USFS approves $3M wastewater facility for Holland Lake Lodge
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) The Flathead National Forest has approved the construction of a new wastewater treatment facility at Holland Lake. Locals argue that taxpayers are paying for a project that mainly benefits a private company.
On Tuesday, the Flathead National Forest announced it completed its planning for and has approved the Holland Wastewater Treatment System Reconstruction project. Flathead Forest supervisor Anthony Botello used a categorical exclusion to approve the renovation of the wastewater treatment facility that serves mainly Holland Lake Lodge but also the Holland Lake Campground and RV dump station.
On March 2, the proposal was published on the Flathead Forest website, according to Botello’s decision document. At the same time, Holland Lake Lodge owner Eric Jacobsen had applied to the Missoula City-County Board of Health for a variance to use a 50-year-old wastewater storage tank while the wastewater facility was being repaired. The grassroots group Save Holland Lake protested, saying the tank appeared to leak and wasn’t designed to handle the loads of hundreds of summertime guests. Jacobsen ultimately withdrew his request after refusing to pay for a leak test.
Botello put the proposal out to public comment and then extended the comment period until Aug. 3, the day before he released his decision. Based upon the 155 comments he received, Botello said he decided to reduce the size of the proposed wastewater lagoon system. The system will be designed for a capacity of around 4,000 gallons a day in the summer but the proposed capacity of 3,000 gallons a day for winter was cut almost in half.
Previously, sewage from the lodge was piped to two large septic tanks near the wastewater lagoons. Those tanks will be eliminated and wastewater from the lodge will be conveyed directly to the new aerated lagoon once it’s built. The septic tanks serving the campground will remain.
Members of Save Holland Lake submitted a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the proposal to rebuild the lagoons. They received an engineer’s estimate that the renovation project would cost a total of $3.6 million. Only $300,000 of that is needed to upgrade the campground vault toilets and add holding tanks for the RV dump station.
Botello’s decision included no financial information, so it’s unknown how the reduction in the system capacity would affect the costs.
Save Holland Lake argues that the renovation is bigger than what is needed and taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill for a $3 million wastewater facility that benefits a private business. Some initial research conducted by Save Holland Lake appears to indicate that the Forest Service doesn’t have legal authority to use Congressionally mandated funds to improve facilities for a private business. It’s rumored that Jacobsen paid $2 million for the lodge, which tax records value at around $1.4 million. So taxpayers are paying more for the wastewater facility than the lodge is worth.
“It’s a ridiculous subsidy using public dollars for a private business,” said Save Holland Lake member David Roberts. “In two years he could say ‘This isn’t turning out how I wanted, I’m burned out on it,’ and turn around and sell the lodge and probably get twice what he paid.”
Another organization, The Stewards of the Swan Valley, agrees that the proposed system is larger than the existing lagoon system but is still looking into the details of the plan.
“We’re aware of concerns that the proposed wastewater treatment system is larger and the Forest Service will use millions of dollars in taxpayer money to build a system that primarily benefits the private lodge on public land. We’ll determine next steps based on a close analysis of the proposal and public comments.” said Grace Siloti, Stewards of the Swan Valley president in a statement.
Save Holland Lake was after POWDR, a Utah-based adventure resort corporation and former part-owner of Holland Lake Lodge, pushed in September 2022 to expand the Holland Lake Lodge into a facility that would cater to three times the number of visitors, not only in the summer but year-round. The higher numbers of tourists would put a greater burden on everything in the Swan Valley from roads to emergency services.
FOIA requests by Save Holland Lake revealed that the Flathead National Forest had been working with POWDR behind the scenes to approve the new operations plan.
One of the issues Save Holland Lake focused on was the sewage lagoons that serve both the Holland Lake Lodge and the nearby Holland Lake campground. The group found in 2023 that the lagoons had been improperly built and maintained, and the liners of the wastewater lagoons had failed and had been contaminating the groundwater for at least two decades.
POWDR finally withdrew its application for a special use permit to operate the Holland Lake Lodge in February 2024.
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.