Fish Creek State Park- Ambition Run Amok

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Fish creek is a unique drainage here by Missoula, that’s had a rough past. It’s steep, rocky county that has been logged heavily and burned often. In its current state, it is a dry, knapweed and tick infested scarred up landscape. It is however, an incredible cutthroat and bull trout fishery, and vital winter range for a struggling elk and mule deer population.

For the majority of the last 100 years, the lower elevations were owned by timber companies, and the higher elevations were National Forest. Because of this landownership, the valley has been almost completely undeveloped aside from a handful of small cabins and a couple campgrounds. All that came to risk in the late nineties and early 2000’s, when Plum Creek (the current timber company in ownership) started shifting its business model from logging to real estate. Plum creek began dividing the valley floor up into 200-600 acre cabin parcels. Luckily for the people of Western MT, The Nature Conservancy was able to step in and include this land in The Montana Legacy Project-
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/montana/mlp.pdf

Only two of the parcels went in to private ownership before the purchase, we barely dodged a bullet on it.

The idea of the Legacy Project was to transfer the ownership to the state through a purchase by FWP. The idea the whole time was to make a small state park on the Northern edge of the property, and manage the rest as a Wildlife Management Area. This Missoulian article from 2010 puts the numbers in place and gives a general idea of the concept we thought we were looking at-

http://missoulian.com/news/state-an...cle_0cf9670e-2c0e-11df-a9cb-001cc4c03286.html

You’ll notice the large percentage of money being funded by sportsman through either FWP or Pittman-Robertson. The purchase went ahead as stated, and for the last three years the property has been managed by FWP as a WMA, with a proposed state park.

In December of 2013, a draft proposal of the State Park was put out for public comment- http://stateparks.mt.gov/fwpDoc.html?id=61499

To say the state is ambitious on the development and extensiveness of the park would be an understatement. Within the proposal are a full hook up RV Park, paved trails, backcountry yurts, opening trails for seasonal car use, the restoration of a fire lookout for rental use, and restoring out of commission logging roads to become year around OHV trails. Keep in mind this is vital winter range for elk and mule deer, as well as the flanks of the most important bull trout spawning stream in the Clark Fork system.

Fish creek has been through a lot, but the one thing it has maintained is its wildness, and large tracts of hard to access country. It’s a slap in the face of the sportsmen that flipped the bill on this to have the state turn around and make the area less sportsman friendly than the timber companies maintained.

We should be incredibly thankful that we even have access to this country. At the same time, we did more or less pay for it , and do make up the majority of the recreational use in the drainage. We should have a lot of clout in this, and I think it’s our responsibility to exercise that.

Feel free to comment how you feel, but it sure does feel like we’re getting the shaft on this one.

Comment here - http://stateparks.mt.gov/news/publicNotices/board/pn_0004.html

 

[Ben Lamb]

This piece of ground was purchased for wildlife conservation & endangered species connectivity. The plan, as stated, reduces the impact it would have otherwise, especially when it comes to wolverines & Grizzly bears.

Bad idea in this location. I understand State Parks wanting to get better amenities, but maybe not in Fish Creek.

 

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I guess if this goes through it'll be nice to get the precedent set for the new Sun River WMA/go karts/mini golf the people of MT so badly need.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I guess if this goes through it'll be nice to get the precedent set for the new Sun River WMA/go karts/mini golf the people of MT so badly need.

When the 7 Lazy P was being considered, Parks had some outlandish ideas. Cost MT hunters an amazing place. I'm a big supporter of State Parks, but sometimes they get too far ahead of themselves.

 

[Sytes]

Nice summary Randy. Thanks. Comment shared.

 

[theat]

Thanks for the heads up. Comments sent.

I spend a good bit of time in that area, and with how close it is to Missoula, I would hate to see it become the next rattlesnake.

 

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We've still got today and tomorrow to get these comments in.

An article by the treasure Greg Tollefson on the subject-

http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/re...cle_69a054a0-89ba-11e3-88eb-0019bb2963f4.html

 

[MThuntr]

don't forget to comment on the plan by COB today

 

[Jwill]

Would be happy to put in a comment, anybody got a draft of what you sent to use as a starting point?

 

[Big Fin]

Comment provided. If I wanted to go to some theme park, I would travel to some urban area and stay in a KAO next to a busy interstate. This proposal is hardly in the spirit of Montana and all we do to protect wild places and make things better for wildlife.

To whoever came up with this park idea ------> Major League Fail!

 

[HSi-ESi]

This is the comment I supplied. Maybe not aggressive enough, but....

"I can see the creation of a small state park on the north end - but the expansion proposed in the Draft Management Plan is too aggressive. This is outside of the original intent when Fish Creek was purchased.

Full hookup RV parks, permanent OHV trails and back-country yurts are not a step forward for the history of Fish Creek."

 

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Looks promising...

Fish Creek State Park plan to be refined after concern from public

Rob Chaney-Missoulian

Proposals for a future Fish Creek State Park will get some refining before any decisions are made, after the State Parks and Recreation Board got an update on the management plan Wednesday.

“The public comments showed a fair amount of concern for the existing character of Fish Creek and its fish and wildlife resource values,” said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 state park manager Chet Crowser, who presented the update. “The board meeting today was our first chance to share all of that.”

The draft management plan has received 572 comments since it was unveiled Dec. 20.

The 5,603-acre state park is the largest in western Montana and second only to Makoshika State Park near Glendive statewide. It sits at the north end of a 41,000-acre parcel the state acquired from Plum Creek Timber Co. and the U.S. Forest Service as part of the Montana Legacy Project.

Fish Creek empties into the Clark Fork River about 40 miles west of Missoula near Alberton.

The area has a small existing campground popular with anglers, as well as numerous unofficial sites along Fish Creek. The draft plan suggested a large recreational vehicle park, new trails for motorized and nonmotorized use and the possibility of a hut-to-hut backcountry network.

“Generally most respondents who commented were concerned with the level of proposed developments in the draft plan and the potential for increased use and visitation to Fish Creek State Park and the larger Fish Creek drainage,” the public comment analysis stated.

It included 309 comments in that category, noting “many feel these proposed developments would increase the risk of environmental degradation, overcrowding and strain the ecosystem by increasing access to the area.”

Another 223 respondents asked FWP to be careful with the area’s natural resources, particularly its fish and wildlife habitat. They noted “the vision statement gives no sense of where the state park fits into the larger wilderness context,” and development plans should wait until habitat plans for the surrounding wildlife management area is worked out.

A third category with 118 commenters asked for a wide variety of recreation opportunities, “including developed camping, backcountry camping, yurts, huts, cabins and the rental of the Williams Peak Lookout.” While some in this group considered the park “as a regional destination that could support economic opportunities,” others “did not feel the economic potential is there for Mineral County.”

Crowser said the hut-to-hut idea was novel to Montana State Parks, although other states have had success with similar networks for hikers, cross-country skiers or mountain bikers.

“It was a concept that arose in early discussions on the potential opportunity there,” Crowser said. “We felt it was a large enough landscape where something like that could be considered.”

New trails attracted 114 comments, including a number from mountain bike riders who thought the park could become a regional destination. Off-road vehicle and all-terrain vehicle riders were also enthusiastic about the potential for trail loops and snowmobile routes.

However, many commenters raised concerns about the maintenance and safety costs of an expanded road network in the Fish Creek area.

Several writers asked that “all road closures must be immediately removed and full multi-use (including motorized) access allowed in accordance with the Mineral County Resource Use Plan.” But others, including elected Mineral County officials, “expressed a strong concern for the cost of development and maintenance in particular.”

Crowser said the board members took no action on the Fish Creek plan at Wednesday’s meeting and have imposed no deadline for future decisions or action.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment.

 

[Sytes]

It is nice to see results from a message sent. Thanks Randy for following up on the information for this area. What a great portion of our land. Maybe a bit more reason will be utilized when proceeding. It seems one way or the other it will move forward though now, with a bit more consideration for the footprint we leave.