MISSOULA — Not too long ago, a group of volunteers turned their focus to Marshall Mountain with the hopes of keeping the storied ski hill from private ownership.
With that mission accomplished in spades, Friends of Marshall Mountain will now consider its next chapter and how to ensure the public park continues to evolve.
“When I got involved, I thought we'd save the park and keep it from becoming private, and it's just going to keep being a gravel parking lot with a few cars,” said Jeff Crouch, a member of Friends of Marshall Mountain. “That's not what it has become.”
That realization was punctuated last weekend as the mountain teemed with activity. The parking lot filled, children explored, mountain bikers biked and runners ran.
Crouch said the park is now playing the role that community volunteers envisioned years ago, when they set out to place the mountain into public ownership.
“This weekend represented a culmination of a community effort,” Crouch said. “It felt like we did it with capital letters. For me, it was an inspiring moment of what this community can do when we all come together.”
But just as the mountain continues to evolve in its community offerings, Friends of Marshall Mountain will also consider its next chapter. While it remains unwritten and will remain a topic of conversation, Crouch said a number of proposals have already emerged.
Friends of Marshall Mountain has raised more than $850,000 and has been able to retain a portion of that through grants and other means. That will enable the group to consider the park's greatest needs, including the need for more fundraising.
“It allows us to take the funds we raised, as well as the additional funds we raised, and now go do more,” Crouch said. “Our initial goal was to save Marshall. That's been accomplished. But now it's time to look ahead.”
As the weekend weather soared into the 90s, the need for an indoor classroom became clear. The cost lies beyond the reach of the fundraising organization, but with the mountain now “in good hands,” Crouch said Friends of Marshall could evolve into an “ongoing private effort to support the larger vision.”
“There's a need for a place for the kids to go in and get a drink of water, use the restroom and get in the shade when it's 90 degrees,” he said. “We've had the discussion, but we haven't dove really deep into this on whether we should push into that effort.”
But it could be something the Friends group takes on as it considers its own future.
“One of those big fundraising efforts will look at the old lodge by either restoring it or replacing it with a youth outdoor education center,” Crouch said. “It would take one really big, youth-focused donation and we'd try to do it in one fell swoop.”
Whether the county plays a role in that effort remains undetermined, but the presence of the Friends group may give the county some options.
“They've put us in a really good spot,” said Jackson Lee, manager of Marshall Mountain. “The reason we're in this position is because of the work they've been doing in the community in way of fundraising.”
