County trail plan the focus of open house

A Flathead County trails plan community open house will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Expo Building.

The community event will provide opportunities for attendees to speak to a variety of trail groups, view the county geographic information system trail map, submit comments about existing and proposed trails throughout the county and complete a trails survey.

More than two-dozen stakeholders have been meeting monthly since July 2017 to update and build on the trails plan that took shape more than a decade ago as directed in the county’s 2007 growth policy. The trails plan creates a continuous network of pathways that connects residential areas, schools, parks, public lands, commercial centers and community-event centers.

The county maintains about 22 miles of trail.

A goal for the plan update is to inventory existing trails and identify needs for future trails. But the update also will better define the nuances of trail maintenance, such as which trails need more care. Some trails, such as those that run in front of area schools, need more intensive maintenance such as snowplowing.

In addition to the community open house, Flathead County residents are encouraged to provide input on a variety of aspects of current and proposal trail systems via a survey at http://bit.ly/flatheadcountytrailsurvey. The survey will be open until 5 p.m. May 25.