Each year, just before Clean the Fork day a group of volunteers gather on Saturday morning to wash down the streets. It's been a long tradition and the names of volunteers are very familiar to citizens of Bigfork. Jerry Bygren, Dan Purcell, John Agnew, Ken Bjorge, Doug Averill, Walter Kuhn, Derick Vandeberg and I'm sure there are several more that should be included, (my apologies to them).

At any rate, after the job of washing the streets was complete, the crew went out for breakfast. During the meal, someone brought up the rapidly deteriorating state of the big wash on the Swan River Nature Trail. This landmark danger spot on the trail has gotten much worse over the past couple of years and had reached critical proportions. Everyone agreed that something should be done before someone is seriously injured, or worse.

Many members of the crew are former directors of the Bigfork Development Company and they knew that the BDC is responsible for maintaining the nature trail. They also know that the BDC runs on volunteer power and charitable donations. To learn more about the BDC, visit their web site at bigforkdevelopmentcompany.com .

A short time after that breakfast, Doug Averill was traveling down one of Kalispell's back streets when he saw two prefabricated concrete walkways. The idea immediately came to mind that these structures would be perfect for shoring up the Swan River Trail.

He stopped in to visit with the owner Doug Miller and discovered that the walkways were for sale at the very reasonable price of $1,500.

Mr. Miller also had the means to deliver the walkways right to the trail. Doug struck a deal with Mr. Miller and the project was on its way. A couple of phone calls later, Doug had secured the help of Chuck Sneed and his crew at United Tool Rental.

The volunteers met at the trail head around 5:00 P.M. on Wednesday, May 8th to begin work. Doug brought his big excavator and a truckload of large rocks from the Flathead Lake Lodge property on Crane Mountain.

The crew started the project by digging out the loose soils of the washout and carefully placing some large keystone rocks to anchor the soils. Using the excavators, they continued to fill in the wash until it was close to the elevation of the trail.

The next step was to made a long level bed for the walkway. That job was finished about the same time that the United Tool crew completed the job of jackhammering and welding away the safety railings that were integrated into the prestressed concrete walks.

Then, using the large excavator, the walkways were pulled into the newly formed beds and maneuvered into position.

It was amazing to see the delicate adjustments made by skilled equipment operator Chuck Sneed during the placement of the walkway.

Once the walkway was in place, the crew put the finishing touches on the installation and moved on to placing the second walkway at another washout just down the trail.

In the space of three hours, they had successfully eliminated the washout and regraded the trail so that the work they had done was completely invisible.

This project is just another example of the magic that constantly occurs in our little village community. Around here, we don't make a big production of things like this, we just get them done!

In the picture on the left, left to right, Doug Averill, Jerry Bygren, Mark Hansen, Dan Purcell, an unidentified hand from United Tool Rental and Chase Averill are scoping out the final alignment for the concrete walkway.

So many of the good things that happen around our town are volunteer efforts. Perhaps it's because we don't have any local government that we get so many things done that way.

Whatever the reason, the volunteer spirit is alive and well in Bigfork!

The Bigfork Development Company will be footing the bill for the concrete walkways. United Tool rental donated the use of an excavator, jackhammer and portable welder as well as the efforts of three workers. Doug Averill and the Flathead Lake Lodge donated the use of the big excavator, a truckload of large rocks and the skills of several lodge employees.

Thanks to everyone who took part in this badly needed community improvement. The next time you walk down the trail, you won't need to worry about falling into the big washout, thanks to this group of volunteers, it's gone for a long time to come.

If you see Doug Averill or Chuck Sneed, thank them for a job well done and for donating their time, effort and equipment.

If you haven't been down the trail lately, its really quite beautifull right now and if you are lucky, you can get a glimpse of the kayakers running the river and having fun on the wild mile.

The Bigfork Whitewater Festival is coming up the first weekend in June and the trail will be much safer for specators and boaters alike.