Draft river plan should be released next year

A Comprehensive River Management Plan for the Wild and Scenic sections of the three forks of the Flathead River is still in the works.

A a draft update to the plan is being reviewed and the Environmental Assessment is being written, noted Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Lauren Alley.

The plan was originally scheduled to be completed this year.

“(The draft EA) is being reviewed internally by forest and park staff. Our contract with HydroSolutions, Inc. comes to an end in December. Some work remains, so right now we are looking at different options to finalize that work either with a contract or forest/park staff. Once we have a projected staffing model, we’ll release an updated specific timeline for the public. Our intent is to be able to release these drafts for public review in 2021.”

Hydrosolutions held the contract to help write the plan.

The first public meetings on the plan wasback in March 2018 and then there were a series of work sessions with stakeholders and members of the public that looked at various facets of the plan.

The geographical area the plan will eventually cover is huge — the three forks of the Flathead River drain at least half of Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Whitefish Range.

All told, it amounts to 219 miles of water from three forks — the North, Middle and South forks of the Flathead.

The biggest concern at meetings was crowds. As more and more people visit the Flathead, floating the rivers, even in the wilderness sections, is becoming increasingly popular, with some sections of river seeing tens of thousands of floaters during the peak summer months.

Then this summer, folks camped en masse along some sections of the rivers, as many formal campgrounds were closed. Blankenship, for example, saw hundreds of campers that set up camps along the river bank on Forest Service lands.

Some people have called for permits to stem the tide of floaters and better manage the crowds, while others have said that impinges on their right to use public lands and waters.

Use varies widely, depending on access.

For example, a study by the University of Montana found that about 449 rafters a day floated the lower Middle Fork, while at Mid Creek in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, that number was about three per day in the prime summer months.

All told, the lower Middle Fork sees more than 50,000 rafters each summer season, the study found, the busiest stretch of river by far.

The North Fork generally saw about 30 rafters per day on various sections of the river, which might not seem like much, but still typically fills launch sites in the peak summer months.