Flathead Lake featured on new plates

By JACOB DORAN / Bigfork Eagle

Fran Ruby, known to residents of the West Shore as the cafeteria lady at Blacktail Mountain, loves her new license plates.

The license plates depict the view of Polson Bay, looking north over Flathead Lake. It is a scene well known to those who drive Hwy 35, from Polson to Bigfork or take it in while descending the hill on US 93, south of Polson.

Ruby always thought that a treasure as beautiful as Flathead Lake needed to have its own license plate, like so many other places do. That way, people who live here can show the pride they feel for the lake, wherever they go.

Needless to say, she was pleased when Dr. Rick Hauer and Dr. Bonnie Ellis of the Flathead Lake Biological Station joined forces with the Flathead Lake Protection Association's Bruce Young to come up with an idea for raising money to continue the monitoring of Flathead Lake, which involved creating and selling license plates with an attractive image of the lake.

"We wanted to do something about the fragility of the lake and also raise the health of the lake," Young said. "The license plate serves those purposes in a real nice way and by helping to raise money for the Biological Station to continue it's monitoring of Flathead Lake."

For the image, Hauer, Ellis and Young decided to enlist the help of Whitefish artist Glen Prestegaard, who is well known for his prints and posters of Flathead Lake. The group met with Presegaard and to ask if he would be interested in doing the print and he graciously accepted, granting the Flathead Lake Protection Association permission to use one of his prints on the new license plates to raise awareness about the need to protect water quality in the Flathead Basin.

With Prestegaard's image, the FLPA sponsored the creation of the plates, providing the initial funding to get the project off the ground. It took the better part of a year to work out the details with the Montana Department of Transportation, completing the design and getting the lettering the right size, orientation and color to make them both decorative and visible to law enforcement officers with the Highway Patrol.

With the work done and the plates now available to anyone who wants one, Young said he is pleased with the way they turned out and the amount of money that has been raised in the short amount of time that they have been ready.

"We've already raised about $2,000 for the monitoring fund," Young said. "We anticipate a much larger contribution, as the plate becomes better known and more people find out that they can get these plates for their vehicle. This is statewide, so we anticipate that people all over the state are going to want to have one, since Flathead Lake is viewed as a treasure to everyone in Montana.

"It is available in every county, for people who treasure the lake and want to do a small part to 'Keep it Blue.' All of the money that comes back from the people who buy the license plates goes directly to support the monitoring of Flathead Lake by the University of Montana's Flathead Lake Biological Station."

Getting one of the license plates is easy, Young said. Simply go to the Department of Motor Vehicles licensing bureau at the county seat and ask for the Flathead Lake: Keep it Blue license plate or ask the county treasurer's office to issue you the Flathead Lake plates. The cost is an initial $35 fee, plus an annual donation fee of $20.

Young said he has already received requests from out-of-state collectors, as well as inquiries by residents and other interested people around the state who enjoy the lake and want to support it.

Flathead Lake Protection Association president Howard Ruby said the plates are a way for people to play a small role in the protection of lake and an opportunity to give, which is convenient for those who might not otherwise do so, as well as for others who don't know how to contribute.

"That's our goal," he said. "We want to get the money to help monitor the lake, and that's what this goes for. The state turned the biological station down, so they have to get the money from some place. We want people to buy these plates and support the biological station. When they do, they're supporting the lake and helping to preserve the water quality."

Like Young, Ruby said he was pleased with the look of the plates and thought that a lot of people would want them.

"They look great," he opined.

Young expressed appreciation for the Rubys' support, as well as the backing of the entire Flathead Lake Protection Association board of directors and the support that they have already received from residents who have bought the plates.