State eyes land for fish pond

The Daily Inter Lake

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will negotiate to acquire property along the Whitefish River about five miles north of Kalispell, with a goal of eventually establishing another local park with a fishing pond.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission on Thursday authorized the department to move forward in talks with a landowner who is planning his estate and has offered to donate 10 acres of land along the river.

"It just gives us permission to talk to the landowner regarding the project," said John Fraley, spokesman for the department's regional office in Kalispell. "Tentatively, we're looking at a kids fishing pond there. It just looks like it would be a great site."

But that won't happen for several years. The landowner is planning to extract gravel from the property for up to five years, an operation that would leave a 3-to 5-acre pit that can be converted into a pond.

The department currently stocks several ponds in and around Kalispell with fish every spring, providing convenient urban fishing opportunities. The two Buffalohead ponds east of Flathead Valley Community College were once gravel pits, Fraley noted.