Finley Point shoreline stabilization complete

FINLEY POINT — Montana State Parks has completed a shoreline stabilization project at Finley Point State Park located on Flathead Lake. The Parks Division worked with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Lake County and the Army Corps of Engineers on the permit process.

The shoreline stabilization is called “dynamic beaching” and will protect the shore from erosion, a longstanding problem there. Dynamic beaching is a public friendly treatment with smaller and softer river rock.

“This is a progressive way to deal with shoreline erosion and it uses a technique that’s been utilized elsewhere on the Lake,” said Dave Landstrom, Region 1 Manager for Montana State Parks. “This will prevent erosion in an ecologically sensitive way.”

Mark Lorang, PhD., of the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station designed the dynamic beaching technology.

The project cost $24,000 dollars from the Parks Major Maintenance Budget.

Finley Point State Park is located in a mature conifer forest near the south end of Flathead Lake. It features a secluded campground with 16 RV sites, four boat slips with electrical service and water hookups and two walk-in tenting sites. In the 2011 summer season from May-August, more than 16,000 people visited Finley Point, an 11 percent increase over the prior year.