Northwest Pacific Trail council meets this week in Whitefish

An advisory committee for the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail will meet in Whitefish this week as it prepares to begin developing a comprehensive plan for the 1,200-mile scenic hiking route.

Starting at Chief Mountain on the east side of Glacier National Park and ending at Cape Alava in Washington, the Northwest Pacific Trail winds through three states and seven national forests, including the Flathead and Kootenai. In western Washington, it also climbs through portions of North Cascades and Olympic national parks before ending at the Pacific Ocean.

First proposed in 1970, the trail became one of 11 Congressionally designated National Scenic Trails in 2009. Matt McGrath, who works for the U.S. Forest Service as the scenic trail’s program manager, said the 24-member advisory council’s meeting will focus on recommending permitted trail uses as it prepares to begin developing its comprehensive plan next year. That plan, which will include an environmental impact statement as part of the review, is expected to be completed in 2019.

McGrath said one of the main focuses of the trail advisory committees is working on the existing routes to minimize the distance that spans highways. Nearly 400 miles, or one third, of the Pacific Northwest Trail follows paved roads and highways.

“The trail out of Rexford heads down the bridge to Lake Koocanusa and is literally on the shoulder of the highway,” McGrath said. “Those are kind of the priorities for us, how do we get the trail off of these high-speed, single-use roads.”

He added that the Pacific Crest Trail, designated in 1968, has seen success as one of the first trails designated under the National Trails System.

“Here we are 40 years later, and they’ve just about gotten the trail off the roads,” McGrath said.

The council is also hammering out accepted uses on the trail and this week will discuss whether to continue allowing mountain biking — except where the trail traverses land in wilderness areas or national parks. That discussion will inform the “nature and purposes of the trail,” a mission statement mandated under federal statute.

McGrath said there’s isn’t much available data on the Pacific Northwest Trail’s overall use, but said 50 to 60 people typically complete the journey each year. About 1,000 people complete the Pacific Crest Trail — on which a book and a movie have been based — each year, and McGrath said the Continental Divide Trail typically has less than 200 hikers finish the route annually.

“We’re still trying to raise awareness to have people know this trail exists,” he said. The meeting “is for anybody interested in public lands. These communities in Northwest Montana are all very invested in their public lands. This is valuable for them.”

The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail Advisory Council’s public meeting will take place at Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 2 and 3, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To learn more about the trail or to view the advisory council’s full agenda, visit www.fs.usda.gov/pnt.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.