Page 5 - Flathead Beacon // 5.28.14

FLATHEADBEACON.COM
MAY 28, 2014 | 5

NEWS

WORDS
••••
of the Week

Clint Muhlfeld, a
AN INDEX OF USGS isheries
RECENT biologist, holds a
NEWSMAKERS
native westslope
cutthroat trout.
Muhlfeld’s research
GAY MARRIAGE
Federal lawsuits iled last week into how climate
in Montana and South Dakota change accelerates
hybridization in trout
leave just one state — North populations was
Dakota — with a gay marriage published in “Nature.”
ban that’s not facing some
form of legal challenge; state PHOTO COURTESY NOAH CLAYTON
marriage bans have been falling
around the country since the
U.S. Supreme Court last year
struck down part of the federal
Defense of Marriage Act.

PRIMARY ELECTION
Exercise one of your most
important rights as citizens and
vote on Tuesday, June 3 in the
primary election for state House
and Senate candidates, county
commissioners and other top
oicials, as well as U.S. House
and Senate candidates.
Researcher Links Climate Change

VETERANS AFFAIRS
to Degradation of Native Trout
Troubling allegations of
treatment delays and
preventable deaths at VA
hospitals across the U.S. has led
to growing furor over veterans’
health care and investigations Local scientist Clint By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
Flathead River system to climate change.
into 26 facilities.
It was published in the prominent academ-
Muhlfeld publishes In his published research, aquatics biolo- ic journal “Nature,” a lofty benchmark of sci-
gist Clint Muhlfeld has detailed the plight of entiic prestige.
study in prominent an obscure stonely endemic to Glacier Na- Muhlfeld is thrilled by the prospect that
BOTCHED NUKE TEST
academic journal tional Park’s high-elevation streams and re- the international scientiic community will
An internal review of a training vealed how a trout’s ear bone contains a geo- absorb his research results, but he’s more ex-
exercise held last summer at ‘Nature,’ receives chemical diary of its liquid migrations.
cited that the general public will learn about
Malmstrom Air Force Base in international But his most recent study will appeal to his the dramatic consequences of climate change
Great Falls found the security largest audience yet, not only by virtue of the already occurring.
forces were unable to quickly attention
scope of the revelation, but also the size of the “We publish all these papers and scientiic
regain control of the captured platform.
literature, but when you get something in ‘Na-
silo, and called this a “critical
deiciency.”
Muhlfeld, an aquatic ecologist at the U.S. ture,’ which is one of the world’s leading jour-
Geological Survey’s Glacier Park ield oice, nals, it gets out there to the public and that is
is the project leader of a study that links the what we are trying to do,” he said.
rapid hybridization between a native Montana
trout species and an invasive species in the
See Muhlfeld PAGE 20

VISIT OUR NEW ART GALLERY!

Furnishings and Design for the way you live now.

123 Main St., Kalispell MT • 756-8555 • WWW.KALISPELLFURNITURE.COM