Changes made to trail run

Organizers of a 100-mile run on the Swan Crest have withdrawn their application for a special-use permit, but a scaled-back version of the event still will be held July 30 and 31.

“Since the permit application has been withdrawn there is no proposal for federal action or corresponding requirement for environmental analysis of such a proposal,” Swan Lake District Ranger Rich Kehr said.

Brad Lamson, one of the event’s organizers, explained that a variety of informal runs, usually 35-milers, have been held on Swan Mountain trails for the last 15 years.

But the Swan Crest 100 was organized as a more formal run that met Forest Service criteria qualifying it as a commercial event that required a special use permit.

“Basically, our intentions were never for this to be a commercial event. It never centered around  any of us making money,” he said. “We’ve decided that we’re going back to our original plan, to do the 100-mile trail as a noncommercial group event.”

Those who already had registered and paid fees for the event have been sent letters informing them they can have their money back and still participate, Lamson said.

“We have talked to the Forest Service and we have looked at the rules. As long as we follow the noncommercial guidelines and we don’t collect an entry fee or participation fee, it’s a noncommercial event,” he added.

“We have communicated permit requirements to the event organizers and expect compliance,” Kehr said.

The run originally was expected to involve 50 participants, and now Lamson expects about half that number to be involved.

But the number of participants never was an issue, Kehr noted, because the threshold for group events that would have required a special-use permit is 75 people.

The Swan Crest 100 ran into stiff opposition from an environmental group, the Swan View Coalition, and its chairman Keith Hammer, who maintained that the run was an improper activity on sensitive roadless lands that would have impacts on grizzly bears or result in possible conflicts with them.

Hammer insisted that the Forest Service conduct an environmental analysis and consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on possible grizzly bear impacts, plus he filed a notice of intent to sue the Flathead National Forest if it did not comply.

That stirred up significant public reaction.

The Swan Lake Ranger District conducted two scoping periods in early June to get public comments on the permit application.

“We appreciate the responses received,” Kehr said. “We heard a variety of comments with diverse viewpoints, support and concerns of the event.”

Kehr estimated he reviewed between 150 and 200 comments.

“That’s a lot of response for this size of event,” he said. “I would say a majority of the comments were in support of the run, but there were still quite a few that questioned the run or had concerns about it.”

Lamson said the permit process snowballed into an expensive, time-consuming effort for the Forest Service and the event organizers, and that played into the decision to scale it back.

He noted that now the event will be similar to regular hikes that Hammer leads with small groups of people on the Swan Mountain Range.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.