Conservation Corps partner for accessible recreation

Montana Conservation Corps is partnering with Montana State Parks Foundation and Summit Independent Living to improve accessibility at Wayfarers State Park. Conservation Corps crews will have boots on the ground improving several trails. The work begins Sept. 20 and runs through Oct. 3.  

For Montana Conservation Corps, work at Wayfarers will build on decades of collaboration with public land agencies, nonprofits and community organizations to improve Montana’s outdoor spaces. It has partnered with hundreds of local nonprofits and city, county, state and federal agencies on conservation projects throughout the Northern Rockies and Plains. Montana Conservation Corps work includes trail construction and maintenance, public park improvements, and habitat restoration. Accessibility has become an important part of that work. 

A recent accessibility review of Wayfarers State Park conducted by Summit Independent Living on behalf of the Montana State Parks Foundation identified a number of opportunities to improve access across the park’s trails, picnic and beach areas, restrooms, camping facilities, parking areas, and boarding pier. Wayfarers, located on the northeast shore of Flathead Lake near Bigfork, offers visitors opportunities to access recreational facilities throughout the park. The park currently includes 30 campsites, including one accessible campsite, as well as six designated accessible parking spaces. 

The assessment found that some improvements could be relatively straightforward, while others would require significant planning and construction. The quarter-mile Harry Horn Trail, for example, was identified as an excellent opportunity to improve accessibility. Recommended improvements include clearing vegetation and low branches, addressing exposed roots, and adding resting and passing spaces. 

The Lupine Loop Trail leading toward the park’s scenic overlook presents a larger opportunity. The assessment found that the trail becomes steep, rocky and uneven, making it largely unusable for many people with mobility disabilities. Creating an accessible route to the overlook could require engineering and new trail construction with a series of switchbacks. The assessment also identified opportunities to improve access in the park’s day-use beach and picnic area, including widening trails, clearing vegetation and addressing protruding roots. 

At another important accessibility project In Glacier National Park, MCC crews have spent years working with the National Park Service to improve the Swiftcurrent Loop Trail, a 2.6-mile trail in the Many Glacier area. Over multiple seasons, MCC crews have widened sections of the trail, removed roots and rocks, transported more than 40 tons of material and installed a durable, natural-looking trail surface designed to improve access for visitors with varying physical abilities. The project is funded through the Glacier National Park Conservancy, the fundraising partner of Glacier National Park. 

Montana Conservation Corps’ partnership with Montana State Parks also has deep roots. In the 1990s, Corps members worked alongside state park experts at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, removing and replacing portions of the historic trail surface originally installed by the Civilian Conservation Corps. 

Montana Conservation Corps inspires young people through hands-on conservation service to be leaders, stewards of the land and engaged citizens who improve their communities. Since 1991, participants have improved more than 31,000 miles of trails, planted more than 1.4 million trees and treated more than 163,000 acres of noxious weeds. Today, its participants provide more than 400,000 hours of service on public lands each year.