Since becoming a nonprofit 10 years ago, the organization behind the trail system that will connect Herron Park and Foy’s Lake with Blacktail Mountain is nearing completion of its goal.

One of the main proponents making the trail system a reality is Cliff Kipp, the regional director for Montana Conservation Corps who also serves as the chairman of the board for the new trail system.

Born and raised on a ranch in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Kipp grew up skiing, riding horses and being consistently pushed to explore the outdoors by his parents. After studying philosophy and environmental ethics at Denison University in Ohio, he worked for a defense contractor that built small batches of equipment that large contractors such as Lockheed Martin would typically pass on.

“I got to see projects go from a design on a piece of paper to the finished product,” he said. “I got to put my hands on every part of the process.”

He also spent six months in France as a bike tour guide until the Sept. 11 attacks forced him to reappraise his priorities.

“I felt totally disconnected, and I’m hearing how the rest of the world thinks about America,” he said. “I came back to Colorado, and I’m thinking, how am I, one person, going to make a difference on a global scale? The answer, to me, was to go local. If you can move the needle in a local community, it just grows and grows.”

Kipp moved to Montana in 2002 to work for Americorps, two years later becoming the regional director for the Montana Conservation Corps. When he learned of the Foy’s to Blacktail project, he was immediately on board.

“I could see some of the failure of the existing trail system, what was there was not sustainable,” Kipp said. “But it had so much potential. ... I loved the notion of being able to ride my bike through the woods and be in the town of Lakeside.”

He also saw an opportunity to put his conservation corps members to work for the community, providing cheap labor while the work provided them with experience and a chance to improve a highly visible, local park.

When he first stepped in as regional director for the conservation nonprofit, it consisted of just himself and two adult crews. Since then, he’s expanded the office to include another full-time staff member, three seasonal staff members, seven adult crews and eight youth crews.

His small staff helps him with project solicitation, coordination and support, and training and oversight for the crews.

“At this point it would be impossible for one person to do all that,” he said, adding that during this season the regional office has more than 70 programs under contract, ranging in scope from a single day to 20 weeks.

While often physically taxing, each project shares as a common thread the five central “pillars” of the conservation corps mission: Development of service ethics, communication skills, leadership skills, environmental awareness and an understanding of the value of hard work.

“In the heat of the season, we have 100 people in and out of this office, going out across Montana and delivering the goods, tapping into those five pillars of the mission,” he said. “Their sweat, their blood goes into the landscape — and that creates a lasting impact. ... We teach people about what it takes to maintain and conserve these public lands, because it doesn’t just happen on its own.”

Over the summer, trail crews have been working on the southern end of the trail corridor, improving a trail that connects the top of Blacktail Mountain with Lakeside. Visitors can access it via a new trailhead on Blacktail Mountain Road, past Stoner Creek.

Kipp said the new trail partially follows a historic trail from Lost Lake to the top of the mountain: a four-mile, continuous climb to the top, but still accessible via mountain bike or horses.

“It kind of follows this rib of terrain up to the saddle, just below the ski resort, then follows the southern and eastern boundary up to the radar dome,” he said.

When the project is complete, Flathead County will also have an endowment from the organization to fund future trail maintenance. Much of that money has been raised through races and other events in Herron Park.

The original vision was simply for a trail corridor, but he said that the 120-acre project has grown to about 440 acres in the years since he started working on it, and land purchases to grow Herron Park became the project’s priority.

Last December, the organization purchased the last piece of land needed — bringing Herron Park to 440 acres, compared with its original 120 acres.

Now all that’s needed to complete the sprawling trail system are final land use agreements with private landowners in the corridor.

The process can be extensive.

“The big one is liability,” Kipp explained. “Who’s going to take responsibility if someone wrecks their bike, or an unleashed dog bites a horse and the rider gets thrown?”... It’s been a process of finding out what entity is going to hold that liability.”

Flathead County, which owns Herron Park, has assumed liability in most of the existing agreements with private landowners. Often there is also a “rip cord” element to the agreement that allows the landowner to opt out if they aren’t comfortable with the land use after a set number of years.

Kipp noted that his work with the county and Flathead National Forest through his day job has been a major boost to making the trail corridor a reality. Currently the network includes 14 miles of trails, with more in the construction and planning stages.

“The relationships with the private and public landowners are critical,” he said. “If there’s anything I’ve parlayed from MCC, it’s that you have to nurture those relationships.”

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.