Applicant withdraws plan

The applicant for a controversial stream-bed permit through the Flathead Conservation District has withdrawn his proposal.

"My withdrawal has everything to do with a few citizens' rights to stop my project just like that," applicant Pete Rice said while snapping his fingers. "That's bogus, I think. That undermines the whole concept of having a conservation district. Anybody who wants to disagree with their decision can stop it at the drop of a hat."

Rice, who owns North Country Automotive and Marine, was planning to build a boat-storage facility next to the Flathead River off of Riverside Road in Creston. The facility would have included three boat ramps, two 40-foot removable docks and 90 feet of riprap.

The number of buildings would have been based on demand for storage, but maximum build-out would have housed 280 boats.

Montana state law allows for decisions made by the conservation district board to be challenged in court, something Rice said is "ill-conceived."

"This law could bring any decision the district makes about a 310 permit to a standstill," Rice said. "Anyone could go in and protest every permit. I don't think that's right. This law could make their job impossible."

At a public meeting held by the district board last Thursday, comments were almost unanimously opposed to Rice's project. Murmurs of a potential lawsuit quickly circulated, and Diane and Eric Johnson - who live downriver from the project site - were ready to file if the district approved the permit.

"We were getting our guns in a row and hiring an attorney," Diane said. "The amount of damage this project would have put on the river, it would have destroyed our river system. Now we need to go after some no-wake zones and protection for the river. Everyone buries their head in the sand and hopes someone else will take care of it."

Rice, who believes he eventually would have won any legal battles, said that facing a court battle for the next couple of years was not something he was willing to do.

"I have no intention of becoming Flathead County's next Bucky Wolford," Rice said. "Letting such a small group wield such power is not only disappointing, it's outright disgusting."

State Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, attended the Thursday meeting and said it was the most intense public meeting he's ever been to.

"I had a feeling he was either going to have to withdraw or get sued," Jackson said.

Jackson, who has long run on a platform of access to public waters, said he had mixed feelings about Rice's proposal.

"The hearing brought up a lot of points that needed to be considered," Jackson said. "There would have been a lot of damage, and the scope of it really was overwhelming. But people are being denied access to places they've been going for years, and it puts a lot of pressure on other areas."

One of Rice's arguments throughout the process was that the average, wage-earning county resident was being priced out of water access, and public access points were crowded and dangerous. His storage facility would have given boat owners a place to store their boats for $225 per month.

"Now, a small, affluent group of people have taken that away," Rice said. "The local wage-earner is out of the picture."

Rice also contends that the outcry against his project was spearheaded by a small group of rich landowners who want to use the river but deny access to everyone else.

"The public's access is being enormously compromised by just a few people who say, 'No, I get to use it, but nobody else dare use it,'" Rice said. "You have private property owners who want their property rights to extend into the river. Last time I checked, the river is owned by the United States government. That's us, the citizens. It's a wrong concept to restrict what I believe is the public's right of access by a small group of people who want to protect it for their use."

Considering the fact that there is a public boat launch on Ranchettes Road, less than a mile from his property, Rice said the controversy over boats on the river doesn't hold water.

"What was it that I was proposing that was any different than what the state or county did?" Rice asked. "Is there any restriction on how many boats can be launched at Sportsman Bridge? No. Any at Ranchettes? No. Was there any serious public protest? No."

Standing Wednesday on his property off of Riverside Road, Rice pointed to what he believes is a bigger factor in the erosion debate: poor farming technique that have been going on for decades.

"It might have been their grandfather or their great-grandfather, but they cut all the trees down right to the river's edge," Rice said. "They denuded the river banks of natural vegetation. They have their crops run up right to the river."

Rice compared his property's banks with farmland across the river and said his heavily wooded banks had much less erosion damage than his agricultural neighbors.

While acknowledging that boat wakes would add to the erosion problem, Rice points to Kerr Dam as the biggest culprit, saying that elevated water levels in Flathead Lake are tearing river banks away.

"There's been a tremendous amount of money spent to determine the erosion effects caused by Kerr Dam," Rice said. "The conclusions have been that the dam has been the most major factor in bank erosion by far."

Rice has no intention of reworking his proposal and trying again.

Future use of the property is up in the air for now, but his stepson is building a residence for his family on the land. He does predict, though, that the issue of access for the boating public will not go away any time soon.

"I think access will be regimented to existing boat ramps, and those spots will get more congested," he said. "I think it's going to be a dangerous situation because you'll have all that traffic funneled into just a couple of boat ramps. It's a mess.

"The larger question is 'What's the future of boat traffic on the river?' Does the public have any right to access the river? Can private property owners keep the public from having access to waters that are owned by the U.S. government?"

Reporter Michael Richeson may be reached at 758-4459 or by e-mail at mricheson@dailyinterlake.com