Local Trail Groups Sound Alarm Over Proposed DNRC Timber Harvest at Spencer Mountain, Beaver Lakes
With public comment due Feb. 14, Whitefish Legacy Partners and Flathead Area Mountain Bikers are encouraging trail users to weigh in on a project that could lead to trail closures and damage
By Tristan Scott
A proposed timber harvest on state trust land near Whitefish is generating concern among local trail groups that the project could scar the viewshed and negatively affect community recreation areas and public trail systems.
The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) is considering the forest management project at Spencer Mountain and Beaver Lakes northwest of Whitefish, which are part of its Kalispell and Stillwater units, respectively. Both areas have extensive trail networks built and maintained by Whitefish Legacy Partners (WLP), which is responsible for the Whitefish Trail system, and the Flathead Area Mountain Bikers (FAMB), a nonprofit that prioritizes stewardship of Spencer Mountain’s trails and trailheads among its goals and responsibilities.
The timber projects propose harvesting approximately 3 million board feet of timber from a 1,700-acre project area on Spencer Mountain and a 2,800-acre project area around Beaver Lakes using a combination of commercial thinning, overstory removal, individual tree selection, seed-tree harvesting, and single-tree selection prescriptions. The proposed harvest would contribute to the DNRC’s sustained yield mandated by state statute, according to the state agency, while also promoting forest health, reducing fuel loading, and managing for insect infestation and root rot.
The project would support public schools, while making improvements to 33 miles of existing road (10 miles at Spencer and 23 miles at Beaver Lakes) “to better the function and drainage of the haul route.”
The DNRC is currently in the scoping phase of its environmental assessment as required by the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA).
According to WLP, which is encouraging its supporters to submit their thoughts and opinions about the project to DNRC before the Feb. 14 deadline for public scoping, the proposal includes lands protected by the city of Whitefish under its 2014 Public Recreation Use Easement (PRUE) at Beaver Lakes, which cost $7.3 million, and at Spencer Mountain, where the city, WLP and FAMB are licensed to develop and maintain recreational trails and amenities through a 10-year Land Use License that costs $17,000 annually and also supports the school trust.
“We expect the timber sale will occur Fall 2025 through 2027 with significant recreation closures planned,” according to WLP’s recent post to its website. “The biggest impacts, trail closures, and anticipated damage is expected at Spencer Mountain as the city holds a 10-year agreement with the State, not a permanent easement.”
“We are concerned this proposal will leave a shocking scar on the landscape that will be visible from Highway 93 west of Whitefish and will negatively impact our favorite community recreation areas,” the post warns.
The post also includes before-and-after satellite imagery and aerial photographs of timber harvests on State School Trust Lands near Beaver and Woods lakes representing the impacts of DNRC’s 2022 seed tree forest management project.
“We believe a similar prescription on Spencer Mountain would be too severe — and would result in an ugly scar on Whitefish’s western gateway and viewshed and the proposed harvest will damage the popular existing, licensed trail system,” according to WLP.
Additionally, WLP recommends that DNRC include steps in its proposal to minimize impacts to the landscape and public trails by conducting the project during winter, or, alternatively, by limiting trail closures to weekdays during work hours.
The timber harvest also does not mention a Spencer Mountain Recreation Expansion proposal submitted to and accepted by the DNRC last February, which omission WLP said raises additional concerns.
“The proposed timber sale does not acknowledge this proposal — and it should,” according to WLP. “The area is important to the community’s future recreation interests and the state should prioritize these community strategies and willingness to generate revenue on behalf of Montana schools and universities.”
The DNRC proposal offers details about the project’s scope and the types of prescribed forest treatments, but does not include details about how it would lessen impacts to the existing recreational trails at Spencer Mountain.
For FAMB, the proposal’s failure to acknowledge the project area as a popular hub for recreational trail users is a major oversight.
“This is our chance to emphasize the importance of the trails and recreation at Spencer while encouraging DNRC to protect existing trails and allow for future expansion,” according to a FAMB social media post. “FAMB is thankful for the opportunity to work with local DNRC officials to minimize impacts to the trails, and we want to continue to support sustainable forestry at Spencer and elsewhere. However, the current proposal does not officially recognize recreation at Spencer and includes aggressive harvesting in areas with our licensed trails.”
The proposal does list among its objectives plans to “design, implement and coordinate a forest management project to maintain existing recreational uses and include provisions for any proposed future recreational uses that have been identified in the Beaver Lakes Area Public Recreation Use Easement … as well as develop solutions (mitigations) to minimize conflicts with these uses” during and after the project’s completion.
“The proposed harvest would contribute to the DNRC’s sustained yield as mandated by state statute to sell approximately 60 [million board feet] of timber annually and continue to produced revenue over time,” according to the agency’s initial proposal published Jan. 14.
DNRC officials did not respond to the Beacon’s request for comment in time for this story.
Public comment should be submitted to Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Attn: Alex Golden, Kalispell Unit, 655 Timberwolf Pkwy, Kalispell; or by email or phone at [email protected] and (406) 751-2265.