Glacier News

WEST GLACIER, MONT. – Glacier National Park is pleased to announce that two park buildings, the St. Mary and Logan Pass visitor centers, have been listed by the National Register of Historic Places.

The unusual amount of snowfall received by Glacier National Park earlier this year forced plans for the park’s Going to the Sun Highway birthday celebrations to change. Instead of holding a celebration at Logan Pass as was originally planned, the 75th anniversary bash kicked off at Lake McDonald Lodge last Friday.

Possible coal mining and coal-bed methane extraction in southeastern British Columbia warrant investigation by an international board, a coalition of 11 U.S. and Canadian environmental groups said. The groups on Thursday requested investigation by the International Joint Commission, a Canada-U.S. panel charged with preventing and resolving disputes under a 1909 water treaty. Possible contamination of water in the Flathead River system, which flows into Montana from Canada, is among the groups' concerns.

Members of the National Parks Conservation Association are looking for the public's help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Glacier National Park. The NPCA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have partnered up to from the Climate Friendly Parks Program. Glacier National Park has joined the effort and is working on reducing their emissions by using shuttles, increasing recycling and making buildings more energy efficient.

Gary Moses from Glacier National Park in Montana is this year’s recipient of the Harry Yount National Park Ranger Award for excellence in the field of “rangering.” National Park Service Director Mary A. Bomar presented Moses with the peer nominated award at a Washington, D.C. ceremony on May 7. Named after the 19th century outdoorsman generally credited as the first park ranger, the prestigious Yount Award is presented annually by the NPS and made possible by the National Park Foundation through a generous gift from Unilever.

A conservation group has filed a request for documents relating to the release of an upcoming decision by Glacier National Park regarding avalanche control on the railroad tracks that skirt the park’s southern border, out of concern that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway executives may have influenced the decision after the public comment period had closed.

Steve Lautenbach had company recently, and after more than six months of solitude, it was downright exciting. "I saw a grizzly bear and cub today, right in front of my cabin," the winter caretaker of Many Glacier Hotel said on April 14. "I was shoveling out my car. It's the first year the bears have been out so early." There aren't many signs of life around Many Glacier Hotel in the winter, so when Lautenbach came 12 feet from being face to face with mama and baby bear, it was an adrenaline rush, and maybe a little bit unsettling.

A couple of black bear cubs crawled from the woods to the bicycle path as if they were kids trying to cross the street without their mother’s permission. They were sleek and adorable, and we might have taken a closer look had we not assumed mama bear was keeping an eye on them.We were some 50 yards away from the cubs, and they didn’t notice my wife, Barb, reaching for her camera. But before she could focus, the cubs spotted a man walking from the opposite direction. They ducked back into the woods, and one bolted up a tree.

Natural barriers like waterfalls play an important role in preventing lake trout from spreading through Glacier National Park, so maintaining those barriers should be a priority, Montana State University researchers said after conducting a four-year study in the park.Park workers might have to remove ice, logs or debris to keep the water from rising behind those barriers, said graduate student Michael Meeuwig and his adviser Christopher Guy. If they don't, lake trout will have an easier time swimming up the rivers and invading new lakes.