Back in 2019 I beat the drum for packrafters to comment on the Flathead Rivers management plan update. 5.5 years later, we’re at the same place, due to staffing, COVID, and one imagines political foot dragging, but during a noteably different time. It would be difficult to convey the change in mood the pandemic brought to Montana, and with the greater Flathead valley being the most tourist-forward place in the state over the past decade, the local zeitgeist is profoundly different than it was in 2019. Getting around downtown Whitefish or through West Glacier has, in summer, long been a rodeo, but with that state of affairs expanding to most of the area, with traffic jams and parking and home prices all moving rapidly towards unlivable, the stakes are high. Irrespective of how much river users group(s) overlap with local residents.

With the Forest Service on the face of things starting over (though likely not from scratch), the current comment period is important. There is a lot of myth, rumor, and assumption at the moment, most especially about the nature and volume of river use in the wilderness stretch of the South Fork of the Flathead. The Forest Services most recent study on this topic is from 2017 (see below) and crucially for the South Fork discussion, had a misfunctioning camera trap at Mid Creek, thus providing for no Wilderness data whatsoever. Anecdotes about bumper car volumes of boat traffic are compelling, especially for those who love the place personally, but they don’t hold much truth.

This initial comment phase helps frame the rule making process, which will get going in earnest later this year.

Read documents and comment here. Comment deadline in Feb 7.

Read the 2017 user study for the North and Middle Forks here.

Data plots of the 2017-8 study, including at Spotted Bear on the lower South Fork.

Read the 1975 Flathead Rivers study here.

Here is my comment:

I write as someone who has done a fair bit of packrafting in Glacier and the greater Bob over the past 15 years, including around 2 dozen trips on various sections of the South Fork of the Flathead. My experience matches what data is available here; that significant increases in floater use are having an accelerating impact on wilderness experience and various ecological factors.

My first concern for your planning process specifically regards floater use on the South Fork of the Flathead, insofar as my understanding is that there is none of statistical substance. With the 2017-2018 U of Montana study failing to capture data in the roadless section, I think it is important to address this, ideally with a camera trap study at both Mid Creek and somewhere above the White River. There is a large amount of rumor concerning floater numbers, much understandably informed by personal bias and interest. Without data any work here is speculative.

My secondary concern, again specifically for the South Fork, regards the volume and impact of secondary and tertiary outfitting, on floater trips of various types. I would like to see firm numbers, with respect to both users and boats, of outfitters who either pack in whole groups or arrange to do gear drops (with the prospective floaters hikin in). My assumption is that these services have noteably increased user numbers of late, and would thus be appropriate subjects for future inclusion in any regulations and permitting schemes.

My third concern, once again specifically for the South Fork, regards permitted outfitter trips. My anecdotal experience over the years has been that these trips occasionally exceed the person limit, and often exceed the number of stock per person alloted in regulation, with the later doubtlessly being tied to the former. In addition, I have consistently experienced unpleasentness from staff of outfitted trips while floating, at least suggesting a sense of entitlement. I would like to see more robust monitoring and enforcement mechanisms in the new plan, including specific and significant penalties for violations for exceeding the limits already in place.

My final concern regards collaborative issues, specifically with Glacier NP and Montana FWP, regarding invasive specific protocols, and fishing regulations. My understanding is that FWP fish monitoring on the 3 Forks of the Flathead, and likely especially on the South Fork, is one of the more robust bits of data from which user trends and impacts can be extrapolated. I would like to see a mechanism for consistently integrating such data into the user planning and monitoring process, as well as a way for the FS to consistently highlight this information, which might catalyze discretion on the part of catch and release fisherfolk. I am also concerned about integrating invasive species checks between agencies, specifically but not exclusively for trips which exit Glacier NP on to the Middle and North Forks.

Yours sincerly;
David Chenault