Growing Pains: Open Space

Future of Missoula Open Space Hinges on Money, a New Plan

By Greg Lemon, 2-15-06

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series about open space in and around Missoula. Click here for the first installment on the fight to keep open lands in Missoula County.

If you were in Missoula last week, you might have looked up on Mt. Jumbo above the busy streets and freeway and seen 61 elk relaxing in the warm late winter sun.

What you might not have known is those elk are guests of Missoula. They were enjoying a cornerstone of the town’s expansive and vital open space.

In the last quarter century, Missoula has protected about 3,200 acres of wildlife habitat, conservation land, park space, trails and river bottomland in and around the growing and eclectic western Montana bustling city.

Much of that land has been protected because of a $5 million dollar bond passed in 1995. But Missoula has a long history of protecting open space, which started with a $500,000 bond passed in 1981, said Jackie Corday, open space manager for the city.

“The number one concern in people’s mind is the incredible amount of growth that’s gone on in the last 10, but more specifically the last five years,� Corday said.

In the next few months, Missoula has to make some important steps to continue protecting open space, said Karen Knudsen, chairman of the Open Space Advisory Committee for the city. The most important of these steps is revising the 1995 open space plan and pursuing another bond.

After 10 years, the city has about $150,000 of the bond money left, Corday said.

And even though the city has made great strides in protecting open space, the pressures from development requires continued work.

“We see that Missoula’s continuing to grow and grow rapidly,� Knudsen said. “To make any real headway on open space we need to pass another bond and we need to do it now.�

One of the attributes of Missoula’s open space program, both Corday and Knudsen point to, is the plan.

The current plan was initially developed in 1995 to give guidance to the bond money, Corday said.

The plan gave citizens a clear idea of goals and land types the city would pursue. It was developed in cooperation with the public and reflected the community’s values, Knudsen said.

At the time, the plan, coupled with the bond was an immediate way to protect some of Missoula’s treasures, she said. Places like Mt. Jumbo, Mt. Sentinel and the North Hills are vital for wildlife, recreation and the city’s view shed, Knudsen said.

But Missoula wasn’t alone in the pursuit of open space. Partnerships formed with government agencies, like the Forest Service, and conservation organizations, like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, to extend the bond money, Corday said.

“These partners helped stretch the money a lot further,� she said.

Now more of Missoula’s treasures need to be protected, she said. Some of the areas getting the most pressure from development are west of town – Butler Creek, Grant Creek, Grass Valley and the area between the Mullen Wye and Frenchtown, Knudsen said.

But to begin looking at protecting open space in these new areas of development, Missoula needs more money and a current plan.

So last fall the city organized another group called the open space working group. Their task was to give the Open Space Advisory Committee clear direction on revising the 1995 plan.

The group met four times and developed some clear suggestions, which they presented to about 120 citizens in an open house last month.

“Overall, the public was very impressed with the work product,� Corday said.

About 50 people actually commented on the group’s work at the open house, she said.

The vast majority of people still want to see conservation land protected, Corday said. But close behind were lands in the viewshed and trails.

The working group suggested updates to the wording in the plan, making it more relevant, but the core goals and values of the plan are going to stay the same, she said.

“The heart and the vision will really not change much,� she said.

The advisory committee will work through the revisions over the next few months, Corday said.



Funding open space is high on the priority list for both the city and Missoula County. Both have heard public opinion, which is strongly in favor of financially backing open space.

In a November survey, funded by Trust for Public Lands, a local and regional land conservation organization, 61 percent of people outside of Missoula proper and 70 percent of the people in the city limits supported a $20 million open space bond.

The county’s own open lands working group has recommended the county commissioners put a bond on the November ballot, but the city open space committee isn’t sure what their going to do yet. The city and the county still have a lot of details to work through, Corday said.

Maybe other options exist to fund open space, Knudsen said. She points to places like Boulder, Colo. where money is funneled in from sales taxes and lottery to protect open lands.

“Our committee feels pretty strong that we need to pursue some other tools,� Knudsen said.

Tools worth considering are local sales tax, tapping into lottery money, mill levies and impact fees, she said.

“We would like to see some constant revenue stream coming in,� Knudsen said.

So in the meantime, a bond is a proven option.

“Certainly the hope is there would be a bond on a city or county ballot in the next few months,� she said.

And even though there are different options for funding: “It always comes down to a tax,� Corday said.

Another aspect of funding people should understand are the limitations of the 1995 bond money.

The money can be used only to protect land, Knudsen said. Management is important, but the funding for it has come from partnerships or the city, which hired an open space land manager last year.

The bond also has kept the city from using the money to develop open space, she said, using the 97 acres of open space the city bought at Fort Missoula as an example.

People are frustrated because they want the land to be developed, but the city is prohibited by law from using the bond money, Knudsen said.

Should a bond prohibit the city or county from using the money to manage open space?

“There’s definitely two different lines of thought there and I think that’s a good community discussion,� she said.

Another aspect up for discussion is whether or not the county and city can run a joint bond, Knudsen said. If they are together, then how much does the city get and how much is devoted to the county? she asked.

And though a murmur is already traveling through the county about a bond, the issue is just beginning to get worked out.

“Right now it’s just people talking,� Knudsen said.

In the next few months, the Missoula Open Space Advisory Committee will be working on updating the plan, with the goal of unveiling their work in May for the public to comment on.

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