Kalispell, MT- August 16, 2019- The Flathead National Forest, in coordination with Glacier National Park, is continuing with the scoping process for the Comprehensive River Management Plan (CRMP) for the Flathead Wild and Scenic River.
The first public meeting was held Tuesday evening August 13th at the Flathead Valley Community College. Approximately one hundred people attended. The second meeting will be held Tuesday evening August 20th from 6 pm to 8 pm at the lower level of the Arts and Technology Building at Flathead Valley Community College. Based on feedback from the first meeting and the desire to have an open public comment section, the format for the August 20th meeting will be slightly different from the first meeting. From 6:00-6:30 pm, there will be presentations to define aspects of Wild and Scenic River management and discuss some elements of the Flathead River Proposed Action. From 6:30-7:30 pm there will be an open house format with opportunities to informally interact with agency specialists at separate stations for each of the 3 Forks of the Flathead, and from 7:30-8:00 pm there will be an open comment and question period for the public to ask questions and provide input in a group setting.
The proposed action document discusses potential management direction and information on the desired conditions for the Flathead River segments. The public is asked to pay particular attention to how the desired condition statements as well as the proposed monitoring indicators, thresholds and triggers protect and preserve Outstanding Remarkable Value’s for the 3 Forks of the Flathead River system presently and into the future. This is the foundation of the CRMP and will inform management actions and inform how the user capacity process will be done. Comments on the proposed action are important because they will be used to inform our environmental analysis and development the draft CRMP.
More information on the 3 Forks of the Flathead Wild & Scenic River Comprehensive River Management Plan can be found at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/flathead/crmp.
The proposed action can also be accessed at the Flathead National Forest NEPA page (Flathead Comprehensive River Management Plan): www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56536.
Hard copies of the proposed action document are also available for review at the Hungry Horse-Glacier View Ranger Station (10 Hungry Horse Drive, Hungry Horse, MT, 59919) or at the Forest Supervisor’s Office (650 Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, MT 59901).
The public can provide us comments by doing the following:
- Email comments to: comments-northern-flathead@usda.gov. Acceptable formats include MS Word, RTF, or PDF.
- Fill in an electronic form by going to the same Flathead National Forest NEPA page (see above) and selecting
“Comment/Object on Project” on the right hand side of the screen.
- Hand-deliver or mail comments to the Hungry Horse-Glacier View Ranger Station in Hungry Horse or the Forest Supervisor’s Office in Kalispell (see above for addresses).
To assure your comments are fully considered during this scoping phase of the project, we request that you submit comments by September 13, 2019. Additional comments are welcome throughout the planning process.
