Flathead Lakers celebrate 50 years

By ALEX STRICKLAND / Bigfork Eagle

In a valley where nearly nothing looks like it did a few weeks ago, much less a few years, the Flathead Lakers celebrated 50 years of work on Wednesday night near Lakeside.

For half a century the group has worked to protect the Flathead watershed from threats as diverse as mining in Canada to tiny zebra mussels.

The latter are tiny, inch-long mussels that have been introduced to other lakes in the West and completely destroy ecosystems and property when they foul boat motors and water intakes.

The Lakers are currently posting signs at boat launches and swimming areas to encourage boaters to carefully check their craft before launching if they've been out of the state.

"I think most people want to protect the lake and do the right thing," said Lakers Executive Director Robin Steinkraus.

Steinkraus pointed to a number of the groups accomplishments over the years, including initiating education programs, helping ban phosphate detergents in Flathead and Lake Counties and working to halt coalbed methane development in British Columbia.

The threat of mining in the Canadian Flathead has been a hot issue over the last two years or so, with many groups and politicians from the southern side of the border lobbying heavily to prohibit any activity that could threaten waters in America.

For the Lakers, that meant writing letters, holding meetings and calling their 1,500 or so members to action.

"We've been in contact with (B.C.) Premier (Gordon) Campbell and he has responded," Steinkraus said. "We've been communicating concerns all along."

Another of the group's triumphs has been quietly progressing for years along the Flathead River in what the group calls "The Critical Lands Project."

Working with other organizations like the Flathead Basin Commission and the Flathead Land Trust, areas of importance all along the Flathead River from Columbia Falls to Flathead Lake have been preserved in conservation easements.

"It's been a really exciting project," Steinkraus said. "We said, 'We can't just react,' and brought a lot of agencies together."

Keeping water quality high and the ecosystems around the Northwest's biggest freshwater lake sound will continue to be a tall order for the group with development pressures and the ever-present threat of mining in Canada.

"We're pretty small, but a lot of people see this as a special place and are willing to put money toward it," Steinkraus said. "And they have for 50 years."

As part of the Lakers 50th anniversary celebration, they're raffling off a new Toyota Prius, which is currently on display at Flathead Bank in Lakeside. Tickets are $25 each or five for $100. For more information on the raffle or the Lakers, visit http://www.flatheadlakers.org.