Flathead County seeks environmental review of the lower North Fork Road

Flathead County will apply for federal funding in the coming weeks for an environmental analysis aimed at improving the lower end of the North Fork Road — a process that could ultimately determine whether the road is paved.

County officials will seek Federal Lands Access Program monies to perform a National Environmental Policy Act review of improving the road from just north of Glacier Rim to the Camas Road entrance to Glacier National Park.

County Public Works Director Dave Prunty said at the North Fork Interlocal meeting Feb. 8 that the county’s vision for the 10.6 miles of road is a 35 to 45 mph highway. Whether that’s paving, millings or improved gravel remains undetermined.

Prunty said he envisioned a road with pullouts and possibly an alignment that would slow traffic down.

“Not a [road] to get the Camas in the fastest manner possible,” he said.

Prunty said the county is considering a road with 12-foot lanes and 2-foot shoulders, If built to state standards, the Montana Department of Transportation has indicated it could take over maintenance, Prunty noted.

The road is currently a state highway through Columbia Falls to the end of the pavement. It’s a county road beyond that.

There’s about $19 million in Federal Land Access Program grant funding statewide this year, so there’s no guarantees the project will get funded. The deadline to apply is March 31 and an answer would likely come in the fall.

Prunty said he envisioned a project that would do 2 to 3 miles at a time, as funding became available.

“I see it opening up more recreational opportunities on the lower river,” said County Commissioner Brad Abell.

Abell said the county spends about $300,000 annually maintaining the North Fork Road to the border.

Glacier National Park Superintendent Dave Roemer agreed that the U.S. Park Service wasn’t angling to get people to the Camas Entrance faster. But the environmental analysis would “get the temperature of the room,” either for or against improving the road, he told the crowd.

Reviews under National Environmental Policy Act typically look at several different alternatives and expected effect upon fish and wildlife.

The U.S. Park Service recently upgraded the Camas Road and added a new entrance station at Fish Creek.

Whether or not to pave the lower end of the North Fork Road has been debated for decades. Critics have long argued that paving would put even more people in the primitive North Fork, which is one of the most intact ecosystems in North America. It holds a host of endangered fish and animal species including grizzly bears, lynx and bull trout.

But others argue that the dust from the gravel road is even worse for the environment as it coats the vegetation and in the water, though detrimental side-effects have never been quantified.

Paved or not, the North Fork has seen a tremendous surge in travelers over the past few years as visitation to Glacier National Park is averaging about 3 million visitors a year. The Flathead National Forest also has seen a significant jump in visitation as more people not only visit, but now live in Flathead County and recreate locally.

The section between Glacier Rim and the Camas Road has but a handful of permanent residents. It’s mostly U.S. Forest Service land.

The city of Columbia Falls has supported paving the lower North Fork Road for several years now.

In the 1980s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a jeopardy opinion on paving, saying it could harm grizzly bears, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

But today many biologists and Gov. Greg Gianforte's administration say grizzlies in the Glacier Park region have recovered and should be delisted. The federal fish and wildlife agency recently announced it was reviewing the status of the grizzly in the region, a process that could take about a year to complete.