Lions campground to be repaired, expanded

Six years after Beaver Creek Park, the largest county park in the United States, started being walloped by a series of floods, a project to restore the popular Lions Club campgrounds and add a second Lions campsite, is scheduled to get underway Monday and be finished by October.

Hill County Commissioners signed a contract Thursday with Great West Engineering, a Helena-based firm, to draw up plans for the $341,172 project, along with a notice to proceed. Plans will then be submitted to C&C Excavating, a local firm that was awarded the contract to do the construction work last week.

The project will include fixing and constructing roads in and around the 10,000 acre park, restoring the Lions Club campground and building a second Lions Club site at a higher elevation.

Commissioner Mark Peterson, who has been a strong proponent of the efforts to clean up and rebuild the flood-battered park, described this as the culmination of a years-long process of discussion, planning and coming up with the necessary funding.

"This is a major project that is finally coming to an end," said Peterson, who said the process has had "more twists and turns than Beaver Creek."

Beaver Creek Park was declared a federal disaster area after being battered by floods in 2010, 2011 and 2013. The Lions Campground, which consists of about one acre located amid a tangle of scenic trails in the Bear Paw Mountains, sustained some of the worst flood damage.

A bridge at Blackie Coulee was washed away by the roaring floodwaters, a loss the Federal Emergency Management Agency valued at $167,000. The county opted not to replace the bridge and instead have visitors use a low-water creek crossing to access the site.

In lieu of the bridge and consistent with federal guidelines the county used the federal funds to improve the park, which included purchasing needed equipment to maintain the park and cleaning up flood-damaged Camp Kiwanis.

FEMA has promised to cover most of the price tag for both efforts. The Lions Club will also provide $22,882.50 for both the pavilion and the bathroom facilities at the new proposed campgrounds.

According to Peterson, money generated from the rental of the second campsite, by organizations and interested parties will bring in an estimated $3,000-$4,000 a year. Beaver Creek, which is not subsidized with money from county taxes but is sustained through a mix of user fees and donations from the public.

In the lead-up to the signing of the contract with Great West Engineering, Peterson praised the federal government's effectiveness in working with the county to meet its needs and reduce red tape.

"FEMA has been extremely good to work with," he said. "In the past, we always heard 'I'm from the federal government, and I'm here to help you,' and we (would) kind of cringe. They have been totally the opposite of that."

The construction will take place in four schedules or stages:

First stage: Installing a box culvert road as well as constructing a road that goes over it. This portion will also include making repairs to the Lions Club campgrounds caused by the 2010 flooding;

Second stage: Fixing another road and repairing damages to the Lions Campground caused by 2013 flooding;

Third stage: Building the pavilion and bathroom facilities at the site of the eventual second Lions Campground;

Fourth stage: Enlarging the approach from just off the highway to increase access from both directions.

A preconstruction meeting will take place Monday at the construction site a 1 p.m. Building will begin soon thereafter.