In the interest of our Beaver Creek Park

Our Beaver Creek Park was established and acquired for recreation and a park; it was not acquired to benefit commercial and private interests. We need to keep this in mind for current and future times and constantly balance how we develop and use our park.

To help maintain a present day focus on the future long run ecological/economic/sustainable/regenerative aspects of the park without prejudice, it behooves the Hill County citizens that own our Beaver Creek Park to organize and advocate on behalf of our park for the reasons it exists.

The park board should be the primary vehicle for interacting with and influencing management of our park. Though there is representation of select user’s interests on the park board it is not a cross section of the owners or interests in our park. There is currently little advocacy for natural resource values of the park on the park board.

Citizens are not allowed to participate in selecting who will serve on the park board or board committees and have limited opportunities to participate in the park board or park management decisions. Appointments to the park board are made by the county commissioners, some years without public notice or process. Though there are eligibility requirements to serve on a park board established in state statute (MCA 7-16-2314), the commissioners have chosen to dismiss the code and continue to appoint persons with conflicts of interest to the park board. In addition, the board endorsed and commissioners appointed six ranchers (five with direct conflicts of interest) to the grazing and haying committee when the policies and procedures for grazing and haying specifically state only three ranchers are to be on the committee.

The current momentum of the park board is management for varying select interests. This extends to lack of accountability to the citizen owners of the park.

The board has acted to use natural resources with indifference to impacts on natural resource values of the park. These include but are not limited to: degrading riparian areas and wildlife habitat, killing wildlife, modifying native vegetation and ignoring normal ecological processes. Commissioners and park board members have acknowledged that they will not necessarily accommodate wildlife habitat and have been unwilling to address stream, watershed and whole ecosystem’s health.

When well-designed and followed through, natural resource-use strategies can facilitate positive influences for ecological and economic health. However, recreation and park natural resources has had to “put up with” the negative impacts of livestock, haying and some infrastructure installations while positive management practices are not implemented. Some hayers and graziers do not follow best-management practices, have done little to accommodate natural resources or recreation and on occasions been contemptuous of recreational use and long-term natural resource values of our park. In addition, some decisions are favoring graziers that are being aggressive and abusive while denying privileges of graziers that are conservative and trying to act in the interest of natural resource values and recreation.

The Grazing and Haying (functioning as user’s advocate), Rules and Regulations, and Finance and Planning board committees have a permanent place on the park board agendas. In addition; Friends of Beaver Creek Park, Havre Trails and cabin owners have regular places on the board monthly agendas while other individuals and user groups are rarely allowed on the agenda. In addition, the park board and commissioners have consistently blocked efforts to establish a natural resources committee for the benefit of the park.

Therefore, it is proposed that a group outside of and separate from county governance organize to advocate on behalf of the future of the whole of our Beaver Creek Park and not just select uses. As opposed to being appointed by the commissioners or park board this will be an open alliance of citizens that will maintain an objective, scientific, evidence-based and apolitical role.

So what can we do in the interest of our park? Keep up the discussion! Let’s get our heads together, talk and figure this out and make the next steps to come together in the interest of our Beaver Creek Park.

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Lou Hagener is a certified professional in rangeland management by the Society for Range Management, a home-grown resident of Havre, frequent user and advocate for Beaver Creek Park.