By Michael Howell
Not many Montana communities can boast of having a state park, with its attendant tourist draw, and the Stevensville Main Street Association is not about to let anything bad happen to theirs.
State Parks Region 2 Director Chet Crowser and Regional Manager Loren Flynn met with several concerned citizens last week at the Stevensville Main Street Association office to discuss the future of Fort Owen State Park. This was followed up by a visit to the park by State Parks and Recreation Board members when they held their regular board meeting in Hamilton last week.
Crowser and Flynn told the Main Street gathering that state parks were receiving record-breaking increases in visitation over the last five years, but that funding for management of the parks was not keeping up. As a result, some tough management decisions are coming up that could lead the agency to step back from its management obligations at Fort Owen State Park.
Crowser said that Montana has the highest number of parks and the lowest budget of any state in the region.
“We are in dire straits financially,” said Crowser. The agency receives no general fund dollars from the state, nor does it receive any funds from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. The parks get 33% of their funds from an optional fee placed on vehicle registrations, 29% comes from park fees, 14% from motor boat and fuel decals, 11% from the bed tax, 10% from the coal tax fund. 3% comes from enterprises such as firewood sales.
With visitation outstripping funding, the agency has instituted a five-year plan that involves a rating system for its parks ranging from Class 1 to Class 4 with funding and personnel being funneled to the most high priority Class 1 parks while funding and management responsibilities may be eliminated or reduced at some Class 4 sites.
Although Fort Owen rates at the top in terms of historical significance, it falls miserably short in other criteria. For one thing, it is a very small one-acre site that is completely landlocked with only an easement across private ranch land for entry. There is only room for parking two vehicles at the site and no room to turn around when it is full except by using private land. The ranch house is located immediately adjacent to the park.
“This park has been an ongoing challenge,” said Flynn. “If we were offered the opportunity to take this into the park system today, we wouldn’t accept it.”
Crowser said that the difficulties are severe, but that the agency wasn’t considering eliminating the park. He said it was, however, considering pulling back from its management responsibilities and perhaps removing some signage that would direct people to the park.
“We are at the beginning of a conversation here,” said Crowser, “and we are ready to entertain any sort of creative solutions.” Crowser said they were hoping for some community support in crafting some acceptable solution to the problems that plague the little park.
Joan Prather, Director of the Stevensville Main Street Association, who hosted the meeting with state officials, also visited the site when State Parks and Recreation Board members arrived for a visit. Ranch owner Roy Capp was also present to discuss his views of the situation.
According to Prather, Capp did not have to say very much for them to get the picture. She said that as they all stood around talking, a traveling family pulled into the park and everyone got a first hand demonstration of the problems.
“Before anyone realized it, some of the family members had walked through a gate to go pet some horses in the field, basically trespassing on private property,” said Prather.
Capp told the group that Google had aggravated the situation by showing the whole ranch as part of the park. He said anyone who “Googles” the park before arriving is misled into believing that the whole ranch is a park.
Crowser said that it was a fruitful meeting at the park since everyone got a firsthand experience of the problems faced by the ranch owner and the fervent interest on the part of the public to maintain the park. He said some options were discussed, such as restricting access to the site to guided tours based out of Historic St. Mary’s Mission. Capp himself offered to donate land near the Town’s park at the river so the Fort could be moved away from his home and barns.
That solution does not sit well with those interested in the historical significance of the Fort, however. Not only would the historical significance of the building be reduced but any historical artifacts left in the ground would be lost. To date many artifacts have been found on the grounds and preserved.
“It was a good visit and a good conversation,” said Crowser. “People got a good sense of the problems faced by the Capps and we did some brainstorming about how to possibly mitigate the trespassing issues. It’s hard to say where the conversation will lead, but I’m hopeful that the community can come up with a vision for the future of the park that will work for the landowner and the public.”