Lake Five access site negotiated

Six years after the controversial project was first proposed, Fish, Wildlife and Parks has retained a contractor to begin work on developing a fishing access site at Lake Five that could be open by late summer.

FWP purchased a 10-acre parcel on the lake, between Coram and West Glacier, in 2004 using a donation from former Flathead resident Elizabeth Taylor, who wanted to have a fishing access dedicated to her late son, Paul. When the Paul Taylor Fishing Access Site was proposed in 2005, however, it was met with stiff resistance from Lake Five property owners concerned about boating safety issues, litter, noise and other nuisances.

Public access advocates and FWP pointed out that the lake has been managed by the state and stocked with fish for years but lacks public access. Boaters typically were able to reach the lake at the Lake Five Resort, but public access across the private resort was not guaranteed.

The property owners sued after their appeal was denied, and a judge ruled that the project's environmental assessment was inadequate, setting in motion a new environmental review. A committee, which included two Lake Five property owners, was assigned to search for alternative locations for a fishing access site in Northwest Montana.

Of the eight potential sites selected by the committee, only Lake Five fit the criteria established before the process began. The asking price for a 120-acre property with access to an unnamed 10-acre lake, for example, was $1 million, while the Lake Five property was valued at $450,000.

The state published a new environmental assessment in May 2009 and issued a decision order for the project to proceed, but the Lake Five property owners appealed again. Finally, after six years of legal and administrative delays, a settlement was negotiated, and the Flathead County Commissioners last week approved the project's lakeshore-development permits.

"The appellants and the director were able to reach an agreement that satisfied both parties, and that's why we're back in the process of constructing a fishing access," FWP regional parks manager Dave Landstrom said . "It could be open by late summer. It certainly should be open for fall fishing."

Accessed by an 800-foot gravel road off Belton Stage Road, the site will have a boat ramp, dock, vault toilet, parking for eight vehicle-trailer combinations and four single vehicles, and a facility host stationed there during the summer.

Landstrom said good site design and changes to boating rules on Lake Five were key to settling the issue. The state's 200-foot no-wake zone would have restricted boating to the middle of the 151-acre lake. A new rule requiring boaters to travel in a counter-clockwise pattern and a ban on personal watercraft was adopted. A facility host will be present to handle problems and manage gate closures at the day-use-only site.

"Those all were steps that were taken to proactively address concerns the appellants had," Landstrom said. "It's going to be a very simple and small development."