The North Fork Road may be rougher than usual for this time of year, but Glacier National Park will not open the Camas Road early to alleviate the problem.

The North Fork Road this winter has become particularly rough because of a warmer than normal winter with plenty of freeze and thaw cycles as well as logging truck traffic as timber sales are ongoing from the Frozen Moose Project. 

Residents at the North Fork Interlocal asked if the Camas Road could reopen as there is no snow, but North Fork District Ranger Ty Cheatum, while he understood the road was rough, said the Park Service closes the road to protect winter ungulates in the area. 

“We strive to keep those areas (protected) as long as we can,” he said, 

The area around the Camas Road is valuable winter range for deer, elk and moose and the Park even prohibits all off-trail entry, even by foot, into some areas to minimize disturbance of animals. 

The Camas Road, under Park Service regulations, closes Jan. 1 to March 31. So if the snow holds off, it could conceivably open April 1. During a normal winter, the road is typically the first one plowed west of the divide. 

Meanwhile, the county has apparently taken a grader to the North Fork Road itself, residents told the Hungry Horse News the day after the meeting on Wednesday. 

Complaints about the road are a perennial occurrence. Many folks have called for paving it to Camas over the years, but that will take federal funding, which has never materialized. 

There’s also been significant opposition to paving the road as well, as conservationists worry about overcrowding in the area and the impact to the wildlife that use the river corridor.