Havre Trails to organize September hike series

Most every Sunday of September, Havre Trails will be organizing hikes — some accompanied by educational lectures.

The schedule is not set in stone just yet, but a hike through the Bear Paw Ski Bowl with Dave Martens, a hike to view and discuss fall foliage and a hike through Beaver Creek at night to view stars through telescopes are some of the ideas the group plan to organize for September and October.

At Havre Trails’ monthly meeting Monday at the Elks Lodge, they also discussed working with the International Dark Skies Association to lower light pollution at Beaver Creek Park. A member of the association said Beaver Creek has better skies for viewing space than Glacier does, and if stargazing events were formed at Beaver Creek, it would possibly bring in visitors.

Hill County Commissioner Mark Peterson said the 95 percent of the park use takes place in 5 percent of the park and he wants to push for more use of the rest of the park. He said if the rest of the park is utilized, they would have many great spots for stargazing and possible hiking areas.

Havre Trails Treasurer Erin Bradshaw made the announcement that the group is officially a not-for-profit organization. Now, people who want to donate to the group may write the donation off their taxes. Bradshaw said she personally knows people who have been waiting until the group received the status before they donated.

The group’s application for the grant to begin work on the U.S. Bank Park Trail is postponed. A program through the Fish, Wildlife and Parks will not be able to issue grant money until U.S. Congress finalizes it. Havre Trails’ Lindsey Bennett said the group will have to wait an extra month or two before they find out if they will get the grant.

Havre Trails meets the first Monday of every month at the Elks Lodge’s back conference room at 5:30 p.m.