New Bibler Parkland Coming to West Kalispell
The Bibler Family Trust has proposed developing a 20-acre parcel adjoining the Parkline Trail and bypass to enhance the area’s beauty and connectivity
By Micah Drew
A roughly 20-acre parcel of land in Kalispell that abuts Ashley Creek, the Great Northern Historical Trail and the western terminus of the Parkline Trail is slated to become the newest parkland in town.
Carol Bibler and the Bibler Family Trust own the property on the west side of town and are looking to develop it into a public asset for residents of and visitors to Kalispell. On May 28, Bibler and members of the project team gave a presentation to the Kalispell City Council outlining their vision.
“We had been thinking for some time about the idea of creating a public park and gifting it to the City of Kalispell — we’ve been thinking and dreaming about this for about six years,” Bibler told the council. “Over that period of time, various members of our team have traveled to various parks, sometimes just opportunistically when we’re vacationing, and thought about the elements that to us seem to make these parks really great.”
Working with the Berger Partnership, a landscape architecture and urban design firm based out of Seattle, Bibler and her associates began to sketch out how to bring the currently undeveloped plat of land to life.
“This project is born of need and opportunity. The site has a lot of great assets around it with schools, connectivity to the Parkline Trail, the new density in apartments coming to that area,” Guy Michaelsen of Berger Partnership said. “This can be that living room, that front yard for those people who live downtown.”
The legacy of Sam Bibler, a longtime Flathead Valley conservationist and philanthropist, lives on through Bibler Home and Gardens above Foys Lake. The gardens feature tens of thousands of flowers planted every spring, fulfilling Sam Bibler’s vision of creating a “land painting.”
“The Bibler gardens are beautiful and amazing, but not terribly accessible in their existing spot,” Michaelsen said during his presentation. “Part of the opportunity of this park is to bring Bibler Gardens onto this site — not in the way we know Bibler gardens now, but to reimagine Bibler Gardens.”
A preliminary plan for the park includes a parking lot accessible from Fenn Way, the “heart of the park,” which could include a playground as well as unstructured play areas; historical park elements incorporating the still visible history of the railroad in the area; a Bibler Garden area; and multiple looped trails throughout.
Park access would be available from the existing Great Northern Historical Trail and the Parkline, as well as through several neighborhood access points.
Meandering along the edge of the property is Ashley Creek, which the project team hopes to incorporate into the parkland while also improving the riparian habitat and water quality.
“We really want to let the public experience how to love that creek more than ever before,” Michaelsen said.
The historic nature of the area, which formed a junction of the railway down to Somers and out towards Kila, will also be preserved. A marking with the year 1886 is still visible on the trestle bridge crossing over Spring Creek on the northern end of the property.
“The Trust’s intention is to create a park with safety, accessibility and historic character at the forefront of design,” Michaelsen said.
In addition to the Bibler Family Trust property, the master plan incorporates a section of the old railway running parallel to the Parkline Trail, known as the “Wye” property. The Kalispell City Council agreed to acquire that parcel with a buy-sell agreement in 2023 and expects to close on the sale this year following some final environmental assessments.
Kalispell city councilors and leaders spoke in favor of moving forward with the partnership to develop the area.
“One of the things we’d identified and talked about at the beginning when we were first designing plans for the Parkline is that there will continue to be opportunities for development,” Kalispell City Manager Doug Russel told the Beacon this week. “We’re so excited for this partnership and excited for this really great opportunity to expand on the Parkline Trail and build amenities in that area of town and really have a regional attraction for the community.”
“There’s probably not going to be any end to what we can do on the Parkline, it just takes people with vision and desire to move things forward,” he added. “Certainly the scope of development the Bibler Trust is bringing to the table really brings this core area development to a whole new level,” he added.