Park board hears of slow and steady progress for folf course

At the Hill County Park Board meeting Monday night in the Timmons Room of the Hill County Courthouse, the board addressed a proposal regarding the possible folf course in Beaver Creek Park.

Beaver Creek Park Superintendent’s Assistant Aubrey Williams said a group of Montana State University-Northern graduates were willing to come up with a design for the folf course. She added they are avid folfers and designed the frisbee golf course at Northern.

The board is still trying to find an appropriate location to put the course with the Havre Trails Rotary Falls walking trail area being a popular potential location.

Hill County Commissioner Diane McLean asked about putting the course at Kiwanis Campground, but Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said he believes there could be an issue with overlapping use of that area.

“You know one minute, pulling up and there’s a wedding going and they start folfing right there,” he added.

Further discussion focused on whether Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks would need to be notified about the implementation of a folf course.

Williams was asked to write a letter to FWP asking if there was any procedure the board had to go through in order to create the folf course.

The board said it would also like feedback from community members on where they would like the folf course to be set up in the park.

Further discussion of the folf course was tabled until the board meets again in January.

Community member Dave Molitor addressed the board regarding the area of the park that had been affected by the East Fork Fire.

Molitor, whose property is right next to the affected land on the park, said he had been going to the south-eastern area and monitoring the growth. While the growth has been good, he said he is concerned about the current grazing that is going on in the area.

The grass is being ripped up and it’s taking its roots with it, Molitor said. This stymies the ability for the area to return to its original state prior to the East Fork Fire, he added.

“We were told by the graze management people from Bozeman that we’d be looking at a year, maybe two, maybe three before that plant system out there in the hills grew back to its normal (state),” Molitor said.

He added that he didn’t want to “point the finger” at any one person, but that the responsibility of managing the rangeland lies with everyone.

“We’re going to have be really, really considerate for the next three years,” he said. “… Maybe not put as many cattle out in that area next year or none.”

The board agreed to discuss the issue further for next season.

Community member John Holmes told the board that he has been trapping beaver throughout Beaver Creek Park for the past few years. He has done it voluntarily, but said he is getting to the point where he can no longer do it for free.

“I’ve caught over 3,000 beaver in that park since I started,” he added.

He said that beaver pelts don’t make as much as they used to and he has to factor in wear and tear on his vehicle. He said he does the same job for other ranchers and charges them $35 a beaver and 50 cents a mile.

Holmes added that the number of beaver he traps in Beaver Creek Park each year has varied over the years. At one point he caught about 350 beaver in year, but the number of beaver recently has declined.

Community member Lou Hagener said he was interested in seeing the data that Holmes had collected throughout his time trapping beaver to see what patterns there may be and if any solutions can be gained from it.

Edgar, who has gone with Holmes on some of his trappings, said the beavers have already destroyed some of the nicer trees in the park and he thinks the beavers are a “problem that needs to be controlled.”

Discussion was had amongst the board about where the money would come from to pay Holmes should they decide to keep him on or if they should look into other ways of controlling the beaver situation.

McLean said one area where the funds to pay Holmes could come from is the Land Management Fee.

Holmes said his trapping season typically runs from October to April and has agreed to finish out this year for the park at no cost, but he would need to be paid starting next season.

The motion to pay Holmes for his services was tabled until the next meeting once the board has had some time to look into possibly getting funds for Holmes.