By Marley Held-Wilson, Recreation Program Coordinator
One of the guiding principles of the Blackfoot Challenge is to respond to community needs. Post pandemic, with rising community concerns about recreation impacts in the Blackfoot watershed, the Blackfoot Challenge formed a River Recreation Subcommittee within the Water Program. Launched three years ago, Blackfoot Challenge Board members, staff, and partners began discussing our collective role in understanding and addressing river-based recreation in the Blackfoot.
Over time, the conversations about river recreation exposed a clear need to address all forms of recreation in the Blackfoot, from angling and floating on the river to hiking, biking, and snowmobiling on the land. The focus on recreation broadened, and the Blackfoot Challenge Board of Directors steered us toward a comprehensive, ridgetop-to-ridgetop approach to address recreation pressur. Now a couple of years later, the recreation subcommittee’s momentum has led to the hiring of a full-time Recreation Program Coordinator and fundraising to commit more resources to this high priority concern for many Blackfoot stakeholders.
A vital first step in taking a holistic approach to recreation centered on community outreach. The River Recreation Subcommittee built a community engagement plan to learn from and build relationships with local community members. The Challenge partnered with a team from the University of Montana Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Management Program to host a series of community recreation meetings this fall across the watershed. Our goal was to gather community perspectives and develop a shared vision for the future of sustainable recreation and stewardship in the Blackfoot.
We hosted six meetings in October in Bonner, Ovando, Helmville, Potomac/Greenough, Seeley Lake, and Lincoln. These first meetings collected feedback on community members’ connections to recreation in their communities and identified the opportunities and challenges that exist for recreation in the Blackfoot. In breakout groups, we asked attendees to contribute their thoughts to three topics: 1. Why outdoor recreation is important to them and their community; 2. Where recreation should be expanded or limited in the watershed; and, 3. What are their primary concerns related to recreation and tourism.
Two follow-up workshops took place in November and December to build on the initial meetings. The November workshop at Lubrecht focused on two primary objectives: 1. Lay a foundation for a shared community vision statement for ridgetop-to-ridgetop recreation in the Blackfoot; and, 2. Hone in on distinct locations where opportunities and assets exist for recreation stewardship. Attendees were asked to share words and phrases describing priority values around recreation to create building blocks for the vision statement. Examples included “healthy and intact nature” and “stewardship.” Then, attendees were asked to map recreation opportunities and assets across the watershed using the previously shared words and phrases. For example, when looking at the phrase “healthy and intact nature,” participants were asked to specify geographically where nature is healthy and intact in the Blackfoot, as well as where it is not. The intent was to have community members help identify distinct areas to consider for future action as the ridgetop-to-ridgetop approach to recreation continues to develop.
The December workshop in Ovando also had two objectives. Attendees were first asked to assist in refining the vision statement from the November workshop. The team from the University of Montana produced four rough draft vision statements using the feedback gained from community members during the November workshop. The group reviewed the draft vision statements and voted on their preferred options while suggesting edits. The second activity at the December workshop focused on identifying priorities for action using the key issues and challenges that were shared during the six initial community meetings in October. After reviewing the key issues, attendees were asked to help brainstorm actions that might resolve the key issues. Then attendees were asked to characterize the actions by priority for future action, as well as by the amount of effort it would take to complete the action. For example, one action that was identified was media-related education. Attendees characterized it as a low effort and high impact project that could be carried out by putting recreation ethics information in local newspapers and sharing recreation stewardship resources on the Blackfoot Challenge website.
The team from the University of Montana will synthesize the community input and develop a report by February 2025. Receiving community input on recreation in the Blackfoot watershed has been an extremely valuable first step in forming the new Blackfoot Challenge Community Stewardship and Recreation Program. While community discussions and partner coordination continue, we are also looking forward to some tangible actions we can take in 2025, including deploying recreation ambassadors to provide in-person education and data collection at recreation access sites, launching a recreation component to our website, and coordinating a fully staffed and supported Blackfoot Recreation Committee.
If you’re interested in learning more or engaging with our recreation stewardship efforts, please contact Marley Held-Wilson.