvivalBlog has useful articles on how to build water filters and some of them can be scaled up to residential application filter beds. Snowpack melt, because there isn’t the grinding of glaciers over bedrock, is much lower in sediment. Both can be the best water you’ll ever taste! (or not, depending… A professional water analysis will guide your remediation needs and efforts 😉
Lincoln Chafee: Just another scumbag neocon/neolib progressive. What in blazes is libertarian about that? As I commented the other day, it this is the best the Libertarian party can do, the Libertarian Party is a lost cause.
According to the Constitution for the united States of America, Article One, Section 8, the federal government is restricted from “Owning” any land that is within the boundaries of any State admitted to the Union. It DOES own and control 10 square miles of land known as the District of Columbia which is NOT a state of the union. All other lands are leased to the government for useful purposes such as forts, docks, building, etc. Once the lease is given up the land then returns to the control and disposal of by the State it is in.
This is how I came to own a missile site. Biggest basement in the county and not easily broken into. No missile provided though …
I have a list of places to visit on vacation before climate change messes them up. New Orleans was on my list before Katrina, obvious many years before Katrina that it was only a matter of time. I didn’t make it. Family, kids, & financial constraints slow how fast my list shrinks. Still on my list are the Florida Keys, Glacier NP, the Everglades, Canada Rockies, another trip to Alaska (I loved the first), and the inside passage to AK. Venice should be on foreign travelers lists. Hard to say how long I have. The Key’s could swept away tomorrow. Other places require more sea level rise or time for the glaciers to absorb heat from the atmosphere. If you like to travel, make your list now, and start traveling. Climate change doesn’t care about politics or what any of us believe, stuff like physics, chemistry, heat transfer, properties of elements are what matter.
Climate change is real AGW is not. The mini ice age ended about 1850. Since then the temperature has been returning to “normal”. What else could it do? If it got colder or did not warm up THEN the mini ice age wouldn’t have ended. Our weather/temperatures is controlled mostly by the sun and to a lesser extent by other forces outside our planet. Simple as that. Luckily for us we are in the most temperate climate in world history and it has been good for humans and most of all the flora and fauna on earth.
As for glaciers, they ebb and flow and always have. When Otzi the “iceman” was found in the Alps it was absolute proof of that ebb and flow. The iceman’s body was protected for thousands of years by the ice in the Alps. But when he died that land was NOT covered in ice. The “warmies” would have you believe that our current temperate climate is unprecedented but yet Otzi died on barren ground and was eventually covered and preserved by snow and ice that lasted for thousands of years. It is the normal state of our climate that it changes cyclically over centuries and millennia and to try to take a snapshot of it and predict future disaster is stupid and uninformed.
Went to Fl. Keys/Key West last year,visit Key West for a day(tourist trap/homocentric/expensive),Mel Fisher/Atocha museum,Key West museum,Hemingways’ favorite bar/home tour(6 toed cats/prepper architecture). Go up key especially Pine Key dolphin sanctuary(they are as interested in you,watch and respond to you,can leave if they want,where “Flipper” was trained/filmed). The “old keys” are long gone but can be nice vacation place.
Re: Tumbleweeds. This just in from my friend who is a native of E. Wash.
https://keprtv.com/news/local/tumbleweeds-wind-force-closure-of-walla-walla-county-road?fbclid=IwAR2ukVOdF9vGDS7tiUdtklDSiCD4suYKjBJ35WoeQ4G2-TMY4YiN268qAAI
Has any of you ever seen this type news in the past? Have the outlets just run out of material or is this something that the west has seen before?
Carry on
Many years ago when I lived in California I would often see that kind of volume of tumbleweeds. Mostly I saw this in areas between the costal range and Fresno. The highway department was constantly either burning it (if weather conditions allowed) or removing it. It is seasonal and dependent on growing conditions. Some spring/summers where drier and less conducive to growth and some were wetter.