Governor tours fishing site in Paradise
Jason Shueh/Valley Press Gov. Brian Schweitzer studies a map showing the location of the new Paradise fishing access site bought by the Fish Wildlife and Parks organization. The site will help create a float corridor from Thompson Falls to Missoula. Schweitzer was there to tour the new spot and to meet with local officials such as Jim Elliot, the state senator.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer met with local Sanders County officials last Wednesday to tour the new Paradise Fishing Access site located near the bridge that passes over the Clark Fork River in Paradise.
The Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks bought the 4.3-acre site with money from the Access Montana Program, a program designed to improve hunting access on public lands and to resolve public land access conflicts. The FWP also negotiated a permanent 8.3-acre no-cost lease around the site to have a total of 12.6 acres.
Schweitzer requested that the Montana State Legislature approve nearly $10 million in funds for the program in 2007 to preserve Montana's hunting, fishing and park areas from population growth and rising land values.
“Montanans live here because we like to hunt and fish and it's becoming increasingly difficult for families to find places like this,” Schweitzer said.
The governor described the site as a significant location because it helps link the Clark Fork River with Thompson Falls and Missoula. The site is also strategically convenient location because it is just two miles below the junction of the Flathead Rivers and the Clark Fork, providing an excellent float corridor.
Jim Vashiro, the Regional Fisheries Manager for the FWP, was one of the officials that met with the governor at the site and couldn't have been happier about the new fishing access.
“I've been working on this for five years, so I'm tickled that this came to be,” Vashiro said.
He explained that the FWP has been dealing with access conflicts for a number of years because of the change in ownership of private lands. Vashiro said that in some cases, new owners of private fishing and hunting lands don't want to share those lands with the public, even if the previous owners did so. This change in ownership either overcrowds fishing and hunting sites or forces the public off them altogether.
According to the governor's press release about the event, the cost of the site totaled $170,000 and was split evenly between the FWP and the Access Montana Program. Bridger Bischoff, the previous owner, was also happy about the use of the property.
“If there's going to be traffic it might as well be used by the public, and if you can make people happy in one fell swoop you're doing pretty good,” Bischoff said.
While the sale of the property to the FWP didn't come quickly, he felt that the sale was well worth the wait. “When you're patient enough everything rolls together just the way you'd like it,” Bischoff said.
The site is heralded for its northern pike and smallmouth bass fishing opportunities and is also popular for its rainbow and cutthroat trout. The governor said that he's been known to fish for pike on the Clark Fork and has even been fishing near Quinn's Hot Springs Resort.
Schweitzer said that he wants to return to the site to do some fishing because of the scenery and the wildlife spotted from the Clark Fork River.
“This is a remarkable spot and I hope and pray that five generations from now it will still be here,” Schweitzer said.