Man honored with stewardship award for East Missoula park efforts

EAST MISSOULA — Stewardship is the act of taking care of something, such as nature or the environment.

Missoula Parks and Trails honors those who dedicate countless hours to public lands and parks each year.

This year's stewardship award winners include Doug Frandsen who began cleaning East Missoula’s Lions Park years ago when his children were little.

 He says the parks come a long way with the help of other volunteers and now 30 years later, Frandsen says it feels great to be honored for his work.

"Many days I came over here and I said, I wonder why am I over here doing this? I could be doing other things. I could be having fun. I could be sitting home watching TV. You know, and I come over here and fill the mutt nets or clean up a mess or paint the tables or whatever I'm doing over here,” Frandsen said. “And it's just like, well, it needs to be done and nobody else is doing it. So…it just feels great to...get the recognition."

Frandsen and the other volunteers will no longer work alone as the city plans to now help maintain the park grounds.