By Margaret Gorski, Stevensville
Thank you, Myla Yarhaus, for offering a piece of your recently purchased property to develop legal public access to the Bitterroot River for the new Stevensville Bridge Fishing Access Site (FAS). And thank you to Fish Wildlife and Parks (FWP) for listening to me and others over the last two years. Providing us a new chance to talk about how the site should be developed, before plans are drawn up, is a huge step in the right direction working together for the benefit of the whole community. We now have a wonderful opportunity to make decisions about how the site will be developed with the future in mind. Just as we are living with the old dump site between the River Park and the FAS, what we build today will lay the foundation for what we pass on to our heirs. Considering the fact that there is very little public property along the Bitterroot River where people can do more than just launch a boat, the use of this site and the value to Stevensville and the residents of the county will only increase.
It also provides us with a chance to use a professional recreation planning approach to help us decide what facilities should be built, how big, and where. Although it is tempting to assume we will never get the kind of money it takes to develop it the way it could be, at least one alternative should capture the potential to integrate the River Park with the FAS. We should also explore ways to operate and maintain it differently with innovative public/private partnerships and potential private sector help. It’s amazing how powerful a community is when we are all behind something we want! So now is the time for everyone who uses the site to let FWP know your ideas! Your children will thank you for it.