Separating Truth from Fiction
Understanding the Real Impact and Response Efforts
Setting The Record Straight
What Really Happened?
- To minimize noise impact caused by a rock breaker on the lake during the summer season, a controlled demolition was chosen to break up the solid rock encountered.
- Upon detonation, a layer of large fractured stone surfaced, causing the glacial till and smaller rocks on the surface to slide into the lake shore protection zone. Additionally, several larger rocks rolled down the hill after surfacing.
What Is On This Site?
The black screen was in place prior to the demolition and serves to protect workers.
There are over 80 helical tie backs that were drilled into the side of the hill with depth ranging from 20-60 feet and are anchored with grout to help stabilize the hill side.
The images presented by the media have portrayed our efforts to stabilize the hill side and provide a safe working environment for the large retaining wall that is being built and has nothing to do with the demolition.
Why Not Tie Back The Area That Slid?
The area that mounded up and slid down was going to come out no matter what. This area is being excavated for a two bedroom home with large outdoor patio areas.
Whats In the Lake Shore Protection Zone?
How Much Material?
The demolition shifted 52.66 y3 into the LPZ that is 4-5 dump trucks spread over 3500 square feet. This means the average depth of this fill is less than 5 inches.
Is This Material Harmful?
The fill consists of glacial till, which was deposited during alpine glaciation in this area and the rocks consist of Precambrian bedrock. The small amount of material that slid into the lakeshore protection zone is natural native material that does not consist of any man made toxic materials.
Did This Harm Underwater Vegetation?
What Was Already There?
According to the Whitefish Lake Institute this area has no existing vegetation.
What Is The Lake Shore Protection Zone?
The lakeshore protection zone on Whitefish Lake is a 20' strip of land between the high waterline and the rest of a landowners property.This zone has specific rules rules about what you can and can't do.
The lakeshore protection zone isn't completely off-limits. You need a Lakeshore Protection permit to do work in this area. With our permit, we can regrade the land, create walkways, access construction sites, remove trees and foliage, and add fill to create a beach. This slide is not going to affect what we were planning on doing in this area.
What Happens Next
Attempting To Clean Up
- After contacting Flathead County to inform them about the inadvertent introduction of material into the Lakeshore Protection Zone (LPZ), we met on-site to discuss a cleanup plan that complies with regulations.
- After proposing two action plans, we were granted permission to place a silt fence at the water's edge to mitigate any sediment that might slide down.
- After the county reviewed our action plan, we were asked to contact the DEQ, DNRC, and the Army Corps of Engineers to check if any additional permits were needed to proceed with the cleanup. Each agency eventually responded with the same answer: no violations and no additional permits required.
The Media: Fact vs Fiction
Where Do We Go From Here?
As a community, we must re-evaluate our goals. If our aim is to protect the lake, why impede cleanup efforts? We support protecting our water and community, but we won't engage in environmental theatrics. We acknowledge our responsibility in this situation and are committed to creating solutions. We respectfully ask Mike Koopal and the Mayor of Whitefish to put an end to their fundraising and let us clean this up.
The construction community is happy to collaborate with governing agencies if they serve as a resource. We need plans and protocols that allow honest people to address issues promptly.
If our goal is protecting the water quality, we must view accidents, not as opportunities for environmental fundraising, but as problems to be solved.”