Who will be influencing management of our Beaver Creek Park?

Two of the current Hill County Park Board members’ terms will expire soon. The 2020 posting of these positions could be any time now in the Hill County Courthouse.

The Hill County Park Board has nine positions. Six members of the park board have staggered three year terms appointed by the county commissioners. The other three members of the park board are the elected county commissioners. Other than a public comment period at commissioners’ business meetings, the public has no official opportunity to participate in who is appointed to our park board.

Since there are no term limits, appointed board members can be reappointed indefinitely. Two current members of the board have been on the board for over 25 years. Though previously debated and yet to be resolved, there are two current appointed members that have conflicts of interest and, in accordance with Montana law/code, are not eligible to be on the park board (Montana Code Annotated 7-16-2314).

It is not clear what the qualifications are to be on our park board. This has led to a common refrain in the county of “How/why was … so and so … appointed to the park board?”

With recent appointments to the Grazing/Haying Committee and possible appointments to the park board, the influence on management of our Beaver Creek Park is in question.

The park board has a long-standing grazing committee. Perceptions of this committee’s roles and responsibilities have varied over the years. Often this committee has functioned as a user group advocating for the graziers in spite of being a committee of the park board responsible for the greater good of our park. In recent years, some of the board believe this committee will deal with all natural resource issues, even though the committee has only been dealing with grazing and only recently started to deal with haying and weeds. There are eight positions on this committee. Five members of this committee are ranchers that graze cattle and cut hay in our park, even though the recent ordinance for grazing and haying stipulates only three ranchers.

A few years ago, the park board established a Rules and Regulations Committee and a Planning and Finance committee with diverse membership. Both of these Committees got off to good starts, however, recently the park board has not consistently used these committees to their potential. The effect has been that the role and influence of these committees have been minimized.

There have been efforts by citizens and a board member to establish a natural resources committee of the park board that would be tasked with objectively developing recommendations concerning natural resource management in our park. The park board, commissioners and special interests have opposed and or refused to establish such a committee.

Between the park board and the grazing/haying committee, there are 17 positions. Seven positions are filled by five ranchers, all of which have conflicts of interest. Four of the positions are filled by the three elected commissioners. Four positions on the park board are at-large citizens of Hill County. One person on the Grazing/Haying Committee is a natural resource management professional. Finishing out the 17 positions, the park superintendent serves on the Grazing/Haying Committee. The result is ranchers around our park have substantial influence on our park.

The citizen owners of our park need to come together and work in the interest of our park and the future of all the citizens of Hill County. Citizens can do this by serving on boards and committees. Even if not on boards or committees, citizen owners need to insist that the commissioners, park board, committees of the park board and park management act in the interest of our Beaver Creek Park all the time, every time.

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Lou Hagener is a Society for Range Management certified professional in rangeland management, a longtime resident of Havre and user of and advocate for Beaver Creek Park.