As attendees trickled into the basement of the City County Complex in Livingston on Tuesday morning, Erica Lighthiser looked around at the empty seats. The scene was a stark contrast to a heated and packed county commission meeting in February where commissioners considered — and ultimately rejected — signing a letter supporting a gravel pit on public land north of Yellowstone amid a flood of public opposition.
The mood this time around was quieter — and also more jovial. On the agenda: A letter to oppose the pit near Emigrant. While about half as many attendees turned out as at the last meeting, commissioners voted 3-0 to oppose the pit.
“Maybe gratitude doesn’t get the same turnout as anger,” Erica Lighthiser, co-managing director of Park County Environmental Council, whispered to the person next to her.
According to commissioners at the meeting, the change of heart on the pit was in large part because they listened to community members. When they got wind of the county’s support of the pit, Park County residents wrote letters and e-mails, called commissioners, and signed a petition. So many locals turned up to the February meeting to testify against the idea that commissioners had to cut them off.
“All three of us have received a lot of public feedback,” Commissioner Jennifer Vermillion said during the meeting. “When issues like this come up, it also forces us to look for better options and get creative in how we solve our problems.”
The controversy over this particular pit, located on state trust land near the small town of Emigrant south of Livingston, stems from the county’s need to source cheap gravel in a place feeling the burn from burgeoning visitation.
Only about 18,000 residents live in Park County, but the area is a gateway to Yellowstone National Park’s northern entrance and a hub for recreationists, tourists and even concert-goers. The toll on local roads by outsiders, commissioners say, means the county needs gravel to maintain rugged, washboarded and pothole-ridden county roads as more people than ever use the area. However, sourcing the material required for that growth without impacting the area’s wildlife habitat, public access to public land, or safety is a constant source of headaches for county officials.
The new letter opposing the pit outlined the county’s creative solution. “[W]e are able to meet county gravel needs through an existing pit in Paradise Valley, which reduces the cost of road repair for taxpayers while also supporting a local business.” It adds that Yellowstone National Park should source gravel from inside or near its own boundaries, and that reducing gravel traffic on Highway 89 will decrease the carbon emissions of road projects while increasing public safety on the highway.
That marks a departure from the county’s previous stance, which leaned in part on Yellowstone’s need for gravel for future road projectsA park spokesperson told Mountain Journal after the February 10 meeting that the park has other gravel sources to tap.
“Yellowstone Park did not ask for this or say they needed gravel there,” Commissioner Bryan Wells said in Tuesday’s meeting. “It was in the application by the contractor.”
The company behind the application, Riverside Contracting, has received 78 permits for open-cut mines — also called gravel pits — across the state, according to data from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, and has contracts with Yellowstone National Park that run through 2029. While Yellowstone didn’t directly ask for gravel to complete their projects, Commissioner Mike Story said in an interview that it’s possible the contractor could be looking for cheaper sources of material to lower their own costs. Riverside’s proposed pits near Arlee in the Jocko Valley and near Bonner by the Blackfoot River have also sparked community pushback.
“All three of us have received a lot of public feedback. When issues like this come up, it also forces us to look for better options and get creative in how we solve our problems.”
Jennifer Vermillion, Park County Commissioner
In the meeting, commissioners said that over the last two months, they’ve engaged with the state and two local, existing pits on private land in Paradise Valley. With state permits and weed-free certifications necessary to bring the gravel sources up to snuff for county standards, the two pits — Black Diamond south of Emigrant and Pierce near Chico — can provide the material the county needs.
“The supply of gravel isn’t the issue,” Vermillion said in the meeting. “The money to actually put the gravel on the road is the issue.”
Currently, most gravel for county projects comes from Fisher Sand & Gravel, a private site just east of Livingston — and prohibitively far from roads on the southern end of the county. Commissioners said that reducing the haul distance by sourcing from the existing pits in Paradise Valley will reduce overall costs for projects in those areas.
Six people spoke in favor of the letter opposing the pit. One urged caution.
“I’m dismayed by some of the information out there,” said Gardiner-area resident Sabina Strauss, adding that many folks who live on gravel roads say the county lacks the gravel to maintain them. “I’m surprised that the commissioners are willing to go on record saying we have met our needs for gravel resources.”
Still, most attendees saw the meeting as a direct response to the outcry that came from the first meeting.
“Whatever disagreements people may have on other issues, this decision shows something important: when the citizens of park county speak clearly, and in large numbers, and with real knowledge, you’re willing to listen,” Ken Cochrane, with the nonprofit Friends of Park County, said in the meeting. “That matters. It builds trust.”
While the County Commission voted to sign a letter opposing the pit, the state Land Board could still approve it. “Hopefully they listen to the local government and the local people,” Commissioner Story told Mountain Journal. “But it’s really up to them.”
Approximately 30 people attended the meeting in person, and another 30 tuned in online.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the turnout we did have,” Lighthiser said. “Something that was really prickly and controversial turned into something that was really a win-win. That’s kind of special when that happens.”
Rebecca Henson, owner of Wildflour Bakery and Follow Yer’ Nose BBQ in Emigrant, was thrilled with the commission’s decision.
“It makes me feel elated,” she said. “Not just for our local community but for the hopeful precedent it could be making for other public lands in other places in the United States right now.”
