Federal Agencies Release Proposed Rewrite of Flathead River Management Plan

Last updated in 1980 and beset with delays for nearly a decade, the long-overdue rewrite of a plan to guide management actions on the Flathead River’s wild and scenic three forks — including sections in Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness — is ready for public review.

Federal managers with the Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park on Tuesday released draft versions of the Flathead Comprehensive River Management Plan (CRMP) and associated environmental assessment. Together, the documents describe the existing conditions of the three forks of the Flathead River to establish a baseline; identify desired conditions; assess the river system’s values; set user capacities; and define a range of management actions needed to achieve those desired conditions and values.

The draft plan also contains a monitoring plan designed to gather real-time data on river use, track long-term trends and assess the effectiveness of management actions. 

The Flathead National Forest, in partnership with Glacier National Park, published the 125-page draft plan and 53-page environmental assessment on Feb. 10, kicking off a 30-day public comment period that concludes March 13. Comments can be submitted electronically here.

In the meantime, federal resource managers will host a pair of public information sessions on Feb. 17 and Feb. 18 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Flathead Valley Community College’s Arts and Technology Building, in room 139. The open-house style format will feature a brief presentation, as well as information stations staffed by members of the project team. Options for virtual attendance will be published on the main project website.

Designated by Congress in 1976 under the Wild and Scenic River Act, the three forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River are currently managed under the 1980 Flathead River Management Plan. Since 2017, the Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park have been updating the CRMP for a river system they cooperatively manage, while evaluating the significant increase of use (both on shore and by boat) and their obligation to protect the river system’s “Outstandingly Remarkable Values” (ORVs) as characterized by the federal legislation.

“We have a high level of river recreation from all over the country and the world. All three forks are highly sought after for recreation opportunities, and this draft plan is an important step towards long-term river management and protection of this world-class resource,” Rob Davies, district ranger for the Hungry Horse and Glacier View Ranger Districts, said in a prepared statement. “The 1980 plan is past due for an update, and the Flathead National Forest has been deeply engaged in this multi-agency project. We’re grateful for the involvement and collaboration from Glacier National Park, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, community members, nonprofit organizations, and our outfitter and guiding partners who have all contributed to the development of this draft plan.”

The final plan is expected to be released this summer, accompanied by the final environmental analysis document.

“This project has received a high level of public and stakeholder investment from the start, and the demand for protection of the outstandingly remarkable values found on these river segments has driven the development of the draft plan,” Anthony Botello, Flathead National Forest supervisor, said in a prepared statement. “We are all eagerly waiting for this river plan. The passion and support that exists for the three forks of the Flathead and the protection of the Wild and Scenic River is inspiring. We are privileged to steward and protect the three forks of the Flathead.” 

Unlike most other designated Wild and Scenic Rivers where one single river is managed by one agency, the Flathead River has three forks (North Fork, Middle Fork and South Fork) with different jurisdictions for management. The North Fork and Middle Fork are located in both the Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park, and are therefore managed by two agencies. In Glacier National Park, the North Fork and portions of the Middle Fork are in recommended wilderness areas. In the Flathead National Forest, the South Fork and Middle Fork travel through two different designated wilderness areas.

Initial work to update the CRMP began in 2017, with agency officials announcing plans to release the draft for public comment in early 2020; however, a confluence of factors — including leadership turmoil, a surge in river recreation that was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and changes to the federal administration — have contributed to a years-long delay.

The Wild and Scenic Rivers System has three river classifications: wild, scenic and recreational, each calling for varying degrees of protection and management action. A single river or river segment may be divided into different classifications, depending on the type and intensity of the development and access present along the river at the time of designation. On the Flathead River system, all three levels of classification exist along 219 miles of river corridor, with the management plan serving as a guiding document to protect and enhance the values identified in the original designation, which established a baseline.

Major highlights in the draft 2026 Joint Comprehensive River Management Plan for the Three Forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River include a mandatory but unlimited permit system for all three forks of the Flathead river; prohibition of motor vehicle camping or parking on gravel bars on all river segments with access adjacent to roads; limited group sizes to 50 people; requirements that solid human waste be contained to within 200 feet of the river’s edge; and caps to outfitter and service days on sections of the Middle and North Forks.

As federal agencies work to update the CRMP for a river system they cooperatively manage, federal legislation requires they assign protections based on “Outstanding Remarkable Values” (ORVs) as a rubric. Water quality, for example, is considered an ORV that must meet or exceed Montana Department of Environmental Quality standards while the recreation ORV must be met by ensuring access, safety, Leave No Trace techniques and maintaining a “sense of remoteness” and self-sufficiency on certain sections.

While the Flathead River system’s management plan has not been updated in more than four decades, planning officials said its protracted timeframe for completion isn’t uncommon given the complex dynamics, with delays causing similar issues nationwide.

As with most management plans for popular recreational river corridors, agency officials recognized that user capacity is a primary concern for members of the public. But they also recognize the desire by the public, expressed during scoping sessions, for unimpeded access to the river system.

“Relatively unimpeded access has long been a fundamental feature of the Flathead [Wild and Scenic River] system. The three forks is one of the few remaining river systems in the west with high quality recreational opportunities and no restrictive permit system,” according to the environmental assessment. “Over the decades, river managers have recognized the importance of freedom of access to most users and have worked hard to maintain it for all users. This hard work has largely paid off: monitoring has shown that until the last ten years, people could reliably access many reaches of the river in all three forks unimpeded, with little planning and reliably encounter fewer parties than the encounter standard for reach they were using. The people who most value unimpeded access and the people who most value solitude could find their needs met throughout the river system. 

“The inherent tradeoff between valuing unimpeded access and solitude that has long laid dormant is becoming more apparent as the popularity and use of the river system increases,” the environmental assessment continues. “Like the current river management plans, this CRMP places great value on unimpeded access, but it also identifies places where it requires agencies to prioritize a particular degree of solitude. Where monitoring indicates that high use is resulting in less solitude than is desired, managers have a range of management actions they may employ, typically beginning with the least obtrusive measures first.”

Because the plan is adaptive, it would provide managers with the flexibility to respond to uncertainty and changing conditions, including spikes in private and commercial use.

But some critics of a proposed action released one year ago encouraged the Flathead National Forest to gather more monitoring data to inform user capacity numbers, characterizing the existing data as “educated guesses.”

To gather that data, the plan calls for a permit system not to restrict use, but “to better collect data to inform and refine capacities in the future. Agency managers recognize the likelihood that user capacity decisions would need to be reviewed and revised as more data becomes available.”

“For the Three Forks of the Flathead River, the agencies have determined that current visitor use is not presently degrading any river values, but on many segments may be getting close,” according to the draft plan.

To arrive at those user capacities, the management plan divides the three forks into separate management units curated to offer different types of experiences depending on their designation. For example, the upper half of the Middle Fork and most of the South Fork above Hungry Horse Reservoir are designated as wild because they are free-flowing rivers without dams or impoundments; they are mostly inaccessible except by trail; and they are mostly located in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The lower sections of the three forks are designated recreational because of their proximity to nearby roads and development. The upper three-quarters of the North Fork which skirts the western edge of Glacier Park is designated as scenic because it has no dams and little development but it can be accessed by roads.

The draft report sets the user capacity for the 46.6-mile section of the Middle Fork from its headwaters to Bear Creek, which is designated “wild,” at 150 people per day. It sets the 23-mile section from Bear Creek to Cascadilla (Management Unit 1) at 310 people per day, which is up from its estimated existing use of 235 people. The plan sets user capacity for the 16-mile section of the Middle Fork from Cascadilla to West Glacier (Management Unit 2) at 1,220 people per day, which is up from its estimated existing use of 947 people. The plan sets the capacity for the 15-mile section from West Glacier to the South Fork confluence (Management Unit 3) at 1,900 people, up from its estimated existing use of 476 people.

On the North Fork, from the Canadian border down to Polebridge (Management Unit 1), the plan sets the user capacity at 310 people, up from the estimated existing use of 235 people; at 480 people from Polebridge to Camas Bridge (Management Unit 2), up from its estimated existing use of 185 people; and at 360 people from Camas Bridge to Blankenship, up from its existing use of 160. A user capacity of only 30 people would be prescribed on the South Fork section from the confluence of Youngs and Danaher creeks to Mid Creek in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

The draft plan also recognizes that commercial outfitted river use is a key element in providing guided fishing and rafting, with the Middle Fork’s recreational management unit seeing the highest concentration of commercial use among all river segments. The plan identifies recreational river corridors as suitable for commercial and non-commercial use, and would continue to rely on the Flathead National Forest’s existing special-use permit system to authorize commercial use.

“Outfitter and guides would continue to be permitted to operate on all segments where currently allowed based on their authorized user days. No additional river outfitter permits would be issued within three forks of the Flathead WSR for floating and fishing opportunities,” according to the draft plan. “Over the decades managers have observed healthy competition and high-quality services from the existing priority use permit holders, even as some businesses have been bought and sold. The existing limited number of permits has also helped ensure each permit has had sufficient administrative oversight to help ensure quality service to the public.”

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