Swan River Trail parking lot project enters design phase

Progress is underway on the project at the east trailhead parking lot of the Swan River Trail. PacifiCorp, the Portland, Oregon-based energy company that owns the eastern portion of the trail, is now reportedly in the design phase of a project to expand capacity and facilities at the eastern entrance to the trail.

PacifiCorp is now committed to building 10 parking spots with space for trailers in the east trailhead parking lot and installing a vault toilet there, according to PacifiCorp spokesman Tom Gauntt. They tentatively expect to complete the permitting process by fall of this year.

“We are still early in the project,” Gauntt stressed in an email.

PacifiCorp first entered into a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission agreement to utilize the Swan River to produce electricity in 1985. The agreement required the company to perform periodic reviews of its operations and property in Bigfork.

In the early 2000s, the increasing popularity of the Swan River Nature Trail and the nearby Kearney Rapids Boat Launch gave way to a need for additional parking to the existing five parking spots east of the trail. In 2006, PacifiCorp Program Manager Dave Leonhardt sent a letter to the parties in the FERC Settlement Agreement proposing the company build a 10-spot parking lot there. But according to a letter from PacifiCorp Managing Director of Renewable Resources Todd Olson in October 2019, “for now [sic] unknown reasons, the new parking area was never constructed.”

“We recently became aware this requirement had never been completed,” noted Gauntt in his email. “There are a lot of moving parts to this settlement agreement and it is unclear how the status of this project was lost.”

He explained the delay was probably influenced by the retirement of the project engineer and manager since 2006 and the competing priorities of the 16 total projects in the FERC agreement.

“We are moving forward with this now and apologize for the oversight resulting in the delay,” Gauntt wrote. “The parking lot was always in the plan and we are now taking steps to make it happen.”

In the meantime, the need for parking space has only increased as trail users and water recreators crowd the existing spaces and park precariously on the nearby roads, observed Paul Mutascio with the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork.

He added there is an equally pressing need for a nearby bathroom, since the closest restroom is a mile and a half down the trail. He explained to PacifiCorp representatives that this far-flung facility has led to a lot of “improvised” trails in the woods for desperate outdoorspeople, which has unfortunate downstream effects for the Swan River and its drainage into Flathead Lake.

PacifiCorp’s plans to double the number of parking spots and build a vault toilet will hopefully address some of these concerns.

These plans also pave the way for CFBB’s proposal to eventually build onto the existing trail with a northside addition that would loop back to the west end trail entrance.

“That would be a big plus for Bigfork,” Mutascio said.

But a lot of questions remain with these proposed developments.

Mutascio said Bigfork representatives are still negotiating with PacifiCorp about the exact cost of the project, and Gauntt insisted the timeline for the project is still tentative since the “construction schedule for this parking lot is dependent upon permitting requirements.”

The potential to add onto the trail is even more uncertain, since there is a lot left to be determined about the exact boundaries of PacifiCorp’s property and the FERC agreement.

But Gauntt did address some pressing concerns about the upcoming changes for trail and rivers users. He said “no changes to the east entrance trail access will be made” with the new developments, although he said, “the gate at the east entrance to the Swan River Nature trail will need to be moved a little bit to create vehicle access.”

The original stipulations for “monitoring protocols and expansion triggers” are also being foregone since the original idea was to build five spots and monitor their usage to see if expansion was warranted, Gauntt explained. Instead, PacifiCorp will move ahead with building 10 total spots when the project commences. ¦

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.