Collaboration strives to enhance experience for winter recreation area

Key users and land managers on the Stillwater State Forest are looking to improve the experience for those recreating in the forest particularly during the winter season, while still ensuring the forest is meeting its state mandate to generate revenue.

Located in a snow belt west of Whitefish, the Stillwater is a prime spot for winter recreation through dog sledding, snowmobiling and backcountry skiing offering the experience of fresh powder along with beautiful views. At about 106,500 of acres of forestland in its main block, the Stillwater State Forest is the largest state forest in Montana and falls under the management of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Managing a large amount of recreation on a working forest is unique as state forests go in Montana, Unit Manager Dave Ring notes, primarily because the Stillwater includes such a large chuck of continuous forestland it is prime for both activities.

“We’ve seen friction between user groups from dog sledders to motorized users when they cross into each others areas,” Ring said. “We’re looking to improve the situation by creating better maps and education for users.”

A group of about a dozen folks recently gathered on the forest for a work-day designed to clear brush to widen sections of trail where recreationists are often having to pass by one another. The effort is aimed at improving site visibility and widening areas that have often become congested. Land managers and key recreational user groups are also meeting ahead of the winter season to provide better lines of communication, along with improving education about how to share the trails.

There are a few times throughout the winter when recreation and forest management activities such as logging overlap, putting even more pressure on high traffic areas of the forest.

“The window around the Christmas holiday is big for winter recreation,” Ring said. “We have to find a balance to provide for a good experience for recreation, but also for safety. That means improving signs in particularly on plowed roads that are shared, in parking lots and providing education.”

For the most part because those activities complement each other well and provide revenue for the forest, Ring notes, it’s important to make it all work together to meet the forest’s mandate to generate revenue for the State Trust Lands.

In total, activity on State Trust Lands statewide in fiscal year 2018, generated more than $87 million that goes to benefit trust beneficiaries primarily public schools, according to the DNRC.

Winter recreation has long been a staple of the Stillwater Forest through private groups and recreation use licenses for dog sledding businesses has been occurring since the early 1990s.

Currently, there are nine different licensed winter operators on the forest providing access or guiding and rental services, for activities including dog sledding, snowmobiling, Nordic skiing and snowshoeing and cat-skiing. — not to mention visitors to the area and weekend adventurers.

The Stillwater is just beginning to keep track of user data for both winter and summer recreation. Last winter the forest installed trail counters at four trailheads — Olney, Fitzsimmons, Delrey and Stryker Ridge Road.

During three different weeks last winter in February and March, the Upper Whitefish Road at the Olney trailhead alone saw nearly 350 users pass through the counter during week-long periods. The Delrey trailhead saw two weeks where roughly 200 users were recorded.

Nicole Stickney, Special Uses Forester for the Stillwater, noted that the trail counters were installed at the end of January so numbers obtained last winter are just a partial season.

“We’re trying to better understand the number of users,” she said. “We get reports from those with recreation use licenses on their numbers, but we don’t really have a way to know how many users in general are on the trails.”

Stickney said the counts can help with decisions about management, such as are roads being plowed wide enough and the need for placing additional signs.

For example, at the Fitzsimmons Road notifying users that because of snow, the road becomes narrow with no turnouts and trailer use on the road is not recommended beyond a certain point.

Anecdotally, Ring and Stickney say that they’ve both watched recreation on the Stillwater Forest increase over the years as more and more people visit Whitefish and the Flathead Valley.

Shifts in the logging season over the years, have also increased congestion on plowed roads and a need to balance those who are accessing the forest for work and recreation during overlapping times.

Ring says as logging activities have increased in recent years, along with an apparent increase in recreation, so has conflicts.

Because of soil moisture levels the Stillwater often doesn’t open up for logging activities until mid-July. Ring said that, along with shifts in the logging industry, has pushed logging operations to occur later in the year, often through mid-December when the winter recreation season is beginning.

Two businesses and one organization licensed as winter operators on the Stillwater Forest have been part of the discussions and efforts to make recreation among different groups smoother during the coming winter season.

Brandon Hiday, with Winter Wonderland Sports, personally recreates and guides snowmobile trips on the Stillwater.

“Whitefish is a hub of attraction in the winter for tourists,” he said. “It’s really an experience you can’t get anywhere else. It’s nice packages that people can enjoy for winter with dog sledding, snowmobiling and cat-skiing and we want them to enjoy it all.”

Winter Wonderland Sports, based in Olney at the gateway to the Stillwater, offers snowmobile rentals and guided snowmoblie tours for beginners and experts.

Hiday says it’s not unusual for snowmobiles and skiers to have conflict while both seeking out untracked snow for the best experience, but it’s also in everyone’s best interest to work together.

“There’s really not enough room for us to divide into different areas,” he said. “If we couldn’t work together it really wouldn’t be feasible to keep operating.”

Jay Sandelin, owner of Great Northern Powder Guides, says in Montana the Stillwater Forest provides the only opportunity for cat-skiing, which allows access to backcountry skiing by using snowcats acting as lifts up the mountain. This winter will be GNPG’s 10th season operating on the Stillwater and a previous operator provided guiding for about five years prior.

Sandelin points out that it’s vital to his business, along with the other recreational users, to work together along with state land managers.

“We want to create awareness by working together and in the past that hasn’t always happened,” he said. “Snowmobilers and skiers have always butted heads. But we want to work with the state, the other concessionaires and groups like the Flathead Snowmobile Association to make things better.”

The snowcats used to transport skiers and snowboarders into the backcountry are about 14 feet wide and grooming machines cut paths for them to operate. All users are sharing the same road system, and the snowcats can’t move off the road, Sandelin notes, and are limited in the areas where they can operate.

“We all have to share the terrain with other people up there,” he said. “It works well if we work together. We all need to learn to work together better and prevent things from getting worse.”

Sandelin says he’s seen an increasing trend of recreation on the forest, and some longtime users aren’t always reticent to share the trails.

“The issues is Montana is getting more and more popular as people discover it,” he said. “That means more activity.”

The Flathead Snowmobile Association grooms an estimated 75 miles trails on the Stillwater and also plans to do its own work this fall to widen trails, and also improve signage come the winter season. The group averages about 200 members, works to provide winter safety education and in addition grooms trails in three different areas around the Flathead Valley.

Dave Colvill, president of the association, says the Stillwater in particular offers varied terrain for beginners using groomed trails and for more experienced riders looking for deep powder.

“The signs include directional signs for the groomed trails so when they’re crossing Great Northern Powder Guides’ trails they aren’t taking the wrong trail,” he said. “Some confusion has happened with riders who aren’t familiar with the area — they see a groomed track and take it not knowing where they’re going.”

Colvill notes that while not every snowmobiler is a member of the association, the group has committed to improving signage and communication that informers all riders that there are multiple users in the forest.

“There’s plenty of room out there,” Colvill said. “There’s an opportunity for everyone to have a good time even with multiple users.”

Striking a balance for recreation and forest management along with revenue generation is the ultimate goal from the Stillwater’s perspective, Ring notes.

“While we do want to provide recreation, by law we’re mandated to generate revenue,” Ring said. “That’s something the public often doesn’t understand, that the funds we raise support schools. We manage for revenue.”

The Stillwater follows the Trust Land Management Division mission of “managing the State of Montana’s trust land resources to produce revenues for the trust beneficiaries while considering environmental factors and protecting the future income generating capacity of the land.”

Sandelin says he appreciates working with the state forest knowing that the dollars generated through his business’ recreation license goes to State Trust Lands.

“The Stillwater is a great forest to work with,” he said. “The state is highly accountable in tracking where its money goes.”

Surface acreage for State Trust Land, totaled approximately 5.2 million acres at the end of fiscal year 2018, according to the DNRC’s annual report of the Trust Lands Management Division.

State Trust Lands produce revenue through four main programs — minerals, forestry, agriculture and real estate — while being open for public recreation and commercial recreation through licenses. The lands are managed for the benefit primarily of K-12 schools along with Montana universities, the school for the deaf and blind, the Montana Veterans Home.

Recreation on trust lands statewide generated more than $1.2 million in revenue for fiscal year 2017.

While DNRC overseas less than 4% of the statewide forestland, the program accounts for nearly 25% of Montana’s total timber volume sold per year, according to the DNRC’s annual report. State statute directs DNRC to sell a consistent amount of timber volume per year to provide consistent revenue for trust beneficiaries.

Forest management including timber sales and forest improvement fees generated $10.9 million in fiscal year 2017, Ring notes, and one-fourth of that total came from the Stillwater State Forest.

For more information, contact the Stillwater at 406-881-2371 or visit the headquarters office at 7425 Highway 93 North in Olney.