Concerns about the North Fork

With the end of hunting season traffic slows, and year round locals settle in for the quiet time of year. Both restaurants and bars are closed for he winter, fewer folks means fewer social obligations, the tourists are gone and the only non-resident traffic is a few lion hunters. All in all, a good time to reflect on the activities of the past and ponder what the future will bring.

Two things that happened this year give me some concern about the future of the North Fork. Actually a lot of concern.

First, was the application by a grant applied for by a consortium of agencies including Flathead County, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Forest Service, and Glacier Park. The somewhat nebulous grant is for $2 million to improve the road from the Polebridge Mercantile to the Polebridge entrance to Glacier Park and improve the north end of the North Fork Road. Both of those sections are awful and most locals are in favor of some improvement.

However, the scoping group that was here this summer flat out said the improvements were not being done for local residents. They said the improvements were proposed to promote public access to public lands. I presume that means the North Fork River ad well as Glacier Park and the Flathead National Forest.

The whole thing seems hypocritical to me. Here is why. The river is so filled with floaters that we keep hearing about he possibility of permits in the not so distant future. The Forest Service refuses to plan for or provide needed toilet facilities and has reduced camping opportunities at Ford and seem likely to do the same at Sondreson Meadows.

Both Glacier Park and the Flathead Forest have reduced campgrounds and the Flathead Forest Trail maintenance is a joke, dependent on volunteers to keep historical trails open. In addition, to comply with endangered species regulations there has been a twenty year program of closing side roads and restricting motorized recreation. Now they want money to improve only the main road when Trail, Whale, and Red Meadow Roads only get a lick and a promise?

The second concern is traffic at the Polebridge entrance to Glacier Park. Traffic has increased about 20 percent in each of the last three years. In October it was up a whopping 94.5 percent over last year. Of course, increased traffic at Polebridge also translates to increased traffic on the North Fork Road since the Park has consistently procrastinated on reopening the Inside Road.

Increased traffic is a supporting statistic for improving access- maybe even paving the main road. More important what does ever increasing traffic mean for the North Fork? Will it change or destroy important elements of our lifestyle? I fear so. Years ago H. Frank Evans, himself a one-time concessioner in Glacier, said he preferred the North Fork when grass grew in the middle of the road. Was he right? What do you think?

Larry Wilson’s North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.