Board approves $60K to plan public use of Fort Missoula ponds
Martin Kidston
(Missoula Current) A long-delayed plan to open two ponds near Fort Missoula Regional Park to the public will begin to take shape and could go to construction within the next three years.
The Impact Fee Advisory Board on Monday approved a request from Parks and Recreation for $60,000 to round out the cost of launching a master plan for the site. Doing so would enable the city to address a number of safety issues and open the property to the public.
“The site is not developed at all. We have it closed because we haven't done any construction related to how to guide any use out there,” said Ryan Applegate. “We'd like to have that complete and a basic Phase 1 trail system, and the ponds signed and properly stewarded. It's mainly a safety concern from Parks.”
The city-owned parcel spans 89 acres and formerly served as a gravel mine from roughly 1950 to 2012. The mining resulted in two deep-water ponds covering 27 acres and 10 acres each.
The ponds also sit near the Bitterroot River and, according to the Five Valleys Audubon Society, offer some of the best bird habitat in the Missoula Valley. Over the past five years, as many as 231 bird species have been documented at the ponds, which represent the only large water body in the Missoula Valley.
“The site is currently closed to the public, but we're working to do a master plan and move forward with Phase 1 so we can get safety mitigated and get it open to the public,” said Applegate. “The $60,000 in impact fees would help us master plan that site and get ready for multiple funding opportunities to develop this site after we're safe and able to open the site to the public.”
The Five Valleys Audubon Society, the Montana Natural History Center and the Clark Fork Coalition are looking to see the ponds established as “a highly valued and sought after natural area” within the valley.
“This project has been in the works for 20 years,” said Rob Erickson, a member of the Impact Fee Advisory Board. “With Fort Missoula Regional Park, this would be such a perfect adjunct to that.”