Woofpack seeks donations for dog park improvements
KRISTI NIEMEYER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 months, 3 weeks AGO
Ted Saurman and his dog, Willow, pose at the Travis Dolphin Dog Park in Polson with a stone commemorating Sheena, a bobcat Saurman had for 19 years. The sale of commemorative stones will help fund improvements to the park, slated to begin next spring. (Eve Dixon photo)
Kristi Niemeyer learned her newspaper licks at weekly newspapers, beginning at the Mission Valley News in 1981, then at the helm of the Ronan Pioneer and, eventually, as co-editor of the Lake County Leader until 1993. She launched and co-published Lively Times, a statewide arts and entertainment monthly, before returning to the Leader in 2022, and serving as its editor until July 2026. Reach her at [email protected] | November 26, 2025 10:50 PM
The popular Travis Dolphin Dog Park, perched along the Flathead River on the west side of Polson, is headed for a substantial pawlift, but needs funds to launch the project next spring.
Having received a go-ahead from the City of Polson in September, the newly formed nonprofit called the Woofpack is seeking to raise around $36,000 for phase 1 and $18,400 for phase 2.
The park, named for a water department employee who died at an early age, was opened in 2007 as an Eagle Scout project by Jonathan Crosby. Scouts, dog lovers and local businesses continued to pitch in with projects that added fencing, a dock, signage, a trail system, a metal ramp leading into the Flathead River, a water fountain and three bench seats.
One ongoing issue at the park, which was once a landfill, is the glass that works its way to the surface and can cut canine paws. Another is the ongoing shoreline erosion, which makes accessing the dock increasingly steep, and exposes buried glass and debris, which then lodge on the bank or wash into the river.
Work begins next spring on the first phase that entails replacing torn weed mat and replenishing gravel on the 2.5-acre park’s paths and terracing the slope that leads to the dock.
Phase 2 would stabilize the shoreline by installing 50 feet of riprap approximately four-feet high downstream and upstream from the dock. In addition, eight pilings would be added.
According to Woofpack president Eve Dixon, a canine enthusiast who has helped spearhead the project, an anonymous donor is matching dollar for dollar donations up to $10,000. The group has also worked with Delaney’s Landscape Center to offer engraved memorial steppingstones, which will be installed during Phase 1 (or may be kept by the purchaser). Donations can be made and stones ordered online at polsonwoofpack.org.
According to Dixon, while the city has approved the project, it has no money to invest. As the website notes, park improvements have historically been “a community-driven endeavor,” and the park “needs a lot of love.”
In addition to financial contributions, Dixon hopes volunteers will rally next spring to man wheelbarrows while the crew from Delaney’s delivers loads of gravel, directs its placement, and compacts it into place.
For more information, call 406-253-6445 or email [email protected].
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