North Fork road improvements

It has been an interesting week weather wise on the North Fork. One day, I was wearing short pants and a T-shirt in near 80-degree weather. The next, I was back in long johns, long pants, flannel shirt and needing a jacket to go outside. Normal spring weather.

The gardeners were all in favor of the rain we received for the rest of the week, but no one was too happy about the colder weather. It did bring other benefits.

The freshly graded road from Camas Bridge to Trail Creek junction was getting pretty dusty, especially north of Polebridge, and the rain settled it for now. Plus, the Flathead County Road Department began putting crushed rock on the road above Polebridge. When finished, we will have six inches of crush on the entire unpaved portions of the North Fork Road from Camas Junction to about Sondreson Community Hall, plus from the North Fork Road to the Mercantile, much of it treated with magnesium chloride.

As a result, the road is much smoother, and dust levels are much lower — at least for the present. All of this work is the result of several years of National Forest Service Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) program grants and 50 percent county road monies. Less dust and a smooth surface translates to a safer road, as well as being easier on vehicles and folks with asthma or a bad back.

Later this summer, another RAC grant combined with county funds will see work on the road from Canyon Creek to Camas Junction. The project will narrow the road from a 40-foot wide surface to a standard 28-foot wide road. Hope is to preserve what remains of the crushed rock that was applied when the road was widened in anticipation of paving. Paving was blocked by Glacier National Park and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the money went elsewhere.

In addition to concentrating the remained crushed rock, it is hoped that dust will be reduced and that people will drive more slowly. We will see.

As of today, there has not been a reauthorization of funds for the RAC program. However, there is still a possibility that the RAC program will be reauthorized for another three years.

In the past, the RAC program had more than $300,000 kujuygto award each year. Half of the money must be spent on roads, trails and water projects that benefit both Flathead County and the Flathead National Forest.

Projects that have benefited the North Fork, in addition to the road, include trail maintenance, sweet smelling outhouses, tree thinning and weed control, as well as some other minimal timber projects. Grants help more than just government agencies, and allow volunteers to maximize their efforts.

Recipients have included the Back Country Horsemen of the Flathead doing trail work and improvements at Tuchuck Campground and the North Fork Landowners Association and North Fork Protective Association’s weed-control efforts. One of the few government-funded things that make it to “on the ground week.”