Flathead Rivers plan calls for free, unlimited, mandatory use permits

User permits could be coming to the Wild and Scenic portions of the Flathead River system.

The proposed action for the Comprehensive River Management plan calls for a free mandatory, but unlimited (no limit to permits available) system for all 219 miles of the three Forks of the Flathead.

“This would be implemented in phases, initially on priority segments over the first two or three years to better understand patterns of use and use levels and provide education on new regulations,” the proposed action, which was released by the Flathead National Forest last week, states.

The initial priority segments would be on the South Fork from Youngs and Danaher Creeks to the swinging bridge at Spotted Bear and on the Middle Fork from Bear Creek to Cascadilla.

The South Fork is primarily wilderness, while the Middle Fork is a section is paralleled by the BNSF Railway tracks and U.S. Highway 2.

The proposed action is the first step in crafting a final Comprehensive River Management plan for the North, Middle and South Forks of the Flathead. It does not include the mainstem of the Flathead River.

The document also speaks to other issues that have long raised the ire of the public over the past few years, most notably, camping on gravel bars. Under the proposed action, the plan is to “prohibit motor vehicle camping or parking on gravel bars; (though) motor vehicle travel across gravel bars to launch or retrieve boats is allowed.”

The proposed action also looks to set service days for outfitters and guides on certain sections of rivers. Most notably, on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River from Cascadilla to West Glacier, a whitewater section where the greatest outfitting and guiding takes plan.

The proposed action calls for a total of 86,000 service days for outfitting and guiding in that section. Right now, the average over the past five years has been 71,889 service days, though during the pandemic, it was more than 100,000.

On the Middle Fork from West Glacier to the confluence of the South Fork, the total outfitter and guide service days would be set at 50,000. Currently that reach for the past five years has also been 71,889.

The plan also looks to reign in private use as well. Group size on all rivers would be capped at 50 people; and in the North Fork Scenic section, which runs from the Canada border to Polebridge, the number of people in a group would be capped at 20, with a total of 50 on shore.

All told, the plan calls also calls for proposed user capacities on each segment per day. In the upper North Fork, for example, it’s 180, while from Polebridge to Camas it’s 440 and the lower North Fork to Blankenship is 330.

Those numbers ratchet up significantly on the Middle Fork, depending on the segment. From Bear Creek to Cascadilla, it’s 100 people a day, while from Cascadilla to West Glacier it’s 1,100 and from West Glacier to the South Fork it’s 1,280 people.

In contrast, the Middle Fork’s Wild section inside the Great Bear Wilderness it’s just 170- and on the upper South Fork, the goal is 30 people a day.

The proposed action also looks to greater protect Glacier National Park’s wildlife in the Middle Fork as it runs through the Goat Lick, where mountain goats gather each year to lick mineral soils in the cliffs along the river.

In the stretch from Bear Creek to Essex, dogs would be prohibited on river and onshore. From the Staircase Rapid downstream to Split Rock, which is 1 mile downstream from the Goat Lick, floaters would be prohibited from going a shore and would be required to continuously move downriver in the main current while floating.

There are many other facets to the proposed action, but those are some of the highlights.

Two public meetings to discuss the plan are coming up next week at Flathead Valley Community College.

Tuesday Jan.  21 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Wednesday Jan. 22 from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Both meetings are at the FVCC Arts and Technology building, room 130 (AT-130).

The public comment period will be open for 30 days, concluding Feb. 7. Comments including attachments may be submitted electronically at cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public.

After scoping, a draft plan is expected out this summer, with a final plan expected in 2026.