Paving may violate law

Two environmental groups have laid out a legal case against paving a section of the North Fork Road.

The National Parks Conservation Association and Earthjustice have submitted an eight-page letter detailing how paving the road would disturb Glacier National Park.

They claim paving the road would violate a section of federal law restricting road projects that would harm national parks.

Funding for paving, if it comes from the Federal Highway Administration, would violate a section of the Department of Transportation Act of 1966, which requires that "protection of parkland be given paramount importance," when examining and designing road projects, the groups argue.

In addition, the groups claim that "alternatives that would significantly increase traffic volume and speed and/or facilitate further recreational use and residential development of the North Fork area would substantially impair the protected activities, features and attributes of Glacier National Park."

They also claim paving the road would harm migrating wildlife, from amphibians to bears and that it is contrary to Glacier's General Management Plan, which calls for the North Fork "to be managed to preserve the wild character of the area and the important linkage to the entire North Fork Valley, including the Canadian portion, for wildlife conservation."

The state and county recently initiated a $125,000 study to look at alternatives to improve nine miles of the bumpy and dusty highway from just beyond Glacier Rim to Big Creek.

Proponents of paving claim it will make the road safer and the dust kicked up by vehicles is harmful.

But there are only a few residences along the stretch in question. Most of the land is owned either by the U.S. Forest Service or the National Park Service.

Another public meeting on the matter is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. July 27 at Glacier Discovery Square in Columbia Falls. Improvement alternatives are expected to be on the agenda. The study and alternatives to improve the road should be complete by end of summer. Proponents and opponents have been arguing about paving the North Fork Road for decades.