Dennis Bennett climbed into his canoe and took his daughters down the Clearwater River. The Bennetts, from the Detroit area, last visited Montana eight years ago, and they stayed in the same place — Paws Up.
Last Wednesday, the privately-owned resort took the family to canoe the Clearwater in one of its white Mercedes Sprinter vans. It was their first time taking the trail, and luckily the other visitors at the site just planned to hike.
“I shoulda brought a cowboy hat for this,” Bennett said. “We love coming out here to Montana and enjoying nature.”
While there was no traffic on the river that day, the canoe trail has become very congested during peak use hours. Part of the reason is because Paws Up and another outfitter have special use permits to access the site and can send a dozen people down it at a time.
Quinn Carver, the Seeley Lake District Ranger, said there have been commercial permits for access to the site for years, but the demand has tripled since the pandemic.
“On one hand, you have a whole generation of people reconnecting with their national forests, which is great,” Carver said. “The issue is the demand for service has skyrocketed and we have to catch up.”
Carver said there will likely have to be talks about limiting access if the crowds get worse. Forest Service only controls the access to the canoe trail. Once you get into the water, the jurisdiction falls into Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. FWP Regional Supervisor Randy Arnold said there are no current plans to change access to the canoe trail, but he is aware of the popularity of the area booming. If the use continues to tick upward, there is a chance FWP would place a special recreation rule on the area.
“You’d have to build it from scratch,” Arnold said. “Recreation rules in a place are specific to the area. They are always unique.”
Arnold cited other special recreation rules on the Bitterroot and Blackfoot Rivers that limit commercial traffic, or regulate when people can float the river versus fish it. Paws Up did not respond to the request for comment.
While the future is unclear on the canoe trail, Carver would like to start the conversation on how to best use the area to keep it sustainable. He said the roadway there often needs to be filled in with dirt because of overuse, and the lack of parking could be a fire hazard.
We need to look at different options down the line,” Carver said.
Some of these options could be spacing out riders as they start going down the trail, or more complex like a lottery draw to get an access permit. The big next step would be a forest plan revision from the public.
“What kind of experience do people want going down there?” Carver said. “I’ve gone down four times and it was like the lazy river at Silverwood.”
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