Hi-Line Living: Beaver Creek Park prepping for camping season

South of Havre lays the volcanic Bear Paw Mountain range, which houses 10,000 acres of an escape for outdoorsy types, fishing enthusiasts, intermittent cabin dwellers and, especially, camping aficionados.

The lakes, ponds, hills, mountains and 100 camping sites offer something for anyone who has any shimmer of outdoor interest.

The park has an approximate annual budget of $250,000. With revenue from cattle crazing, cabin leases and park permits, it fully sustains itself.

Park superintendent of 13 years, Chad Edgar, works year-round, but spring is the advent of busy season - Edgar calls this camping season - and for that, he needs a seasonal crew.

Edgar toured the park Wednesday under the overcast sky in his white 4x4 work truck, talking about the changes and the additions of the last few years, pointing out what it takes to satisfy his meticulous standards of upkeep.

Edgar needs help to prepare and maintain the park. Unlike the winter season, when it's just he and his assistant Aubrey Williams manning the park, busy season brings back regular intermittent worker Dave Wilson, and, hopefully, two others. This season, Edgar said, a seasonal worker from last year came back, and he is also looking to hire another person, for a sum of three seasonal workers.

Preparing for camping season requires more work than the rest of the season. For starters, there's the grass.

"We mow the whole park, as far as campsites," he said.

With so much park ground covered in grass, and so much of it maintained, the task utilizes all three of the camp's mowers. This season, the grass has been especially healthy, he said, accusing "the couple of hot days" for the lush blades. He said he's already mowed the park three times.

"We take pride in our lawn out here, it's pretty nice," he said.

As of Wednesday, a cluster of 20 picnic tables stood outside in the work area of Camp Kiwanis, the park headquarters. The wooden tables had been collected before winter hit from campsites all throughout the park. They were repaired during the winter, and some of them now needed only to be painted - to match the new boards with the old ones - before being placed throughout in the park. The newly fixed picnic tables will replace damaged ones and the damaged ones will be fixed during the coming winter. The cycle continues.

Sometimes he builds new tables, but this year, Edgar said, there was no need.

With skid steers and graters and tractors, and other equipment, in the shop, maintenance is another task performed in spring and throughout the busy season. Edgar, who has a bachelor's degree in science with a focus on biology from Montana State University-Northern, also plays the role of part-time mechanic.

As the tour continued, Edgar turned on gravel roads with branches aching to take over the pathways.

"The brush wants to go to the sunlight and so it grows into the roads," he said.

Every year, he said, trees and bushes are trimmed to prevent branches from extending into the drive paths.

Other tasks before and throughout the busy season include maintaining the pavilions, the outhouses, and fixing fences throughout the park.

As of late, Edgar said, he has had to deal with a new chore, a nuisance he'd rather not have to address.

Vandals have spray-painted graffiti in various spots throughout the park. He has been working to erase the eyesores, which, he said, is not easy to do. Edgar considers defacing nature an especially egregious offense.

As he drives through the park, Edgar is otherwise pleased with the park's biological condition.

"We're in really good shape," he said.

The way to tell, he said, is to look at growth - "Are we getting younger growth?"

Edgar answered his question.

"There's a lot of young trees growing," he said, pointing to his right and left at young ponderosa pines and cottonwoods.

It can be argued the park's pristine condition is directly related to his love of it, his love of the outdoors. Edgar makes no secret about how he feels about what he does.

"I love my job, I really do," he said. "It's got a lot of variety, and it's outdoors."

Edgar is originally from Billings and fell for Havre when he went to college at Northern. He said he went back to Billings but came back when the superintendent job opened up.

"I've made this job a part of my life," he said.