Agency Extends Public Comment on Holland Lake Lodge Permit

Flathead National Forest officials have extended the deadline for the public to weigh in on a proposal to approve a new special use permit for the incoming owners of the Holland Lake Lodge. The May 14 deadline affords members of the public an additional week to review information about the historic lodge’s pending sale, officials said, as well as details of the permit that would allow it to continue operating on public land.

Much of that information was not available on the project website when the agency initially began its 30-day scoping period on April 7. The new deadline accounts for the addition of new materials and a subsequent public meeting the forest hosted last week, according to a Tuesday press release.

First permitted in 1924, Holland Lake Lodge has been in continual operation under a special-use authorization from the forest “for over 100 years,” according to Flathead National Forest Supervisor Anthony Botello, who said the application under review seeks “to conduct the business in the same scope, intensity, size, scale, and footprint of the existing permit.”

Even though the proposed new permit would mirror the existing permit, Botello said he’s taking care to ensure members of the community have every opportunity to consider the application materials, due in part to the lingering skepticism that has trailed the lakeside resort property since a separate expansion proposal faltered in 2022.

“Because of the last round of proposed expansion, there is a lot of trepidation and a lot of hesitation that is totally understandable,” Botello told community members during the April 17 meeting at Swan Valley Elementary School in Condon. “But you know what we know now and as we get more information we will share that. Because people are interested. And that is how we conduct our public involvement — when people are interested and affected.”

Having received the application last October, Botello and his team of permit administrators initially launched an environmental review process on April 7, when they proposed authorizing a 20-year permit to Utah investors Eric Jacobsen and Thomas Knowles. Doing business as Holland Peak, LLC, the prospective new owners have a purchase agreement in place with the lodge’s current majority shareholder; however, the existing special-use permit automatically expires with a change in proprietorship, requiring reauthorization by the U.S. Forest Service.

“Leading up to our April 17 public meeting, a few members of the public requested information regarding the existing permit and components of the application for the new permit for Holland Lake Lodge Resort permit issuance,” according to the press release. “The Flathead National Forest was able to share both previously shared information and newly acquired documents with the public to help inform their comments.”

As the new investors await authorization to finalize their purchase of the lodge, forest officials have added materials to the queue of public documents on Holland Lake Lodge’s project page. The new documents include Holland Lake Lodge’s existing permit and the prospective new owners’ draft 2025 operating plan.

The project page now also includes information related to the agency-owned wastewater treatment facility that serves the lodge and a portion of the Holland Lake Campground and an RV dump station. During the lodge’s centennial anniversary last year, the owners did not open Holland Lake Lodge due to ongoing deficiencies with the system.

The wastewater treatment system will not be fully functional by this summer recreation season, Forest Service officials said. If a special use permit is issued to the potential buyers, this summer’s operations may include scaled-down activities than can be provided with limited or temporary wastewater facilities, such as weddings, boat rentals, and limited food and drink services.

Although environmental analysis of the treatment system’s replacement are separate from the special use authorization needed for the lodge’s new owners to assume control of the property, forest officials added the related materials in response to questions from the public.

Meanwhile, Botello said the agency’s preliminary assessment, including technical, environmental and financial screenings of the permit application, “appears to be consistent with a categorical exclusion,” exempting the project from documentation in an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

That determination has already generated pushback from at least one conservation advocacy group, which said the proposed use of a categorical exclusion violates NEPA because it fails to consider “cumulative and connected actions.” Keith Hammer, chair of the Swan View Coalition, said the agency had “put the wrong foot forward by downplaying the impacts and scope of the proposal.”

“The previous proposal to greatly expand the Lodge facilities offered opportunities for the Forest Service to learn from its missteps and to identify numerous issues with the existing lodge, existing wastewater facilities, and potential increases in recreational impacts to fish, wildlife, other resources, and people,” according to Hammer’s comments on the proposal. “Those issues are not negated by the current scaled-down proposal, nor is public faith restored when the new SUP applicant chooses not to discuss the details of its application.”

But multiple Swan Valley residents who attended the April 17 community meeting in Condon thanked Botello and the other agency permit administrators for their effort to make the process more transparent.

“I would like to thank those in our communities who have engaged in the projects public input process,” Botello said in the press release. “Providing information about this project to the public is very important and I very much appreciate the questions and comments we have received thus far.”

To submit a comment or for more information about the application, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/projects/flathead/landmanagement/projects and select Holland Lake Lodge Special Use Permit Issuance Proposal.

[email protected]