First steps toward the trail
Karen Nichols/Daily Inter Lake<br>David Noftsinger, an owner of Forestoration Inc., talks about the first segment of the Trail Runs Through It recreational loop trail project. Noftsinger, whose company has been involved in the design of the trail, said the first 8- to 10-mile segment of the trail, from Lion Mountain Loop Road to Beaver Lake, has been designed and flagged. Once completed, the trails will make a 75-mile loop around greater Whitefish.
The Daily Inter Lake
Open house will provide update on first phase of Whitefish project
The first phase of an expansive trail project in the Whitefish area is coming to fruition, five years after the innovative project was proposed.
An open house to update the public on the inaugural section of "The Trail Runs Through It" will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Whitefish City Hall.
Plans for the first section of trail construction - from Lion Mountain Loop Road to Beaver Lake Road - will be outlined by a local team of consultants including Bruce Boody Landscape Architecture and Forestoration Inc.
Representatives from the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, U.S. Forest Service and Flathead Gateway Partners will answer questions and listen to feedback at the open house.
The first phase of the trail was jump-started by a $100,000 donation to the city of Whitefish by wealthy Whitefish landowner Michael Goguen, who has proposed a land exchange with the state, including a $3 million donation to the city to build and manage the recreation loop trail.
Goguen has been a significant philanthropist in Whitefish, donating money to several local causes, including the Whitefish skateboard park, the Alpine Theatre Project and The Wave health facility.
He has said he intends to place the state land under a conservation easement that would limit future development.
There are about 13,000 acres of state school trust land near Whitefish that are managed by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. State law mandates that school trust land provide revenue for Montana public schools and provide public recreation access.
The Trail Runs Through It project and the proposed Goguen land exchange are outlined in the Whitefish School Trust Neighborhood Plan and the trail master plan, the first large-scale, collaborative land-use plan prepared for school trust lands in Montana.
The trust lands include Spencer Lake, Beaver Lake/Skyles, Stillwater, Swift Creek, Haskill Basin and Happy Valley/KM areas surrounding Whitefish.
The project combines portions of existing recreational trails with new trails for mountain bikers, hikers and horseback riders, making a 75-mile loop around the greater Whitefish area.
It was spearheaded by a memorandum of understanding between the city of Whitefish and the nonprofit organization Flathead Gateway Partners.
They worked in conjunction with state and federal agencies and a planning committee to complete a trail master plan in 2006.
The city then signed a 10-year land-use license with the state in 2007. The city and Flathead Gateway Partners recently signed an additional memorandum when the City Council re-appointed a steering committee.
It was the DNRC that initiated discussions about a potential trail network in May 2003 as the state agency reviewed ways to generate revenue from the trust lands. By August that year a stakeholders group was proposed to the state Land Board.
The board, in turn, chartered the Whitefish Area Trust Land Advisory Committee to draft a neighborhood plan for the more than 13,000 acres of trust lands.
For recently updated information on the Trail Runs Through It or to download the master plan, go to www.trailrunsthroughit.org.