than wilderness areas but less development 

 than is common in city and county parks or 

 private recreation facilities. 



Planning should never lose sight of the fact 

 that parks are for people, for their use and 

 enjoyment. Planning for park units must 

 protect the high quality of Montana's natural 

 and historic resources and the sustainability of 

 public use. 



Professional multi-disciplinary planning that 

 reflects sound principles and community 

 values should be the foundation of park 

 development and protection. Communities 

 and interested publics should be involved 

 early on and throughout the planning 

 processes, with the goal that plans will reflect 

 community values and facilitate the 

 development of working partnerships. 

 Planning must also recognize that parks are 

 owned by all Montanans, and are funded in 

 part with federal dollars, and so seek a balance 

 among local, statewide, and national interests. 



Parks planning should be guided by state-of- 

 the-art concepts and strategies, such as the 

 Recreation Opportvinity Spectrum, Limits of 

 Acceptable Qiange, and sustainability, which 

 have been used by state and federal agencies. 

 The concepts and strategies should be 

 appropriately adapted to state parks in 

 Montana. 



Planners should seek a balance within the 

 state parks system among types of parks (i.e., 

 historical/cultural, natural, and recreational) 

 and classifications of parks (based of the level 

 of development). They should also consider 

 the activities of other recreation and 

 interpretive providers such as private 

 campgrounds, the U.S. Forest Service, 

 National Park Service, U.S. Bureau of 

 Reclamation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

 and U.S. Bureau of Land Management to 

 ensure that future direction is compatible with 

 and complements other park resources in the 

 state. 



Planners should consider the potential for 

 public-private partnerships, and for the 

 involvement of private corporations, 

 concessionaires, foundations, volunteers, 

 historical organizations, commuruty 

 organizations, environmental organizations, 

 and other interested groups in planning for 

 implementation of park plans. 



Recommendation 3: To prevent 

 unwarranted incremental development at 

 state parks, the Parks Division should (1) 



create, through administrative rule, a 

 classification system for designating and 

 managing state parks based on sound 

 management and planning principles, levels of 

 development (see Appendix C for a sample 

 framework), public use and desires, and park 

 settings; (2) develop management plans for 

 each state park based on the classification 

 system; (3) provide meaningful opportunities 

 for public participation in the development of 

 management plans, consistent with MCA 23- 

 1-110; (4) include a system for monitoring and 

 evaluating the status of development at state 

 parks in each management plan; (5) develop 

 and implement management plans consistent 

 with the Good Neighbor Policy, (6) seek a 

 balance within the parks system among types 

 of parks (i.e., historical/cultural, natural, and 

 recreational) and classifications of parks 

 (based on the criteria in (1) above); (7) weigh 

 and balance local and statewide input to 

 individual parks and the overall park system; 

 and (8) continue to manage parks currently 

 designated under the Primitive Parks Act (23- 

 1-115 through 23-1-118, MCA) consistent 

 with the intent of the act until the 

 management planning process has been 

 completed for each park and the classification 

 system is in place under administrative rule. 

 At that time, the legislature should revisit the 

 Primitive Parks Act. 



Park Resources 



With the exception of Region 6, each region 

 hosts a variety of parks. For the most part, the 



State Parks Futures Committee, DeoemberJ, 2002 



