Park Board gives blessing to improvements and events

The Hill County Park Board met Monday to discuss a number of potential projects going on at the Beaver Creek Park including improvements to the lodge and Lions Campground, which may be hosting a Montana Actors’ Theatre play soon.

At the meeting, local architect Becki Miller told the board she met recently with a structural engineer who assessed the lodge and found that too much of the weight from the roof beams was resting on the log walls, causing some movement in them.

The proposed solution to this problem was to put up some columns to take the weight off the walls, but to do that, one would need to go in front of the lodge’s bathrooms, destroying their handicap accessibility.

Miller said the bathrooms would have to be moved, but, frankly, the lodge needed more bathrooms anyway, given the number of people it serves, so this is a good opportunity to make some improvements.

In fact, she said, there are a number of improvements that could be made to the lodge that this project gives them a chance to do all at once, including updating the electrical, installing new, more efficient lighting and better flooring.

“I don’t want this project to snowball,” she said. “... But nothing has really been done with it since it’s been built and now is the time to update it.”

Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said funding for this project would need to be found and they don’t have a price tag on the whole thing yet, but he wholeheartedly agreed with Miller that now is the time for an upgrade.

“If we’re going to improve this facility as well as stabilize it, there’s no better time,” Edgar said.

The board discussed possible grant funding for the project and agreed to work with Bear Paw Development Corp. to look at their prospects.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said there are grants available to buildings used as staging grounds for firefighters and if, “God forbid,” another fire happened out there the lodge may well be used that way, so these grants may be a possible funding source.

Edgar said the lodge brings money into the community so these much-needed improvements would be a benefit to everyone.

The board voted unanimously to proceed with the project.

The board also heard from Havre Lion Ray Toth, who said his club is looking to make improvements to their campground, including installing new campsites around their pavilion.

He said most of the projects the club can handle itself, as the club is attempting to be more self-sufficient when it comes to the campgrounds, and for the most part they’re just looking for the board’s blessing.

Edgar said he saw no issue with their plans and the board did give their blessing to the project.

During the meeting, MAT Artistic Director Grant Olson, along with MAT Executive Director Jay Pyette, also sought the blessing of the board to hold an outdoor play near the Lions Campground.

“We want to do Shakespeare in the park, Beaver Creek Park,” Olson said.

He said MAT has had great success with holding outdoor Shakespeare productions and this is something they’ve wanted to do for some time, complete with a full battle scene and featuring as many at 20 actors.

He said the planned production, of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” would be free and they expect around 200 people to be in attendance for each show.

Olson said MAT has consulted with the Lions and other groups to try to make sure they leave as little of a footprint as possible, in part by having attendees bring their own chairs or blankets.

He said MAT would have to set up some props, but, for the most part, the park itself will be the background, and what they do put up they will remove in short order.

Pyette said they are still in the early stages of setting all this up, but assured the board that MAT is experienced with this kind of thing and take their impact on the areas they work in seriously.

“We’re very good at being stewards of a space,” he said.

The play’s director, Mike Zook, was also at the meeting and said practically everyone involved has a connection to Beaver Creek Park so they have every reason to be responsible.

Edgar said his only concern is fire safety.

The group said they were planning to get in touch with Bear Paw Volunteer Fire Department to have a vehicle there just in case.

Board member Ursula Brese suggested that this play could be an opportunity to get some donations from the public for the lodge project and Olson agreed, saying they might also collect donations for the Bear Paw fire depertment, since they’re looking for funds for a new fire hall as well.

During the meeting, the board also heard the second part of a presentation by Havre resident Lou Hagener on cause monitoring on Beaver Creek Park, which has said is a significant hole in park operations.

Hagener said at the end of his previous presentation months ago he put a question to the board asking them what they are willing to do to improve their cause monitoring, but has received no answer.

“It is not a rhetorical question,” he said.

He said refusal to do anything about this problem could cast doubt on board leadership, management and the commissioners who sit on the board.

Hagener provided a brief presentation on how improvements to monitoring park conditions can provide them with more accurate data on things like forage removed from the park, which he said current summaries undercount because they do not take things like livestock class into account.

He said based on his estimates using these factors the numbers look very different and the park should be taking that into account.

As for current park usage by cattle, Edgar said grazing will likely be over soon, as many parts of the park have been exhausted of usable forage for the animals.

On the human side of things, park usage has been slow and conditions have been dry, despite recent precipitation.

He also said there have been a few more cattle related accidents on the park as well unfortunately.