A local nonprofit has once again purchased land to add to Herron Park, located west of Kalispell. The purchase not only increases the park’s size, but also represents an important step forward for the group’s goal of securing permanent public access to the land connecting Herron Park to Blacktail Mountain.
Foys to Blacktail Trails, an organization created in 2004, bought 50 acres of land abutting Plum Creek Timber Company property and will donate it to Herron Park, which is owned by Flathead County.
The organization has added 100 acres to the park since 2010, with the ultimate goal of buying 320 “critical” acres next to the park. The project began in 2007, when those 320 acres of forestland adjacent to the park were possibly up for sale and development.
Since Foys to Blacktail Trails did not have the money to buy those acres outright, they arranged for The Conservation Fund to bridge-buy them, giving the local nonprofit time to raise the money to permanently add the land to the park and ensuring access for the public.
The latest purchase represents the third phase of a six-phase project, according to Cliff Kipp, president of the Foys to Blacktail Trails board of directors. He called the new addition a “milestone” for the group.
“We can now begin to seriously contemplate a designated route southward through Plum Creek and Stoltze timber land to the U.S. Forest Service lands at Blacktail Mountain,” Kipp said in a prepared statement.
To date, the nonprofit has raised and spent more than $1 million on land purchases, and still needs to raise $1.1 million to buy the remaining 170 acres to complete the 320-acre goal.
The organization said the recent purchase was made possible through grants to it and the Flathead Land Trust from the Montana State Parks Recreational Trails Program; a grant from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust; Flathead County Parks Cash-in-Lieu fund; and donations from hundreds of individuals, local businesses, and foundations.
Herron Park is located less than five miles west of Kalispell. Outdoor recreationists use the area for its trails and the access to thousands of acres of forestland extending south to Blacktail Mountain near Lakeside.
The group purchased 60 acres to add to the park in December 2011. For more information on Foys to Blacktail Trails, visit www.FoysToBlacktailTrails.org.