More Fort Peck Campsites In The Works

A petition may have made a difference as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers looks to add an additional 20 campsites to the Fort Peck area. The petition with over 1,000 signatures was supported by Two Rivers Economic Growth, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture, Missouri River Country Tourism Board and the Tourism Business Improvement District.

The organizations contacted Daren McMurry and Michele Fromdahl to discuss the issue over the last year. Walleyes Unlimited also supported the project and helped solicit signatures for the petition to demonstrate a public need for more camping spots.

Framdahl, of the Corps, explained at the Two Rivers Economic Growth board meeting that they had several plots planned out to add into the area this spring to help create more places to camp. Four campsites currently sit with a picnic table and fire ring at Roundhouse Point. That site may have eight additional sites added. The Flat Lake area currently has three campsites, they're looking to add a group fire ring at the end of the road, add three additional campsites and expand the parking area for the ramp.

Duck Creek area has about 14 campsites in the area, four more sites may possibly be added to the area and an additional vault toilet will be added. In the future when funding is available, the current toilet will be moved to a more convenient location.

The West End Recreation area currently has three campsites and a two-day use picnic shelter. They are looking at converting the second shelter to a group camp area, with a maximum of five campers. A grill will be added into the shelter. The second area currently has a one day use picnic shelter with three picnic tables and fire rings, an open shelter with three campsites and an additional small shelter with four sites are there. The Corps is looking at converting the third shelter into a group camping area and placing five additional picnic tables, fire rings and a group fire ring. Other changes would be an additional campsite open shelter area and three additional campsites along the road to the point.

When funding becomes available Fromdahl said there are several other projects they'd like to include. Such as adding more into the West End Recreation area. They would pull posts and add campsites beyond the posts, remove two shelters and replace with one large shade shelter and move a shelter from the Downstream Campground to replace the missing shelter.

Some of the issues Fromdahl said they had with adding camping sites were making sure that campsites were above areas that flooded out in high waters. She said that sites would be able to be reserved once the campsites were completed in the same way that all the other campsites are reserved.

She said that they had an increase in fee areas, that they had never seen the downstream area so busy. She said that the Fourth of July was the busiest she had seen it and that will help bring in more funding to provide budget changes for improvements and additions. Fromdahl added that community partners could also help to bring funding in to provide additional changes. Their partnership with Walleye Unlimited to provide fish cleaning stations had been pretty successful.

Some of the stats Fromdahl provided to the board showed that the Omaha District (which would include the Fort Peck Lake area) includes nine states. In that area there are 238 recreation areas. The recreation spending was almost at $6 million in 2014.