As condition of the road to Beehive Basin Trailhead worsens, landowners look to long-term plans for safety and maintenance
By Jen Clancey STAFF WRITER
Each year, hundreds of people drive the winding road to the Beehive Basin Trailhead to access one of Big Sky’s most popular outdoor destinations. What drivers might not know is that the Beehive Basin Homeowners Association covers maintenance of the public section of Beehive Basin Road, including snow plowing, repairs and widening, even as the trailhead’s popularity has increased dramatically in recent years.
Recently the HOA formed the Beehive Basin Access Alliance to find a long-term solution to the public road’s maintenance and repairs, which they say is critical to visitor and resident safety.
It’s a complicated task as a both an old timber company and the U.S. Forest Service hold easements on the road, and current steepness of Beehive Basin Road also makes financing mechanisms more challenging. A meeting to discuss solutions with county officials and community organizations is coming up in January, and in the meantime, a $25,000 microgrant from Big Sky Resort Area District will help the BBAA get started.
Joseph Kiferbaum, a resident in the Beehive Basin area and member of the BBAA, emphasized that any solution is meant to embrace the popularity of the site, primarily accessed for hiking, backcountry skiing and snowshoeing.
“Everybody who’s in the basin loves it and appreciates the natural beauty of it and wants everyone to experience it, enjoy it,” Kiferbaum said. But the parking lot fills quickly in the summer and winter, leading cars to park on the edge of the road, eroding away the pavement in the process.
A main concern BBAA has is about safety and emergencies. If road conditions continue to deteriorate and narrow, emergency vehicles can’t access the area. And if a weather event, like the high wind gusts on Dec. 17, blocks road access, helicopters may be the only emergency response option. Rodney Willett, a board member of the Beehive Basin HOA, added that wintertime poses further challenges. Though the HOA plows and adds grit to the road, unfavorable weather can still lead to cars and trucks sliding and getting stuck.
On Nov. 13, the Big Sky Resort Area District awarded a $25,000 microgrant to the BBAA to support studies and startup costs. BBAA noted that the money will go toward legal counsel to better understand easements and the limits of what BBAA can do with the road, engineering studies and investigations into available financing mechanisms.
One goal is to learn how county officials can get involved to support the effort. The Beehive Basin area is in Madison County, and in an Aug. 11 Madison County Commission meeting, Kiferbaum and fellow resident Lindsay Poe asked commissioners about options for sustainably funding road maintenance. In that meeting, Colton Lauer, deputy county attorney noted that the steepness of the public road currently excludes it from finance mechanisms like rural improvement districts, and although there are small ways to improve road conditions and width, not much can be done to reduce the steep grade.
“It’s somewhat of a unique situation as they all tend to be,” Commissioner Bill Todd responded. He noted that he’s seen the road in the busy season, and agreed with Poe and Kiferbaum’s concerns. Because of the maintenance and improvements needed, the organization would need to explore how to cover both regular work, like snow plowing, and larger improvements like repaving and widening.
A mid-January meeting will outline next steps, and at last bring together government and community entities to find a sustainable and safe option for Beehive Basin Road moving forward.
