Legacy Partners focus efforts on Haskill Basin trail

Whitefish Legacy Partners has long been working toward a vision of creating a recreational loop circling Whitefish Lake.

A trail that would create a network of 55 miles of trail through the forestland beside Beaver, Dollar and Woods lakes west of town sweeping north to Swift Creek, then climbing up the lower flanks of Big Mountain into Hellroaring Basin before traversing below Elk Highlands to Haskill Basin and eventually into town.

There are four phases remaining in Whitefish Legacy Partners efforts to “close the loop” of the Whitefish Trail. The nonprofit behind the trail is aiming to complete the entire loop by 2020.

Whitefish Legacy Partners is hoping to bring out the shovels next spring to begin construction for the first priority in the phases — Haskill Basin. But to break ground by April 2017, it must secure this winter the $156,000 that remains in necessary funds.

“We’re really excited to be at this place where we’re thinking about closing the loop,” said Legacy Partners executive director Heidi Van Everen. “We’re excited to create the eastern portion of the trail. This is part of our whole vision to connect the 55-mile loop that connects back to the city.”

The Whitefish Trail already includes 36 miles of trail and 10 trailheads.

The new trail through Haskill Basin will connect Whitefish Mountain Resort to Whitefish with 5.5 miles of new trail, scenic overlooks and two new trailheads. For the project, Legacy Partners has already secured $253,000 in grant funding, which require a $200,000 match.

“It’s like a buy one get one for a trail,” explains Legacy Partners program director Alan Myers-Davis. “It takes the private fundraising down by half.”

Legacy Partners has secured a Land and Water Conservation Fund grant for $150,000, a Montana Recreational Trails Program grant for $90,000 and a Flathead National Forest Resource Advisory Council grant for $11,300 for Haskill Basin.

Including costs for trail and trailhead construction, planning and surveying along with long-term operations and maintenance costs, the Haskill basin section of trail is expected to cost $450,000.

“It’s a complicated five miles of trail,” Van Everen said. “The construction is expensive, but were also raising funds for the survey to make sure it’s protected and for the maintenance of the trail. The price tag is pretty huge, but we’re thinking in the long-term.”

In its push to secure the necessary private funding, Legacy Partners has launched the Haskill Match Challenge.

Van Everen said the push to raise the remaining funds is happening over the next couple of months. She said in order to begin construction by this spring, Legacy Partners will have to secure the final $156,000 by the end of February.

The trail easement lies on unique sections of property through Haskill Basin. One trailhead will be on city-owned property along Reservoir Road and would be similar to a park setting with picnic tables, education kiosks and parking lot. The other trailhead is set for on Big Mountain Road just below Whitefish Mountain Resort and along with summer access would serve as a trail groomed for Nordic skiing access.

Myers-Davis describes the section of trail not unlike the Avalanche Creek area of Glacier National Park dominated by large cedars.

“It has an almost rain forest feel,” he said. “No where else on the trail feels like that.”

Legacy Partners is working in partnership with several groups to bring the Haskill Basin trail to fruition — the city of Whitefish, the Flathead Land Trust, Iron Horse subdivision, Whitefish Mountain Resort and Stoltze Land and Lumber Co.

The goal is to have the trail open by next fall and allowing the Nordic access to be ready for next winter.

“We can’t begin construction until we have the funds,” Van Everen said. “The longer it takes to raise the money, the longer it takes to build it. It’s a lot to build it in one season, but we want people to be able to use the trail next fall and the Nordic access next winter.”

Closing the loop means securing between $3 million and $5 million in funding and navigating a maze of land ownership.

The second phase of the effort is set to connect the Beaver Lakes section to the Swift Creek trailhead, which is proposed to be constructed in 2019/2020. This section of trail will prove challenging as a pedestrian bridge is needed to cross the BNSF Railway tracks, the wetlands are environmentally sensitive and could require a boardwalk, while the Swift Creek crossing needs a long span stable enough for a mountain bike.

The third phase is proposed for 2020/2021 including a new trailhead at Holbrook Overlook off Big Mountain Road with the trail traveling northwest toward Smith Lake Swift Creek. Navigating a patchwork of private land holdings in this section could be a challenge, Van Everen noted.

The fourth phase looks to create a spur from the Swift Creek trailhead west to the Lupfer trailhead.

All construction dates for the trails are dependent on funding, notes Van Everen.

The impetus of Whitefish Legacy Partners dates back to 2003. In a deal struck between the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the 2004 Neighborhood Plan and the 2006 A Trail Runs Through It (now Whitefish Trail) Master Plan allowed for work to define future land uses of trust lands that support clean water, quality wildlife habitat and public recreation access.

Decades in the making, the Whitefish Trail effort began in earnest in 2010 when the first few miles of trail were opened around Lion Mountain.

Van Everen points out that the work already done and plans to complete the loop are of national significance.

“We’re coming up with compatible uses that allow recreation and forestry management to go on together,” she said. “We’re showing that working forests and recreation can work together.”

For more information on the Haskill Basin project, visit www.whitefishlegacy.org or call 862-3880 or email info@whitefishlegacy.org.

Fundraisers

Pints with Purpose

Dec. 8, 4-10 p.m.

Great Northern Brewing Co.

Pints with Purpose night will donate $1 from every pint sold directly toward the match required to break ground in Haskill Basin.

Dinner at Last Chair

Dec. 10, 2 p.m.-close

Last Chair Kitchen and Bar

Owner Tim Good is throwing a fundraising dinner for the Whitefish Trail in Haskill Basin. A portion of the night’s sales will go directly toward the match.