North Fork overcrowding a growing concern

North Fork residents raised concerns about crowds on the North Fork of the Flathead River at last week’s Interlocal Meeting. Several residents said it was common to watch eight or more rafts pass by their properties in a single group.

Ray Brown lives near Sondreson Meadow, a popular stop on the west side of the river.

“The groups are getting larger,” he said.

Numbers seem to support that claim. Nearly 60,000 visitors entered Glacier National Park at the Polebridge entrance station last year, an 18 percent increase. While many were not rafters, it is a litmus test of use in the North Fork.

North Fork residents have been urging the Forest Service to put an outhouse at Sondreson Meadow, a popular overnight stop with no toilet facilities. Campers are required to use approved self-contained waste systems, but many don’t, leaving behind “white flags” — toilet paper — in nearby woods and at camps.

Brown claimed Sondreson Meadow, at 160 acres, is simply getting overcrowded.

“At some point there has to be a limit,” he said.

Both the Forest Service and the Park Service patrol the river. Campers on the Park side are required to camp at designated sites with toilet facilities, but permits aren’t required on the Forest Service side.

Five camping areas on the Flathead National Forest side have no toilet facilities. But the Forest Service has resisted putting an outhouse at Sondreson Meadow.

Michael Dardis, a fire management officer for the Flathead Forest, said that while the Forest Service is seeing an increase in crowds and use on the river, the threshold for changing the current system hasn’t been reached.

The current threshold states that a Forest Service monitoring party will see no more than three different floating parties on 80 percent of its floats, Dardis said.

But the experience of someone standing on the shore or living next to the river could be different because they’re not moving with the river, residents noted.

Both the Park Service and the Forest Service would like to create a comprehensive river management plan, but there hasn’t been any funding. The agencies conducted a study of river users several years ago, but there isn’t any funding to crunch the numbers, Glacier Park wilderness manager Kyle Johnson said. The Park Service is looking at creating a backcountry management plan in the coming years to address some of the issues, he said.

North Fork resident Larry Wilson asked if the agencies have ticketed rafting parties for not complying with human waste regulations. Both agencies said they had, but they didn’t know offhand how many tickets were served in the past year.

The Forest Service has three river patrollers on staff during the summer months, in addition to law enforcement, and they often camp at popular spots to monitor compliance, Forest Service spokeswoman Colter Pence said.

Outhouse facilities have not been established at Sondreson Meadow because the 1986 river management plan calls for low or minimal development in the upper North Fork area from the Canada border to Big Creek.

Pence said the outhouse issue is far from unanimous — some people want Sondreson Meadow kept in a primitive state in adherence to the 1986 plan. And while there have been instances of people not cleaning up after themselves, “We’re not seeing rampant and horrific examples,” she said.

While a new river management plan is warranted, Pence said the agency’s focus at this time is to finish drafting its Forest Plan and large landscape management plans. Work on a river plan would likely come after those are completed. The Forest Plan is expected to be finalized in late 2016.