Recent coverage and public debate about Whitefish Lake, shoreline access, fluctuating lake levels, and marina proposals reveal a growing and uncomfortable reality: our public lakes are slowly being treated as private amenities for those fortunate enough to own shoreline property.
I do not own lakefront or river property. Like many Montanans, I access our lakes through public launches, marinas, and shared facilities. These lakes are not private preserves, they are public waters, held in trust for everyone. That principle should not be lost simply because growth has made access more contentious.
Lakefront property owners understandably want to protect their views, peace, and investment. But personal preference cannot become the standard by which public access is restricted. A lake surrounded by “no marinas,” “no docks,” and “no access here” policies does not become protected, it becomes exclusive.
Compounding this problem is the fact that our current lakeshore rules and regulations are largely written around private docks and private shoreline access. There is very little meaningful guidance, clarity, or accommodation in those regulations for either public marinas or properly managed commercial marinas. The regulatory framework, intentionally or not, favors individual private use while making shared, managed access far more difficult to permit, defend, and finance. That imbalance pushes lake use toward exclusivity rather than thoughtful public access.
At present, most lake users are funneled into a small number of public boat launches, sometimes little more than old highway right-of-ways. Anyone who has used them during peak season knows the reality: congestion, safety issues, repeated shoreline disturbance, dirty vehicles backing into the water all day long, and frustrated users trying to squeeze into limited space. Concentrating access into a handful of ramps is neither environmentally superior nor safer, it simply shifts impacts to fewer, overburdened locations. Now some locations are even charging to use the boat ramps, what’s next.
Well-designed, properly managed marinas offer a better alternative. Boats stored in the water reduce constant launching and retrieval, limit shoreline damage, improve safety, and allow for oversight of fueling, waste handling, and general lake conduct. These facilities can be regulated, monitored, and improved over time. Unmanaged congestion at ramps cannot.
The real problem is not marinas themselves, it is that access has increasingly been limited to a small number of exclusive, high-cost facilities. When only a few marina locations are allowed, slip prices skyrocket, and average Montana families are priced out. That outcome does nothing to protect water quality. It simply reserves lake access for those with the deepest pockets.
If we are serious about both protecting our lakes and honoring their public nature, then we must support appropriately located, professionally managed marinas that are genuinely open to the public and priced within reach of normal users. Strong environmental standards and enforcement should absolutely be part of that equation—but blanket opposition to access is not environmental stewardship. It is exclusion.
Our lakes are one of northwest Montana’s greatest shared resources. They should not quietly evolve into private backyards for a few while everyone else is told to stay away. Thoughtful planning, fair access, and responsible management can—and must—coexist.
Marc Liechti lives in Lakeside.