Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Awards Columbia Falls $70,000 for Upgrades to River’s Edge Park Pond

The city of Columbia Falls will once again partner with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to reel in improvements at River’s Edge Park — this time looking to make its fishing pond more accessible.

City councilors on Monday night unanimously approved an agreement with FWP for a $70,000 grant from the agency’s William Kamps Memorial Fund to go toward construction costs for the River’s Edge Fishing Pond Accessibility project, which will add a fishing pier and multiple fishing stands to the park’s pond.

The city will also contribute $70,000 to cover the remaining balance of the roughly $140,000 project. These funds, which are already set aside in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, will come from the city’s resort tax fund, city officials said.

“The grant enables full buildout of the accessibility pond while freeing up city funds for other future Parks and Recreation initiatives, including updated signage,” City Manager Eric Hanks said. “Without it, the project would have been re-scoped to under $100,000, likely limited to pier construction only.”

The bidding process will begin next week with the intention of completing construction early in the spring before the water rises in the pond, Hanks said.

The fishing pond accessibility project is just one piece of an ongoing multi-year project to revamp the city’s largest park. A 2019 River’s Edge Park Master Plan — which broke the park revitalization into six smaller phases to accomplish the work as funding became available — estimated the total cost of the project to be about $1.7 million.

The fishing pond was an early addition in 2019 and resulted from a multi-organization collaboration, with the city, FWP and the Flathead Land Trust taking the lead on the project.

Throughout the years, FWP has continued to stay involved with the pond, which also supports its Hooked on Fishing program, by annually stocking the pond with Westslope Cutthroat Trout from the Washoe Park Trout Hatchery, according to city documents.

Now, the organization’s grant will help expand accessibility at the pond for both people with disabilities as well as those who are just looking for a better entry point to the water.

“What we’re looking at doing is adding spots; a fishing pier where you would be able to take someone in a wheelchair or someone disabled would be able to go out over the water and fish in the pond on the south end,” Mayor Donald Barnhart told meeting attendees on Monday.

“Then in eight other spots, we would be putting in steps or fishing slabs, fishing stands down to the water so that folks can get better accessibility to that pond that was built several years ago,” Barnhart said.

More than half of the project’s cost will go toward the estimated $81,000 fishing pier, which will be about 16 feet by 16 feet in size. The project will also fund four fishing stands and four fishing slabs equally distributed around the pond.

The fishing stands will be designed in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accessibility Guidelines, Hanks said.

“The project enhances safe, accessible use of this key community asset,” Hanks said. “Late-season water level drops in the pond currently limit access, particularly for our youngest and oldest visitors.”

The city’s parks and recreation committee will meet on Dec. 8 to further discuss the fishing pond and all the River’s Edge projects budgeted for 2026, Hanks said on Monday.

[email protected]