The North Fork Road is no longer an issue

anuary is the month when everyone looks back on the previous year to see what the biggest news stories were and to make resolutions for the year that is just beginning. Hopefully, the resolutions will improve us in some way. We are no different on the North Fork.

For many years, the North Fork Road has been the biggest topic of controversy in the area - pave or don't pave? Not in 2011. County improvements have reduced the road almost to a non-issue.

The addition of six inches of crushed rock mixed with bentonite greatly reduced dust and provided a much smoother rider from Camas Junction to eight miles north of Polebridge. Magnesium chloride, although not without opponents, further reduced the dust. As a result, road complaints dwindled, but I'm sure the issue will return to entertain the Virginia Tenderfoot and frustrate North Forkers on both sides of the issue.

Probably the biggest story in 2011 was Gov. Brian Schweitzer's success in signing a memorandum of understating with the Premier of British Columbia. Montana governors from Schwinden to the present all worked on this.

As a result, most oil leases on the U.S. side have been voluntarily canceled, mining has been curtailed, and the B.C. legislature has supported the MOU. Still outstanding is the nine-plus million dollars to reimburse Canadian companies for money spent on exploration and development on the British Columbia side of the North Fork. This money was to be raised by Native Conservancy groups in the U.S. and Canada, but so far they have not managed to get the job done.

I support all of the above. If completed, the water of the North Fork will remain cold and clear, and that is the life blood of the entire area, including Flathead Lake.

I do not support expanding Waterton Park from the Continental Divide to the North Fork River. In my opinion, that will create a new threat of development, as B.C. would certainly want to encourage tourism. I would much prefer to see the province manage their portion of the North Fork as a near wilderness. Allow limited timber activity as well as hunting, but otherwise discourage development.

If Waterton Park is expanded, I would expect a paved road from Fernie to the new park, followed by developed campgrounds, concessions and a variety of other tourist-related activities that would threaten the area in a different way, but potentially as detrimental to water quality as an oil field.

What do you think? Write a letter to the editor or to me at P.O. Box 3, Columbia Falls MT 59912 or e-mail me at lwilson@aboutmontana.net.