Support Montana’s outdoors with “Bike Your Park Day”

The west side of Bozeman is rich with parks and bike trails. Last Saturday, Sept. 28, “Bike Your Park Day” celebrated these scenic areas, while also promoting the many ways that MSU students could support the future of the Bozeman area.

This event, hosted by the City of Bozeman, was dedicated to getting community members out into local parks. It encouraged people to learn about what is happening in the community regarding the parks as well as what local businesses and organizations are doing, according to the City’s website.

This was the second year that “Bike Your Park Day” was put on. With two locations included in the lineup, there was a lot for attendees to do. Community members had the choice to stop at Matthew Madison Park, Sandan Park or both. 

At Matthew Madison Park, participants were able to bike or walk around to visit different community organization booths and collect stickers for a scavenger hunt raffle. These organizations included Bozeman Parks and Recreation (BPR), the Gallatin Watershed Council (GWC) and the Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) to name a few. Sandan Park had vendor stands where community members could support local businesses. 

According to the BPR website, many of the parks have lawn grass that is irrigated by sprinklers. One of the BPR’s future plans is to plant native seeds in those areas, which would eliminate the need for sprinklers and reduce the number of people needed to maintain the grass. BPR promoted this project by giving out Bozeman native seed packets with planting instructions included, according to BPR’s website.

Additionally, BPR is partnering with the GWC for this plan. According to the council’s website, the GWC was founded in 2004 and has since made it their mission to help guide collaborative watershed stewardship in the Gallatin Valley to create more of a healthy and productive landscape. 

GWC Vice Chair Alzada Roche and Administrative Assistant Ben Buescher spoke on behalf of the organization. According to Buescher, the GWC has been working with the BPR to tear up the turf in the city and plant native plants. The organization has also been planting more trees to reduce sediments and pollutants from flowing into the streams.

“It very much connects to a larger vision for the county where people are spending time outside, they are biking through our parks and spending time along our streamsides and that connects a lot with what we do,” Buescher said.

The watersheds in the area play a vital role in the community by allowing plants to grow. Without the protection and upkeep of these areas, habitats, shade, animals and so much more will be lost, according to the GWC’s Streamside and Landscapes informational packet.

“We are really excited that the city is recognizing this asset that they have and partnering to fulfill the potential of these parks,” Roche said.

According to Roche, one of GWC’s main ways to get college students to participate in the community is suggesting that students go to community meetings and advocate for the parks and natural areas in Bozeman. The more people speak up about caring for these resources, the more will be done to protect what is already here and influence what can be done in the future.

Adam Johnson, the trails program manager for GVLT, provided insight into what GVLT, alongside Outside Kind Alliance, are doing to promote trail etiquette.

As it turns out, supporting local parks and trails does not have to cause a big change to your routine. “Trail etiquette also extends to thinking about the trails themselves — trying to educate people to not go walk on muddy trails because it creates issues. Maybe the best time to go walk when it is really wet is the trails in the city that are gravel and finding surfaces that are more durable,” Johnson said. 

There were also plenty of other community organizations present in Matthew Madison Park that focused on getting members involved in activities that do not pertain to maintaining the parks. Thrive, a community based organization, serves to help families and children through their four signature programs, according to its website.Thrive’s Child Advancement Program (CAP) Coordinator Darby May said they have community mentoring programs that MSU students can get involved in. 

Thrive’s CAP mentoring program is one of their four signature programs set on helping kids in Bozeman, according to Thrive’s website. This program partners people up with one kid in any of the Bozeman public schools grades K-12. Mentoring takes place at the school for one hour a week, anytime during the day Monday through Friday.

“They are like a sounding board, a cheerleader, a sure support and just a solid relationship in a kid's life. Just a unique role that is not a parent or teacher, admin, or someone who is expecting something out of the kids rather they are just there with them, which is unique nowadays,” May said.

For more information on these organizations, check out bozeman.net, gallatinwatershedcouncil.org, allthrive.org, outsidekind.org and gvlt.org.