The Bigfork Outdoor Recreation Alliance has officially come together under the stewardship of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Montana Access Project. The alliance has a goal of connecting already established trails and those currently in development to form an interconnected system, similar to what is available in Whitefish.

About six months ago Flathead Lake State Park Manager Amy Grout and Montana Access Project Founder Diane Conradi hosted a community meeting to get people thinking about connecting existing outdoor recreation projects to create something more cohesive. They invited community stakeholders, such as Bigfork Schools, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Community Foundation For a Better Bigfork— in addition to many others. The ideas born out of that first meeting have been coming to fruition in recent months with work from Conradi and Grout.

“The reception of planning something more was really great, people were hesitant to jump in and be a part of a big thing, because everybody— especially in Bigfork— they’re doing 14 things…But they said ‘we want to do this,’ which led me to ask, ‘how can we attack this?’ Diane and I talked about it and decided that we maybe just need to form one group, instead of one organization trying to take the lead and trying to figure out the trails. Maybe we need to bring all of our recreation providers together…and bring several different organizations in the community into this recreation alliance,” Grout said.

Grout said “recreation providers” includes groups that build and maintain trails but also those who contribute monetarily to the upkeep and formation of recreation projects. She said they’ve been asking those key players for their support and if they would like to have a representative at their upcoming meetings. The Flathead Land Trust, U.S. Forest Service, MT FWP, Bigfork Rotary Club, CFBB and the Bigfork Area Chamber of Commerce have all agreed to support the alliance and have a representative from their organizations present at their meetings.

The Harrell Forest Project, stewarded by the Flathead Land Trust and the Trust For Public Land, hopes to bring around four-and-a-half miles of trails to the area by early next year. The 236 acre property donated by Alan Horn and Cindy-Harrell Horn to the TPL sits right behind downtown Bigfork and is well suited to connect to other trail projects in the future.

“Alongside our efforts on the Harrell Forest Community Trails Project, The Trust for Public Land is thrilled to be engaged in the Bigfork Outdoor Recreation Alliance. TPL is excited to play a role in this community-led effort to guide and inform decisions regarding close-to-home recreational opportunities in the Greater Bigfork area. We look forward to serving alongside committed residents and partners as the Alliance works to create a road map for what the community desires in their outdoor recreation future,” TPL Northern Rockies Director Dick Dolan said.

The FLT recently received a federal grant of $100,000 to help fund the Bigfork-Harrell Forest Community Trails.

Grout said securing funding for the project is the next step to hire the Montana Access Project who will help develop an outdoor recreation plan for Bigfork and the greater Bigfork area. Discussion at their first meeting in November included ideas like connecting Somers Beach State Park to other projects in development.

“We heard from that community conversation that people were like, ‘yeah, let’s make it big, why can’t we have a trail that connects Bigfork to Somers Beach State Park, or down the Swan or down to Crane Mountain,’ like, let’s make those connections from the village of Bigfork out to those recreation areas,” Grout said.

Grout said an expansive trail system doesn’t just benefit community members who are eager to get outside, it also benefits local businesses and creates a draw for people to visit Bigfork.

“We’re all about tourism up in Montana, that’s what keeps us going up here. This is one more way to do that. By creating the Bigfork Outdoor Recreation Alliance and hiring Montana Access Project to create this plan, we can have kind of a map of what we see as our future trails and outdoor recreation opportunities in Bigfork,” Grout said.

Montana Access Project founder Diane Conradi has firsthand experience in facilitating these kinds of projects. She is a founder of Whitefish Legacy Partners and worked with them as they developed the Whitefish Trail. She is also a founder of the Montana State Parks Foundation. According to the Montana Access Project website, she works as an attorney and serves on many boards, including the Montana Environmental Quality Council, Flathead Reservation Fish and Wildlife Commission, and Montana's first State Parks and Recreation Board.

“She has a real interest in outdoor recreation and what we can provide folks. She’s just completed work with the community of Troy for an outdoor recreation plan as well. So, this is really up her alley of helping provide this plan to help communities get their feet under them to start implementation of these projects,” Grout said.

Montana Access Project would also help facilitate the alliance’s meetings in addition to creating a comprehensive outdoor recreation plan. Grout said they are going after grants to fund the planning process.

“There are some community grants, and if anybody finds the project worthy and wants to donate money to the planning process we would really appreciate that as well. It’s going to be worth it, the return on the investment for this plan will be huge in terms of applying for grants to implement these trails to come out of this planning process,” Grout said.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Bigfork Outdoor Recreation Alliance can visit the project’s page on the Montana Access Project website at mtaccessproject.com/bigfork-area-outdoor-recreation-plan/