Winter difficulties

Despite a slow start to winter it has become a very active North Fork winter. First we had little snow but several days of slick roads, with multiple folks sliding in the ditch.

Then January came with a ton of snow followed by more snow and then even more snow. As I sat comfortably in town with little snow and central heating more and more North Forkers stopped by for free coffee and to tell me how tired they were from plowing and shoveling snow. I was sympathetic outside but smug inside as I celebrated quietly the teenagers who shovel my snow and pack my wood as I sit, warm and comfy in front of my TV. Then it got even worse for some North Forkers.

Suddenly, it seems that more and more folks are having winter related problems. Generators breaking down, fuel supplies running low. Tow trucks that will not or cannot get off the main road etc. etc.

It was a good thing that North Fork neighbors are always ready to help each other at a moment’s notice. Bill and Lois Walker have multiple generators ranging from small easily portable machines to a big 8,000-watt job. Problem is that means clearing snow to get to storage sheds and rustling up gas cans to fuel gas generators. Big propane generators are tougher if they need fuel and with cloudy skies most solar arrays can’t keep up with electric use in a big house.

It is great to live off the grid, but it isn’t always easy.

I am really looking forward to this year’s winter Interlocal. I am sure there will be some of the usual “bring and brag” stuff but we should also get an update on the Forest Service Frozen Moose project. This indicates the possibility that the U.S.F.S. will actually start managing the forest. Certainly this is a very limited geographic area, but I hope it is just the first step in what will become forest wide activity, which will then spread to other forests. Active forest management will, no doubt, create some hot arguments but is certainly an improvement over non-management, which the Forest Service has practiced for far too long.

On the other side of the coin is the slowly advancing River Management Plan, which looks more and more like a plan to just kick river problems down the road. No real plans for gathering scientific data.

Same thing with Glacier Park, where ever-increasing numbers of visitors have over taxed resources and, in my opinion, threaten wildlife and their habitat. Just turning Glacier into another crowded Yosemite is not what I call a solution.

What do you think?

Larry Wilson’s North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.