Wild and Scenic Rivers Act turns 40

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, legislation that protects some 219 miles of waterway on the Flathead National Forest.

While the Act was passed in 1968, local rivers protected under the Act — the North Fork of the Flathead, the Middle Fork of the Flathead and the South Fork of the Flathead — were not included until 1976.

In that year, oil and gas exploration as well as Canadian coal mines were all threatening the North Fork — a situation that isn't far removed today.

Canadian companies are still eyeing the North Fork of the Flathead for coal mines at at least two locations, but oil and gas leases in the North Fork on the U.S. side of the border are in what appears to be permanent limbo, though they still exist — at least on paper.

The Wild and Scenic River Act was enacted to preserve and protect selected rivers, or segments of rivers, in their free-flowing condition.

The Act states, "Each component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System shall be administered in such manner as to protect and enhance the values which caused it to be included without limiting other uses that do no substantially interfere with public use and enjoyment of these values."

From a practical standpoint, the Act has an impact on everything from tree harvest near them to dam building and many facets in between. For example, you can't use a motorboat on the rivers, though emergency motorboat use, such as a rescue, is allowed.

Both the Middle Fork and the North Fork in the 1950s and 1960s were eyed for dams. There was once a plan to dam the Middle Fork at Spruce Park as well as a dam in the North Fork that would have inundated a large chunk of Glacier National Park.

The South Fork of the Flathead was dammed at Hungry Horse, but it protected under the Act above the reservoir. The North Fork is protected above its confluence with the Middle Fork and the Middle Fork is protected at its confluence with the South Fork.

Neither dam proposal succeeded and the Montana Wilderness Association pushed for designation of the rivers into the Act, recalled Columbia falls resident Loren Kreck.

He said John Craighead, who was president of MWA at the time, deserved recognition.

"He pushed for it," Kreck, who was a noted environmental champion in his own right, recalled.

Kreck recalled that Craighead also wanted to include the tributaries of the rivers into the bill, but that failed.

Lance Craighead, son of Frank Craighead, who was John's twin brother, recalled his father worked on the bill when the family was living in Washington, D.C.

At the time the three Flathead Rivers were added, then Congressman Max Baucus predicted the Act would have little impact on private landowners. In fact, he said it would likely increase land value. The addition of the Flathead also provided funding to purchase scenic easements along the rivers from private landowners.

He was right — land values in the North Fork have skyrocketed and land along the river is out of reach for the average wage earner in the Flathead.

The Act also kept jobs here. Glacier Raft Co. co-owner Onno Wieringa said the Act didn't help start his business, but it certainly "helped maintain the essential part of it."

There are four raft companies that operate on the Middle Fork alone, and several more outfitters in the South Fork, as well as fishing guides on all three rivers — clean water also meant jobs for the Flathead Valley.

There are three designations of rivers under the law, which is administered by the Forest Service.

"Wild" rivers or sections of rivers are free of impoundments and generally inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters unpolluted. "Scenic" rivers or sections of rivers are free of impoundments with shorelines or watersheds still largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. "Recreational" rivers or sections of rivers are readily accessible by road that may have some development along their shoreline, and that may have undergone some impoundment or diversion in the past.

The Flathead River designation includes 97.9 miles as wild, 40.7 miles as scenic and 80.4 miles as recreational. The North Fork is designated scenic and recreational. The Middle Fork is recreational and wild, while the South Fork is predominantly wild.

Wieringa credited the Forest Service for doing a good job of protecting the rivers over the years.

"They've done a good job, I think," he said.