FWP seeks comment on Fish Creek trails
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) After a working group had insufficient time to reach consensus, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks now wants input on what trails the public wants at Fish Creek State Park and Wildlife Management Area.
On Tuesday, FWP opened a month-long public comment period on a document containing recommendations from a Fish Creek collaborative group. However, unlike with most working groups, the recommendations were made by individual members and weren’t voted on by the group.
“These recommendations are not reflective of group consensus as there was limited time for the collaborative members to discuss specific recommendations; thus no voting or prioritizing of recommendations took place,” according to the document.
Ten representatives of various user groups, including hikers, bikers, horsemen and motorized vehicle users, were selected last fall to be in the collaborative. After a bus trip to see select areas of the Fish Creek complex, the group members attended two daylong workshops where they received a brief overview of the area and its fish and wildlife, and then they presented ideas of roads and trails they’d want. All ideas presented by the different groups are included in the recommendation document, regardless of whether they conflicted with other groups’ preferences or not.
According to FWP’s document, “This short timeframe significantly hindered the group’s ability to fully consider the complexities, and conflicting interests present in the decision-making process. Several (collaborative) members strongly felt that additional time was necessary to thoroughly discuss and resolve critical issues and put forward a more comprehensive and detailed recreational trail plan to FWP.”
The issues are complex because the Fish Creek Complex is both a State Park and a much larger Wildlife Management Area, but FWP has blurred those distinctions over the past several years as it’s tried to come up with a management plan.
In 2010, FWP acquired Fish Creek, a former Plum Creek Timber Company property, from The Nature Conservancy for a wildlife management area. To come up with enough funding, former FWP Director Joe Maurier carved 5,600 acres out of the middle of the 42,000-acre wildlife management area for a state park.
It was like putting an amusement park in the middle of a wildlife refuge. As a result, when FWP tried to propose more recreational amenities that encroached into the wildlife management area as part of its first management plan in 2013, sportsmen and wildlife advocates pushed back. In the ensuing debate, the management plan was never finalized.
“We had a very engaged public. A lot of tension on that plan. And a huge volume of comments and concern about a lot of new recreational amenities and development,” said former Region 2 supervisor Randy Arnold in March 2023. “A lot of questions were raised about how does that relate to the wildlife management area. So we thought it best if we paused on that.”
After tourists flooded into Montana during the pandemic, overwhelming state parks and other public lands, FWP knew it had to try again. But because the management of Fish Creek tends to be contentious, FWP hired the Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Policy at the University of Montana to lead the planning process for a Fish Creek “recreation strategy.” While management plans are more detailed and prescriptive, Arnold said a strategy would allow FWP to “manage across major themes, some really clear specifics, but then give us space where individual project actions can be handled when we have capacity and time.”
Several stakeholders were concerned that expanded recreation opportunities and development will make Fish Creek a “recreation destination,” causing increased degradation to wildlife, fishery health, and the visitor experience. A majority of those who participated in scoping interviews said FWP should prioritize protection of wildlife habitat over recreation use, especially because law enforcement in the area was almost nonexistent.
Even so, the draft strategy released in September 2023 planned to enlarge developed camping areas and create more parking areas outside of the state park for off-road-vehicle trailers. However, motorized vehicle users wanted more off-road trails and amenities.
“In the draft (strategy), it’s very disappointing that there’s no acknowledgment of Capital Trail Riders or Montana Trail Vehicle Riders even being part of the plan and they go back to the original draft that was put out in 2013. I don’t think that their comments were considered by FWP before they came out with this strategy,” said Citizens for Balanced Use spokesman Kerry White in September 2023. “And I hear Region 2 say we have a lot of human waste. Maybe we put some latrines up. But I think if we’re going to concentrate all the use on the gravel roads, that’s not a desirable opportunity for recreation.”
When FWP finalized the strategy a year later, several details had been eliminated or pushed off until a later date contingent on funding. For example, expansion of the campgrounds was shelved until FWP could get funding for an environmental assessment.
But now, FWP is pushing forward with working on roads and trails within the Fish Creek Complex. Within the collaborative group, mountain bikers and horseback riders said they were satisfied with limiting their use to trails within the state park, although they would prefer separate trails.
The three group members representing motorized use - motorcycles, ATVs and larger UTVs - want access to more of the Fish Creek complex, and they want trails rather than roads. Jim Merifield presented six potential routes for OHV/ATV riders that would use existing roads through the state park and wildlife management area, although 80% of them are currently closed. Short connectors would also need to be built between dead-end roads to create loops. Jerry Hatcher, representing the side-by-side UTV drivers, recommended that all roads be opened but turn them into trails.
However, some people recommended closing dead-end and spur roads and creating a seasonal winter closure for the wildlife management area, except for foot traffic. Some also advocated for increased monitoring of recreation impacts and visitor education.
After the comment period closes on April 17, FWP will review and summarize the public comments received. The input will help inform FWP’s internal review and consideration of next steps, according to the FWP announcement. FWP said it would evaluate any trail proposals for potential negative effects on fish and wildlife.
Comments can be submitted online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.