MILLTOWN, Mont.  Officials, tribal leaders and cleanup partners on Saturday dedicated Milltown State Park after years of Superfund remediation, removal of a former hydroelectric dam and river restoration work that authorities said reopened habitat and public access at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers.
"This is your vision. This is your perseverance," said Martha Williams, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, at the ceremony. "A state park is a fitting full circle for this place because parks tell that story of place."
The site, now a state park of 627 acres, was the focus of decades of cleanup and reclamation that federal and state officials described as a model of multi-agency and community collaboration. Doug Martin, restoration program chief for the Montana Natural Resource Damage (NRD) program, said the project depended on long-running local engagement and partnerships among tribes, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, state agencies and private companies.
"Ultimately, what actually made this a successful project is everybody that's here," Martin said. "The community of this area showed up to support this project."
Federal officials said the EPA-led Superfund work included early actions and long-term remediation of contaminated sediments and infrastructure. Henry Olsen, an EPA representative at the event, noted that cleanup work at the site began decades ago with some of the program's earliest actions and that the agency now aims to pair cleanup with a locally acceptable end use.
Representatives of Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), the company involved in earlier operations at the site, said the company and partners agreed to dam removal and sediment cleanup under EPA direction in 2005 and 2006. Libby Hanson, deputy operations manager for Atlantic Richfield Company, said: "Once the work was done, the NRD came in and built the river habitat, Fish, Wildlife and Parks built the park you see today using lands and funds provided by Atlantic Richfield."
Missoula County Commissioner Jean Curtiss credited years of local organizing, coalitions and negotiations that secured access and reclaimed industrial lands for public use. She described negotiating access across land that once belonged to paper and wood-product companies and working with those owners to partition liability for an onsite landfill while obtaining the parcels needed for park access.
Officials and tribal leaders at the dedication tied the restoration to ecological returns, including the recovery of bull trout habitat. Tony Inconshola, director of the Salish Kalispel Culture Committee, and Ronald Trahan, chairman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said reopening the rivers and removing contamination restored a culturally important landscape and traditional fishing areas.
Organizational partners credited onstage included the NRD program, EPA, the Department of Environmental Quality, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Clark Fork Coalition, Friends of 2 Rivers and local community groups such as the Bonner Middletown redevelopment working group. Jeff Welch, vice chair of the Montana Parks and Recreation Board and founding member of the Montana State Parks Foundation, described the park as an example of how private donations and local advocacy can complement public funding to expand park amenities.
No formal board votes or new regulatory actions were taken at the ceremony; speakers recounted the history of decisions and agreements that led to the park opening and recognized the people and organizations involved.
Plans announced at the event included interpretive programming and a noon presentation scheduled by the Milltown State Park manager, Mike Castilla, about the site's buried history and interpretive features. The ceremony also invited public participation in a state parks "adventure challenge" to encourage broader engagement with Montana parks.
Ending: Organizers asked attendees to treat the site as a shared resource and to return to the park, which officials said will interpret the confluence of rivers, regional geology and human histories for visitors. "Go have fun for the rest of the day and enjoy the fruits of your labor," Williams said.