The city of Whitefish has approved an agreement that would allow Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to maintain a fishing access site at Beaver Lake, but not provide lease funds for the site.

The City Council last week approved a memorandum of understanding regarding the fishing access.

Whitefish City Attorney Angela Jacobson said while the city will not receive the yearly lease fee of $3,500 for the site it typically receives, the agreement would preserve public access to the fishing site. The city previously passed the lease fee to Whitefish Legacy Partners, which manages the area in the recreation deed including the Whitefish Trail.

The agreement will have FWP provide funds for maintenance, which does help with costs, Jacobson noted.

Beaver Lake is located west of Whitefish off Beaver Lake Road.

The city, Whitefish Legacy Partners and FWP recently reached an agreement that requires the state agency to maintain the fishing access area including with garbage pickup, provide a portable toilet from May 1 to Oct. 31, to pay any capital improvements for the site including for the parking area and boat launch, and contribute to dust abatement on the road to the site up to $1,000 annually.

Mayor John Muhlfeld said he was surprised by such a tight budget that has FWP unable to come up with the funds.

“It amazes me that FWP can’t come up with $3,500 to maintain public access to a public resource,” he said. “Hard times, I guess.”

The new agreement also requires FWP to explore the feasibility of establishing an additional fishing access site within the recreation use easement area at Murray Lake.

Since 2012 the city has held a public recreation deed for the Beaver Lakes area. In order to preserve public access to the lake, the city since 2014 has leased a roughly 2-acre fishing site to FWP. As part of the agreement, FWP paid a lease fee of $3,500 to the city which passed it to Legacy Partners. FWP was also required to maintain existing vehicle parking, maintain the boat ramp and provide signs.

In 2018, FWP informed the city it would not have funds to pay the lease fee in the future. Thus, the two parties, along with Whitefish Legacy Partners, entered into a two-year extension of the initial five-year lease agreement in order to allow time to reach a new agreement.

Heidi Van Everan, executive director of Whitefish Legacy Partners, said it's positive that FWP will still be able to provide $1,000 for dust abatement and support for the fishing access site. Legacy Partners will be fundraising for the remaining $2,000 that will no longer be paid by FWP.

The new agreement is in effect until March of 2022.