Watershed group meets next week

By ALEX STRICKLAND - Bigfork Eagle

County Commissioner Joe Brenneman was on hand for last week's Bigfork Steering Committee Meeting to explain the status of the Bigfork Watershed Committee.

That five-person committee, which was named by the commissioners on Tuesday, will include Sue Hanson, Elna Darrow, Lamont Kinkade, Paul Rana and Tom Lewis.

The group's first meeting will be Jan. 23 at the Saddlehorn building and will be an opportunity for the group to craft a mission statement and elect officers. After the initial housekeeping meeting it is expected that the group will hold monthly meetings for the remainder of the project which could span two years or more.

The group is tasked with directing the examination and subsequent overhaul to Bigfork's stormwater system in respect to it's impact on the Flathead Lake watershed. Brenneman said the group will be the first of it's kind in the state and the officials at the Department of Environmental Quality in Helena are excited about it's formation.

"They're glad to see people doing something instead of just complaining about it," he said.

The group's first task will be to make sense of the Preliminary Engineering Report currently being compiled by Morrison & Marley engineering firm. That assessment should give an outline of what stormwater facilities exist in and around the village and provide some idea of what should be tackled first.

That report is necessary to obtain any additional grant funding, Hanson said recently.

"The timing on this was just incredible," she said. "I'm excited."

The committee will also be responsible for education and outreach in the community concerning the ongoing needs of the project, according to Brenneman.

"It should help inform the citizenship and get everyone invested in the process," he said.

Bigfork's stormwater issues have been a sore spot for many years, owing in part to the confusing and sometimes unknown nature of what's in place already. Different eras of the town's construction have resulted in partial systems not ever being connected and sometime simply omitted from construction.

Concerns have mounted over the years that with increased loads on the water treatment plant in Bigfork and more impervious surfaces, i.e. concrete, that more pollutants are making their way into Bigfork Bay and Flathead Lake.