CRUDE AWAKENING
Yellowstone River pipeline leak shows oil and water don’t mix Exxon Mobil’s July oil leak on the Yellowstone River continues to alarm anglers, conservationists, residents, and government officials—and promises to do so for months. Exxon officials originally estimated that the company’s Silvertip Pipeline, which ruptured upstream of Billings on July 1, spilled as much as 44,000 gallons
of crude. That number soon grew to 50,400 gallons. Early reports put the length of the oil slick at 25 miles. Weeks later, crews with the Environmental Protection Agency reported traces of oil in flood debris up to 72 miles away. Ken Frazer, regional fisheries manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), says evaluations about the spill’s
ecological impacts have been changing daily. The fabled trout river rose above flood stage this year, and as it dropped from its peak, response teams found oil in places they hadn’t previously been able to reach. FWP biologists had to wait until mid-July to hit the water and take tissue samples from fish, due to safety concerns. “With the water being as high as it was, it spread oil through lots of upland country and islands and stuff,” Frazer says. It will likely be months before environmental agencies release official assessments about the ecological damage, wildlife and fish mortalities and long-term impacts to fisheries. In the interim, FWP cautioned anglers not to eat fish from the river because of possible health risks. Conservationists worry that the oil will contaminate a vital transitional habitat for different types of warmand cold-water fish. The ancient pallid sturgeon resides not far downstream
Alexis Bonogofsky/National Wildlife Federation
SPERRY BAD NEWS
Avalanche hits chalet, and vacationers, hard Kevin Warrington doesn’t want to count how many times he’s had to tell hopeful Sperry Chalet guests that damage from the winter’s avalanche in Glacier National Park is forcing him to cancel their room reservations. “I don’t even want to look at it,” Warrington says. “It’s very heartbreaking.” As Sperry Chalet’s coordinator, Warrington’s been left to break the news that an avalanche, believed to have happened in February, damaged windows, doors and fixtures in the rustic 100-yearold lodging. Visitors first spotted the slide in May, and as the snow melted in the following weeks, park staffers discovered that the toll on the iconic structure was greater then originally anticipated. “We realized some of the rafters were crushed,” Warrington says. Sperry opened for the season more than a week late because of the destruction. Three of 17 guest rooms were out of commission, as of July. The closure has been tough on Sperry regulars, many of whom have a strong
emotional attachment to the hotel. Sperry is only accessible via a 6.5-mile trail, by foot or horseback. Nestled at 6,500 feet between Gunsight Peak and Edwards Mountain, the perch is ideal to take in a bird’s-eye view or soak in the structure’s history. (Note to would-be visitors: Park officials this summer warned against taking the Gunsight Pass Trail to the chalet due to a damaged suspension bridge;
did nearly 90 years ago, avalanche smackdown aside. Experts blame the slide on the extraordinary amount of precipitation that’s fallen on Montana this year. The first half of 2011 was the wettest in the state’s recorded history, according to the National Weather Service. Snowdrifts 25 feet high towered over snowplows well into summer. Camp-
Lingering high-elevation snow made it impossible for pack trains to reach Granite Park Chalet through much of summer, forcing managers to use porters to haul supplies. check the sperrychalet.com website before sallying forth on it this fall.) Railroad tycoon and developer James J. Hill built the chalet in 1913 to accommodate the fresh wave of travelers making their way across the West on his newly constructed Great Northern Railway. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the chalet has no electricity, heat, or running water. Other than a modernized kitchen and the new composting restroom, it looks much as it
grounds like Two Medicine and Many Glacier opened weeks late. The Goingto-the-Sun Road wasn’t clear for travelers until July 13, marking only the third time in the park’s 100-year history that the winding road failed to open for the July 4 holiday. June visits to the park were down 20 percent from 2010. “We’re definitely in some unprecedented territory here as far as this late melt,” says Glacier spokeswoman Ellen Blickhan.