Holland Lake. Photo: US Forest Service.
Holland Lake Lodge is located on public land in the Flathead National Forest in western Montana. Yet the Forest Service is effectively cutting the public out of how and for whom public lands and dollars will be used with its proposal to rebuild the privately-operated Lodge’s sewage system. Forest Supervisor Anthony Botello determined the multi-million dollar rebuild is a “Categorical Exemption” under the National Environmental Policy Act, which greatly curtails public involvement and environmental review.
This is not a small project and could expose Holland Lake – a pristine mountain lake near the Bob Marshall Wilderness – to sewage contamination if the system fails. Botello wants to expand the capacity of the wastewater treatment pond at Holland Lake by five times so the new private business managing Holland Lake Lodge can make more money. Botello won’t say how much our bill is, only that it will be in the millions of dollars.
Just to be clear, Botello wants taxpayers to pay millions to greatly expand the size of the wastewater treatment pond to benefit a private business, but the American people cannot have a say in this decision. Only the Forest Service and the private corporation do. What could go wrong?
For one thing, the new plan will pump human waste and food waste directly into the sewage pond and then spray it onto the surrounding forest directly above the existing Forest Service campground. The previous design pumped the sewage into the pond after it first sat in a septic tank where the solids sunk to the bottom.
But as the Forest Service’s own signs warn: “This is bear country!” Sewage ponds with food waste pumped directly into them will undoubtedly attract grizzly bears. How could anyone think luring grizzly bears with a pond full of food waste next to a campground is a good idea?
The new sewage pond will require 15,000 cubic yards of fill to raise a 2-acre site 10 feet higher and is based on a design that has failed twice in the last 20 years. A similar design, with less than half the seismic potential, failed in Idaho in a moderate earthquake.
If an earthquake causes the sewage pond to collapse, the sewage will run downhill, through the campground, right into Holland Lake. I doubt if the people who can afford to stay at Holland Lake Lodge will like swimming in raw sewage — but the bull trout in Holland Lake, listed as threatened on the Endangered Species list, certainly won’t.
The purpose of the National Environmental Policy Act is to ensure the federal government “looks before it leaps” and gives the public a say in how our public lands are managed. Instead, federal bureaucrats apparently have decided we, the public, don’t deserve to have a say. Instead, they are consulting behind closed doors with the Utah businessman who wants to get rich by turning Holland Lake Lodge into a retreat for the wealthy to have weddings and parties.
It is clear the public must be involved in the plans to reopen Holland Lake Lodge. Former Forest Supervisor, Kurt Steele, lost his job for trying to keep the public in the dark. If Botello continues to “exempt” the public, he should be replaced as well.
Please tell the Forest Service that we have had enough of their secret plans. The American people deserve a say in what happens at Holland Lake and who gets to go there. Billionaires have already ruined Big Sky. Let’s protect Holland Lake and return Holland Lake Lodge to a place all Americans can enjoy, not just billionaires.
The post The Forest Service Cannot Cut the Public Out of Determining the Future of Holland Lake Lodge appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Mike Garrity.