Contention arises over Beaver Creek Park grazing

The Hill County Park Board approved the grazing allocation of Beaver Creek Park for the coming year, voting to use the park's three-year average for the total allotment of Animal Unit Months, sparking objections from members of the public and one board member.

Before the vote was taken, Beaver Creek Park Superintendent Chad Edgar said the grazing committee had, after some discussion, decided to recommend that number to the board for approval.

Board member Lou Hagener was the only member of the board to vote against the recommendation, though some board members were absent that evening.

At nearly every park board meeting since his appointment Hagener, a retired rangeland management specialist, has talked about his concerns regarding the conditions of the park, which he said is still recovering from years of drought conditions, and the fact that grazing allocations have not changed to reflect this.

He said he is concerned about the park's long term environmental health and that grazing on the park should take into account the environmental conditions that the park faces, adding that an environment often takes as long to recover from a drought as it did experiencing it.

"The recommendation of the grazing committee for the allocation of grazing units, to effectively do as we have always done, is disappointing," he said.

Hagener said decisions like this lead him to question whether the committee is acting in the interests of the park or the interests of grazers, which are not always the same thing.

This concern was echoed by former Park Board member Ranelle Braaten, who attended the meeting as a member of the public.

Braaten asked if someone is going to address Hagener's concerns.

Board Chair Jeff Jensen said the committee is a steward of the park and they make decisions with that charge in mind.

"They want a good product out there," Jensen said. "I mean, I don't know what to tell you. They've been doing this for years."

Braaten said she believes the park's natural resources should be the number one priority for the board and committee.

Jensen said he agrees but everyone has different ideas about how to do that its not always going to be perfect.

"A lot of the time it's about science, not ideas," Braaten said.

Another community member in attendance was Lowell Alcock who also expressed his concern about the decision as well as those who made it.

Alcock said the grazing committee is largely made up of people actively grazing their cattle on the park, as are some members of the board that voted for this recommendation and he sees that potentially causing serious issues.

He said the county is already in conflict with members of the Kallenberger family, who have alleged that the makeup of the committee and board are potentially a big conflict of interest and believe they have been excluded and mistreated.

He said, however the specifics of that conflict shake out, the county, and, by extension, he as a taxpayer, is going to end up paying out some money to resolve the issue and he doesn't want to see that happen again.

Alcock emailed the Havre Daily News Monday after the meeting, saying he believes active grazers on the park who are members of the board should have recused themselves, which they did not.

During the meeting the board also discussed the ongoing effort to replace the Beaver Lodge at Camp Kiwanis.

Jensen said a contract for architectural work for the new lodge is being examined by the county attorney and the board will start meeting directly with the contractors to discuss what they can get with the money they have after it is signed.

He said the cost of the architects is just under 10 percent of the money they have available for the project, which is about what they expected.

He said he will also be sending letters to local financial institutions to see if they can provide the loan necessary to pay for all the work on the new lodge.

Alcock said he doesn't really think the public is informed enough about what is going on with the lodge and about what they are going to be getting for their money.

Jensen said he can provide all the paperwork for the contract, but the firm they hired isn't going to start doing any serious design work until the contract is approved and signed.

After that, and a survey of the land, he said, they can all get together and start looking at what kind of building they can get.

Communication with the public, as well as internal communication within the board, was also a source of concern raised by Hagener during the meeting.

He said he believes that communication within the board and between the board and public is not functioning well and he would like to have a discussion item put on the next agenda to address it.

He said he thinks the board should reestablish their email lists they have for themselves and committees and post their calendars, including any upcoming meetings on their website.

He said they might also consider setting up a physical bulletin board somewhere, but all of these suggestions are just potential jumping off points for a broader discussion about improving communication.

The board also approved a request by Edgar to get some of the park's spring cattle watering tanks repaired, as some were in serious need.

Jensen also tabled the reappointment of committee members as he is still considering combining their Finance and Planning and Rule and Regulations committees.

Members of the board also received an update from Edgar regarding park conditions and usage.

Edgar said July was very busy, but the last weekend slowed down significantly, which is pretty normal, and the season overall has been extremely good so far.

"The whole summer has been so smooth it's scary," he said.

Park conditions are dry, he said, but some areas have gotten significant rainfall recently.

After Edgar's report, Hagener said it should be noted that the park is also seeing a lot of evaporation which should be taken into account when talking about precipitation.

Edgar said his staff have been working on trimming roadsides and overgrown campsites, as well as cleaning excess ash out of fire pits and installing new garbage can racks.

He said the kiosk recently installed at the northern end of the park should be completed by Labor Day and apologized to the board for the project taking so long.

He also said there was a potentially harmful algal bloom found at Beaver Creek Reservoir, commonly called First Lake, and he thinks people should be aware of that.

During the meeting Hagener also mentioned that he had gotten in touch with Montana Mesonet to see if they were interested in setting up one or two climate measuring stations on the park, but it seems that may be much more complicated than he thought.

He said he is hoping to work with Northern Agricultural Research Center Executive Director Darrin Boss to try to put a good pitch together for Mesonet.