The New Heart and Hub of the Whitefish Trail
Whitefish Legacy Partners, the public trail system's nonprofit stewardship organization, will celebrate its new headquarters in the Beaver Lakes area with a grand opening on July 15
By Tristan Scott
Late last year, following a strategic purchase that blocked development plans at a hub of outdoor recreation in the Flathead Valley, the stewards of the Whitefish Trail began laying plans for a newly acquired 35-acre property in the Beaver Lakes area north of town.
On Wednesday, July 15, from 4-8 p.m., the nonprofit Whitefish Legacy Partners (WLP) will unveil those plans at the grand opening of its Whitefish Legacy Center, which will expand opportunities for outdoor education, conservation, community events, and recreation while doubling as the new headquarters for WLP as well as a home base for its expanding slate of programs.
“The Legacy Center is so much more than just a property,” WLP’s Executive Director Heidi Van Everen said. “It’s a place for people to gather and enjoy — 6 miles from town on the Whitefish Trail. It’s places like the Legacy Center that make our community so special. We are so happy to be rooted here.”
The Whitefish Legacy Center — formerly the Whitefish Bike Retreat located north of Whitefish directly adjacent to the trail system — had been slated for a high-density development with plans to build more than 90 cabins and homes. For WLP, the development would have encroached on a conservation milestone that has benefited the community since 2014, when WLP conserved and protected 1,520 acres of Montana School Trust Lands in the Beaver Lakes area.
When the sale fell out of contract, WLP was waiting in the wings with an offer. The aim, according to WLP, isn’t to convert the site into a revenue-generating events venue, but rather to bolster its 20-year legacy of local land stewardship.
“We saw it as a strategic move not only to invest in our long-term growth, but to ensure our past success,” said Cynthia Ingelfinger, WLP’s director of development. “All the work we did to protect those 1,520 acres would have been effectively lost if this had been developed.”
Instead, with its investment in the property and lodge-like accommodations at 855 Beaver Lake Road, WLP is poised to build on its conservation successes while launching expanded education and outreach programs, more public access to the trail system, and a suite of other amenities, including a pump track, skills park, welcome center, camp store, and new Picnic Park with additional parking.
Even as long-term plans for the Whitefish Legacy Center’s potential remain in the early-lifecycle phase, the acquisition of the property represents a new era for WLP as the fruit of its conservation efforts, which span two decades, reach maturity.
The sale included the former bike retreat’s beer and wine license as well as an adjacent 16 acres of land.
Sixteen years ago, the Whitefish Trail’s nascent network of single-track consisted of a 10-kilometer ribbon of dirt stretching from Beaver Lake to Lion Mountain. Even then it was designed to showcase the years of grassroots work, coalition-building and local philanthropy that made it possible to stitch together sustainable recreation opportunities and conserve open space for the Whitefish community, threading a needle of private and public parcels.
The seeds of that early vision have since grown to beanstalk proportions as Whitefish claims 47 miles of natural-surface trail radiating from 15 different trailheads peppered across town, from Haskill Basin to Beaver Lake.
Following the completion of the Whitefish Legacy Center purchase in December, longtime WLP board members described it as a capstone to a productive year for the nonprofit, bringing it another step closer toward completing its goal to “close the loop” around Whitefish Lake. That goal would ultimately allow recreational users to connect more than 55 miles of non-motorized, multi-use recreational trail featuring 16 trailheads. Although WLP’s plans to protect 600 acres of School Trust Lands guarding the head of Whitefish Lake stalled last year when the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation re-appraised the market value of the sale at $24.3 million, placing it out of the nonprofit organization’s reach, it forced WLP to think outside the box and look for other conservation opportunities.
“When one door closes, another one opens,” Van Everen said.
Van Everen said the “purchase was made possible through the generous support of a small group of WLP legacy donors who share a deep dedication to the organization’s mission and the Flathead Valley.” Many of them had been invested in the Smith Lake conservation effort, but viewed backing the Legacy Center’s acquisition as another seed for the future.
“This allows us to do community outdoor recreation, education and conservation at the next level,” she continued. “For the first time, we have a place where everyone can come together and find common ground. We view it as the new heart of the Whitefish Trail.”
The Legacy Center’s Welcome Center will be open Wednesdays 4-8 p.m. and Saturdays 1-6 p.m., July 15 through Sept. 30, providing information, maps, Whitefish Trail merchandise, and other trailside amenities.
The Whitefish Legacy Center is located at 855 Beaver Lake Road in Whitefish.
For more information, visit Whitefish Legacy Partners at www.whitefishlegacy.org or email [email protected].
