Yesterday, the Flathead National Forest released a long awaited complete draft of its new Comprehensive River Management Plan for the Wild and Scenic Forks of the Flathead River, along with a draft environmental assessment. Once complete, the new plan will guide management of the Middle, South and North Forks of the Flathead River, all of which have been experiencing explosive recreational use in recent years, for decades to come. 

Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance is currently reviewing the draft plan and environmental assessment. We will provide suggestions for public comment on how to improve the plan soon. 

In the meantime, we encourage the public to read the draft documents (available here on the Forest Service website) and, if able, attend one of the two public information sessions the Forest Service is hosting on February 17th and 18th at Flathead Valley Community College in Kalispell. Both meetings are from 6 - 8 p.m. in the Arts and Technology building room 139. 

A new management plan for the Wild and Scenic Forks of the Flathead is sorely needed to better protect the world class fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, and other ecological values these rivers provide. The current plan was written in 1980 and a lot has changed both socially and environmentally since, including exploding river recreation, increased presence of non-native fish species, and changing water temperatures and flow regimes brought on in part by climate change. 

The new plan is intended to guide management and protection of what the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act calls the rivers’ “outstandingly remarkable values,” including its native fisheries, wildlife, scenery, geology, human history, and recreational opportunities.  Many people, including Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, are concerned that poorly managed river use is leading to a decline in both the environmental values and the opportunity for recreational solitude. We’re also concerned how increasing river recreation may hinder wildlife movement across the corridor, adding to the growing barrier effect of Highway 2 and the BNSF railway.

According to the Forest Service’s press release, the new plan identifies user capacity limits on various sections of the river along with management actions intended to protect the rivers’ environmental conditions and recreational quality. It also contains a monitoring plan to track conditions and changes over time and adapt management in response. 

The draft plan released has been in various stages of development for about a decade. In January 2025, the Flathead National Forest released its proposed action for public comment.  

The completion and management direction in the new plan has taken on greater urgency since the Flathead National Forest announced plans last month to conduct commercial timber harvest and other management actions within the Wild and Scenic Corridor of the Middle Fork Flathead. 

We look forward to learning more and continuing to help shape the final plan to effectively protect and manage this world class wild river system.