Page 56 - Flathead Beacon // 11.4.15

OUT OF BOUNDS 57 EXPLORE 58 Outdoors
New Foundation Formed to Help Montana State Parks Amid
Rising Popularity and Stagnant Funding
White sh attorney helping establish nonpro t organization that can support vast parks system
IBY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
N RECENT YEARS, DIANE CONRADI VENTURED from her home in White sh to visit the vast collec- tion of state parks across Montana. She quickly dis-
covered that each and every site was distinctive in its qualities yet similar in its connection to the Treasure State’s grand identity.
“They represent the fabric of Montana. The state parks are so unique to me because they re ect the diver- sity of Montana. They range from places for people to teach their kids to swim to unparalleled dinosaur fossils in eastern Montana,” she said.
“These parks are gateways to the heritage of Mon- tana. They are the portals to hunting, shing, boating, swimming, hiking, watching the leaves change, biking and history.”
Indeed, Montana has a wide variety of 55 designated park sites, all as uncommon as the next, and their pop- ularity is higher than ever. The state is on pace to break an overall visitation record for its parks for the fth year in a row, with nearly 2.5 million visitors.
In this corner of the state, visitation is up 6 percent over last year’s record total through September with over 500,000 visitors, according to the regional o ce.
Yet in light of increasing popularity, a lingering prob- lem only continues to stand out even further, according to state parks managers.
Funding for the Montana State Parks system has stagnated and remained the same since 2000.
Montana’s park budget is $7.5 million annually, the second lowest in the region behind only North Dakota, which has 13 state parks and an annual budget of $6.7 million. Idaho manages its 30 parks on a $16 million budget; Utah manages its 43 parks with $28.2 million and Wyoming manages its 40 parks with $10.8 million.
The budget constraints have kept sta ng at a min- imum and led to millions of dollars worth of deferred maintenance, according to state park o cials. The Mon- tana State Parks division commissioned a study of its sites to determine just how badly capital improvements are needed.
This summer a Great Falls rm released its review of 14 sites that showed $8.8 million to $9.2 million in needed repairs. The rm reviewed another 20 sites, including a pair of local parks, and found similar deferred maintenance.
Lone Pine State Park in Kalispell has an estimated $234,000 in recommended maintenance projects, according to the rm. This includes a high priority item — $86,000 for a water supply vault upgrade — that would address safety concerns. The rm found $667,000 in deferred maintenance at White sh Lake State Park, including a high-priority need to address electrical issues.
“There are signi cant concerns,” said Conradi, an attorney in White sh who is a regional member of the Montana State Parks and Recreation Board, which over- sees the statewide system. “We have had trouble getting money for infrastructure improvements and we don’t
Diane Conradi,
pictured at White sh
Lake State Park.
GREG LINDSTROM FLATHEAD BEACON
have a capital budget. Our parks are su ereing from not- so-benign neglect.”
Conradi, who was involved in the development of the White sh Trail, is taking matters into her own hands by helping establish a new nonpro t organization that can support the state’s park system.
She has co-founded the Montana State Parks Founda- tion, a group that will take on advocacy and fundraising in a way the government agency can’t, similar to how the Glacier Conservancy supports Glacier National Park as a nonpro t partner. Conradi co-founded the foundation along with Je Welch, a fellow parks board member from Bozeman, and Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs of Helena, who has supported historical sites across Montana along the tradition of her late father, Stephen Ambrose, an author and historian who wrote “Undaunted Courage.”
Conradi said the foundation has already begun reaching out to communities to better understand the role state parks play in each region.
“These front country places, like parks and trails, like the White sh Trail, are incredibly important economic drivers,” Conradi said.
“State parks are important community anchors. How do we take care of those and then with the foundation, how do we pivot o those?”
At the same time the foundation is coming together, the state agency has been reviewing ways it can deal with budget constraints and growing demand and deferred maintenance. The agency is proposing a new system for classifying and prioritizing park resources that would be used for allocating sta ng, funding and capital devel- opment resources at sites across the system.
The agency is accepting public comments on the pro- posal through Nov. 20.
The new policy would create a proposed classi cation
grouping of current parks, and the agency would then manage the sites based on this setup. For example, state parks around Flathead Lake have been deemed highly valuable, and more resources might be devoted to those sites than to smaller parks that are in a lower category.
“We keep moving hours around to target the great- est need for maintenance and visitor services, but that gets harder and harder to do. That’s a big concern,” Dave Landstrom, regional manager for Montana State Parks in Kalispell, said.
“At what point do we stop providing a good service?”
There are 14 state park sites in this corner of the state, including some of the state’s most popular, such as Way- farers near Bigfork.
For example, the six parks on Flathead Lake, which have attracted over 376,000 people this year, have one full-time park ranger and one full-time manager over- seeing daily operations year-round, as well as a variety of seasonal volunteer sta that ranges in size depending on the in ux of regional needs.
“The best way to put it is it’s skeletal,” Landstrom said.
Collectively, the 14 sites in this region have 18 paid camp hosts and up to 30 volunteer hosts each summer to provide visitor service, basic custodial and grounds keeping services. Sta also manage the state snowmo- bile grant program, which includes working with six snowmobile clubs and close to 600 miles of groomed trails.
“We’re not complaining. We’d rather be busy because that means people are using the sites. But there are times when you wonder how you can maintain that,” Landstrom said.
For more information about the Montana State Parks system, visit http://stateparks.mt.gov.
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
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NOVEMBER 4, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM