Sheriff working with feds, state on possible charges in bus incident

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Department is working with state and federal officials on possible charges stemming from an incident Tuesday where a man got a bus stuck in the Flathead River just downstream from the Blankenship Bridge, Sheriff Brian Heino said Wednesday.

State law generally makes it illegal to drive a motor vehicle below the high water mark on state or federal waterways, with some exceptions, such as an approved stream crossing.

In this case, the driver of the bus was apparently trying to reach a free dispersed Forest Service campsite on a gravel bar along the river.

The river is still at high water, so the driver apparently decided to drive out into the water to make the turn onto the gravel bar on the west side of the river, but the bus got stuck sometime Tuesday afternoon.

Heino said the owner of the bus, who is from the Seeley Lake area, had it towed later that evening.

The Blankenship Fire Department responded to the scene and determined no fuel spilled into the river, the Forest Service said. No one was hurt. The bus — an old school bus — was empty save for the driver and his two dogs.

The water came up to the underbelly of the bus.

The free dispersed camp has been a point of controversy after more than 50 campers a night camped at the undeveloped site last summer.

Neighbors petitioned the Flathead National Forest, which owns the land, to make the area a day use only site. They cited the threat of wildfires, noise from the camp and pollution into the river as reasons for their request.

More than 200 people signed the petition earlier this year, but Forest Supervisor Kurt Steele decided to continue to allow free camping there at least through this summer.

Asked if this incident may change the Forest Service thinking on the camp, Flathead National Forest Service spokeswoman Tamara Mackenzie said there were no immediate plans to close it to overnight camping.

“The plan for this summer is still to monitor and observe the Blankenship dispersed camping area. Incidents such as this will be taken into consideration and evaluated for immediate public safety concerns and longer-term consideration through the comprehensive river management planning effort,” she said.

The River plan she cites is a plan that will ultimately determine river management of all three forks of the Flathead River in the Wild and Scenic River system. That plan is still in the works.

The river at Blankenship is part of the Wild and Scenic system.

Neighbors said the bus incident wasn’t the only one this summer. On June 3 a resident said he called 911 after he saw a pickup truck stuck in the water near the same location.

It apparently was able to get out on its own.

The camp, even with the high water, was still drawing people. On Tuesday, folks were camped there, but not to the degree they were last summer, when at times the gravel bar looked like a commercial campground.

The Forest Service said this year it planned on putting portable toilets at the site.

Neighbors have also said some of the roads to the camp have been built illegally — initially there was only one path on the county right-of-way that served the area, but other roads have been built since.

Mackenzie said some of the routes on the south end are unauthorized.

“There is an area on the southern end of the gravel bar that has unauthorized routes. These routes have been signed and are being monitored,” she said.