Ski course set up on lake

A water-skiing slalom course set up on Monks Bay south of The Lodge At Whitefish Lake drew some calls and letters from concerned property owners along the lake.

According to Lodge owner Sean Averill, a group of local skiers, including Lodge marina manager Will Steck, set up the portable course, which uses dozens of buoys linked with PVC pipe that are anchored in place.

"This has nothing to do with the Lodge at all," Averill pointed out.

Averill said this type of course is completely legal and has been set up on numerous lakes and rivers in the Flathead Valley over the years.

He said the group planned to remove the course when boating activity on Whitefish Lake picked up around July 1.

According to Averill, the group spoke with a local Fish, Wildlife and Parks official about the best location on the lake for the course, and the official suggested the south side of Monks Bay, which is the least used part of Whitefish Lake because of underwater hazards.

"It's also in the same location where historically slalom courses have been set up in the past by other locals," Averill said.

Judy Pettinato, whose family has owned a home on Monks Bay since 1957, said she has no recollection of such a course being set up there. She said she was concerned about boating hazards, especially at night if the buoys were not lighted, and she questioned whether the course was legal.

Pettinato referred to state law MCA-23-2-525, which states that "a person may not anchor a vessel or other obstacle for fishing or pleasure purposes on any body of water over which the state has jurisdiction in a position that obstructs a passageway ordinarily used by other vessels."

Warden captain Lee Anderson acknowledged that Steck had contacted the FWP Region 1 office in Kalispell and was told that state law did not clearly disallow the ski course.

As for boating hazards, "When people are doing any activity on the lake, they are held to a standard of safe operation," Anderson said. "They would be required to follow the same general rules of the road and laws governing wake restrictions, distances from other vessels, reckless operation, etc."

State boating law administrator Ron Jendro, at FWP's office in Helena, said he had also spoken with Steck, but it was his understanding that the course was set up before FWP was contacted.

Similar water-skiing courses have been established elsewhere in the state, Jendro said — one has existed on the Sun River near Great Falls since the early 1990s. In some places, wakeboarders have tried to set up terrain park-type obstacles, such as ramps and rails, which he considered dangerous to other boaters.

Jendro said he spoke with FWP legal staff about the matter and was told state law on such courses is vague. Several Western states have rules on regulating such courses, with difference provisions.

Here in Montana, reliance on MCA 23-2-525 to prevent the spread of slalom courses doesn't seem to work, he said, so FWP will consider creating an administrative rule establishing a permitting system. A public process will be followed in establishing the new rule, Jendro said.

The city of Whitefish annexed the lake in 2005, but the state of Montana actually owns the lake through the Department of Natural Resources and Natural Conservation, city attorney John Phelps said.

Since the Monks Bay slalom course is several hundred yards away from the shore, it doesn't fall within the jurisdiction of the Whitefish Lake and Lakeshore Committee, committee chairman Jim Stack said.

Anne Moran, a planner at DNRC's office in Kalispell, said she had no knowledge of a permit being issued for the Monks Bay slalom course.