Summers in the Flathead are largely unrivaled anywhere else in the state, an advantage those in the tourism industry here use to their advantage. But after a particularly hard year, a new organization of businesses in the canyon spanning from Hungry Horse to West Glacier has formed to promote the area as a year-round destination.
The group, calling itself “Gateway to Glacier – the Canyon,” is working on ways to supplement its summer income with additional revenue from the shoulder seasons. This means relying less on Glacier National Park and more on the canyon’s resources, Doug Woehler, owner of the Historic Tamarack Lodge, said.
When the park closes Going-to-the-Sun Road, the tourists largely disappear, he said. Marion Foley, of the Abbott Valley Homestead, said most people don’t realize that many of the canyon businesses stay open through fall and winter.
“We have nine months of the rest of the year,” Foley said. “They don’t know in the winter time they only have to drive 30 minutes and they can step into a different scene.”
The organization met last week at the Historic Tamarack Lodge near Hungry Horse to work on a plan to expand commercial recreation opportunities in the surrounding Flathead National Forest. Recreation opportunities and business success are inextricably linked for many of the group’s members, which include rafting, lodging and outfitting companies, among others.
“Everybody in this room has been detrimentally impacted in the last year,” Woehler said.
Some of the biggest hurdles for businesses in the canyon are the tight restrictions on national forests, Woehler said. Public land cannot be used for profit without a permit from the U.S. Forest Service, and there are only a limited number of permits to go around.
For example, J & L RV Rentals holds the only snowmobiling permit for the area. There are only a few more winter permits available for other activities, according to Paula Peterson, the Hungry Horse District recreation specialist with the U.S. Forest Service.
Adding more winter permits would help accomplish the business owners’ goals, Canyon RV & Cabins owner Dee Brown said.
“That’s exactly the place we can start,” Brown said.
For Woehler, not having a permit means he can’t guide a fishing trip on the Hungry Horse Reservoir for his guests, nor can he or his staff guide a cross-country ski trip into the woods. Woehler and other business owners gathered at the meeting expressed similar frustrations.
Peterson explained the Forest Service’s policies on commercial opportunities and also told the business owners there may be changes in coming years. The forest is in line for a needs assessment in 2011, which means more recreation opportunities – such as snowmobiling on Desert Mountain, dog-sledding and guided cross-country skiing in the Middle Fork – may be allowed in certain areas.
But to the dismay of many present at the meeting, the process is a lengthy one, Peterson said, and requires an environmental analysis on the proposed changes. The business owners said they would complete a list of requests for the Forest Service to take into consideration during the assessment.
Darwon Stoneman of Glacier Outdoor Center said his business makes 90 percent of its money between June 20 and Aug. 20 – the 60 days from when school gets out to when fall sports begin.
“We can’t change that unless we have something else to offer other than Glacier National Park,” Stoneman said.
One idea is to groom a trail running parallel to U.S. Highway 2 connecting the Glacier Outdoor Center and the Green Valley Ranch, Stoneman said. But the Forest Service must approve such a project.
Other commercial ideas include sea kayaking on the reservoir, developing yurt systems, winter ski trips, overnight hiking trips and opening the water below the dam for fishing.
The group has a Facebook page and a calendar of events for the canyon area. It is working on a comprehensive marketing campaign, complete with logo and possibly a non-profit organization designation. Another potential project includes easy-to-read maps for tourists, highlighting recreational opportunities in the national forests in every season.
Working together will give canyon businesses more of a chance in the race for tourism dollars and freedom from relying on other chambers of commerce to promote them, Woehler said. And since the canyon businesses are facing unique struggles with national forest limitations, they should be part of the solution, he added.
For Stoneman, the new organization is a long time coming.
“Truthfully, we should have done this 10 years ago,” Stoneman said.