Light on details, prospective Holland Lake Lodge buyer seeks public input

Eric Jacobsen doesn't know exactly what he'll do with Holland Lake Lodge if he buys it. So far in the nascent stages of a possible purchase, he maintains that he wants community input to craft a vision for the historic lakeside property in western Montana's Swan Valley.

But details remain murky of what, if anything, might come of the wealthy Montana entrepreneur's bid for taking over the cherished property at Missoula County's far northern end.

At an initial Sept. 3 meeting at Condon Community Center, Jacobsen and business partner Thomas Knowles — husband to Jacobsen's niece — announced their intent to purchase the circa-1946 lodge. Jacobsen scheduled a series of further meetings at the small log-cabin-style community center and library on state Highway 83 to hear community input and, eventually, present a vision for the lodge's future that he said he hopes will be both financially viable and generally acceptable to most locals.

According to a handwritten meeting schedule Jacobsen presented Wednesday night, the first meeting earlier this month was an "intro/meet + greet/Q&A" session. Wednesday's nearly three-hour session, which began at 6 p.m., was aimed at co-creating "the vision."

Jacobsen is set to hold additional meetings Sept. 25 ("draft vision/strategy?"), Oct. 2 ("Don't do/Can't do?"), and Oct. 23 ("draft master development plan?").

Holland Lake Lodge, Inc. — the business, the buildings and other infrastructure — is a private company. But it's located and operates on federally owned public land in the Flathead National Forest. Thousands of Montanans and others across the U.S. mobilized two years ago to oppose a plan by ski corporation POWDR to purchase and drastically expand the lodge into a destination resort.

POWDR's proposal envisioned 32 new buildings — including a 28-room lodge, a restaurant and 26 cabins — and the removal of 10 structures around the lodge. The plan would have expanded the business' permitted area from 10.53 acres to about 15 acres. The Forest Service ultimately rejected POWDR's proposal and the company announced last fall it would scuttle its purchase of the lodge from longtime owner Christian Wohlfeil, who put the property back up for sale.

Jacobsen said Wohlfeil and POWDR, the latter of which still owns a minority stake in Holland Lake Lodge Inc., had accepted his letter of intent to purchase the business. He and his financial backers — primarily immediate family, he said — are in the due-diligence phase of reviewing business financials and trying to craft a viable plan.

But attendees at Wednesday's meeting were still concerned that a new buyer could similarly expand the lodge into something they said would not be in character with the area, would price out its local residents and would overwhelm the mostly undeveloped, rural area with an influx of tourists.

"I think you need to start at the ground level, figure out what all is wrong with the deteriorated buildings and fix them," said Tully McIntyre, who with his wife owns a cabin on Holland Lake. "I'd like to see it completely renovated and left as is and as it's always been."

Dean Johnson, a Missoulian who has property near Holland Lake and spends considerable time in the area, cautioned, "Let's not turn it into a mini Vail or Park City or Sun Valley."

Certain places have, or should have, certain codes of conduct, Johnson said. Visitors from afar, particularly wealthy tourists from out of state, he said, often act like they're in a football stadium when they should act like they're in a library.

Another attendee, who said he's lived close to Holland Lake for 12 years, said he just wanted the lodge to be a place he could grab a beer after ice fishing, and where, as a local, the staff would know his name. That would require a return to year-round operations, he noted, and a change in the exclusive nature of the lodge dining room.

'What's your vision?'

Jacobsen acknowledged he doesn't yet have much of an answer to the question he said he's been asked the most about Holland Lake Lodge: "So, what's your vision?"

"As I said at the last (meeting), I'm not a detail person," he said Wednesday — a point he reiterated throughout the evening. When discussing Forest Service permitting requirements for the business, which would come further along in a purchase process, he remarked, "I've had several meetings with the Forest Service. I think they get a little frustrated with me that I go, 'Oh, yeah, yeah, great,' and I don't focus on the intimate details of things."

(He stated that he intends to follow all legal and regulatory requirements for the lodge should he purchase it.)

But, in response to attendee questions and concerns, Jacobsen did commit to some specifics about what he'd do if he becomes the lodge's next owner.

He said he was "completely against" helicopter or float-plane access at Holland Lake. He was enthusiastic about, and committed to, installing bear-resistant garbage containers across the property. Building a large new hotel on the site, he said, "is not in my values."

Jacobsen heard other ideas and concerns at the meeting, including making the lodge a leader in invasive weed abatement around the lake; educating guests on land stewardship ethics and sustainable recreation; holding community events like taco nights, author talks or holiday dinners; and bringing back year-round operations.

Jacobsen said he wanted the lodge to not just mitigate the environmental impacts of its operations, but actually give back to the environment.

Jim Morrison, who attended as a private citizen and is retired from a three-decade career with the Forest Service, said Jacobsen should consider using a portion of business revenue to purchase habitat for rare species.

"Personally I like that," Jacobsen said. "But if there's more (lodge) expansion, there's more money to do that."

"That's a gnarly tradeoff," Morrison replied.

Some expansion likely if purchase goes through

Jacobsen turned the question he gets most often — "What's your vision?" — back to the crowd.

Most of the 20-some attendees Wednesday evening voiced strong opposition to a physical expansion of the lodge footprint, with some also opposing any increase in events like weddings or activities like boating.

Jacobsen said he believed expansion in some form would be necessary to make the business financially viable while also rehabilitating what he and attendees all described as aging and dilapidated facilities. But, he said, expansion may not need to be a physical facility expansion: It could be expanded revenue through higher prices or a longer season; more wedding bookings; or adding new events or services.

"I think a lot of things can be done within the current footprint," he said. "My goal is not to expand. It might require some expansion."

After reviewing financial records provided by the current owners, he said, "I don't think it's economically viable as currently operated."

"I think it needs to be something more" than what it is now, but not what POWDR proposed either, he said. "It just needs to be viable, in my opinion."

Mentions of higher prices concerned many of those in attendance, who said they already felt alienated by the lodge's current prices.

Asked pointedly by an attendee "What does 'affordable' mean to you?" Jacobsen replied, "Um, I don't know. I don't know. It's not my lifestyle."

Master development plan

Whatever the lodge could grow into under new ownership would be outlined in a document called a master development plan that must be submitted to the Forest Service before a new owner can operate the business.

The master development plan, or MDP, is a crucial component of any purchase of Holland Lake Lodge . To operate the business on public land, any new owner must apply for and be granted a special-use permit, or SUP, from the U.S. Forest Service . Whereas an SUP details the level of operations and improvements currently allowed, an MDP lays out a permit holder's long-term future plans. An MDP isn't a specific project proposal — it's essentially a preview of projects a permit holder may propose in the future.

The receipt and acceptance of an MDP is generally an internal process between the agency and a permit holder that doesn't entail a public process. The Flathead National Forest had already accepted POWDR's MDP outlining massive expansion before announcing the project to the public. The agency received the document and analyzed it for 19 months without notifying the public.

Jacobsen is taking a different route. He said an MDP for his potential ownership and operation of Holland Lake Lodge is in its infancy, and he wants public involvement in crafting the document, even though he's not required to consult the public. He characterized the MDP as a natural byproduct of the meetings he's holding to "co-create a vision" for the lodge.

"This is to get to an MDP. My dream in this is that we co-create a vision that is far more than what's required in the MDP," including more details about specific operations, not just facilities, he said. "And the MDP will fall out of that."

By coming to the public voluntarily long before any public process the Forest Service would require — and as he acquaints himself with the hurdles of operating a business on public land — Jacobsen said his process to possibly purchase the lodge would be lengthy.

"I think this process is going to take a long time," he said. "I thought the process was going to be, for lack of a better term, months. I think the process is going to be way longer than that."

Trust deficit

Jacobsen also acknowledged he needs to earn the trust of people who felt misled and ignored by POWDR and the Forest Service during the last round of possible purchase.

"I think there's a lot of distrust of me because no one knows who I am. Part of the process is to get to know each other and get to some level of trust," he said, before referencing both Morrison's and Johnson's concerns. "Part of the process is really trying to create a vision that acknowledges the 'gnarly tradeoffs' between humans and the environment, between locals and rich Californians."

Chris McIntyre, married to Tully, mentioned she's a sixth-generation Montanan and Tully is third-generation. Theirs are families that for generations have appreciated Holland Lake's natural serenity, she said, and they worried about what new owners might do to the lodge near their cabin.

"Duly noted," Jacobsen, originally from Great Falls, said, before referencing his own heritage. "I will do my best to respect six generations, as a four-generation Montana family."

Jacobsen's Montana credentials themselves have also come into question in places like Facebook groups for people opposed to expanding the lodge. In a brief interview after the meeting, he said he splits his time between homes in Whitefish and Park City, Utah.

He also addressed in the interview his connections to POWDR. Knowles — his business partner and niece's husband — previously worked at online outdoor gear retailer Backcountry.com with Justin Sibley, who in 2021 became CEO of POWDR. Jacobsen said he knows of POWDR founder and Board Chairman John Cumming because Cumming is a significant figure in Park City and they each have homes in the same neighborhood. But they have no personal relationship, he said.

"Prior to this transaction, I, Eric Jacobsen, didn't know anybody who works for POWDR," he told the Missoulian.

But two years ago, Jacobsen sent the Forest Service a public comment strongly opposing POWDR's proposal for Holland Lake Lodge. The comment contradicted his claim that he didn't know anyone at POWDR, saying instead he knew "several folks" there.

"I am a native Montanan (Great Falls)," he wrote. "We spent time with my parents, now gone, at Holland Lake Lodge and, in fact, celebrated my mom's passing with a family retreat at the lodge in 2012. My sister had a dog named Seeley, named after Seeley Lake. In 2012, I told the owner I was interested in buying the lodge. He was quite rude but that was his right. He said he would never sell it. I also happen to know several folks at POWDR corp.

"I am vehemently opposed to this project. It will not only change the character of Holland Lake but of the entire Seeley/Swan area," he further wrote. "I would be willing to organize an investor group to buy this property back from POWDR to stop this from happening."

Jacobsen's sister, Heidi, a key financial backer in the lodge purchase who was present with her husband Wednesday, also commented on POWDR's proposal two years ago.

"Holland Lake is a sacred gem — PLEASE scale back this project to maintain this gorgeous, pristine lake in Montana," she wrote. "I have been coming to this lake with gratitude for its simplicity and beauty for 60 years!! Keep it lightly developed for more generations to enjoy."

Now it appears Jacobsen's offer in the comment could come to fruition. But he acknowledged at the end of Wednesday's meeting that he doesn't know for sure if he's the one.

"I believe that if the lodge is going to survive it needs the right owner," he said. "I don't know if I'm the right owner, I think we're trying to figure that out. But I think it needs an owner who really cares."

Joshua Murdock covers the outdoors and natural resources for the Missoulian. He previously served as editor-in-chief of The Boulder Monitor in Jefferson County, Montana, and has worked as a newspaper reporter and photographer in rural towns in Idaho and Utah.

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