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Recreation

Flathead Forest Nixes Plan to Build Aerial Tram on Columbia Mountain

Hospitality outfit Pursuit Glacier Park Collection will review the Forest Service decision in hopes of revising its concept for a sky tram in Hungry Horse

By Tristan Scott
A view of Columbia Mountain (right) and Teakettle Mountain from Whitefish Mountain Resort. Beacon File Photo

Pursuit, the regional travel, lodging and hospitality group with commercial properties in and around Glacier National Park, will begin reworking its plans to build an aerial tramway scaling Columbia Mountain after U.S. Forest Service officials rejected the preliminary proposal last week.

Gary Rodgers, vice president and general manager of Pursuit’s “Glacier Park Collection,” said the company submitted the tramway concept to the Flathead National Forest last summer for “initial screening and review.” Describing the process as “in its preliminary phase,” Rodgers said the company would study the agency’s decision in hopes of revising and resubmitting the proposal in the future.

“We do view this as an evolutionary process and we believe this project has merit,” Rodgers said in a phone interview with the Beacon. “Our go-forward plan is to review the U.S. Forest Service’s formal decision, which we’ve not yet received. We are at a very preliminary stage and although our plan has not been accepted we do view this as an opportunity to take the Forest Service’s input, review it and decide how we could change our plan or address any concerns they have. If the project does get accepted it would be a very lengthy public process that would occur over a couple of years. That’s been our intent all along.”

Deputy Flathead National Forest Supervisor Tami MacKenzie said planning officials received Pursuit’s proposal about six months ago and, after an “internal proposal screen,” decided not to accept the project, the details of which are not publicly available.

According to MacKenzie, it’s common for the agency to vet proposals ahead of the public scoping process and prior to prescribing one of several tiers of environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

“We get at least 100 proposals a year that never make it anywhere,” MacKenzie said. “Once we run it through the screen, then we go public with it. That is truly the beginning of the public involvement process. That has at times been really hard for the community to understand.”

In its preliminary review of Pursuit’s aerial tram proposal, MacKenzie said planners raised concerns about constructing a facility in an area designated for primitive non-motorized use area and on an aspect of Columbia Mountain that is included on the U.S. Forest Service’s register of Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRA), which furnish public lands with protections aimed at controlling road-building and other development activities.

“This project in particular would have required putting the top of the tram in an Inventoried Roadless Area, which would have required an amendment to our forest plan,” MacKenzie said. “We felt really strongly that, as recent as the forest plan is, and given that we’re still determining which areas of our forest are appropriate for recreational use, we felt really strongly that we are not willing to do a forest plan amendment.”

Although Flathead National Forest officials have begun the process of revising the 2018 Forest Plan, including identifying areas of recommended wilderness that could be opened to snowmobile use and scoping for other motorized activities, MacKenzie said the tramway project didn’t pass muster upon initial review.

“A lot of public engagement went into informing the revised forest plan,” MacKenzie said. “We just didn’t think it was time.”

The Flathead National Forest has recently faced criticism for a perceived lack of public engagement, including earlier this month when agency officials announced they would “cease evaluation” of a contentious expansion proposal at Holland Lake Lodge. Located in the Swan Valley, the historic property operates through a special use permit that allows private individuals and corporations to provide concessions on public land. Among the concerns raised about the lodge’s expansion under new ownership by Utah-based ski resort company POWDR was a lack of public involvement and an insufficient environmental review process.

Regarding the tram proposal, Rodgers said Pursuit welcomes a robust environmental review and public engagement process even as it gauges the project’s next steps.

“We are excited by this project. We view this as a front-country project versus a backcountry project that would connect to an already very busy Highway 2 corridor and provide an opportunity for people to do something different to enhance their stay here,” Rodgers said. “We think that it provides all age groups and ability levels an opportunity to experience the national forest in a way that they can’t do today, and we are hopeful that the community will be supportive. But we certainly understand that a project of this nature will be very high profile, so we are going to be very receptive to feedback.”

According to Rodgers, Pursuit’s proposal to the Flathead National Forest included building the aerial tramway’s upper terminal about 1,000 feet below the 7,234-foot summit of Columbia Mountain, and constructing a base facility at the site of a former U.S. Forest Service campground in Hungry Horse, north of the South Fork Flathead River bridge. Although Rodgers said the highest concentration of facilities and commercial infrastructure would be located at the base terminal, the proposal for the upper terminal includes building viewing platforms and offering food and beverage services.

“What we are proposing would have no roads built to the top of the mountain and anything operating up there would be run off renewable energy,” he said. “We would keep the footprint minimal and while we’re not envisioning a full-scale bar and restaurant up there, we recognize there would be some food and beverage offerings in order to meet the needs of our guests.”

The aerial tram would operate using a single tower and rise above the forest canopy, Rodgers said, minimizing any degradation to the natural viewshed. It also wouldn’t necessitate clearing timber for “roads or lift lines or anything like that,” he said.

“We think it would be pretty unobtrusive,” Rodgers said. “Unlike a chairlift or a gondola, which operate closer to the ground, a big difference for an aerial tramway is there would only be one tower. We would use all the latest and greatest technology to make sure visibility was limited.”

Describing the project as “complicated,” Rodgers said the company has already worked with consultants to ensure its feasibility.

“We know we could get it done,” he said. “One of the reasons we are focused on this project is we think it provides visitors and residents alike with a different way of taking in the splendor of northwest Montana without feeling like you have to go into Glacier National Park.”

Pursuit, which is owned by Viad Corp, bills itself as “a collection of inspiring, unforgettable travel experiences in Alaska, Montana, the Canadian Rockies and Vancouver B.C.” Viad owns a number of travel and lodging sites across North America. The company’s Glacier Park Collection includes the Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier; the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park; the Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish; the St. Mary Lodge and Resort; the Apgar Village Lodge; Motel Lake McDonald; the Belton Chalet; and the West Glacier Motel and Cabins.

For generations, Pursuit operated as Glacier Park Inc. (GPI) and held the primary concessioner contract inside Glacier National Park, operating its historic hotels and lodges. In 2013, GPI lost its contract with the National Park Service after it was outbid by Xanterra Parks and Resort. At the time, the change sent shockwaves through the local community and GPI shifted its business model.

Since then, however, the company has continued to grow, and in 2014 it paid $17 million to purchase a suite of businesses in West Glacier from the Lundgren family. The sale also included 200 acres of land on which GPI built the West Glacier RV park.

Earlier this year, Pursuit bought Glacier Raft Co. in West Glacier, where the outfitter had been family owned for 46 years.

Throughout its transitions and growth, Rodgers said the company has remained a responsible steward in the communities it serves while working to maintain their character.

“We are always focused on community and it was always our intention that if this project took the next step that it would be through a very public process with a full [Environmental Impact Statement] and [National Environmental Policy Act] review. We view that process as an opportunity to gain input from our surrounding communities, especially Hungry Horse, Columbia Falls and the greater Flathead Valley. We would certainly want community support and while we think this project has merit we certainly understand there is a lot of anti-growth sentiment in our communities. Having said that, we think this project would provide a different and unique opportunity for visitors and residents alike to explore this piece of northwest Montana.”