Residents back city council, say Flathead River is a great asset

Columbia Falls resident Michael Burr backed the city in maintaining and enhancing the Kreck Riverside Park.

Speaking to city councilmembers last week, he said the city should be promoting its river access and enhancing the park.

He suggested a set of rock stairs at the park to provide river access.

“The river in Columbia Falls is one of the key things to this community,” he said. “We really need to protect it” and river access, Burr told the council.

Burr’s sentiments were echoed by council and other members of the public at the meeting.

He said one of the reasons he moved to Columbia Falls was its proximity to the Flathead River.

A landowner adjacent to the Kreck Park earlier this year claimed the city should close the park because it was a nuisance to them.

The city said it has no intentions of closing the park. If anything, council plans on promoting its river access sites, which are numerous in and around the city.

Burr suggested the city could get further help from American Rivers, a river conservation organization.

There is currently access at the Kreck Park, River’s Edge Park, the Teakettle Fishing access, the Highway 2 Bridge and at the end of South Nucleus Avenue to name a few.

Also, lands south of the pedestrian/bike path in the Cedar Pointe subdivision provide legal access to the river.

Montana has a broad stream access law, which states, “all surface waters that are capable of recreational use may be so used by the public without regard to the ownership of the land underlying the waters,” below the ordinary high water mark.

There are some exceptions to the law, includhunting, most overnight camping, permanent duck blinds and the operation of all-terrain vehicles.

The law also does not give people the right to cross private property to gain access to the water. In this case, however, the city or the state have formal access sites to the river’s edge.

In addition, Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks does not consider the law to give a person carte blanche hiking along the river banks.

“If the land is posted as required by law, hiking without landowner permission and using the stream as a right -of-way or to gain access is prohibited unless it is incidental to other water-related recreation, such as fishing, being pursued by the recreationist between the ordinary high-water marks,” FWP notes in a brochure on the state stream access law.