Money and recreation license moves trail effort forward

by Richard Hanners Whitefish Pilot
| March 9, 2011 10:34 AM

Efforts to preserve school trust lands

around Whitefish for recreation made two significant steps forward

recently with the awarding of a $500,000 trails grant and Whitefish

City Council’s approval of a special recreational-use license from

the state.

Key players in the conservation effort

showed up at the Whitefish Trail’s Lion Mountain Loop Road

trailhead on March 2 to celebrate the grant award with an iconic

oversize check. Weather prevented Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s plane

from landing at Glacier Park International Airport, so he missed

the ceremony .

“Some may call it a big check. I call

it a big investment,” Whitefish Legacy Partners executive director

Diane Conradi said.

The grant money will be put to work

conserving viewsheds, wildlife, recreation and water quality,

Conradi said.

“I hope to see some of this money used

on future trails,” Whitefish mayor Mike Jenson said. “It’s time to

lay down some tread and purchase these long-term lease

agreements.”

Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 park

manager Dave Landstrom explained that most grants from the

Recreational Trails Program total $70,000 over two years. Whitefish

Legacy Partners applied for much, much more, he said, and the

Montana State Parks Recreation Bureau recognized the value of their

work.

“This is a model for other communities,

and it’s spectacular to see,” Landstrom said.

The $500,000 grant is an 80-20 match

with some restrictions, Conradi said. The trails group can spend up

to $600,000 and be reimbursed for 80 percent. The money must be

spent within 2 1/2 years.

Whitefish Legacy Partners was formed in

2003 to help shape the future of the 13,000 acres of state school

trust lands around Whitefish. The effort manifested itself in the

2004 Whitefish School Trust Lands Neighborhood Plan and the 2006 A

Trail Runs Through It Master Plan.

The recreation trail, which may one day

run 55 miles around Whitefish Lake, was renamed the Whitefish Trail

last year. So far, 12 miles of trail and an improved trailhead have

been constructed.

Another 16 miles is slated for

construction by 2013, and a trailhead on Beaver Lake Road with a

vault toilet and parking will go in this year.

The special recreational-use license

approved by the city council on March 7 will allow Whitefish Legacy

Partners to conduct forest, recreation and conservation planning in

the Spencer and Beaver/Swift subunits of the Neighborhood Plan.

The $10,000 license fee will be paid

with money from the city’s A Trail Runs Through It fund, which is

all donated money and not taxpayer money. The planning effort will

also identify travel and access needs, as well as management and

operation needs, and provide implementation strategies.

During the one-year period, the Montana

Department of Natural Resources and Conservation “should limit the

initiation of new projects within the Spencer and Beaver/Swift

subunits,” the license states. Conradi notes that this agreement

does not stop DNRC’s proposed Spencer Lake Timber Sale.

A memorandum of understanding signed

last year created a Core Group for planning that includes the city

of Whitefish, DNRC, Whitefish Legacy Partners and FWP.

Among the Core Group’s recommendations

is establishing a $1 million restricted fund and using the interest

to pay for recreation and conservation transactions on the school

trust lands. The Core Group also recommended purchasing long-term

easements on the school trust lands for recreation or trails.

In addition, over the next 10 years,

Whitefish Legacy Partners should develop or promote conservation

proposals already contained in the Neighborhood Plan, the Core

Group recommended.

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