Unintended consequences of new Somers beach

I have been taking walks for over 10 years along the stretch of Somers beach slated to become Somers Beach State Park to get away from crowds. This solitude is what makes Somers beach special. Unfortunately, that will soon be a thing of the past.

This piece of land also keys into a strategic wildlife corridor. Somers Beach Park, once developed, will be blocking this vital game corridor, where animals cross both ways from the mountains to the west to the north shore of the lake. Wildlife such as deer, bear, cougar and wolves all cross through this critical bottleneck along the shore in Somers into the Federal Waterfowl Production zone all the way to the Flathead river.

Since most large game animals are nocturnal and travel at night, overnight campers would be directly inhibiting wildlife passage through this critical habitat. Overnight camping can be had at other state parks on Flathead Lake. Both the geography and environment (a wetland) are incongruous with overnight camping. There is no canopy cover, only cattails and grass. There are no trees to shelter under or for a hedge to block the view into other campsites, which ruins one of the main reasons people go camping; solitude and privacy.

This area of the north shore faces south with prevailing winds out of the south southwest. There are no trees to shield from high winds and sudden lake storms. Gusts of winds can reach hurricane force coming off the lake. I have seen huge sand storms there many times.

The proposed park is wetlands composed of cattails, small shrubs and grass. When these dry out in summer, they become explosive fuels. How does MFWP propose to mitigate wildfire hazard to the park and adjacent residential areas? One spark from a cigarette, campfire or firework could potentially burn down Somers in a windstorm. This is my biggest fear.

Somers State Park will not be like any other state park on the lake as it has a large sandy beach before the lake comes to full pool in July. This will attract lots of families with small children, since children love sand and playing in the shallows. Beachgoers also love beach parties and the kind of recreational crowd going there will not be seeking solitude in nature. It will become exactly like Whitefish Lake City Beach with all the impacts of parking and traffic to mitigate. There will be a crush of people that will want to be on the beach for weekends, vacations and holidays. When it was announced that Somers beach would become a park, I witnessed over 200 people on the beach with cars parked as far as the eye could see.

The sandy beach is also not pristine. Every year I see large amounts of broken glass and large areas with rusty nails, as erosion uncovers trash from the past. This is a huge liability for MFWP, and a problem they must solve with barefoot children running everywhere.

The park will need full time employees and law enforcement for emergencies, to prevent illegal parking, littering, violating pooper scooper laws and letting dogs run free. The valley population has exploded and these new visitors will make Somers park a nightmare for people who already live here. Think Logan Pass and the new reservation system at Glacier Park. Whatever number of parking spaces MFWP decides on will soon become obsolete.

I have witnessed both the Somers swimming area and boat launch at overflow capacity all summer long. Will there be a boat launch at the park? If so, how do you deal with the extra parking needed for trailers?

I know people who live in Somers that are extremely concerned about the impacts to their safety and quiet enjoyment. Somers State Park will be built on top of a dense residential area. Again, this will not be a park suitable for overnight camping, as overnight campers having beach parties will destroy the peace, safety and tranquility for residents of Somers, who will bear the brunt of any poor planning and unintended consequences.

— Robert Seymour, Kalispell