'It's pretty good gig'

Local man gives up Park ranger job to run Whitefish Lake dock business

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

Did Whitefish resident Dave Stephens save the Fourth of July this year?

"Well, I don't know about that," he laughs modestly when the question is proffered. "We just happened to already be out there."

Stephens downplays his role, but anyone who enjoyed the fireworks display from City Beach can partly thank him for making it happen.

Stephens is the co-owner of Whitefish Lake Services, a company that specializes in dock installation, maintenance and removal, among other things.

The floating barge that held the city's huge barrage of fireworks was in trouble, and Stephens was the man who picked up the phone.

"We were out on the lake, and I got a call from Andy (Hergesheimer) from the parks department. They couldn't locate the anchors for the floating dock," Stephens explained. "They have pre-placed anchors about 300 meters offshore, but they couldn't find them. We have some anchors out there, and we were able to get some chains on the barge."

With the barge firmly anchored in the middle of the lake, the spectacular — if somewhat brief — display was enjoyed by a crowd of thousands. Few of them could have realized how much work went into just getting the ordnance into position.

Stephens and his business partner, Tim Healy, bought the business this year and have been busy ever since. They spend almost every day tooling around in their custom pontoon boat dropping anchors and diving into the water.

"This time of year, especially, there's a lot going on," Stephens said. "It's pretty good gig. Working outdoors with a great group of guys."

A typical workday for Stephens involves diving at various locations around the lake to either repair a water pump or a dock or move anchors.

"There are roughly 350 properties on the lake, and just about every one of those has a dock," he said. "We maintain about 215 of those."

Because Whitefish Lake freezes in the winter, the anchors on nearly every dock must be removed before winter and re-attached in the spring.

"It's not like Flathead Lake, where a lot of people have wooden docks," he said. "Most of the ones here are plastic floating docks."

Bill Brown, who worked for the company under the previous ownership, provides the institutional knowledge.

"When we come up against something where we are just scratching our heads, Bill is a good guy to have around because he's just so knowledgeable about this stuff," Stephens said.

Stephens learned to dive while he was stationed in Panama with the Army, but he says the water temperature in Whitefish Lake took some getting used to.

"It's super-cold water," he said. "That's one of the challenges — being out there in April, in 38-degree water with zero visibility down there 50 feet trying to find an anchor."

Stephens usually leaves his face and hands exposed when he dives, reducing the amount of time he can spend underwater. He also free dives with only a snorkel as often as he can.

Stephens spends his winters on the Whitefish Mountain Resort ski patrol. He used to spend his summers as a backcountry ranger in Glacier National Park's Belly River. Before that, he worked in the Mission Mountains.

Stephens is also used to spending long hours on a boat — he spent 10 years working on a seafood processing boat in Alaska.

"I spent seven months a year on the boat working 16 hour days," he said. "Then I would have five months off to go skiing or climbing."

He's obviously not a man who is comfortable working within the confines of an office, and Stephens is well aware of how lucky he is to be able to make a living doing something he enjoys.

"I'm just living the dream," he says.