County does good work in N. Fork

Last week’s column about the North Fork Interlocal failed to mention Flathead County and its role in community affairs. That lack of mention was deliberate. Flathead County has been a total positive force on the North Fork for the last several years and it is high time they received credit for it.

Ever since Bob Grimaldi created a big fuss over how dusty the North Fork Road had become and that it was a hazard to safety and health, the county government has taken action to solve the problem.

Initially, an additional sheriff’s deputy was hired whose sole job was to monitor speeding on the North Fork and those speeding tickets helped slow traffic and reduce dust.

Then, over a period of years, county funds and Resource Advisory Committee grants provided crushed rock and dust coating (magnesium chloride) over stretches of the road, so that today crushed rock with a bentonite binder pretty well covers the road from Canyon Creek (end of pavement) to Whale Creek north of Polebridge. Magnesium chloride has been applied from Camas Bridge to Polebridge for several years and that stretch is virtually dust free and almost like pavement.

The county has also provided a cost-share program for private landowners who live close to dusty stretches of the road north of Polebridge. The County grades the road and pays 50 percent of the cost of applying mag-chloride to control the dust and retain the fines so those areas are much smoother all summer. It would be nice if the Forest Service would take advantage of this program by the Ben Rover Cabin and at Ford Station and Wurtz Homestead rental cabins.

County Road Department officials reported that the federal grant they applied for to do major work from Trail Creek Road to the Border and from the Merc to the Polebridge Ranger Station has made it through the first cut. This FLAP grant is a cooperative request from Flathead County, Glacier Park, Border Patrol and the Forest Service.

And there is more. Private landowners on Trail Creek applied for, and received grants to reduce fuels on both sides of Trail Creek Road to provide a safer exit route for the community in case of a fire or other emergency. Flathead County stepped up and brought their big chipper up and chipped the brush to reduce or eliminate private landowner costs for this community service.

This is how government should work. Identify the problem and then act to fix it. If a county commissioner ever comes to an Interlocal, I’m sure they will be publicly thanked. In the meantime, our gratitude should be expressed to Lincoln Chute who arranged for the chipper, and Dave Prunty and Ovila Byrd, county road department for all they have done to provide these services to make the North Fork safer and healthier. Also thanks to Bob Grimaldi for getting it all started.

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