Good afternoon, Beacon readers! Nearly 70 years ago when the Spruce Park dam was proposed on the Middle Fork Flathead River at a site located about five miles from U.S. Highway 2 in what is now the Great Bear Wilderness, the project prompted widespread opposition from a swath of stakeholders who rallied against the proposal.

Situated above a two-mile series of whitewater rapids known as Spruce Park, engineers proposed a diversion project that would have entailed a 405-foot-tall earth-filled structure that would back 360,000 acre-feet of water with a 2,760- acre reservoir. A 38,000-foot-long transmountain pressure tunnel would have been excavated to divert flood waters to Hungry Horse Reservoir where a 21,000-kilowatt powerplant would have been constructed on the South Fork Flathead River.

While the dam proposal had been sidelined over the years due to economic infeasibility, the project never left the drafting board at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, meaning it was never off the table.

But after decades of conservation efforts to protect the fisheries, wildlife and the free-flowing nature of the Middle Fork, Congress in 1976 designated the Middle Fork along with the North and South forks of the Flathead River under the Wild and Scenic River Act.

While those 219 miles of the Flathead River system weren’t designated until eight years after the Wild and Scenic River Act was established, the Middle Fork served as the legislation’s inspiration and has helped protect more than 14,400 miles of rivers and streams nationwide.

“I have rafted most of the large fast-water rivers of the mountain west. My interest in the Middle Fork trip was to make a personal evaluation of its recreational potential. There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most scenic ‘wild’ rivers in the Northwest; one which conservationists should strive hard to save,” John Craighead, a wildlife biologist and river advocate, wrote in Montana Wildlife in 1957.

During a 1956 trip spanning the now-wild section of the river launching from Schafer Meadows in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Craighead and his co-advocate and brother Frank proposed recognizing wild rivers with a classification system for protection.

Classifications eventually morphed into “wild,” “scenic” and “recreation” and became the structure for the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. But despite the Middle Fork’s inspiration for the historic Congressional policy signed by President Lyndon Johnson, the river wouldn’t be designated for another eight years.

Finally in 1976, the North, Middle and South forks of the Flathead River were officially protected and river lovers were promised that no dam would ever compromise those wild and scenic attributes.

Fast-forward to 2026 and I think the Craighead brothers would be down to party for the designation’s 50th anniversary River Fest, hosted by Flathead Rivers Alliance (FRA) and American Rivers this Friday, July 10 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Marantette Park in downtown Columbia Falls.

River Float-flavored Sweet Peaks ice cream, custom biodegradable glitter, river swag, a history display and guest speakers will also be featured while local raft companies will be offering a free shuttle service from Columbia Falls High School to the park. Cosmic rock band Boot Juice will headline the event while FRA and Sacred Waters Brewing will debut the Highwater Pale Ale.

Bootie beers, anyone?

Additionally, a slew of conservation nonprofits will set up booths along with raffle prizes that include a Red Eagle Aviation flight into Schafer Meadows, a pair of pretty-patterned Sawyer oars, a basket of liquor and more.

FRA is still looking for more volunteers to help with event setup and teardown in exchange for a River Fest volunteer shirt, dinner and a drink token. E-mail Geoffrey Gill to sign up.

I’m Maggie Dresser, here to launch today’s Daily Roundup.