Bike trail promoters present plan to Glencore

Glencore representatives who met with city officials and the public in the Columbia Falls City Council chambers on April 25 were prepared to field questions about when the Columbia Falls Aluminum Co. smelter would restart or if it should just be cleaned up.

But they were also presented with a request by Columbia Falls residents Jami Belt and Sarah Dakin to donate an easement through CFAC property south of the Flathead River for use by a bike path linking Columbia Falls to trails in the Canyon.

“Your donation will enhance the experience of community members’ and visitors’ approach to Glacier National Park, an international peace park,” Belt and Dakin said in a letter they presented the Glencore representatives. “This is an opportunity for Glencore to give back to the community by creating a recreational corridor, thereby improving the quality of life for all Flathead Valley residents.”

The hope is to one day build a 2.75-mile long bike path from the U.S. 2 bridge over the Flathead River to the fishing access site next to the House of Mystery. The bike path could be continued about 3.5 miles through Bad Rock Canyon to an existing bike path in Hungry Horse when U.S. 2 is rebuilt and a new bridge is placed over the South Fork of the Flathead River sometime in the next six years.

A bike path now exists linking Hungry Horse to Coram, and fundraising is already underway by the nonprofit Gateway To Glacier Trail group to build a 7-mile long bike path along U.S. 2 from Coram to West Glacier. With all segments completed, bikers and hikers could travel from the Teakettle Fishing Access Site to Glacier Park on a trail safely separated from the highway.

“Columbia Falls residents are dedicated to developing new trails, enhancing and taking care of existing trails, and building community partnerships that provide healthy family living, and economic and recreational opportunities for our citizens,” Belt and Dakin said in their letter. “We are currently in the process of garnering letters of support for this proposal.”

Belt told the Glencore representatives that the easement would require no capital investment or annual expense by Glencore, and the bike path would enhance the value of the land later on.

“If Glencore chooses to develop their land later, there should be no impact — people like trails,” she said.

Glencore representative Matt Lucke, who flew to the meeting from Switzerland, asked about how much use the bike path would see. Sen. Dee Brown, R-Coram, said Glacier Park sees about 2 million visitors each year, and Belt said the Park sees 200 bikers a day during the height of the tourist season.

“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Lucke said, adding that he would pass on their letter when he returned to Switzerland.

On Aug. 8, 1957, the Anaconda Company filed deeds that increased the size of the aluminum smelter property from 750 acres to nearly 3,000. More than 1,200 acres of CFAC land is currently located on the south side of the river. CFAC environmental manager Steve Wright at the April 25 meeting described the surrounding acreage as an “environmental buffer.”