The Gateway to Glacier Trail nonprofit organization has asked Glencore for a trail easement along the east side of the Flathead River near Columbia Falls.

If approved it would allow a scenic loop for the bike and pedestrian path planned along U.S. 2 from Columbia Falls to West Glacier.

Glencore, the owner of the mothballed Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. property, purchased land on the east side of the river for an environmental buffer in the 1970s, Gateway to Glacier Trail Chairwoman Sarah Dakin said.

“We’re hoping Glencore will step up,” Dakin said.

The trail group has raised $180,000 for an eight-mile segment of bike/pedestrian path from Coram to West Glacier. That portion of the project is on track to be constructed sometime next summer.

In December 2012 the Flathead County commissioners awarded the Gateway to Glacier Trail program $845,811 in Community Transportation Enhancement Program money to build the Coram to West Glacier trail. The trail group was required to raise a 13.42 percent local match.

On Monday the commissioners unanimously selected Thomas, Dean & Hoskins as the consulting firm for the Coram to West Glacier segment. The firm scored the highest of four companies competing for the design work.

Now that the Coram to West Glacier segment has the needed funding and is moving forward, the trail group has successfully lobbied the Montana Department of Transportation to include a bike path from Hungry Horse, through Badrock Canyon and across the South Fork of the Flathead River, as part of the planned highway upgrade that may begin next year.

Replacement of the U.S. 2 bridge over the South Fork is projected for 2017, and that would be the first part of the final trail section, Dakin said.

The group is now actively fundraising for the three-mile section from the bridge over the Flathead River at Columbia Falls to the House of Mystery. Dakin estimated it will cost from $100,000 to $200,000 per mile for that stretch of trail.

Gateway to Glacier Trail’s goal is to develop a separated bike and pedestrian path from Columbia Falls to West Glacier.

Dakin said bicycle tourism is increasing in Northwest Montana, and the trail will be a vital link to access public lands.

Former Gateway to Glacier Trail Chairwoman Val Parsons, Dakin and others have been working on the trail project extensively for the past couple of years.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.