County compiles gravel-resource map

A new gravel resource map that details the locations of current gravel pits and their geology is available from the Flathead County Planning Office.

The map was created by a subcommittee of the Flathead County Planning Board as an informational tool, said BJ Grieve, assistant planning director.

“It’s a good accumulation of information,” he said. “What it means going forward is up to the Planning Board.”

The map pools information from several sources, including a state Department of Environmental Quality map of open-cut mining permits and the state Bureau of Mines and Geology’s map of the Flathead’s surficial geology — the area under the soil and above the bedrock.

A goal of the mapping project is to give the county and property owners a better understanding of where and why gravel pits exist.

While state law stipulates that growth policies must include information about sand and gravel resources, the extent to which the resources are addressed is left up to the city or county to which the growth policy applies, according to Grieve. It’s not a foregone conclusion that the map will be attached to Flathead County’s growth policy as an addendum.

Subcommittee members who worked on the mapping project were Charles Lapp, Jeff Larsen, Frank Dekort and Marie Hickey-Auclaire.

To view the new map online, go to the Planning Office’s section of the county website at http://flathead.mt.gov/planning_zoning/downloads.php and look under “miscellaneous.”