River cleanup is Saturday
A family of rafters hit the North Fork of the Flathead on July 4 in this file photo.
Flathead Rivers Alliance is seeking volunteers for the 2021 Flathead Waters Cleanup event on Saturday, Aug. 14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Volunteers are needed in several capacities including hiking the shoreline and floating or scuba diving the three forks of the Flathead River. Individuals or teams interested in helping can email info@flatheadrivers.org. More information is available at flatheadrivers.org/get-involved.
A celebration and prize giveaway will follow the event at a separate location. Please go to the event website for details.
This countywide event hosted by the Flathead Basin Commission and the Flathead Conservation District brings together agencies, organizations, and community members in an all-day volunteer event to clean-up trash and celebrate the region’s waterways.
The Three Forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River is administered by the Flathead National Forest with portions cooperatively managed with Glacier National Park and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The Flathead Rivers Alliance is a new friends group created to support protection and management of the Three Forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River (the North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork) and enhance the outstanding and remarkable values that include geology, ethnographic, history, wildlife, vegetation, fisheries, water quality, and recreation. The Alliance and its agency partners are invested in developing a new generation of river stewards.
This one-day clean-up event is an extension of the cooperative efforts Flathead Rivers Alliance and its agency partners conduct throughout the summer. Glacier National Park and Flathead National Forest run routine river patrol crews while the Alliance coordinates volunteer River Ambassador crews that staff pop-up information booths at popular river access points and serve as citizen scientists collecting river-user and wildlife data while floating the river. River Patrol crews will have focused patrols during the one-day event inventorying larger trash and debris in and along the river to be removed later. They will also provide river support for volunteer scuba dive teams helping in the cleanup efforts in harder to reach river locations.
For questions about the event, contact Emilie Henry, Coordinator, City of Kalispell and Flathead Basin Commission at ehenry@kalispell.com or (406) 249-2241.