Road to nowhere
I almost forgot how quickly the Winter Interlocal follows the holidays. This year, the meeting will take place February 21 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Currently, the meeting is scheduled to be at the Glacier View/Hungry Horse Ranger Station in Hungry Horse. That room is a bit small, but we have met there before. I will let you know of any change.
The original intent of the Interlocal Meetings was for local residents to voice the concerns with agency actions and for the agencies to inform locals and let us know about their plans. Over the years, it has been more of a show-and-tell meeting. Groups bragging (oops, informing) other groups about their social agendas and only as a sideline voicing any real concerns.
The Landowners Association now has a policy of not taking a stand on any issue. This was done to avoid the bitter arguments of previous years. Now, all residents are invited to inform Bill Walker of any concerns and Bill forwards them to the appropriate agency or agencies. This way, the agencies can prepare for the meeting and not get blindsided with no chance to prepare a response.
This has worked fairly well, although an agency never know if the concern is just one person whining or a large group with a valid complaint.
Of course, many concerns remain unresolved and thus are brought up every year. This includes the North Fork Road, the elusive River Plan, the Inside Road, endangered species, lack of Forest Service Road maintenance, and trail maintenance, as well as a few others.
As for me, the biggest concern is the ever-increasing number of recreationalists with the increased traffic on the road, river and camping facilities and possible invasive aquatic species.
Some folks hope to limit recreation by doing nothing and stuffing more and more people into less and less space. Except for Glacier Park, which is raising fees and closing roads when campgrounds are full.
To add to the problem, a consortium of agencies have secured a multi-million dollar grant to improve the north end of the North Fork Road. Their announced purpose is to make the North Fork easier to access for recreationalists. I guess making it possible for and extra hundred or so folks to get to the border is a positive. After all, there is one outhouse, limited parking, two campsites and a lousy launch site just sitting there.
Neither the Forest Service or Glacier Park have plans to expand recreationalist opportunities. They are supported by environmentalists who want to discourage more North Fork tourists.
Why then spend millions to improve a road to nowhere? Doesn’t seem logical to me, unless they plan to do more logging.
What do you think?
Larry Wilson’s North Fork Views appears weekly in the Hungry Horse News.