A partnership for public lands

To do right by Whitefish we need to acknowledge that we are both a rural and urban community, both full of new-comers and old-timers but still one great place.

Our traditions are based upon our ability to access to clean water and open public lands. As we continue to grow as a recreational community we need to assure, this and future generations, that our open public lands continue to be part or our lives and driving force of our economy.

Sen. Weinberg (D-Whitefish), Whitefish Mayor Andy Feury and I propose that the community implement aspects of the Whitefish State Lands Plan. Our public lands are our heritage, our future, and we should have a trail that runs through it.

The project would create a Whitefish recreational loop trail and it would conserve the scenic, recreational and traditional-use values on lands associated with the trail.

We are asking for the city of Whitefish and a Montana non-profit to become lead applicants to Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and that the public user-groups are invited to the table and the local and state processes run concurrently.

The process would develop a private-public partnership, much like the formula which has created many good projects in Whitefish, from the skate park, aquatic center, community center, library and ice rink.

The drive and direction would come from user-groups like Friends of Spencer, Fat Tire Association, Friends of Happy Valley, Friends of Haskill Basin, horse groups, angler and hunter groups to name a few. Ultimately the trail easement would be held by Whitefish, for 70 years from now, we still want the public to have access to these spectacular lands.

The process will be open and public. Commonly, we think of developers submitting an application for a project. In this instance, it's the community via a private-public partnership submitting an application to the DNRC. It's a proactive and positive approach to securing our future on our public lands.

We need specifics on how to implement the plan — where should the trail locate? how does the interaction between user group occur? are there rest areas? are parking places needed? how do we facilitate long term management? which areas should be managed for parks.

It's critical that user-groups working together as a stakeholders group administer these details in a public process.

Whitefish is a very generous community. Old-timer or new-comers, whether we live in town or on the fringes, we share many recreation and conservation values associated with our economy and our way of life.

By forming a private-public partnership, we can leverage substantial private sector dollars for our schools and secure our economic future — and keep our lands open for use.

Our challenge is to bring people together who value open public lands, recreation and the preservation of access to water ways. The public is the process to maintain and improve public recreational lands and trails to assure that we maintain working landscapes.

We will not only be a model of how to positively and proactively build upon those values that hold us as a community together, but we will honor our grandfathers' values by securing our future.

Mike Jopek is a farmer and Democratic state representative for the Whitefish area. He can be reached at 250-1184 or mjopek@mt.gov.