Fort Owen State Park got some cleaning and sprucing up last Saturday as part of Montana’s celebration of National Public Lands Day. More than 20 volunteers, mostly associated with Friends of Fort Owen, the local non-profit group that is dedicated to preserving and promoting the park, were busy as bees at various spots inside and outside the old fort cleaning, staining dry old woodwork, pulling weeds, fixing windows and doorways.
“We are giving the park a little TLC that it hasn’t had in quite a while,” said Chet Crowser, Montana State Parks Regional Manager.
All of the wood used in the fort was getting a new coat of stain, inside and out, but some of the work was being done on historic parts, such as the windows and doors, of the structure, and in that case a specific mix of linseed oil and turpentine was being used.
Crowser said that he was very pleased with the huge turnout of volunteers and he had high praise for Jillian Leblow, the Americorps volunteer who helped organize the event.
“Americorps is such a huge asset to our public educational programs,” he said.
Originally from California but living in Missoula now, Leblow said that she was majoring in Anthropology in college but began to feel like she wanted to work in the outdoors when she discovered the Americorps program. She said the program was a great opportunity for people considering a career change.
Myla Yahraus, owner of the Fort Owen Ranch which completely surrounds the tiny state park, is working closely with Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, not only on managing the flow of public in and out of the park, but also with the development of the fishing access site along the river at the Stevensville bridge.
Rory Zarling, Fishing Access Site Program Manager for FWP, said that the agency was hoping to have the FAS fully installed by this fall, but it was going a little slower than expected.
“It’s just taking a little longer than we expected to work out the details,” he said, “but we fully expect to get it done next spring or summer.”
Yahraus said that she is used to working with government agencies. “Government entities don’t react very quickly, but we are working things through. It’s just a matter of time.”
Yahraus said she had a chance to take a float down the river from Bell Crossing to the ranch at Stevensville this summer.
“I can see why FWP thinks this FAS is so important. It would be a long trip without a place to land in Stevensville,” she said.