Whitefish Legacy Partners Kicks Off Month-long Trail Challenge, Showcases New Education Programs with Earth Day Bash
The weekend events include a history walk showcasing the Whitefish Trail’s legacy, a stargazing party and an orienteering event. The hit-the-trail fundraising challenge starts May 1.
By Tristan Scott
Stewards of the Whitefish Trail want locals and visitors to know about the rich history of a community trail system established 15 years ago, as well as the ways in which it has continued to grow. They also want to share news about the future of an organization whose mission to promote local recreation and conservation can sometimes overshadow the educational opportunities it provides across the Flathead Valley.
This weekend, on April 26 and 27, the Whitefish Legacy Partners (WLP) will showcase the full range of its nearly two-decade community-wide collaboration. That’s resulted not only in 47 tangible trail miles, but also a stacked curriculum of education programming designed to fit all ages and learning stages in order to foster an enduring legacy of conservation and recreation stretching into the future.
For Haley King, the nonprofit’s first full-time education coordinator, the upcoming Hit the Trail Earth Day Bash is a perfect venue to bring longtime locals up to speed about the latest programming developments, while providing newcomers to the area with a history lesson of the trail system’s inner-workings.
“This is a chance to let folks know about all of the amazing conservation work Whitefish Legacy Partners has done to protect so much land, which is especially important considering how many visitors we have and how many people use the trail now, but who don’t necessarily know about its history as a grassroots community project,” King said.
To deliver that history lesson, several of WLP’s founders — Greg Poncin, Steve Thompson and WLP Executive Director Heidi Van Everen — will be on hand Saturday, April 26, to lead a history walk on the Whitefish Trail from the Lion Mountain trailhead to the dramatic cliff section above Skyles Lake. The roughly 2.5-mile round-trip hike is open to all ages and abilities. Refreshments, including coffee and light snacks, will be provided. Attendees should RSVP for the event by April 26.
The Whitefish Trail stands out as WLP’s anchor project, the result of a community collaboration to preserve clean water, public access, recreation, and working forests. It began conceptually in 2003 as development pressure intensified in the Flathead Valley and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) turned an eye toward real estate proposals for school trust lands in Whitefish.
Some of the land in question had existing, user-built trail networks on it, and the prospect of losing prime recreation to development worried members of the Whitefish community. The notion of an expanded trail unified the community, and they took their concerns to the Montana Land Board, which chartered the 2004 Whitefish Area Trust Lands Advisory Committee, consisting of numerous stakeholders, including the DNRC.
The committee drafted the Whitefish Area Trust Lands Neighborhood Plan and over the next year brainstormed possible uses for the land, eventually settling on the creation of a permanent public recreation corridor. By reimagining ways to manage and protect the lands while providing revenue for schools, WLP demonstrated that outdoor recreation could be both an environmentally and financially productive use of an intact local landscape.
To celebrate the strides WLP has made over the past two decades, the Earth Day Bash events will include an activity at one of the trail system’s latest additions.
On Saturday evening, starting at 8:30 p.m., local astronomer and Polebridge resident Jim Rittenburg will gather folks at the Holbrook Trailhead on Big Mountain Road for a constellation tour of the sky. Attendees can look at various celestial objects through telescopes, including the planet Jupiter. They should register and RSVP for the event online by April 26.
On Sunday, April 27, members of the public can join Whitefish Legacy Partners and Grizzly Orienteering for an introduction to the sport of orienteering. While prior experience is not required, participants can select from a variety of different course maps ranging from beginner to advanced. For more information and to register check out the event site here.
While the activity-filled weekend offers something for all trail-users, and is a perfect way to celebrate Earth Day, it will also serve as a kick-off for the annual Hit the Trail Challenge, a month-long community fundraising event that encourages use of the Whitefish Trail on foot, bicycle or horseback.
According to WLP Program Manager Nathan Tuebner, the trail challenge provides an opportunity to raise money for the trail system as usage begins to pick up coming out of the winter months.
Last year, hundreds of participants logged nearly 30,000 miles along the Whitefish Trail, which covers 47 miles around the city with 15 accessible trailheads. The Wave was the top performing workplace team, logging more than 1,050 miles.
This year, the challenge coincides with Connect Whitefish’s Walk ‘N’ Roll initiative, which encourages locals to walk, bike or roll instead of driving to reduce congestion in city limits.
The seventh-annual challenge comes with a fundraising incentive, where every mile logged on the Whitefish Trail will be matched with a $1 donation to the nonprofit. Individuals, school groups, nonprofits and community groups can participate for free, and workplace teams can take part for a small fee. Teams compete for the coveted Shelldon the Turtle trophy, awarded to the team with the highest average mileage logged by members.
Miles can be logged using an online form, by submitting a paper log sheet, or by uploading an activity to Strava and joining the Hit the Trail Challenge club.
Throughout May, Whitefish Legacy Partners will tally all submitted Whitefish Trail miles and human powered commuter trips and celebrate participants’ progress with weekly updates and raffle prizes. according to Tuebner.
“May is the perfect time to hit the trail and ditch the car,” Tuebner said. “Mud season is behind us, larch trees are budding, and the trail is in great shape.”
King said the seasonal surge in trail use this spring is also a good time to highlight the year-round education programming that Whitefish Legacy Partners facilitates, and which the expanding trail system accommodates. That includes over 50 free outdoor education programs popular events every year, like mushroom hunts and bear aware events, as well as school field trips, guided hikes, youth-specific activities, an adult speaker series, camps, and more. To learn more about education programming, check out WLP’s summer calendar here.
“We develop curriculum and facilitate field trips for hundreds of kids across the valley,” King said. “This is a critical part of our mission to engage all kinds of people of all ages in outdoor activities so they can learn to love and protect our outdoor spaces.”