One of the most noticeable changes in the North Fork Flathead River drainage can be found on the river — at its put-in and take-out sites for floaters — and it is a change that is in part driving an effort to develop a new Wild and Scenic River management plan.

“The last few years the number of people on the river has really increased, dramatically,” said John Frederick, who became a North Fork resident back in 1980. “It’s been very noticeable over the last two years.”

Vehicles loaded with rafts, kayaks and canoes are now a far more common sight than they were in 1980, when the current river management plan was developed. That came on the heels of portions of the North, South and Middle forks of the Flathead River being designated as Wild and Scenic rivers in 1976.

“It’s pretty old,” Hungry Horse-Glacier View District Ranger Rob Davies said of the river management plan. “We’re not saying it’s bad. There are elements that are very good in that plan. We don’t want to throw it out and start from scratch. We want to figure out what needs to change, what elements of that plan need fixing.”

While the Flathead National Forest begins development of a new forest management plan, it also will be working on a new Wild and Scenic River management plan for all three forks through a separate process that also is in its formative stages.

Efforts have been underway for about two years to more closely monitor river use. 

“We’ve interviewed floaters and people using the river,” Davies said. “Not hard-and-fast statistics on use ... but we do have seasonal river rangers who do counts of how many floaters they encounter and other types of users they encounter.”

Using plans that were developed for the Merced River in California and the upper Snake River as templates, Davies said a new river management plan likely will identify user capacities for the three forks of the Flathead. Rather than focusing on a head count of people using the rivers, however, capacities are more likely to be measured by impacts to river resources, he said.

Monitoring so far has involved keeping track of impacts such as litter, campfire rings that are left behind, human waste and the overall amount of dispersed camping that occurs.

“The last thing we want to do is go to permits,” Davies said, referring to the type of limited permitting system that has been put to use on Montana’s Smith River. “We don’t want to turn people away at this point. We would only start to limit use through permits if we saw downward trends in the condition of the rivers and the riverbanks ... That’s kind of a last resort.”

It is possible, he added, that the Forest Service could go to some form of self-registration for floaters at river put-ins to assist with monitoring river use.

Davies stressed how the nature of river use has changed over time. Since 1980, the Forest Service has been involved with significant land acquisitions along the North Fork Flathead River. The Wurtz air strip  used to be privately owned, for example, but now it is managed by the Forest Service. Overall, the acquisitions have contributed to increased public use. 

And while the current plan is largely focused on floaters, a new plan likely will take into account people who are using the riverbanks, whether they be campers, anglers or other types of day users.

Because the Forest Service and Glacier National Park share management authority on about 180 miles of river, park officials will be involved in development of a new river management plan.

“We’re working hard to make sure management of the river is consistent even though we have vastly different management goals,” Davies said.

From the park’s side of the water, the need for an updated plan is obvious.

“We’re concerned about what’s happening both to the resources and to the river users’ experience, whether they are floaters or are using the rivers from shore,” said Mary Riddle, who coordinates Glacier’s environmental planning. “We’re seeing evidence of increasing use just by the impacts on the resources. There are more human waste issues along the river and vegetation impacts with weeds.”

Managers aren’t waiting for a management plan to begin addressing impacts on rivers.

Last year, Glacier got a $4,100 National Park Foundation grant to launch the Flathead Wild and Scenic River Corridor Stewardship Project. The grant enabled the purchase of several hundred waste bags, five portable fire pans and eight bear-resistant coolers for rafts that are all available for free, to be checked out from the park’s backcountry office at Apgar.

Davies said park and Forest Service planners intend to move forward with developing a new plan at the same pace, and he expects the process, which eventually will entail public involvement, will take two or three years to complete.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.