Montana State Parks to purchase permanent easements

THOMPSON FALLS – The lone state park in Sanders County is starting to get pretty busy as the summer progresses, with locals and visitors utilizing the acres of wilderness and water frontage.

The increased use of the Thompson Falls State Park, a 29.1-acre area just outside the seat of Sanders County is not the only news coming from the park.

Montana State Parks are progressing in their efforts to purchase permanent easements at Thompson Falls State Park from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

Montana State Parks drafted an Environmental Assessment for the permanent easements at Thompson Falls State Park and Lewis & Clark Cavern State Park in Jefferson County in early April of 2014.

“We know the park is very valuable to the community and Montana State Parks can potentially invest more in the park by owning the land as opposed to leasing it,” David Bennetts, Park Management Specialist for Region One of Montana State Parks, said.

The purchase of the permanent easements at the park is for 29.1 acres of state lands.

The park is currently managed by state parks but done so under an annual lease agreement with the DNRC.

Bennetts noted the idea of purchasing the easements outright from the DNRC has been in the works over the last several years.

“We probably started down this road around ten years ago,” Bennetts said.

Funds from the proposed purchase would be invested into the State Trust Permanent Fund with proceeds being distributed to common schools for students in grades K-12.

Bennetts added Montana State Parks has been assisted in the purchase of the Thompson Falls easements by Avista Utilities, operators of the Noxon Rapids Hydroelectric Dam.

“Avista committed roughly half of the payment for the permanent easements,” Bennetts said.

According to a press release from Montana State Parks, the attempts to secure the permanent easements are an effort to provide long-term security for the parks in question.

By owning the land as opposed to leasing the area year-after-year the parks hope to be able to ensure the areas receive the attention they need and local communities deserve.

“Without owning the land it is hard to invest money into it,” Bennetts said.

Montana State Parks is slated to pay full market value for the property and hold easements over all surface rights. DNRC will retain the mineral rights of the easements.

The 2014 annual easement lease rate for Thompson Falls State Park is almost $12,700.

The current appraised value of the DNRC lands is $275,000 at the state park in Thompson Falls.

“The purchase is moving ahead and so far there have been no hang ups,” Bennetts said.

Bennetts added the state parks and recreation board had recently approved the purchases of the easements.

Bennetts was hopeful progress would continue and significant advances towards the purchase of the permanent easements would be made by late August or September.

Thompson Falls State Park was recently featured in a book by Erin Madison and Kristen Inbody of the Great Falls Tribune, documenting all 55 of Montana’s state parks.