A net benefit for Glacier Park

Netting lake trout out of Northwest Montana lakes doesn’t sit well with some people, but in the case of a netting project in Glacier National Park’s Quartz Lake, it is entirely warranted.

That’s partly because it has promise for success because of the strong component of remaining native fisheries, the simple structure of the lake, and the fact that a fish barrier has been installed to prevent lake trout from invading the lake in the future from the Flathead River system.

But mostly it’s because Glacier is a national park, with a mandate to protect native species and resist invasive species. The 1,500 lake trout that have been netted from the lake over the last three years are the aquatic equivalent of wild burros or spotted knapweed plaguing the park’s terrestrial landscape.

But they are actually worse, because lake trout have had proven adverse impacts on native westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout, which are protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The park has a clear mission at Quartz Lake and other west-side lakes that have been invaded. That mission needs to be accomplished.

IT WAS already mission accomplished for Tommy Whiskers, the Kalispell cat who made an unexplained solo trip to Glacier Park last month.

Thanks to alert park employees, Tommy was discovered near park headquarters at West Glacier the same day he disappeared from his home in Kalispell.

Whether Tommy’s mission, like Captain Kirk’s, was “to explore strange new worlds” we simply don’t know. The cat is not talking. But he certainly has lots of people talking about his adventure.

In any case, the whole world breathes easier knowing that the independent-minded cat is back home with his family on Kalispell’s east side. And there is no word on when his next excellent adventure will begin.

MEMBERS of the I-163rd Calvary Regiment of the Montana Army National Guard have started returning from their long deployment in Iraq. We take note of their brave service and their families’ sacrifice, and wish each and every one of them a happy homecoming.