Park inholders seek better winter access

Two private landowners in Glacier National Park are asking the Park Service to be more flexible with its winter access rules.

Brandon Langel and his father Doug own a home about 700 feet from the gate on the Grist Road, west of Apgar Village. Gail Goodwin owns a new home about 200 feet farther up the road.

Park personnel installed a gate across the Grist Road a few years ago. According to current Park policy, the gate will be closed on Jan. 1 so people can cross-country ski on the road and for wildlife security.

The short stretch of road on the southwest end of Lake McDonald serves several homes, many of them historic.

Both Goodwin and the Langels are asking the Park to at least not close the gate so they can get to their property by four-wheeled drive vehicle.

Brandon Langel suggests a long-term solution might be to establish a homeowner’s association that would pay for maintenance of the road and to have it plowed in the winter. Current Park policy, however, doesn’t allow private landowners to clear or maintain Park roads.

He said he’s skeptical about the Park’s concern over wildlife security. The road is only two tenths of a mile long, he noted.

Once the gate is closed, it remains that way until spring. Douglas Langel lived in his home all winter long a couple of years ago. He’s an older gentleman, however, and hauling in groceries and hauling out garbage with a sled was difficult, he said.

The Park Service doesn’t allow any motorized transportation behind the gate. It also doesn’t allow animal use, like horses.

Goodwin said she hopes landowners and the Park Service can come to a civil agreement. She is currently building a new home on the original Grist property and is hurrying to get things done before the gate is closed for the winter.

“I have every hope we can find a solution to this,” she said.

But the Park Service has legal standing on how it manages its roads. A few years ago, private landowner Jack McFarland sued the Park Service to gain motorized winter access to his property in Big Prairie up the North Fork.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, however, ruled that McFarland didn’t have an “easement by necessity” to his property. Molloy ruled that the Park Service had the right to regulate travel on its roads as it saw fit, and that having to walk, snowshoe or ski to a property may have been inconvenient, but it still allowed access.