Old arguments, new solutions in N. Fork

They were decades old arguments. But in a new forum.

So went the first public meeting, held Tuesday night at City Hall, on how best to address a stretch of the rough and often dusty section of the North Fork Road from Blankenship to Camas Creek.

The state has commissioned a $125,000 study to examine the highway and possible solutions. But Montana Department of Transportation Director Jim Lynch cautioned that this was not a formal environmental process — it was a local one and the hope was to find a local solution.

"Our goal is not to create enemies in the community," Lynch said. The state is taking on the study because it was asked to by groups that want the road paved and by groups that don't.

Technically, the unpaved section to Camas Creek is a county road, but the state would take over maintenance if it were paved.

There were plenty of arguments for and against pavement.

North Fork resident Lynn Ogle said the North Fork population is getting older, and a drive from Trail Creek by ambulance takes two hours. Paving the road would better serve emergency services, he argued.

"I'm looking at it from a public safety standpoint," he said.

Many others argued it was a dust issue — the dust, they claimed, was unhealthy.

Karen Craver, the North Fork mail carrier, said the dust clings into the trees and trails long distances from the road itself and she spent more than $4,000 on repairs for her mail vehicle last year.

But other North Fork residents argued that paving the road would bring unwanted growth to the North Fork, would threaten a recent agreement with Canada on preserving the region and would threaten wildlife because of faster speeds and more traffic.

"A lot of what's driving our economy is clean water, wildlife and vistas," said North Fork resident Rachel Potter.

She also argued that paving the road made no sense, when there were so many other roads in the county that had hundreds of people living on them dealing with dust.

The county has roughly 700 miles of unpaved roads.

"I'm particularly concerned about the wise use of taxpayer dollars," she said.

Steve Gniadek, a former Glacier National Park biologist, noted that several studies have shown that paved roads fragment wildlife habitat, particularly for threatened grizzly bears.

He also took issue with the reported time savings of paving, noting that in a dire situation, the ALERT helicopter is a much faster alternative.

Columbia Falls resident Brian Peck noted that a "jeopardy," biological opinion was issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service years ago on paving the road. He claimed that ruling, which basically reads that paving the highway would harm grizzly bears, still stands.

But nearly everyone agreed the road is dusty and needs work. After the meeting, Lynch indicated there are ways to greatly reduce the dust without using chemical treatments and without paving it. The state DOT, however, does not fund dust abatement on dirt roads, he said.

The state has hired the firm of Parsons Brinckerhoff to assist in the study of the corridor and more meetings are planned. A final plan is expected by the end of August.

The state has set up a Web site on the study at: http://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/northfork/.