Foundation Document

Glacier National Park

Montana

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

World Heritage Site

October 2016

Biosphere Reserve

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Foundation Document

Crown of the Continent Ecosystem 
Glacier National Park

WATERTON

LAKES

NATIONAL

PARK

NATIONAL

GLACIER

PARK

Unpaved 

road

Trail

Continental 

Divide

Glacier

0

0 5 10 Miles

5 10 Kilometers

North

Legend

206

40

2

93

2

2

93

2

49

89

89

464

89

17

2 5

2

5

6

6

Cut Bank

Lake McDonald Lodge

Kintla

Glacier

Thunderbird Glacier Dixon

Glacier

Weasel

Collar

Glacier

Miche

Wabun

Glacier

Whitecrow

Glacier

Ahern

Glacier

Sperry

Glacier

Jackson

Glacier Blackfoot

Glacier

 Pumpelly

Glacier

 Lupfer

Glacier

Harrison

Glacier

Old Sun

Glacier

Rainbow

Glacier

Vulture

Glacier

Agassiz

Glacier

CANADA

UNITED STATES

ALBERTA

MONTANA

BRITISH COLUMBIA

MONTANA BOUNDARY MOUNTAINS

North Fork of the Flathead River

FLATTOP MOUNTAIN

EAST FLATTOP

MOUNTAIN

HOWE RIDGE

L I V I N G S T O N R A N G E

L E W I S

R A N G E

SWA N R A N G E

WHITEFISH RANGE

BOW-CROW PROVINCIAL FOREST

FLATHEAD PROVINCIAL FOREST

Polebridge

Park Entrance

Babb

Saint Mary

St. Mary

Granite Park Chalet

Trail of

the Cedars

Nature Trail

Whitefish Lake State Park

Kiowa

Two Medicine

Entrance

Two Medicine

Campstore

Lineham 

Discovery

Well National

Historic Site

To Pincher Creek

 and Calgary

Mountain View

Cardston

Alberta-Remington

Carriage Centre

To Calgary To Lethbridge

Customs Customs

Customs

BLOOD

INDIAN

RESERVE

Chief Mountain International Highway

Akamina Parkway

Red Rock Parkway

Duc k Lake Road 

Many Glacier

Information

Many Glacier 

Hotel

BLACKFEET

INDIAN RESERVATION Logging Creek

Big Creek

U.S. Forest Service

Summit

U.S. Forest Service

Devil Creek

U.S. Forest Service

Walton

West Entrance

Park HQ

Hungry Horse

U.S. Forest Service

Many

Glacier Entrance

Camas

Creek

Entrance Big Creek

Outdoor

Education Center

Polebridge

Outside North Fork Road

Inside North Fork Road

Camas Road

Hudson Bay Divide

To Browning

Two Medicine

Junction

FLATHEAD NATIONAL 

FOREST

FLATHEAD NATIONAL FOREST

FLATHEAD

NATIONAL FOREST

LEWIS AND CLARK

NATIONAL FOREST

To 

Eureka

Glacier Park

International Airport

 To 

Kalispell

To Kalispell

Columbia Falls

West Glacier

Railroad Depot

Coram Burlington Northern &

Santa Fe Railway

Continental Divide

Essex Railroad Depot

East Glacier Park

Railroad Depot

Saint Mary Entrance

AKAMINA-KISHINENA 

PROVINCIAL PARK

Prince of Wales 

National Historic Site

Glacier Institute Field Camp

Waterton Park

Whitefish

Sperry

Chalet

Visitor Reception Centre

Logan Pass

Visitor Center

Saint Mary Visitor Center

Apgar Visitor Center

Middle Fork

Flathead River

Marias Pass

Going-to-the-Sun Road

Going-to-the-Sun Road
Foundation Document
Glacier National Park

Contents

Mission of the National Park Service 1

Introduction 2

Part 1: Core Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Brief Description of the Park 3

Park Purpose 4

Park Significance 5

Fundamental Resources and Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Other Important Resources and Values 9

Interpretive Themes 10

Part 2: Dynamic Components 11

Special Mandates, Treaties and Agreements, and 

Administrative Commitments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Special Mandates 11

Treaties and Agreements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Administrative Commitments 12

Assessment of Planning and Data Needs 13

Analysis of Fundamental Resources and Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Analysis of Other Important Resources and Values . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Identification of Key Issues and Associated Planning and Data Needs 46

Planning and Data Needs 49

Part 3: Contributors 57

Glacier National Park 57

NPS Intermountain Regional Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

NPS Denver Service Center, Planning Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

NPS Washington Office of Park Planning and Special Studies 57

Appendixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Appendix A: Enabling Legislation and Legislative Acts for

Glacier National Park 58

Appendix B: Inventory of Administrative Commitments . . . . . . . . . .68

Appendix C: Basics for Wilderness Stewardship . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76

Appendix D: Wild and Scenic River Values 81

Appendix E: Key Glacier National Park Planning Documents 1974-2015 84

Appendix F: List of Traditionally Associated American Indian Tribes 86
Foundation Document
1

Glacier National Park

Mission of the National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) preserves unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and 

values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and 

future generations. The National Park Service cooperates with partners to extend the benefits 

of natural and cultural resource conservation and outdoor recreation throughout this country 

and the world.

The NPS core values are a framework in which the National Park Service accomplishes its 

mission. They express the manner in which, both individually and collectively, the National 

Park Service pursues its mission. The NPS core values are:

· Shared stewardship: We share a commitment to resource stewardship with the global 

preservation community.

· Excellence: We strive continually to learn and improve so that we may achieve the 

highest ideals of public service.

· Integrity: We deal honestly and fairly with the public and one another.

· Tradition: We are proud of it; we learn from it; we are not bound by it.

· Respect: We embrace each other’s differences so that we may enrich the well-being 

of everyone.

The National Park Service is a bureau within the Department of the Interior. While numerous 

national park system units were created prior to 1916, it was not until August 25, 1916, that 

President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act formally establishing 

the National Park Service.

The national park system continues to grow and comprises more than 400 park units 

covering more than 84 million acres in every state, the District of Columbia, American 

Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These units include, but are not limited 

to, national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, 

lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House. The 

variety and diversity of park units throughout the nation require a strong commitment to 

resource stewardship and management to ensure both the protection and enjoyment of these 

resources for future generations.

The arrowhead was authorized as the 

official National Park Service emblem 

by the Secretary of the Interior on 

July 20, 1951. The sequoia tree and 

bison represent vegetation and wildlife, 

the mountains and water represent 

scenic and recreational values, and the 

arrowhead represents historical and 

archeological values.
Foundation Document

2

Introduction

Every unit of the national park system will have a foundational document to provide 

basic guidance for planning and management decisions—a foundation for planning and 

management. The core components of a foundation document include a brief description 

of the park as well as the park’s purpose, significance, fundamental resources and values, 

other important resources and values, and interpretive themes. The foundation document 

also includes special mandates and administrative commitments, an assessment of planning 

and data needs that identifies planning issues, planning products to be developed, and the 

associated studies and data required for park planning. Along with the core components, the 

assessment provides a focus for park planning activities and establishes a baseline from which 

planning documents are developed.

A primary benefit of developing a foundation document is the opportunity to integrate and 

coordinate all kinds and levels of planning from a single, shared understanding of what is 

most important about the park. The process of developing a foundation document begins 

with gathering and integrating information about the park. Next, this information is refined 

and focused to determine what the most important attributes of the park are. The process 

of preparing a foundation document aids park managers, staff, and the public in identifying 

and clearly stating in one document the essential information that is necessary for park 

management to consider when determining future planning efforts, outlining key planning 

issues, and protecting resources and values that are integral to park purpose and identity.

While not included in this document, a park atlas is also part of a foundation project. The 

atlas is a series of maps compiled from available geographic information system (GIS) data 

on natural and cultural resources, visitor use patterns, facilities, and other topics. It serves as 

a GIS-based support tool for planning and park operations. The atlas is published as a (hard 

copy) paper product and as geospatial data for use in a web mapping environment. The park 

atlas for Glacier National Park can be accessed online at: http://insideparkatlas.nps.gov/.
3

Glacier National Park

Part 1: Core Components

The core components of a foundation document include a brief description of the park, park 

purpose, significance statements, fundamental resources and values, other important resources and 

values, and interpretive themes. These components are core because they typically do not change 

over time. Core components are to be used to guide future planning and management efforts.

Brief Description of the Park

Surrounded by wilderness, bordered by Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada and two forks 

of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River, Glacier National Park is part of one of the largest, most 

intact ecosystems in North America—the Crown of the Continent. Together with Waterton 

Lakes National Park it is the world’s first international peace park, a world heritage site, and a 

biosphere reserve. Most of the park is also recommended wilderness.

Established by Congress on May 11, 1910, Glacier National Park was the 10th national park 

created and protects 1,600 square miles of the scenic northern Rocky Mountains in Western 

Montana. Named for the powerful glaciers that carved the landscape during the last ice age, 

the park displays rugged peaks and crystalline turquoise lakes, and other remnants of extensive 

glaciation. This is a land of sharp, precipitous peaks and knife-edged ridges, girdled by forests. 

The last remnants of alpine glaciers, disappearing quickly due to climate change, lie in the 

shadow of towering walls at the heads of great ice-carved valleys.

In 1932, Glacier National Park became a portion of the world’s first international peace park 

along with Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park, named Waterton-Glacier International 

Peace Park. This designation was legislated by the U.S. and Canadian governments to promote 

international cooperation and peace, and beyond guiding park management, it also serves as a 

model that has been repeated around the world.

The park lies on the North American Continental Divide, at the center of the Crown of the 

Continent ecosystem, an area which encompasses approximately 18 million acres and includes 

other public lands in Canada and the U.S. including national forests, wilderness areas, and 

Canadian national and provincial parks. This area is a large and mostly intact ecosystem, home 

to the entire suite of North America’s endemic large carnivores and the greatest floristic and 

aquatic biodiversity in the Rocky Mountains.

Species such as the bald eagle, and North America’s indigenous carnivores, including the 

grizzly and black bear, gray wolf, wolverine, and cougar live and travel through the park. The 

headwaters of major river systems are found within the park, including rivers that flow to the 

Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay.

Glacier National Park’s resources and landscapes have drawn people to the region for 10,000 

years. The 338 archeological sites and 397 historic properties document the physical evidence 

of human activity and the importance of the area to American Indians, First Nations, explorers, 

homesteaders, entrepreneurs, visitors, and scientists.

Today, the park attracts more than two million visitors a year from all over the world. Visitors 

are able to enjoy the park in their own vehicles or board an iconic red bus to ascend the Goingto-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass and cross the Continental Divide. Boundless opportunities 

exist to experience solitude and truly dark night skies in the backcountry of Glacier National 

Park. Approximately 735 miles of horse and foot trails interweave almost all sections of the 

park and allow visitors opportunities to experience the many facets of Glacier National Park.

Conditions within and around the park have changed significantly over the years, and new 

threats and issues such as climate change and energy development challenge park managers. 

Park managers are working with neighboring agencies and partners in Montana and Canada to 

address the changes in nearby land management, increasing visitation, and climate change while 

striving to meet the National Park Service mission to leave park resources unimpaired for future 

generations. And, because Glacier is the world’s first international peace park, park managers are 

working to foster transboundary protected areas and peace and cooperation between nations.
Foundation Document

4

Park Purpose

The purpose statement identifies the specific reason(s) for establishment of a particular 

park. The purpose statement for Glacier National Park was drafted through a careful analysis 

of its enabling legislation and the legislative history that influenced its development. The park 

was established when the enabling legislation adopted by Congress was signed into law on May 

11, 1910 (see appendix A for enabling legislation and subsequent amendments). The purpose 

statement lays the foundation for understanding what is most important about the park.

The purpose of Glacier National Park, part of the 

world’s first international peace park, is to preserve 

the scenic glacially carved landscape, wildlife, 

natural processes, and cultural heritage at the 

heart of the Crown of the Continent for the benefit, 

enjoyment, and understanding of the public.
5

Glacier National Park

Park Significance

Significance statements express why a park’s resources and values are important enough 

to merit designation as a unit of the national park system. These statements are linked to 

the purpose of Glacier National Park, and are supported by data, research, and consensus. 

Statements of significance describe the distinctive nature of the park and why an area is 

important within a global, national, regional, and systemwide context. They focus on the most 

important resources and values that will assist in park planning and management.

The following significance statements have been identified for Glacier National Park. (Please 

note that the sequence of the statements does not reflect the level of significance.)

· Geology and Hydrology – Glacier’s scenery dramatically illustrates a 1.6-billion-year 

geologic history and the many geological processes associated with mountain-building 

and glaciation.

- Glacier has an outstanding assemblage of ice-age glacial features, and it has 

relatively accessible, small-scale active glaciers or their remnants.

- Glacier provides an opportunity to see evidence of one of the largest and most 

visible overthrust faults in North America, exposing well-preserved Precambrian 

sedimentary rock formations.

- Glacier is at an apex of the continent and one of the few places in the world with 

a triple hydrologic divide. Water flows to the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay, and 

Pacific Ocean.

· Wilderness Experience – Glacier offers access to a diversity of spectacular scenery 

and increasingly rare primitive wilderness experiences.

- The protection of Glacier’s wilderness environment since 1910 has resulted in it 

becoming one of the few areas in the northern Rocky Mountains where dark skies 

are protected and natural sounds still predominate.

- Two of the three forks of the Flathead Wild and Scenic River designate Glacier’s 

western and southern boundary. The river, jointly managed with the Flathead 

National Forest, contains outstanding remarkable values, including recreation, 

scenery, wildlife, botany, geology, fisheries, water quality, ethnography, and history.

· Intact Ecoregion – Glacier is one of the most ecologically intact landscapes remaining 

in the temperate regions of the world.

- Located at the narrowest portion of the entire Rocky Mountain chain and at the 

apex of three major continental river systems, Glacier National Park contains 

one of the most diverse combinations of plants and animals found in the Rocky 

Mountains, including threatened and endangered, rare, and sensitive species.

- Because of the melting glaciers and the intact ecological processes, Glacier offers an 

outstanding opportunity for both research and adaptive responses to the impacts 

of climate change on a large landscape.

- Glacier is one of the few places in the contiguous 48 states that continue to support 

natural populations of all indigenous carnivores and most of their prey species.

- Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park has been designated as a World 

Heritage Site, and the parks are separately designated as biosphere reserves. As one 

of the largest areas of North America where ecological processes predominate, the 

peace park offers outstanding opportunities for protection and research.
Foundation Document

6

· Cultural Connections – Glacier National Park’s resources and landscapes have drawn 

people to the region for 10,000 years. The physical evidence of human activity provided 

by 338 archeological sites and 397 properties listed in the National Register of Historic 

Places and the park’s collections document the importance of the area to American 

Indians, First Nations, explorers, homesteaders, entrepreneurs, visitors, and scientists.

- Many Indian tribes have a strong connection with the area. From prehistoric times 

to the present, American Indians have identified this landscape and its resources as 

important to their identity and continuation of their way of life.

- The park’s historic roads, trails, chalets, hotels, administrative buildings, and other 

features exemplify the iconic western park experience and most are still in use today.

· Going-to-the-Sun Road – The Going-to-the-Sun Road provides access to five 

different ecoregions and is one of the most scenic roads in North America. Due to the 

preservation of scenery, advanced engineering, and landscape architectural design it 

was the first road designated as a national historic civil engineering landmark and later 

as a national historic landmark.

· Transboundary Cooperation – In 1932, the long-standing peaceful relationship 

between the United States and Canada was recognized when Waterton Lakes National 

Park and Glacier National Park were designated by the U.S. Congress and the Canadian 

Parliament as the world’s first international peace park. In a world of shared resources, 

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park serves as an inspiration and model of 

transboundary collaboration and cooperation.
7

Glacier National Park

Fundamental Resources and Values

Fundamental resources and values (FRVs) are those features, systems, processes, experiences, 

stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or other attributes determined to warrant primary consideration 

during planning and management processes because they are essential to achieving the purpose 

of the park and maintaining its significance. Fundamental resources and values are closely 

related to a park’s legislative purpose and are more specific than significance statements.

Fundamental resources and values help focus planning and management efforts on what is 

truly significant about the park. One of the most important responsibilities of NPS managers 

is to ensure the conservation and public enjoyment of those qualities that are essential 

(fundamental) to achieving the purpose of the park and maintaining its significance. If 

fundamental resources and values are allowed to deteriorate, the park purpose and/or 

significance could be jeopardized.

The following fundamental resources and values have been identified for Glacier National Park:

· Glaciated Geologic Landscape / The Miistakis – The landscape of the park, referred 

to as the Miistakis or “backbone of the world” by the Blackfeet, was built through plate 

tectonic processes and carved by the great ice-age glaciers. Today, virtually every glacial 

landform is present in the park, including alpine glaciers, moraines, arêtes, horns, 

cirques, and hanging and u-shaped valleys. The Lewis Overthrust, a klippe, viewable in 

the southern section of the park, is one of the world’s finest examples of an overthrust 

fault. Overall, the park’s rugged mountains, extremes in elevation, classic geologic 

features, and turquoise waters combine to create outstanding natural beauty.

· Clean Water and Air – Clean water (surface and groundwater) and air are critical to 

the health and support ecosystem function of Glacier National Park. The park’s clean 

water and air are vital to ecosystem health and to the visitor experience. Clean air allows 

visitors to see hundreds of miles from the park’s high peaks and to view stunning starfilled skies. The park is also a major source of clean water for three major river basins, 

the Columbia, Missouri, and Saskatchewan. Most notably, the Flathead Wild and Scenic 

River borders the park. The river is known nationally and internationally for its pure, 

clear waters that support fish, animal, and human populations throughout the region.

· Diverse Habitats that Support Iconic Wildlife – Glacier is a refuge for species on 

a continental scale. Thousands of plants and animals make their home in the park’s 

diverse environments, ranging from cool, dark forests representative of the Pacific 

Northwest; rolling prairies typical of the Great Plains; clean and cold streams, rivers 

and lakes; abundant wetlands; as well as the jagged ridges and soaring peaks that 

characterize the Rocky Mountains. The park is widely known for the wildlife supported 

by these habitats. In fact, it is one of the few places where all of North America’s native 

carnivores are present, including black bear, gray wolf, wolverine, cougar, and the 

federally listed grizzly bear, and Canada lynx. The park’s streams, rivers, and lakes are 

home to numerous federally or state-listed aquatic species of concern including bull 

and westslope cutthroat trout.

· Tribal Connections – The Blackfeet, Salish, Pend d’Oreille, Kootenai, and other tribes 

have a relationship with this land that goes back thousands of years. Archeological 

sites and other cultural resources are tangible reminders of this long history. The entire 

area holds great spiritual importance to all these tribes and their connection with this 

landscape continues today. Tribal cultures remain vibrant and vital within and around 

the park and maintain strong partnerships with Glacier National Park to preserve 

American Indian history and culture.
Foundation Document

8

· Variety of Recreational Opportunities – Visitors from all over the world discover 

that the park has something for everyone. Many enjoy viewing wildlife and the glaciated 

landscapes from Glacier’s famous red buses along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Other 

popular activities include hiking, horseback riding, staying in the only historic chalets 

in the park service, camping and backpacking, boating, fishing, viewing star-filled skies, 

hearing natural sounds, and photography. Visitors may also glimpse into past ways of 

life as experienced by tribes and past residents. Some visitors seek the solitude and 

challenge of the backcountry or climb the high peaks. Winter activities expand the 

opportunities with options such as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. The park is 

one of only a few national parks accessible by passenger train.

· International Peace Park – In 1932, Glacier National Park and Waterton Lakes 

National Park were legislated by Canada and the United States as the world’s first 

international peace park. This designation signaled a commitment to collaborate 

between the two countries and park managers on both sides of the border for 

the ultimate benefit of visitors and regional ecosystems. The international peace 

park forever promotes the ideal of peace and international goodwill in a world of 

shared resources.
9

Glacier National Park

Other Important Resources and Values

Glacier National Park contains other resources and values that are not fundamental to the 

purpose of the park and may be unrelated to its significance, but are important to consider in 

planning processes. These are referred to as “other important resources and values” (OIRV). 

These resources and values have been selected because they are important in the operation and 

management of the park and warrant special consideration in park planning and management.

The following other important resources and values have been identified for Glacier National Park:

· The Going-to-the-Sun Road – No other road combines the historic associations, 

the landscape design aesthetic and engineering significance, and the excellent state of 

preservation as the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The road connects the east and west sides 

of the park and, at the threshold of wilderness, provides views of five ecoregions as 

it ascends thousands of feet to the Continental Divide. Along the way, it gives visitors 

motorized and nonmotorized access to some of the park’s most beautiful scenery. Both 

the design of the road and its setting contributed to its designation as both a national 

historic landmark and national historic civil engineering landmark. The Going-to-theSun Road is also designated as a cultural landscape.

· National Historic Landmark Hotels and Chalets – Glacier National Park is home 

to five national historic landmark hotels and chalets: Lake McDonald Lodge, Granite 

Park Chalet, Sperry Chalet, Many Glacier Hotel, and the Two Medicine Chalet Dining 

Hall (known as the Two Medicine Store). Most of these display Swiss chalet-style 

architectural details. The placement of these structures was designed to replicate a 

European system that linked hotels to backcountry chalets by a day’s hike or ride and 

contributed greatly to the development of Glacier National Park.

· Other Historic Resources – The park also manages 397 structures listed in the 

National Register of Historic Places. These resources include historic motels, snowshoe 

cabins, lookouts, the extensive trail system, and historic archeology such as cabins and 

chalets that no longer stand.
Foundation Document

10

Interpretive Themes

Interpretive themes are often described as the key stories or concepts that visitors should 

understand after visiting a park—they define the most important ideas or concepts communicated 

to visitors about a park unit. Themes are derived from, and should reflect, park purpose, 

significance, resources, and values. The set of interpretive themes is complete when it provides the 

structure necessary for park staff to develop opportunities for visitors to explore and relate to all 

park significance statements and fundamental and other important resources and values.

Interpretive themes are an organizational tool that reveal and clarify meaning, concepts, 

contexts, and values represented by park resources. Sound themes are accurate and reflect 

current scholarship and science. They encourage exploration of the context in which events 

or natural processes occurred and the effects of those events and processes. Interpretive 

themes go beyond a mere description of the event or process to foster multiple opportunities 

to experience and consider the park and its resources. These themes help explain why a park 

story is relevant to people who may otherwise be unaware of connections they have to an 

event, time, or place associated with the park.

The following interpretive themes have been identified for Glacier National Park:

· The geologic features of Glacier National Park combine natural beauty, examples of 

mountain-building, and the effects of glaciation, revealing many chapters in the history 

of the earth.

· Glacier National Park offers a variety of wilderness experiences that provide the 

challenges and rewards of encountering nature on its own terms while conveying the 

necessity of stewardship for the land.

· Glacier National Park’s designation as part of the world’s first international peace 

park celebrates ongoing peace, cooperation, and goodwill between two nations and 

symbolizes the ideal of peace among all nations, in a world of shared resources and 

issues that transcend boundaries.

· Glacier’s cultural resources chronicle the evolving history of human activities, 

interactions, and experiences in the American West, which reveal changes in societal 

attitudes about land and its uses.

· The enduring connection between the Blackfeet, Salish, and Kootenai peoples and 

the landscape and resources of the area known as Glacier National Park is reflected 

through their history, traditions, languages, and contemporary values.

· The establishment of Glacier National Park and its geographic location, surrounded by 

adjacent designated wilderness, a park to the north, and U.S. Forest Service lands, has 

enabled its ecological processes and biological diversity to survive relatively intact in a 

rapidly changing and encroaching world and may provide refugia for some species in 

the face of climate change.
11

Glacier National Park

Part 2: Dynamic Components

The dynamic components of a foundation document include special mandates and 

administrative commitments and an assessment of planning and data needs. These components 

are dynamic because they will change over time. New special mandates can be established and 

new administrative commitments made. As conditions and trends of fundamental and other 

important resources and values change over time, the analysis of planning and data needs will 

need to be revisited and revised, along with key issues. Therefore, this part of the foundation 

document will be updated accordingly.

Special Mandates, Treaties and Agreements, and 

Administrative Commitments

Many management decisions for a park unit are directed or influenced by special mandates and 

administrative commitments with other federal agencies, state and local governments, utility 

companies, partnering organizations, and other entities. Special mandates are requirements 

specific to a park that must be fulfilled. Mandates can be expressed in enabling legislation, 

in separate legislation following the establishment of the park, or through a judicial process. 

They may expand on park purpose or introduce elements unrelated to the purpose of the 

park. Treaties and agreements with American Indian tribes are also included in this section. 

Administrative commitments are, in general, agreements that have been reached through 

formal, documented processes, often through memorandums of agreement. Examples include 

easements, rights-of-way, arrangements for emergency service responses, etc. Special mandates 

and administrative commitments can support, in many cases, a network of partnerships that help 

fulfill the objectives of the park and facilitate working relationships with other organizations. 

They are an essential component of managing and planning for Glacier National Park.

Special Mandates

· International Peace Park – The act of May 2, 1932, defined the purpose of WatertonGlacier International Peace Park and authorized the president to issue a proclamation 

(Presidential Proclamation No. 2003, June 20, 1932). The Canadian government also 

acted bilaterally through royal assent of the Canadian government on May 26, 1932, 

and passage through the House of Commons on June 16, 1932. This introduced 

the involvement of international diplomacy for management of the park. Rotary 

International played a significant role in establishing the peace park and continues to 

celebrate this accomplishment annually at the Hands Across the Border ceremony.

· Flathead Wild and Scenic River – The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of October 2, 

1968, (PL 90-542) designated the Flathead River, Montana, for study by the U.S. Forest 

Service. The proposal was passed by Congress on October 12, 1976 (PL 94-486). 

Passage of this act placed the river under edicts of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The 

river is jointly managed by the Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park 

under a memorandum of understanding and a river management plan.

· Clean Air Act Class I Area Designation – Glacier National Park is provided 

special protection for air quality, sensitive ecosystems and clean, clear views under 

the Clean Air Act. The Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Montana 

must engage with the National Park Service when issuing air pollution permits that 

would affect the park, or when developing plans to improve the air quality and 

clarity of views in the park.

· Outstanding Resource Waters Designation – Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), 

Glacier’s waterways are classified as Outstanding Resource Waters and are protected by 

the highest nondegradation standards the CWA affords.
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12

· World Biosphere Reserve – At the third meeting of the International Coordinating 

Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 

Glacier National Park was one of 20 areas in the United States designated as a World 

Biosphere Reserve. Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada was also designated. 

This action provides for scientific research and coordination, preserving genetic 

integrity of plants and animals, and monitoring trends and conditions in the 

terrestrial environment.

· Recommended Wilderness – A wilderness proposal of 927,550 acres was introduced 

into the 94th Congress (HR 5823 April 9, 1975, and S1079) for Glacier National Park. 

The National Park Service Management Policies 2006 (§6.2) directs the National 

Park Service to manage potential, recommended, or proposed wilderness areas as 

wilderness.

· World Heritage Site Designation – Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park 

received this designation in 1995 because of its “distinctive climate, physiographic 

setting, mountain/prairie interface and tri-ocean hydrographical divide as well as its 

scenic values and the cultural importance of its International Peace Park designation.” 

It was also designated because of the cultural importance of its designation as an 

international peace park. The designation of Waterton-Glacier provides greater 

protection for resources because Canada and the United States have agreed through 

the ratification of the World Heritage Treaty to refrain from taking actions that might 

damage the values of the other country’s world heritage site. They have also each agreed 

to take the measures necessary within their own laws to protect their own sites.

Treaties and Agreements

· Treaty of Hellgate, July 16, 1855 (Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d’Orielles tribes)

· Treaty with the Blackfeet, 1855 (Nez Perce, Blackfoot, and Flathead nations)

· Blackfeet tribal agreement, June 10, 1896 (29 Stat 321, 353)

Administrative Commitments

For more information about administrative commitments for Glacier National Park, please see 

appendix B.
13

Glacier National Park

Assessment of Planning and Data Needs

Once the core components of part 1 of the foundation document have been identified, it is 

important to gather and evaluate existing information about the park’s fundamental and other 

important resources and values, and develop a full assessment of the park’s planning and 

data needs. The assessment of planning and data needs section presents planning issues, the 

planning projects that will address these issues, and the associated information requirements 

for planning, such as resource inventories and data collection, including GIS data.

There are three sections in the assessment of planning and data needs:

1. analysis of fundamental and other important resources and values

2. identification of key issues and associated planning and data needs

3. identification of planning and data needs (including spatial mapping activities or 

GIS maps)

The analysis of fundamental and other important resources and values and identification of key 

issues leads up to and supports the identification of planning and data collection needs.

Analysis of Fundamental Resources and Values

The fundamental resource or value analysis table includes current conditions, potential threats 

and opportunities, planning and data needs, and selected laws and NPS policies related to 

management of the identified resource or value.
Foundation Document

14
Glacier National Park

15

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Glaciated Geologic Landscape / The Miistakis

Related Significance 

Statements

• Geology and Hydrology – Glacier’s scenery dramatically illustrates a 1.6-billion-year geologic 

history and the many geological processes associated with mountain-building and glaciation.

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• The park contains classic examples of every glacial feature and nearly every viewpoint in 

the park shows evidence of glaciation. The park’s scenic beauty and the accessibility of its 

geologic and glacial features draw visitors from all over the world.

• The park’s glacial history is relatively recent, which contributes to the park’s outstanding 

scenic beauty.

• Glacial remnants, which had gradually been receding since the end of the Little Ice Age 

in the 1850s, have been melting at an increasingly accelerated pace over the past few 

decades due to climate change.

• The park’s geomorphic features include the Lewis Overthrust, Chief Mountain, Purcell 

lava flows, pillow basalts, and goat licks. In particular, Chief Mountain is considered 

one of the world’s finest examples of a klippe. The Lewis Overthrust is seen among 

the scientific community as one of the earth’s finest and most visible examples of an 

overthrust fault.

• Geologic formations in the park are recognizable by dramatic exposures of Precambrianage Belt series sedimentary rock. These ancient rocks record a shallow Belt sea 

environment that opened and closed intermittently over many millions of years.

• The park’s alpine landscape also holds paleontological resources. Park fossils include 

Precambrian-age algae (stromatolites) and later Cretaceous bivalves, brachiopods, and 

mammals.

• There are at least 16 known caves in the park; the longest is over one mile, and the 

deepest is 265 feet.

Trends

• The park’s alpine glaciers continue to recede. Some have become snowfields and others 

have disappeared completely. Some models predict all the glaciers will disappear within 

one to two decades due to climate change.

• The distribution of vegetation in the park has changed as glaciers have receded.

• Periodic landslides or mass wasting events alter the landscape on a local level. Soils in the 

Many Glacier valley are unstable causing slumping along the park’s entrance road. An 

increasing number of severe flooding events are occurring in nontraditional times of the 

year such as in the fall. There has been recent avalanche activity on the Going-to-the-Sun 

Road in locations that have not been active for decades.

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• Geologic hazards, such as rockfall and mass-wasting, may present more serious threats 

to visitors and park infrastructure as climate, rainfall, and hydrology continue to change 

in the park.

• Climate change will likely result in the disappearance of the parks’ remaining glaciers.

• Avalanches are a threat to visitors and some of the park’s roads and other infrastructure 

during the winter and spring.

Opportunities

• Focus more interpretive services on the park’s glaciers and climate change.

• Enhance the park’s collaboration with geologic specialists for the purpose of identifying 

and monitoring areas most susceptible to geologic hazards.

• Conduct more exploration and surveying of the existing cave system.Implement longterm monitoring of the existing cave system.

• Continue improving park sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and 

environmental leadership through the park’s Climate Friendly Parks Program and 

Environmental Management Systems (Director’s Order 13A).

• Continued understanding of observed and projected climate change through monitoring 

of (or access to) weather parameters (precipitation, temperature) and impacts to the 

landscape, and assessment of projected climate futures (models) for the region.
Foundation Document

16

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Glaciated Geologic Landscape / The Miistakis

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

FRV 

• Reports and summaries prepared by the Natural Resource Stewardship and Science 

Directorate (NRSS) Geologic Resources Division.

• Geologic resources inventory.

• Glacier trend data U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

• Comprehensive interpretive plan (2006).

• Vista management plan for Going-to-the-Sun Road (2009).

• Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Avalanche Hazard Reduction EIS (2008).

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Geohazard risk assessment along key road corridors.

• Oral histories to describe “backbone of the world.”

• LIDAR mapping of park streams, floodplains, geologic areas, and habitats of interest.

Delineation of all floodplains within developed areas in the park.

• Ongoing monitoring of caves and glaciers.

• Visual resource inventory, including along the park’s boundary.

• Continued monitoring of glaciers and impacts from climate change.

Planning Needs

• Cave and karst management plan.

• Telecommunications infrastructure plan.

• Risk assessment response plan.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the FRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the FRV

• Wilderness Act of 1964

• Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968

• Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended

• Clean Water Act of 1972, as amended

• Paleontological Resources Preservation Act of 2009

• Clean Air Act of 1977 (42 USC 7401 et seq.) gives federal land managers the 

responsibility for protecting air quality and related values, including visibility, plants, 

animals, soils, water quality, cultural resources, and public health, from adverse air 

pollution impacts

• Secretarial Order 3289, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, 

Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources”

• Federal Cave Protection Act of 1988

• 16 U.S. Code § (1J), Cooperative Agreements for National Park Reserve Protection

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§1.6) “Cooperative Conservation Beyond Park 

Boundaries”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1) “General Management Concepts”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1.4) “Partnerships”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.4.1) “General Principles for Managing Biological 

Resources”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.7.2) “Weather and Climate”

• NPS-75 Natural Resources Inventory and Monitoring Guideline

• NPS Natural Resource Management Reference Manual 77
Glacier National Park

17
Foundation Document

18

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Clean Water and Air

Related Significance 

Statements

• Geology and Hydrology – Glacier’s scenery dramatically illustrates a 1.6-billion-year geologic 

history and the many geological processes associated with mountain-building and glaciation.

• Intact Ecoregion – Glacier is one of the most ecologically intact landscapes remaining in 

the temperate regions of the world.

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• Glacier’s rivers and lakes are exceptionally clean and clear. They are categorized as 

Outstanding Resource Waters by the State of Montana. The north fork of the Flathead 

River is the most protected stream in North America.

• Glacier is at the apex of three continental drainages. Because the park protects the 

headwaters of many rivers and streams, everything the park does affects downstream areas.

• The park contains a large amount of critical habitat for federally listed bull trout. This is 

partially due to outstanding water quality in rivers and lakes.

• There is some degradation of water quality due to atmospheric mercury and nitrogen 

deposition. There are other sources of pollutants, such as pesticides and agricultural 

runoff, in the streams and rivers as they flow outside of the park.

• Glacial silt contributes to the unique color of lakes, rivers, and streams in the park.

• Glacier is classified as a Class I area under the federal Clean Air Act.

• Ozone is rated as good in the park but visibility is of moderate concern; and deposition 

of nitrogen, sulfur, mercury and air toxics are of significant concern. Scenic views are 

sometimes obscured by pollution-caused haze from human sources, such as combustion 

of fossil fuels, agriculture and other industry as well as natural sources such as dust and 

wildfire. Nitrogen and sulfur deposition threaten terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by 

causing acidification or excess fertilization (eutrophication). Other pollutants of concern 

deposited in the park including historic and current use of pesticides in the surrounding 

area and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH).

• There is an air quality monitoring station in West Glacier.

• Park surface waters are free of artificial impoundments and are free flowing.

• The USGS Field Station contributes significant information and research to the current 

and future conditions of park water quality through snow chemistry, water quality, and 

water quantity studies.

• The park’s research relationship with USGS has been and continues to be very beneficial 

and productive.

Trends

• For the 2004-2013 decade, visibility and sulfur deposition improved while ozone, 

nitrogen and mercury deposition remained relatively unchanged.

• Glacier’s dark night skies have received increased public attention and visitor interest in 

recent years.

• Water temperatures have warmed over the last 15 to 20 years, leading to more 

outbreaks of didymo (an indigenous species of freshwater algae).

• Data shows that Glacier is getting more of its annual precipitation in the spring and fall 

as rain rather than as snow.

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• Air and related resources (e.g., visibility, water, vegetation) are vulnerable to pollutants 

such as nitrogen, sulfur, and mercury. Air pollution in Glacier comes from local, regional, 

and international sources including power plants, agriculture, and potential future oil 

and gas development. The deposition of potentially acidifying and/or nutrient-enriching 

compounds such as nitrogen and sulfur are significant concerns due to the low natural 

potential for many park areas to buffer these compounds. Herbaceous plants, lichen, 

and forest communities are at risk for harmful effects. Also, park waters and biota are 

sensitive to such inputs, and potential acidification and/or enrichment of park waterways 

have been identified as a concern.
Glacier National Park

19

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Clean Water and Air

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats (continued)

• Aquatic invasive species are the number one ecological and recreational threat to the park 

and the Crown of the Continent’s watershed. Some invasive fish are present now in the park.

• Increase in mean annual temperature, observed and projected for the region due to 

climate change, is accelerating the melting of the park’s glaciers, with changes in species 

composition, loss in cold-water fish habitat, alterations in plants and animal distribution 

in the park, effects in the aquatic environment and recreational fishing, changes in 

seasonal runoff, and increases in wildfire projected for the region. Continued monitoring 

of glacier margins to measure glacier retreat is needed.

• The increase in precipitation increases the risk of rain on snow events, causing early 

or midwinter floods. Midwinter floods may have an adverse impact on bull trout 

spawning and rearing. Similarly, summer flow data have shown declines in the average 

monthly stream discharge over time. These reductions, coupled with increasing stream 

temperatures, may have adverse impacts on the amount and quality of stream rearing 

habitat for native salmonids.

• Forest fires in the area and region occasionally degrade air quality. The impacts are 

typically short term.

• The park is located within the Montana Thrust Belt shale basin. While there is interest 

in the hydrocarbon resources in this region, and numerous exploratory wells have been 

drilled just east of the park’s boundary, as of 2015, production from this area is not yet 

economically viable using hydraulic fracturing techniques. Should oil and gas extraction 

in the region become economically viable due to technological refinements or changing 

market conditions, oil and gas development may increase in this region and may become 

a significant air quality concern. Current exploratory wells are close to the park’s eastern 

boundary and likely impact the park viewshed.

• Large quantities of coal and gas are regularly transported on railroads near the park, 

including nearly 33 million gallons of oil per week. Derailments and other accidents could 

lead to major spills and harmful environmental effects.

• International interest and support for protecting the Flathead River has halted energy 

development in the Canadian Flathead Valley. However, extractive pressure will likely 

return as energy exploration technology advances and energy reserves become more 

economically viable.

• There is a threat from logging on government and private lands in the watershed for the 

North Fork of the Flathead River, both in the United States and Canada.

• There is a threat from fire effects, short (water quality impacts) and long-term (high 

severity = loss of water holding capacity), on water quality / quantity.

• Groundwater development on non-NPS lands could deplete connected groundwater 

within the park.

• Point sources of pollution are a potential threat to streams. The threat comes primarily 

from local landowners on private septic systems.

• At night, air pollution can scatter artificial light—increasing the impact of light pollution 

to the night sky and threatening the park’s dark skies.

• The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) implementation of the Regional Haze 

Program in Montana may result in some emission reductions at coal-fired power plants 

and cement plants that may influence park air quality. However, efforts in 2015 have 

been remanded due to legal challenges.

• The melting of the glaciers will reduce or completely eliminate the glacial silt, which, in 

turn, will alter the color of the park’s famous lakes and rivers.

Opportunities

• The potential development of oil and gas on the east side of the park could affect air and 

water quality. The park does not have an air quality monitoring site on the east side of 

the Continental Divide and would benefit from such a site.

• Expand research efforts with Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units to reach out to 

community groups and encourage “citizen science.”
Foundation Document

20

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Clean Water and Air

Threats and 

Opportunities

Opportunities (continued)

• Continue snow science in the park to help park managers understand the effects of 

climate change on precipitation in the region.

• Continue ongoing USGS monitoring program of high-elevation streams dependent on 

snow/ice melt and associated dependent biota.

• Glacier and Waterton are applying as the International Peace Park to the International 

Dark Sky Association to be designated as the first transboundary international dark sky 

preserve. The park could also better market the opportunity to see dark night skies to 

park visitors.

• Use more alternative fuels in its fleet and operations to reduce its carbon footprint.

• The regional inventory and monitoring network has been doing stream ecological 

monitoring for 7 to 8 years. A summary will reveal trends and allow the park to take 

appropriate action.

• Continue to support the Crown Managers Partnership work on collecting and merging 

air and water quality data for trend analysis.

• Expand interpretive and educational tools to communicate the connections between air 

and water quality / pollution, sensitive park resources, biodiversity, scenic views, night sky, 

wilderness, climate change, transboundary cooperation, recreation, human health, and 

other associated resources.

• Work cooperatively with other federal and state air quality agencies and local 

stakeholders to reduce air quality impacts in parks from sources of air pollution. Conduct 

education outreach to park neighbors and communities to increase awareness of the 

importance of park air quality, scenic views and dark skies.

• Increase park air quality literacy by making available to park staff the “Air Resources in 

National Parks” free two-hour training course available online at DOI Learn.

• Continue improving park sustainability and environmental leadership through the park’s 

Climate Friendly Park action plan and Environmental Management System (Director’s 

Order 13A) to conserve water resources.

• Explore and expand relationships with area high schools to connect students with the 

resource through inventory and monitoring.

• Continued understanding of observed and projected climate change through monitoring 

of (or access to) weather parameters (precipitation, temperature), and impacts to the 

water resources, and assessment of projected climate futures (models) for the region.

• Continue to address invasive fish issues through research and management actions.

• The park is working with the State of Montana, Alberta, and British Columbia to develop 

a transboundary detection response and containment plan to keep out zebra and quagga 

mussels, Eurasian watermilfoil, and eventually other aquatic invasive species.

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

FRV 

• ARM 17.30.702 & 75.5.103 MCA (Montana Code) – defines “Outstanding Resource 

Waters.”

• Flathead Lake Biological Station database – water data.

• Dark sky measurements and data (from NRSS, Night Skies and Natural Sounds Division).

• Air resource summaries and reports prepared by the NRSS Air Resource Division and 

others—see the air quality resource summary for Glacier National Park (September 2014) 

for a detailed list of references.

• Climate change trends for Glacier National Park (July 2014).

• Ongoing air quality monitoring in the park at West Glacier for visibility, ozone, nitrogen / 

sulfur / mercury deposition.

• NPS Rocky Mountain Network vital signs.

• Montana Department of Environmental Quality water quality monitoring.
Glacier National Park

21

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Clean Water and Air

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Parkwide air quality monitoring (currently only monitored on the west side).

• Water quality monitoring in high-elevation streams and lakes in the park.

• Dark sky monitoring.

• Aquatic invasive species monitoring in park lakes.

• Continued monitoring of glaciers and impacts from climate change.

• Inventory of cold-water-dependent macroinvertebrates (e.g., Lednia).

Planning Needs

• Water quality management plan.

• Air quality management plan.

• Commercial air tour management plan spill response plan for the middle fork of the 

Flathead River.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the FRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the FRV

• Clean Air Act of 1977 (42 USC 7401 et seq.) gives federal land managers the 

responsibility for protecting air quality and related values, including visibility, plants, 

animals, soils, water quality, cultural resources, and public health, from adverse air 

pollution impacts

• Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968

• Clean Water Act of 1972

• Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended

• Executive Order 13112, “Invasive Species”

• Executive Order 11514, “Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality”

• Executive Order 12088, “Federal Compliance with Pollution Control Standards”

• Secretarial Order 3289, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, 

Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources”

• 16 U.S. Code § (1J), Cooperative Agreements for National Park Reserve Protection

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Natural Resource Management Reference Manual 77

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§1.4) “Park Management”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§1.6) “Cooperative Conservation Beyond Park 

Boundaries”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§3.1) “General”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.10) “Lightscape Management”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.3.4) “National Wild and Scenic Rivers System”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.7) “Air Resource Management”

• Director’s Order 18: Wildland Fire Management

• NPS Wildland Fire Management Reference Manual 18
Foundation Document

22
Glacier National Park

23

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Diverse Habitats That Support Iconic Wildlife

Related Significance 

Statements

• Intact Ecoregion – Glacier National Park is one of the most ecologically intact landscapes 

remaining in the temperate regions of the world.

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• Due to wide variations in elevation, climate and soil, five distinct vegetation zones overlap

in Glacier and have produced strikingly diverse habitats that sustain plant and animal 

populations, including threatened and endangered, rare, and sensitive species. These are 

changing due to continual disturbance from fire, avalanche, flood, forest pathogens, etc.

Whitebark pine habitat is changing due to blister rusts, fire exclusion, and potential beetle kill.

• Glacier is one of the few places in the contiguous 48 states that continue to support 

natural populations of all indigenous carnivores and most of their prey species.

• Glacier provides an outstanding opportunity for ecological management and research in 

one of the largest areas where natural processes predominate.

• Fire, warming temperatures, nitrogen deposition, and forest pathogens are causing 

transitions in forest communities.

• While data are lacking, existing information indicates that the park’s wildlife is in good 

condition and that the numbers of most species appear to be stable with a few exceptions.

• Naturally occurring fire is important to the health of many of the park’s ecosystems. The 

last major fires in the park occurred in 2015. In the last 20 years, nearly 20% of the park 

has experienced fire. In the past couple of decades, the park has increased the frequency 

of prescribed burns and other fuel reduction activities in the park.

• The park has three federally threatened and endangered species: the grizzly bear, lynx, 

and bull trout.

• The park has approximately 70 rare plant species. This high number is due largely to the 

park’s geology, hydrology, and the convergence of five floristic zones in the park.

• Terrestrial invasives are a concern in the park.

• Aquatic invasive species are a serious concern in the park.

• Invasive lake trout have invaded the majority of the park’s west side lakes and threaten 

the persistence of native fish in these waters while other nonnatives such as rainbow and 

brook trout threaten native species such as westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout with 

hybridization and competition.

• The park’s alpine areas support endemic or near-endemic aquatic invertebrate species at 

high risk of climate-change-induced habitat alteration. The park is a critical conservation 

area for many of these species.

• To mitigate the threat from Eurasian watermilfoil, zebra, and quagga mussels, the park 

is conducting inspections of all watercraft brought into the park. There are also park 

regulations prohibiting the use of felt waders and live bait. To control the spread of 

terrestrial invasives, construction vehicles are inspected and only permitted in the park if 

they are clean and free of weed seeds. Any soil or gravel must come from areas outside 

the park that have been certified to be weed free.

Trends

• Whitebark pine habitat is changing due to higher elevational changes due to climate 

change. Climatic conditions favor other forest species such as subalpine fir moving 

into and out-competing stands of whitebark pine. Whitebark will also be subjected 

to mountain pine beetle infestations since higher elevations will be more climatically 

hospitable to this insect.

• The park does not have sufficient data to determine all trends for flora and fauna 

occurring across the landscape. Park staff are working with other land managers and 

institutions to gather and share information to address this lack of data.

• Historical temperature records (1895-2012) for the park show that the mean annual 

temperature increased approx. +0.14° F per decade and that warming has accelerated 

+0.8° F per decade since 1980, 1.8 times the global average. At elevations above 6,000 

feet, temperatures increased even faster, three times the global average.

• There has been an increase in forest insects and diseases in recent years; one likely cause 

is climate change and warming temperatures.

• Nonnative invasive aquatic species have expanded across the region and now present a 

major threat to the park’s aquatic environment.
Foundation Document

24

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Diverse Habitats That Support Iconic Wildlife

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• Increased fire intensity and fire exclusion threatens existing whitebark pine habitat.

Climatic conditions may favor increased complexity from encroaching forest species and 

insect invasions.

• Increased development, population growth, artificial light, and oil and gas development in 

the transboundary region may lead to fragmentation of habitat and disruption or closing 

of animal movement and migration corridors linking to lands outside the park. Increased 

rail and road traffic could lead to an increased avoidance of roads by certain wildlife, 

especially bears, thus decreasing connectivity in the ecosystem.

• Climate change may alter or degrade a number of natural systems and processes in the 

park and region. For instance, climate change may result in less snow and more annual 

rainfall, lower spring snowpacks, higher average temperatures, more frost-free days, and 

higher occurrence of forest diseases. This may alter the distribution and abundance of 

many of the park’s flora and fauna.

• Continued treeline encroachment into alpine meadows.

• Forest composition may change over time due to fires and climate regime changes.

Changes in precipitation could affect hydrology and wetland communities.

• Railroad accidents may result in oil and coal spills, which would likely have a serious 

negative impact on the park’s flora and fauna along the Flathead River corridor.

• Terrestrial invasive species are threatening native plant, aquatic, wildlife communities and 

water quality parkwide, especially east-side grasslands.

• Nitrogen and sulfur deposition can cause acidification, excess fertilization, and changes 

in soil and water chemistry that can affect vegetation community composition and alter 

biodiversity. Deposition of mercury, pesticides, and other toxins can accumulate in wildlife 

and impair reproductive and neurological systems.

• White-nose syndrome is a potential threat to the park’s bat population; white pine blister 

rust and native insects and pathogens threaten forest populations; other pathogens may 

expand or migrate into the park as climate changes.

• Continued understanding of observed and projected climate change through monitoring 

of (or access to) weather parameters (precipitation, temperature), and impacts to the 

water resources, and assessment of projected climate futures (models) for the region.

Larger and hotter fires are occurring across the Crown of the Continent region.

• Sensitive wildlife species such as pika, wolverine, mountain goats, marmots, harlequin

ducks, and ptarmigan will be negatively affected by climate change and shrinking glaciers.

• Aquatic invasive species are threatening native aquatic communities, especially on the west side.

Opportunities

• Continue implementing the park’s five needle pine (whitebark and limber) restoration 

program.

• Leverage monitoring efforts of NPS Rocky Mountain Network; fill priority knowledge gaps 

not addressed.

• The park should continue to improve its interpretive services about “safe viewing” of wildlife.

• Continue working with the Crown Managers Partnership and others to coordinate and 

collaborate on shared issues to maintain the ecological health of the Crown and together 

develop adaptation measures in response to climate change and improve wildlife connectivity.

• Improve education of public and targeted audiences related to transboundary wildlife 

connectivity, migration routes, and climate change.

• Implement the Many Glacier wildlife viewing opportunities as described in the Many 

Glacier Wildlife Viewing Environmental Assessment.

• Expand interpretive and educational tools to communicate the connections between 

biodiversity, air and water quality / pollution, sensitive park resources, scenic views, night 

sky, wilderness, climate change, transboundary cooperation, recreation, human health, 

and other associated resources.
Glacier National Park

25

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Diverse Habitats That Support Iconic Wildlife

Threats and 

Opportunities

Opportunities (continued)

• Implement fire management strategies to protect and enhance native habitats and 

natural processes.

• Continue to collaborate with agencies and others on aquatic invasive species inspection, 

response and containment.

• Expand wildlife and aquatic resource monitoring using methods such as citizen science 

where appropriate.

• Continue monitoring and actively managing terrestrial and aquatic invasive species and 

continue to work with park neighbors in Canada and the United States to identify other 

potential threats.

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

FRV 

• Whitebark and limber pine restoration and monitoring data (2000-2015).

• Exterior lighting management and replacement plan (2015).

• Wolverine and goat studies (2003–2009).

• Resources management plan (1998).

• Northern Continental Divide ecosystem grizzly bear population trend monitoring (ongoing).

• Bear DNA study (2008).

• Climate change research. See the report titled “Climate Change Trends for Planning at 

Glacier National Park” (July 2014) for a complete list of references.

• Eastside grasslands ecology project (2010).

• Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park vegetation map and characterization report (2007).

• Many Glacier wildlife viewing plan environmental assessment (2010).

• Rare and invasive plants monitoring report (2005).

• Fire effects monitoring (ongoing).

• Crown of the Continent climate change scenario plan (2010).

• Fire management plan (2010).

• Crown of the Continent Large Landscape Conservation Initiative (formerly known as the 

Ecological Health Project (2007) renamed Large Landscape Conservation Initiative (2015).

• Exotic vegetation management plan (1991).

• Atmospheric nitrogen, sulfur, and mercury deposition ecosystem effects studies (1992 - 2014).

• Ongoing air quality monitoring in the park at West Glacier for visibility, ozone, nitrogen / 

sulfur / mercury deposition.

• National Park Service, Air Resources Division. “Air Quality Conditions & Trends by NPS 

Units: For Glacier NP.” National Park Service. Denver, Colorado.

• Wildlife Observation Reporting Forms (WORF).

• Bear Information Management System (BIMS).

• Fisher study (2013-2015).

• Goat study at Logan Pass (2013-2016).

• Harlequin duck study (2011-2014).

• Continue spring and fall monitoring of ducks. Underway for at least the last decade.

• Bat study (2011-2013). Ongoing monitoring.

• Bighorn sheep study (2012).

• Plant phenology study (ongoing).

• Stream monitoring (ongoing).

• Periglacial insect study (2011-ongoing).

• Migratory raptor survey (ongoing).

• Wildlife connectivity (bear) study on Highway 2 (2010-2014).

• Assessment of bull and lake trout trends in west side park waters (2002).

• Status and habitat threats of Lednia tumana in Glacier National Park (2015).

• Stream vital signs monitoring data 2009-2015 (ongoing).

• Bull trout action plan for Glacier National Park (2008).
Foundation Document

26

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Diverse Habitats That Support Iconic Wildlife

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Continue monitoring health of whitebark and limber pines; and restoration success of 

whitebark and limber pines.

• Acoustic resource monitoring.

• LIDAR mapping of park streams, floodplains, geologic areas, and habitats of interest 

Trend analysis of wildlife-human interactions.

• Research the effects of climate change on the park’s keystone species and species in the 

alpine / subalpine transitional area.

• Communication strategy for climate change.

• Continue monitoring mercury and other toxic contaminants in park biota. Special studies 

to examine pollution dose-response relationships in sensitive park ecosystems.

• Continue monitoring of glaciers and impacts from climate change.

• Continue to provide assistance to Crown Managers Partnership Large Landscape 

Transboundary Conservation Initiative.

• Continue night sky monitoring.

• Continue migratory raptor surveys.

• Basic wildlife composition and distribution studies.

• Continue fisheries trend monitoring.

• Wildlife displacement research.

Planning Needs

• Develop a vegetation management plan that will include actions to address terrestrial 

invasives, protect five needle pines and rare plants, and develop fire management strategies.

• Crown of the Continent adaptation plan for responding to climate change effects.

• Update to the fire management plan.

• Scenic air tour management plan.

• Acoustic resource management plan.

• Update comprehensive interpretive plan.

• Backcountry/Wilderness management plan.

• Potential reestablishment of bison management plan.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the FRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the FRV

• Blackfeet Tribal Agreement, June 10, 1896

• Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940

• Wilderness Act of 1964

• Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968

• Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended

• National Invasive Species Act of 1996

• Lacey Act, as amended (2008)

• Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974, as amended

• Clean Water Act of 1972, as amended

• Clean Air Act of 1977 (42 USC 7401 et seq.) gives federal land managers the responsibility 

for protecting air quality and related values, including visibility, plants, animals, soils, water 

quality, cultural resources, and public health, from adverse air pollution impacts (2004)

• Federal-Tribal Trust Responsibilities

• Secretarial Order 3206, “American Indian Tribal Rights”

• Executive Order 13112, “Invasive Species”

• Secretarial Order 3289, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, 

Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources”

• “Audio disturbances” (36 CFR 2.12)

• 16 U.S. Code § (1J), Cooperative Agreements for National Park Reserve Protection
Glacier National Park

27

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Diverse Habitats That Support Iconic Wildlife

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the FRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§1.6) “Cooperative Conservation Beyond Park 

Boundaries”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1) “General Management Concepts”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1.4) “Partnerships”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.4.1) “General Principles for Managing Biological 

Resources”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§ 4.7) “Air Resource Management”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.7.2) “Weather and Climate”

• NPS Natural Resource Management Reference Manual 77

• Director’s Order 18: Wildland Fire Management

• NPS Wildland Fire Management Reference Manual 18

• Director’s Order 47: Soundscape Preservation and Noise Management

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.9) “Soundscape Management”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§5.3.1.7) “Cultural Soundscape Management”
Foundation Document

28

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Tribal Connections

Related Significance 

Statements

• Cultural Connections – Glacier National Park’s resources and landscapes have drawn 

people to the region for 10,000 years. The physical evidence of human activity provided 

by 338 archeological sites and 397 properties listed in the National Register of Historic 

Places documents the importance of the area to American Indians, First Nations, 

explorers, homesteaders, entrepreneurs, visitors, and scientists.

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• The entire area holds great spiritual importance to the Blackfeet, Salish, Pend d’Oreille, 

Kootenai, other tribes and First Nations in nearby Canada.

• There is spotty baseline documentation on landscapes, historic resources, and 

archeological sites. Archeological sites are tangible reminders of the American Indian 

history in the area.

• There is a lack of storage, exhibit, and work space for the park’s museum collections.

• The park acknowledges the close relationship between the landscape and flora and 

fauna and the associated tribes. The park provides free entry, fishing access, and, under a 

special use permit, gathering of plant materials upon request to tribal members.

• Tribes place significance on cultural resources and have different perspectives and 

relationships to landscapes that are unique to their cultures.

Trends

• Continued and expanded collaboration and consultation with tribes on park 

management issues.

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• Need to manage appropriately the increase in visitor use, as this could encroach on or 

damage sacred and archeological sites and practices.

• Natural fires are ecologically important but have resulted in damage to some 

ethnographic and archeological sites in the past.

• Climate change will likely affect ethnographic resources in the park.

• Inadequate storage and display facilities impact the park’s ability to protect and provide 

robust interpretation of past human use.

• Changes in visitor expectations could conflict with traditional tribal uses of the land.

Opportunities

• The park could increase interpretation of American Indian connections to the park’s 

landscape and resources. Create and maintain strong partnerships with tribes to preserve 

American Indian history and cultural connection with Glacier National Park. Maintaining 

strong partnerships with tribes is key to helping preserve American Indian history and 

culture in relationship to Glacier National Park.

• Support the efforts of partners to develop a new museum that would result in better 

curation of the park’s collection and improved visitor understanding of human history in 

the park.

• Establish a tribal liaison / ethnographer position on the park staff.

• Develop strategy to protect backcountry arch sites from impacts by increasing visitor use.

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

FRV 

• General management plan / environmental impact statement (1999).

• Miistakis: The Archeology of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (2003).

• “Our Mountains Are Our Pillows:” An Ethnographic Overview of Glacier National Park

(2001).

• Glacier National Park museum collection facility storage estimate (2014).

• Glacier National Park archeological geodatabase.

• NPS Midwest Archeological Center database.
Glacier National Park

29

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Tribal Connections

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Ethnographic overview and assessment.

• Cultural affiliations study.

• Cultural landscape inventories.

• Update the parkwide evaluation of buildings for historic eligibility.

• National register nominations.

Planning Needs

• Visitor use management plan.

• Cultural landscape reports for all eligible landscapes.

• Research and collections facility plan.

• Protocols to handle inadvertent discovery of human remains.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the FRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the FRV

• Antiquities Act of 1906

• National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (54 USC §300101 et seq.)

• Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974

• American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 (PL 95-341)

• Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979

• Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990

• Management of Museum Properties Act of 1955 (PL 84-127) (16 USC 18f through 18f-3)

• Executive Order 11593, “Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment”

• Executive Order 13007, “Indian Sacred Sites”

• “Curation of Federally-Owned and Administered Archaeological Collections” (36 CFR 79)

• “Protection of Historic Properties” (36 CFR 800)

• 16 U.S. Code § 1J, Cooperative Agreements for National Park Reserve Protection

• Executive Order 13175, “Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments”

• Secretarial Order 3206, “American Indian Tribal Rights”

• Federal-Tribal Trust Responsibilities

• Endangered Species Act of 1973

• Secretarial Order 3335, “Reaffirmation of the Federal Trust Responsibility to Federally 

Recognized Indian Tribes and Individual Indian Beneficiaries”

• Blackfeet Indian Agreement of June 10, 1896

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

• The Jay Treaty

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• Intermountain Region Sacred Sites Policy

• Department of the Interior Policy on Consultation with Indian Tribes

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 5) “Cultural Resource Management”

• Director’s Order 24: NPS Museum Collections Management

• Director’s Order 28: Cultural Resource Management

• Director’s Order 28A: Archeology

• NPS Museum Handbook, parts I, II, and III

• The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic 

Preservation

• Intermountain Region Sacred Sites Policy
Foundation Document

30
Glacier National Park

31

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Variety of Recreational Opportunities

Related Significance 

Statements

• Wilderness Experience – Glacier National Park offers access to a diversity of spectacular 

scenery and increasingly rare primitive wilderness experiences.

• Going-to-the-Sun Road – The Going-to-the-Sun Road provides access to five different 

ecoregions and is one of the most scenic roads in North America. Due to the preservation 

of scenery, advanced engineering, and landscape architectural design it was the first 

road designated as a national historic civil engineering landmark and later as a national 

historic landmark.

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• The park offers a variety of recreation opportunities for visitors, including hiking, 

backpacking, climbing and mountaineering, staying in backcountry chalets, bicycling, 

boating, paddling, wildlife viewing, auto-touring, and a few accessible nature trails, 

among others.

• Driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road is one of the most popular visitor activities in the park.

• The park has multiple campgrounds for visitors, which include developed and primitive 

sites. These campgrounds routinely fill to capacity during the summer months.

• Parking lots in popular visitor areas, such as the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor, routinely 

fill beyond capacity during the summer months.

• Permits are required for some of the park’s most popular backcountry campsites. This 

makes it challenging for visitors to plan multiday backpacking trips. Some sites do not 

require advance reservations.

• Some illegal recreation activities occur in the park, such as BASE jumping and off-road 

mountain biking. The park has had increased difficulty regulating these activities as the 

number of visitors has increased and the number of park law enforcement personnel has not.

• The park has more than 730 miles of trails. The Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle system 

allows visitors to connect trailheads and do through-hikes in the Going-to-the-Sun Road 

corridor.

• The Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle system and road construction has created pulses in 

visitor numbers at a few popular stops, such as Logan Pass and Avalanche Creek.

• The park receives winter use in a number of areas, especially Lake McDonald and 

Avalanche, where cross-country skiing is popular. The park has winter trail use numbers 

for 2013 and 2014. There is some backcountry skiing in the park, but little data exists on 

winter use in general.

• The park has a limited number of Architectural Barriers Act (ABA)-accessible trails; some 

are in need of repairs, such as the Trail of the Cedars and Running Eagle Falls nature 

trails.

• The park has surveyed and counted trail levels in the Going-to-the-Sun Corridor from 

2005-2016. One earlier study was done in 1988 on a few trails in the corridor.

• The park has a number of caves and karst systems with sensitive resources that are of 

interest to some visitors.

Trends

• Higher visitation has decreased opportunities for solitude in the park; 2015 was a record 

year for visitor numbers (approximately 2.3 million).

• There is increased demand for nontraditional recreation activities in the park, including 

kite and paddle boarding.

• The park has observed changes in visitor preferences, especially in the last 10 years. For 

example, visitor demand for internet connectivity has increased.

• The park has increased its social media and web presence to better communicate 

information about recreation activities in the park.

• There has been an increase in bicycling along Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Foundation Document

32

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Variety of Recreational Opportunities

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• Overcrowding in some popular frontcountry areas is straining park facilities and is 

affecting the visitor experience.

• Traffic congestion is a major issue along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Park visitors 

are encouraged to travel the road before 10 a.m. in order to avoid congestion and 

parking problems.

• Vehicular noise along Going-to-the-Sun Road, especially loud motorcycles, can negatively 

impact natural acoustic environment and the visitor experience in the backcountry.

• Increase in mean annual temperature and changes in seasonal peak flows are some 

of the climate-related impacts that will likely influence recreational opportunities (e.g., 

rafting, snow sports) at the park.

• Caving is becoming an increasingly popular visitor activity, which could threaten 

cave resources.

• Recreational fishing is impacted by accumulation of mercury and or other contaminants 

that have been found in fish in some park waters. There is a recommended threshold for 

consumption of certain fish species such as lake trout.

• Invasive fish species threaten native fish fishing opportunities for park visitors.

• Climate change is affecting water availability at popular developed visitor areas both in 

the backcountry and frontcountry of the park.

Opportunities

• The park could better use its website and social media platforms to direct people to 

places that will meet their expectations—for instance, places to find solitude versus 

popular areas; and areas that require self-reliance versus places with lots of amenities.

• The park could continue to carry out visitor and trail surveys to better understand visitor 

preferences and patterns. This data can also help to disperse use away from the Goingto-the-Sun Road corridor and into less visited parts of the park.

• Study impacts from other recreational uses such as bicycles, cave use, kiteboarding, and 

other nontraditional activities.

• Continued control and removal of invasive fish to maintain fishing opportunities for visitors.

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

FRV

• Commercial services plan (2004).

• General management plan / final environmental impact statement (1999).

• Backcountry management plan (1994).

• Bear management plan (1990).

• North Fork management plan (1992).

• Annual state of the backcountry report.

• Integrated solid waste management plan (underway).

• Glacier National Park site history: Logan Pass (2014).

• Glacier National Park site history: Avalanche (2013).

• Going-to-the-Sun Road visitor experience and support for management actions survey 

report (2014).

• Glacier National Park visitor study (2007).

• Initial season of the Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle system at Glacier National Park visitor 

use study (2007).

• Recreational use of selected viewpoints on the Going-to-the-Sun Road (2005).

• Recreational use of selected viewpoints on the Going-to-the-Sun Road (2009).

• Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle system and visitor study synthesis report (2010).

• Use of selected trails and parking areas on the Going-to-the-Sun Road (2011).

• Use of selected trails on the Going-to-the-Sun Road hiking survey (2012).

• Exploring detracting elements and coping mechanisms reported on four trails along the 

Going-to-the-Sun Road (2013).
Glacier National Park

33

Fundamental 

Resource or Value Variety of Recreational Opportunities

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Trail use studies and surveys – outside the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor.

• Parkwide visitor use survey.

• Integrate the computer-aided dispatch database with Crime Finder.

• Complete condition assessment for all assets in the park’s facility management software 

system portfolio.

• Assess sustainable park operations.

• Modeling of water availability at developed sites.

• Monitor use / impacts to backcountry off-trail sites (e.g., Floral Park).

Planning Needs

• Visitor use management plan.

• Accessibility self-evaluation and transition plan.

• Youth engagement strategy.

• Land protection plan.

• Update comprehensive interpretive plan.

• Cave and karst system management plan.

• Telecommunications infrastructure plan.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the FRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the FRV

• Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

• Architectural Barriers Act of 1968

• Architectural Barriers Act Accessibility Guidelines (36 CFR §1191)

• Rehabilitation Act of 1973

• National Park Service Concessions Management Improvement Act of 1998

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 7) “Interpretation and Education”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 8) “Use of the Parks”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 9) “Park Facilities”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 10) “Commercial Visitor Services”

• Director’s Order 6: Interpretation and Education

• Director’s Order 42: Accessibility for Visitors with Disabilities in National Park Service 

Programs and Services

• NPS Transportation Planning Guidebook
Foundation Document

34
Glacier National Park

35

Fundamental 

Resource or Value International Peace Park

Related Significance 

Statements

• Transboundary Cooperation – In 1932, the long-standing peaceful relationship between 

the United States and Canada was recognized when Waterton Lakes National Park and 

Glacier National Park were designated by the U.S. Congress and the Canadian Parliament 

as the world’s first international peace park. In a world of shared resources, WatertonGlacier International Peace Park serves as an inspiration and model of transboundary 

collaboration and cooperation.

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• Overall, there is a strong working relationship between Glacier National Park and 

Waterton Lakes National Park at the park operations level. At the program level, 

cooperation has been less consistent, but has improved in the last decade.

• The international border is a physical and administrative barrier that creates some 

challenges. These barriers have become even more pronounced in the wake of 9/11 and 

the heightened emphasis on border security that 9/11 created.

• Waterton Lakes has placed more emphasis on the international peace park designation; 

Glacier has done less to emphasize this designation.

• The Crown Managers Partnership (a group of federal, provincial, and state land managers, 

tribes, First Nations and universities that has been working together since 2001) has an 

extensive resource database for the entire Crown of the Continent that is available to both 

parks to help both parks manage more effectively and understand trends.

• Other groups and efforts are working at a large landscape scale to address collaborative 

management and climate change impacts. Waterton-Glacier is at the center of the Crown.

Waterton and Glacier are both active members of these large landscape efforts that 

include: the Crown Roundtable, The Great Northern Large Landscape Cooperative, the 

Crown of the Continent Initiative, and the Crown of the Continent Adaptation Partnership.

Trends

• Declining funds and travel restrictions / ceilings have reduced opportunities for 

transboundary cooperation and collaboration.

• Changes in the funding and structure for Parks Canada has resulted in fewer positions in 

Waterton. This hurts the ability of both parks to coordinate their activities and initiatives.

• Both parks are experiencing increasing visitation.

• Both parks are impacted by climate change.

• The Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, and Canada are encouraging 

government staff to work at and collaborate at a large landscape level with each other 

and nongovernment organizations.

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• Helicopters and border patrol activities more frequently disrupt the natural character and 

the visitor experience of the International Boundary. This impacts visitor perceptions of 

the International Peace Park.

• Agency support in the United States and Canada of the park vision has, historically, 

been variable, but commitment is one of the most significant factors in keeping this idea 

relevant and alive.

• Climate change is affecting management of resources at both parks.

Opportunities

• Implement a single entry fee for both parks.

• Increase awareness of the peace park designation through expanded interpretive services.

• Implement an employee exchange to share and improve management practices and build 

stronger cooperative relationships.

• Improve adaptive management with shared ideas about successes and failures.

• The community of Waterton Lakes is actively working to upgrade its conference center to 

be able to focus on international relations and diplomacy.
Foundation Document

36

Fundamental 

Resource or Value International Peace Park

Threats and 

Opportunities

Opportunities (continued)

• Collaborate with the Alberta Visitor Center to better promote tourism at a regional level.

• Become a designated joint international dark sky preserve (nomination effort underway).

• 2016 Rotary Club is looking at hosting at Many Glacier (Hands Across the Border).

• Continue to develop collaborative management responses to climate change and other 

resource challenges with our neighbors through the Crown Managers Partnership and 

other transboundary groups.

• Other related partnerships are between Crown Managers Partnership, NPScape and 

University of Calgary and Montana to conduct trend analysis for the entire Crown of the 

Continent that will help inform management of Glacier National Park.

• Respecting the procedural requirements of both the U.S. and Canadian governments, work 

with Waterton Lakes to prepare a Joint Biosphere Reserve application as recommended by 

World Heritage and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

FRV 

• General management plan (1999).

• Waterton Lakes National Park of Canada management plan (2000).

• World Heritage Site (2009) and Biosphere Reserve status reports (2013).

• U.S. Geological Survey-National Park Service vegetation mapping program: WatertonGlacier International Peace Park.

Data and/or GIS Needs • Continual updated transboundary data sets.

• Analysis of transboundary conservation practices around the world.

Planning Needs

• Site plan for Goat Haunt to address law enforcement facilities and operations and 

interpretation programming and facilities (informed by comprehensive interpretive plan).

• Crown of the Continent joint adaptation plan for responding to climate change effects.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the FRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the FRV

• National Parks Air Tour Management Act of 2000

• National Parks Overflight Act of 1987 (PL 100-91)

• “Audio disturbances” (36 CFR 2.12)

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§1.6) “Cooperative Conservation Beyond Park 

Boundaries”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1) “General Management Concepts”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1.4) “Partnerships”

• Director’s Order 47: Soundscape Preservation and Noise Management

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.9) “Soundscape Management”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§5.3.1.7) “Cultural Soundscape Management”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§8.4) “Overflights and Aviation Uses”
Glacier National Park

37
Foundation Document

38
Glacier National Park

39

Analysis of Other Important Resources and Values 

Other Important 

Resource or Value Going-to-the-Sun (GTSR) Road

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• The Going-to-the-Sun Road is considered one of the most scenic roads in North America.

• The current condition of the Going-to-the-Sun Road is excellent, having almost completed 

a $170-million-dollar rehabilitation. The work included constructing transit infrastructure, 

amending and upgrading roadway drainage, stabilizing historic retaining walls and guard 

walls, and anchoring deep-seated roadway failures, as well as improving parking and other 

visitor use areas, including accessible opportunities for visitors with limited mobility.

• The road is viewed as the primary economic driver for Northwest Montana. The road’s 

status as a regional economic engine makes for intense pressure on the park to expand 

the time it is open.

• The road is extremely congested during peak/summer season.

• The average annual cost of operating the shuttle is $600,000 to $800,000 per year. This 

comes from fee dollars.

• The majority of the road is within the original historical alignment.

• The NPS economic models show that the park generates $270 million in economic 

spending in the area. Two thirds of this total is generated during the period when the 

road is open.

• The road provides access to many areas of the park and offers scenic views and access to 

recreation opportunities, trails, and the park’s backcountry and alpine environment.

• The road provides a direct connection between the east and west side of the Continental 

Divide.

• The road is designated as a national historic landmark and national historic civil 

engineering landmark.

• It is the most dangerous road in terms of operating and opening in North America.

Trends

• There is regular degradation of the road and its supporting infrastructure due to harsh 

weather, geologic hazards, avalanches, and other natural causes.

• Alternative use of the road (such as bicycles, quads, and hand-cycling) is increasing.

• British Columbia and Alberta energy development is resulting in additional transboundary 

travel and economic development in the Flathead Valley.

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• Severe congestion is a major threat to the visitor experience along the road during peak 

season.

• Limited parking throughout the road corridor during peak season results in increased 

traffic, visitor safety issues, and impacts the visitor experience.

• Extended wait times at the entrance stations, particularly on the west side during peak 

season, are impacting the visitor experience at the outset of a visit to the park.

• Increasing social trails on popular trails within the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor could 

result in resource damage.

• Human waste issues along the road and on popular trails are impacting the visitor 

experience and could result in resource damage.

• Avalanche damage, flooding, and weather events (precipitation and drainage) are 

ongoing threats to the road.

• Increased visitor demand for a longer operating season along the road can negatively 

impact staff safety (for instance, snowplow drivers subjected to increased avalanche risk).

• The road is a conduit for invasive weeds in the park.

• A longer season than at present, with increased visitor access and associated 

operational costs as mean annual temperature is projected to increase for the region 

due to climate change.
Foundation Document

40

Other Important 

Resource or Value Going-to-the-Sun (GTSR) Road

Threats and 

Opportunities

Opportunities

• Manage increasing visitor use in the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor.

• Continue to explore opportunities to fund the shuttle as costs increase.

• Accommodate nonmotorized modes of travel along the road, especially bikes.

• Interpret road rehabilitation efforts to visitors to help them understand the engineering and 

maintenance feats involved in keeping the road open.

• Redirect visitors and traffic away from the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor to reduce 

congestion (via website information, highway signs, and digital boards). Visitors could be 

dispersed to other areas of the park and into the national forests and other protected lands 

that surround the park.

• Continued understanding of observed and projected climate change through monitoring of 

(or access to) weather parameters (precipitation, temperature), and impacts to the Going-tothe-Sun Road, and assessment of projected climate futures (models) for the region.

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

OIRV 

• Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor transportation and visitor use management plan (underway).

• Final environmental impact statement for rehabilitation of Going-to-the-Sun Road (2003).

• Cultural landscape inventory and report for the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

• Goat study (underway).

• Avalanche atlas developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (identifies avalanche risks along 

the road).

• Long-term monitoring of bald and golden eagle nests.

• Harlequin and black swift studies and ongoing monitoring.

• Bear Information Management System (BIMS).

• Wildlife Observation Report Form (WORF).

• Going-to-the-Sun overview: socioeconomic study (2001).

• Traffic count data, National Park Service.

• Recreational use of selected viewpoints on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, University of 

Montana, (2005).

• Traffic counts by University of Montana and National Park Service along the Going-tothe-Sun Road (2012).

• Glacier National Park transit summary report (2007-2013).

• Going to-the-Sun road visitor experience and support for management actions survey 

report (2014).

• Trail use levels, (2005, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015).

• Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle stop photo monitoring (2007-2009).

• Exploring visitor experiences on the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park (2002).

• Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle system and visitor study synthesis report (2010).

• Recreational use of selected viewpoints on the Going-to-the-Sun Road (2009).

• Initial season of the Going-to-the-Sun Road shuttle system at Glacier National Park (2007).

• Exploring detracting elements and coping mechanisms reported on four trails along the 

Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor in Glacier National Park (2013).

• Use of selected trails (2012).

• Use of selected trails and parking areas along the Going-to-the-Sun Road (2011).

• Glacier National Park site history: Logan Pass (2014).

• Glacier National Park site history: Avalanche (2013).

• An empirical test of the effectiveness of an indirect management tool in increasing 

optional shuttle use at Glacier National Park (2014).
Glacier National Park

41

Other Important 

Resource or Value Going-to-the-Sun (GTSR) Road

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Update the comprehensive GIS inventory of road features.

• GIS data and corresponding map layers for utilities in the park.

• Geohazard risk assessment along key road corridors.

• Continued monitoring of glaciers and impacts from climate change.

Planning Needs • Cultural landscape treatment plan for the GTSR corridor.

• Update the comprehensive interpretive plan.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the OIRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the OIRV

• Historic Sites Act of 1935

• National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (54 USC §300101 et seq.)

• Executive Order 11514, “Protection and Enhancement of Environmental Quality”

• Executive Order 11593, “Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment”

• Secretarial Order 3289, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, 

Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources”

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 5) “Cultural Resource Management”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 7) “Interpretation and Education”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 8) “Use of the Parks”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 9) “Park Facilities”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 10) “Commercial Visitor Services”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§1.6) “Cooperative Conservation Beyond Park 

Boundaries”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1) “General Management Concepts”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.1.4) “Partnerships”

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (§4.7.2) “Weather and Climate”
Foundation Document

42

Other Important 

Resource or Value National Historic Landmark Hotels and Chalets

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• The park has five national historic landmark hotels and chalets: Lake McDonald Lodge, 

Granite Park Chalet, Sperry Chalet, Many Glacier Hotel, and the Two Medicine Chalet 

Dining Hall (known as the Two Medicine Camp Store).

• All five of the national historic landmark hotels and chalets are managed and operated 

under concession contracts; these include: Granite Park Chalet, Sperry Chalet, Many 

Glacier Hotel, Two Medicine Chalet, and Lake McDonald Lodge.

• Almost all historic buildings are in use for various purposes (administrative, visitor 

facilities, hotels, etc.).

• Boat tours (using historic boats) depart from Lake McDonald Lodge, Two Medicine Camp 

Store, and Many Glacier Hotel.

• Visitors may hike to Granite Park and Sperry Chalets for overnight accommodations.

• Two Medicine Chalet Dining Hall (known as the Two Medicine Camp Store) is currently 

a camp store and backcountry staging area, but no longer provides overnight 

accommodations.

Trends

• The park’s maintenance backlog has continued to increase for the last decade. Funding 

resources are directed at priority projects, however, the size of the backlog and the aging of 

structures contribute to an accelerating rate of deterioration.

• The condition of many historic buildings has been improving over the last 10 years, but many 

still need ongoing work.The park’s new concessions contract is contributing to preservation of 

these national historic landmark hotels and chalets.

• Visitor expectations are changing—specifically, there is increased demand for more 

technology. In most cases, this demand conflicts with the historic character and 

integrity of buildings.
Glacier National Park

43

Other Important 

Resource or Value National Historic Landmark Hotels and Chalets

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• The growing numbers of visitors may accelerate the wear and tear on the park’s historic 

landmarks.

• Climate change may accelerate the deterioration of park historic hotels and chalets and 

may increase operational costs due to an increase in the visitor season as mean annual 

temperature increases (e.g., increases in wildfire). Structural fire issues threaten structures 

and collections; alarm systems and fire suppression are lacking in some historic buildings 

or require repair or upgrades.

• Funding constraints affect the park’s ability to rehabilitate and maintain historic structures.

Opportunities

• The park could expand Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) access to backcountry historic 

landmarks, structures, and facilities and improve access to frontcountry landmarks.

• Continue improving ABA trail access throughout the park. Enhance interpretation and 

education about the history of the National Park Service and how the design and strategic 

placement of the historic landmarks contributed to the development of Glacier National Park.

• Continued understanding of observed and projected climate change through monitoring 

of (or access to) weather parameters (precipitation, temperature), and impacts to the park 

facilities and operations, and assessment of projected climate futures (models) for the region.

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

OIRV

• General management plan / environmental impact statement (1999).

• Commercial services plan and environmental impact statement (2004).

• Road maintenance plan (2005).

• Environmental management plan (2012).

• Glacier National Park museum collection facility storage estimate (2014).

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Historic structures and cultural resources best practices for treatment guide.

• National register nominations.

• Cultural landscape inventories.

• Archeological surveys.

• Continued monitoring of glaciers and impacts from climate change.

Planning Needs

• Visitor use management plan.

• Site plan for Apgar Village.

• Cultural landscape reports for all eligible landscapes.

• Research and collections facility plan.

• Facility adaptation plan for responding to climate change effects.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the OIRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the OIRV

• Historic Sites Act of 1935

• National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (54 USC §300101 et seq.)

• Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974

• Executive Order 11593, “Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment”

• “Protection of Historic Properties” (36 CFR 800)

• Secretarial Order 3289, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, 

Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources”

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 5) “Cultural Resource Management”

• Director’s Order 28: Cultural Resource Management

• NPS Museum Handbook, parts I, II, and III

• The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation
Foundation Document

44

Other Important 

Resource or Value Other Historic Resources

Current Conditions 

and Trends

Conditions

• The condition of the park’s buildings and structures range from good to poor condition.

• Many of the park’s buildings and structures are deteriorating due to age and harsh climate.

• The park has acquired additional buildings and structures due to the expiration of life 

estates and 25-year lease agreements that are now historic and listed in the national 

register.

• Many of the park’s administrative and visitor facilities and buildings do not meet current 

requirements under the Architectural Barriers Act. Almost all historic buildings are in use 

for various purposes (administrative, visitor facilities, etc.).

• There is a lack of baseline documentation on historic landscapes, historic structures, and 

archeological sites.

• There is a lack of storage, work, and exhibit space for the park’s collections and archives.

• Visitor demand has exceeded the capacity of historic facilities in some areas.

• The Swiftcurrent Motor Inn & Cabins and Rising Sun Motor Inn & Cabins are both listed in 

the national register and are currently operated by a concessioner.

• There are a total of 397 national register properties and 388 archeological sites.

• Of the 397, 267 or 67% are listed in good condition.

Trends

• The park had 2.36 million visitors in 2015, making it the busiest year on record. Visitation 

is projected to continue to increase.

• The park’s maintenance backlog has continued to increase for the last decade. While 

the condition of some of the historic buildings in the park has improved due to recent 

rehabilitation or other preservation work by the park and the park’s concessioners, many 

others are deteriorating at an accelerated rate due to maintenance backlog and the 

condition of the structures.

• Visitor expectations are changing—specifically, there is increased demand for more technology.

In most cases, this demand conflicts with the historic character and integrity of buildings.

Threats and 

Opportunities

Threats

• The growing numbers of visitors may accelerate the wear and tear on the park’s historic 

infrastructure.

• Natural fires are ecologically important but have resulted in damage to some park facilities 

in the past; however, the park has largely been successful in protecting historic structures.

• Climate change may accelerate the deterioration of park historic buildings and structures 

as mean annual temperature increases (e.g., increases in wildfire).Structural fire issues 

threaten structures and collections; alarm systems and fire suppression are lacking in 

some historic buildings or require repair or upgrades.

• Funding constraints affect the park’s ability to rehabilitate historic structures.

Opportunities

• The park could expand ABA access to more of its historic structures and facilities.

• Support the efforts of partners to develop a new museum that would result in better 

curation of the park’s collection and improved visitor understanding of human history in 

the park.

• Partner with others for suitable museum quality storage space.

• The park could seek partnerships to rehabilitate and use historic buildings using historic 

leasing and other arrangements.

• Continued understanding of observed and projected climate change through monitoring 

of (or access to) weather parameters (precipitation, temperature), and impacts to the park 

facilities and operations, and assessment of projected climate futures (models) for the region.
Glacier National Park

45

Other Important 

Resource or Value Other Historic Resources

Existing Data and 

Plans Related to the 

OIRV 

• Housing management plan (2011).

• Going-to-the-Sun Road cultural landscape report and narrative.

• Headquarters historic district cultural landscape report and narrative.

• Housing needs assessment (2012).

• Underground utilities condition assessment (2014).

• General management plan / environmental impact statement (1999).

• Commercial services plan and environmental impact statement (2004).

• Road maintenance plan (2005).

• Environmental management plan (2012).

Data and/or GIS Needs

• Ethnographic overview and assessment.

• Historic structures and cultural resources best practices for treatment guide.

• Historic structure reports on newly possessed historic buildings.

• Historic structure reports for rehabilitated structures.

• National register nominations.

• Cultural landscape inventories.

• Update the parkwide evaluation of buildings for national register eligibility.

• Continued monitoring of glaciers and impacts from climate change.

Planning Needs

• Visitor use management plan.

• Site plan for Apgar Village.

• Cultural landscape reports for all eligible landscapes.

• Research and collections facility plan.

• Facility adaptation plan for responding to climate change effects.

• Historic structure reports on newly possessed historic buildings.

• Historic structure reports for rehabilitated structures.

Laws, Executive 

Orders, and 

Regulations That 

Apply to the OIRV, 

and NPS Policy-level 

Guidance

Laws, Executive Orders, and Regulations That Apply to the OIRV

• Antiquities Act of 1906

• Historic Sites Act of 1935

• National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (54 USC §300101 et seq.)

• Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 1974

• Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979

• Management of Museum Properties Act of 1955 (PL 84-127) (16 USC 18f through 18f-3)

• Executive Order 11593, “Protection and Enhancement of the Cultural Environment”

• Executive Order 13007, “Indian Sacred Sites”

• “Curation of Federally-Owned and Administered Archaeological Collections” (36 CFR 79)

• “Protection of Historic Properties” (36 CFR 800)

• Secretarial Order 3289, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on America’s Water, 

Land, and Other Natural and Cultural Resources”

• Executive Order 13175, “Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Governments”

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

NPS Policy-level Guidance (NPS Management Policies 2006 and Director’s Orders)

• NPS Management Policies 2006 (chapter 5) “Cultural Resource Management”

• Director’s Order 24: NPS Museum Collections Management

• Director’s Order 28: Cultural Resource Management

• Director’s Order 28A: Archeology

• NPS Museum Handbook, parts I, II, and III

• The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation
Foundation Document

46

Identification of Key Issues and Associated Planning and Data Needs

This section considers key issues to be addressed in planning and management and therefore 

takes a broader view over the primary focus of part 1. A key issue focuses on a question that is 

important for a park. Key issues often raise questions regarding park purpose and significance 

and fundamental and other important resources and values. For example, a key issue may 

pertain to the potential for a fundamental or other important resource or value in a park to be 

detrimentally affected by discretionary management decisions. A key issue may also address 

crucial questions that are not directly related to purpose and significance, but which still affect 

them indirectly. Usually, a key issue is one that a future planning effort or data collection needs 

to address and requires a decision by NPS managers.

The following are key issues for Glacier National Park and the associated planning and data 

needs to address them:

· Climate Change – Climate change is a far-reaching and long-term issue that will 

affect all aspects of Glacier National Park. The statistically significant increase in mean 

annual temperature since 1950 and the projection for a continued increase in mean 

annual temperature of +4° to 5° F by 2050 and +5° to 9° F by 2100 will have a range of 

influences on the park’s natural resources (e.g., melting of glaciers, changes in species 

composition); cultural resources (e.g., increased vulnerability of artifacts emerging from 

melting ice); park facilities (e.g., weathering of buildings and roads); and visitor season 

(e.g., increased operational cost due to increased access). Responding to climate change 

is a priority for the National Park Service, and Glacier National Park has prioritized 

this as a key issue. The Crown is warming at 2 to 3 times the rate of the global average, 

and by 2030, glaciers are no longer predicted to exist in Glacier National Park, one 

of the core, protected areas within the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. However, 

there is strong science to support the Crown of the Continent as a “resilient landscape” 

with respect to the both vulnerability and resilience to climate change. The park is 

working with others to develop a collaborative and coordinated response and identify 

adaptation measures that would be implemented with other agencies and landowners 

within the Crown of the Continent.

- Associated planning need: Crown of the Continent adaptation plan for responding 

to climate change effects

- Associated data needs: communication strategy for climate change; parkwide 

research on effects of climate change on the park’s keystone species and species in 

the alpine/subalpine transitional area

· Wilderness Character – Since 95% of Glacier National Park is recommended 

wilderness, maintaining wilderness character remains a priority. The park is facing 

difficult questions with regard to taking actions that protect species affected by 

nonnatives and climate change. Some responses have been and are being considered 

that require that actions be taken in the wilderness that otherwise would not be 

allowed. As park staff continue to take action to protect and enhance wilderness 

character, they also must carefully consider the intent of the Wilderness Act and the 

inherent tradeoffs which sometimes occur. Some adaptation actions in response to 

climate change and the protection of natural character may degrade the untrammeled 

qualities of the area, even for a short time. Development outside wilderness areas 

impacts dark night skies and natural soundscapes. The park is also responding to the 

poaching of protected species, bighorn sheep in particular. Implementation of the 

Going-to-the-Sun-Road corridor transportation and visitor use management plan may 

have unintended consequences on elements of wilderness character.

- Associated planning need: visitor use management plan

- Associated data needs: trail use studies – outside of Going-to-the-Sun-Road 

corridor
47

Glacier National Park

· Ecological Integrity – Glacier National Park is one of the many land managers in the 

Crown of the Continent tackling invasive species, both aquatic and terrestrial as well 

as other ecological landscape scale stressors. This challenge and need for management 

action is expected to be ongoing. Providing sound, credible, and current science to 

support decision making, and working together with other federal, provincial, and state 

agencies; tribes, First Nations, and nongovernment organizations is one of the current 

strategies being employed to combat invasive species.

- Associated planning needs: response and action plans for various ecological stressors

- Associated data needs: aquatic invasive species monitoring in park lakes; trend 

analysis of wildlife-human interactions; wildlife connectivity study

· Deferred Maintenance – Glacier National Park’s facilities are aging, with nearly $150 

million in deferred maintenance. Many of the facilities provide unique challenges to 

maintenance, particularly when they are also historic structures and buildings. Many of 

the facilities receive a high level of use, which increases the rate of deterioration. With 

fewer maintenance funds being appropriated to park units nationwide, this will be an 

ongoing challenge. In addition, climate change could exacerbate the deterioration of 

park facilities.

- Associated planning needs: research and collections facility plan; site plan for 

Goat Haunt, including National Register of Historic Places nomination; sign 

management plan; site plan for Apgar developed area

- Associated data needs: national register nominations; comprehensive condition 

assessments for all assets in the park’s Facility Management Software System 

portfolio; historic structure reports for rehabilitated structures
Foundation Document

48

· Visitor Carrying Capacity – With a short summer season, one main road, and more 

than two million visitors each year, many areas in the park become intensely crowded 

and congested. The park has responded with visitor education (on best times to travel), 

implementation of a shuttle system, and a transportation and visitor use management 

plan currently underway. However, additional proactive measures should be taken to 

address this issue, which causes visitor frustration as well as impacts on resources and 

operations. There is also a growing demand for nontraditional use of the park such as 

kiteboarding which must be proactively addressed and managed.

- Associated planning needs: visitor use management plan; accessibility self-evaluation 

and transition plan

- Associated data need: parkwide visitor use survey

· Transportation – The park has taken major strides in improving the transportation on 

the Going-to-the-Sun Road through implementation of the shuttle system. However, 

other locations in the park should be considered. Efficacy and efficiency of in-park 

transportation, providing a multimodal connectivity to gateway communities is an 

important opportunity for the park to address. Currently, the shuttle service terminates 

at Apgar Visitor Center / Transportation Center, which is 2.5 miles from the town of 

West Glacier, where lodging and connections to an Amtrak passenger train exist.

- Associated planning needs: cultural landscape treatment plan for the Going-to-theSun Road corridor; environmental assessment for the Inside-North-Fork-Road; 

parkwide transportation plan

- Associated data needs: geohazard risk assessment along key road corridors; update 

the comprehensive GIS inventory of road assets

· Incompatible Development and Threats – The railroads on the southern and 

eastern boundary of the park are major oil and gas transportation routes. One of 

the most pressing concerns for park resource management is the possibility of an oil 

spill from derailment in the watersheds shared with the park. Another concern is the 

energy development and exploration in areas immediately surrounding the park, which 

could cause ecological degradation and damage to park resources. Overall park air 

quality, and the resources that depend on clean air, are currently of moderate concern 

and further development may increase this concern. Oil, gas, and coal extraction is 

occurring upstream of the park’s watershed in Canada. Further development on tribal 

lands, while currently at a low level, could become a major concern for air quality, water 

quality, wildlife, and aquatic resources. The regional population has also increased, 

with additional pressures such as development of residential dwellings near the park, 

potentially impacting park resources, including wildlife movements and connectivity. 

Private lands within the park are not zoned, and incompatible development has 

occurred within the park boundary, affecting resources and visitor experiences. The 

park has an opportunity to work with landowners to proactively address concerns and 

mitigate risks related to incompatible development.

- Associated data needs: parkwide air quality monitoring; visual resource inventory; 

transboundary data sets; analysis of transboundary conservation practices around 

the world; compatibility standards for private lands inside the park
49

Glacier National Park

· Relevance and the Visitor Experience – Maintaining relevance of the park for all 

audiences originates to the NPS Organic Act—to preserve and protect resources for the 

enjoyment of the public. A pressing issue is making the park more accessible to people 

with disabilities. Changing national demographics, visitor use interests and patterns, 

technology expectations and opportunities, and even the extension of the summer 

season due to changes in climate are factors affecting visitor experiences and need 

consideration and action by park staff.

- Associated planning needs: visitor use management plan; accessibility self-evaluation 

and transition plan; update to the comprehensive interpretive plan

- Associated data need: parkwide visitor use survey

· Optimize Relationships and Collaboration – Fostering strong relationships and 

strengthening partnerships with the park’s partners (federal, provincial and state 

agencies, tribes and First Nations, nonprofit organizations, local communities and 

neighbors in Canada and the U.S.) will guide Glacier National Park into the future and 

be invaluable in addressing the previously identified key and shared issues and better 

assure protection of park resources.

- Associated planning need: youth engagement strategy

- Associated data needs: collaborative scenic conservation strategy; visual resource 

inventory

Planning and Data Needs

To maintain connection to the core elements of the foundation and the importance of these core 

foundation elements, the planning and data needs listed here are directly related to protecting 

fundamental resources and values, park significance, and park purpose, as well as addressing key 

issues. To successfully undertake a planning effort, information from sources such as inventories, 

studies, research activities, and analyses may be required to provide adequate knowledge of park 

resources and visitor information. Such information sources have been identified as data needs. 

Geospatial mapping tasks and products are included in data needs.

Items considered of the utmost importance were identified as high priority, and other items 

identified, but not rising to the level of high priority, were listed as either medium- or lowpriority needs. These priorities inform park management efforts to secure funding and support 

for planning projects.
Foundation Document

50

Planning Needs – Where a Decision-Making Process Is Needed

Related to 

an FRV, or 

OIRV, or 

Key Issue?

Planning Needs Priority 

(H, M, L) Notes

FRV and 

OIRV

Visitor use 

management plan

H Should address visitor capacity in key areas of the park, including 

North Fork, Middle Fork, Many Glacier and Two Medicine areas. A 

parkwide visitor use plan has not been conducted in 30 years. A 

visitor use management plan would establish a proactive process 

for planning and managing characteristics of visitor use, the 

physical and social setting, and it would also establish a variety 

of strategies and tools to sustain desired resource conditions and 

visitor experiences. Visitor use characteristics could include the 

amount, type, timing, and distribution of visitor use, including 

visitor activities and behaviors. This planning process would also 

provide valuable information to Glacier to meet the needs of new 

demands for new and nontraditional uses in Glacier National Park, 

such as kiteboarding.

FRV Telecommunications 

infrastructure plan

H Create a comprehensive parkwide communication system (including 

but not limited to phones, radios, repeaters, alarm system). The 

goal would be to improve communication consistent with the 

Wilderness Act and park operation needs.

FRV and Key 

Issue

Accessibility selfevaluation and 

transition plan

H Evaluate facilities, services, programs, and interpretive panels / 

materials and determine how to make them more accessible —the 

plan should include priorities.

FRV Youth engagement 

strategy

H No comprehensive strategy exists for engaging youth. The existing 

education plan focuses only on curriculum-based education. This 

strategy would incorporate climate change messages.

FRV and 

OIRV

Research and 

collections facility 

plan

H Museum items and collections are in outdated facilities that don’t 

meet environmental standards for museum collections and are not 

accessible to researchers; most items are not able to be viewed by 

the public due to inadequate space. This plan would determine 

park needs for updated research and collection facilities, and 

explore the options for partners to assist the park in upgrading 

museum and storage facilities.

FRV Site plan for Goat 

Haunt, including 

National Register 

of Historic Places 

nomination

H This site plan would address housing, administrative facilities, 

and boat operations for the park, Border Patrol, Customs, and 

Department of Homeland Security.

OIRV Cultural landscape 

treatment plan for 

the Going-to-theSun Road corridor

H Over the past decade of rehabilitation, the park has tested, 

evaluated, and implemented many rehabilitation techniques for 

the road. These must be documented in a plan to guide future 

maintenance and repair work.

FRV Risk assessment 

response plan

H Conduct floodplain mapping and analysis and identify other natural 

hazards for each developed area in the park, including along park 

roads, and develop risk assessment and update response plans for 

each location.

Key Issue Response and action 

plans for various 

ecological stressors

H Participate in a joint planning effort in conjunction with the Crown 

of the Continent managers at the Crown of the Continent scale.
Glacier National Park

51

Planning Needs – Where a Decision-Making Process Is Needed

Related to 

an FRV, or 

OIRV, or 

Key Issue?

Planning Needs Priority 

(H, M, L) Notes

FRV and 

OIRV

Update 

comprehensive 

interpretive plan

H The update would include the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor and 

encompass overall resource preservation, resource enjoyment, and 

safety messaging. It would address the effects of climate change, 

increased visitation, and enhance tribal connections.

OIRV Facility adaptation 

plan for responding 

to climate change 

effects

H Park facilities and infrastructure are susceptible to climate change 

impacts. This plan will account for sustainability in park facility 

planning, funding, design, maintenance, and construction and 

include an inventory of high-risk assets and identify appropriate 

protection actions.

FRV Commercial air tour 

management plan

H This plan would address commercial air tours over Glacier National 

Park as called for in the 1999 General Management Plan. The 

Federal Aviation Administration is the lead agency on developing 

this plan.

FRV Backcountry/

wilderness 

management plan

H This management plan addresses issues and provides guidelines 

for managing the areas of Glacier National Park that are defined as 

backcountry or recommended wilderness.

FRV Potential 

reestablishment of 

bison in the Crown 

of the Continent 

management plan

H The Blackfeet Tribe is returning bison that are original descendants 

of an American Bison herd from the Blackfeet Reservation (adjacent 

to Glacier National Park). The goal is to reestablish bison in the 

Crown of the Continent ecosystem. A management plan is needed 

to determine what role the park will play in reestablishment of a 

herd and assess potential impacts to park lands and resources.

Key Issue Parkwide 

transportation plan

H This plan would consider areas outside of the GTSR corridor 

and improve efficacy and efficiency of in-park transportation, 

and evaluate opportunities for multimodal connectivity to 

gateway communities.

FRV Crown of the 

Continent joint 

adaptation plan for 

responding to climate 

change effects

M The plan would use a large landscape approach and be 

collaboratively prepared with other agencies and partners in 

the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. This could also be a 

series of plans; adaptation planning may also be integrated into 

individual plans.

OIRV Site plan for Apgar 

Village

M This is a popular destination for visitors. It provides access to Lake 

McDonald. This place also has tribal significance for the Kootenai.

FRV Spill response plan 

for the Middle Fork 

of the Flathead River 

M There is heavy rail traffic along the Middle Fork, including the 

transportation of coal and oil. A rail crash and spill could have 

severe environmental impacts.

FRV and 

OIRV

Sign management 

plan

M This plan would guide the design and placement of park signs.

Key Issue Environmental 

assessment for the 

Inside-North-ForkRoad 

M The assessment would include an analysis of the road failures 

at Anaconda, Logging Lake and Lover’s Leap, analyze the road’s 

impact on water quality and fish habitat, and consider other 

recreational uses for the road.

FRV Update to the fire 

management plan

M Components are updated annually, but the overall plan is dated, 

especially in regard to using new technologies, traditional ecological 

knowledge, and issues such as climate change.
Foundation Document

52

Planning Needs – Where a Decision-Making Process Is Needed

Related to 

an FRV, or 

OIRV, or 

Key Issue?

Planning Needs Priority 

(H, M, L) Notes

FRV Land protection plan M The last plan was done in 1985; it does not provide useful 

guidance, especially for inholdings. A new plan would include 

design guidelines and compatibility standards for inholdings in 

the park.

OIRV Update the parkwide 

evaluation of buildings 

for historic eligibility

M While many structures are already listed in the national register, 

there are a number of structures that have become eligible and 

need to be evaluated.

FRV and 

OIRV

Historic structure 

reports for 

rehabilitated 

structures

M Only a few historic structure reports have been completed. These 

are needed to guide rehabilitation efforts.

FRV Vegetation 

management plan

M Develop a vegetation management plan that includes actions to 

address terrestrial invasives, protect five needle pines and rare 

plants, and develop fire management strategies.

FRV Protocols to handle 

inadvertent discovery 

of human remains

M

OIRV Cultural landscape 

reports for all eligible 

landscapes

M

FRV Water quality 

management plan

M

FRV Air quality 

management plan

M

FRV Cave and karst 

management plan

L With 16 known caves in the park, management actions for this 

resource need to be developed to protect resources.

FRV Scenic air tour 

management plan

L

FRV Acoustic resource 

management plan

L Increased visitation and some recreational uses are altering the 

natural soundscape in the park and may be affecting certain 

species.
Glacier National Park

53

Data Needs – Where Information Is Needed Before Decisions Can Be Made

Related to 

an FRV, or 

OIRV, or 

Key Issue?

Data and GIS 

Needs

Priority 

(H, M, L) Notes

FRV Aquatic invasive 

species monitoring in 

park lakes

 H Aquatic invasive species monitoring (including fish) is currently 

conducted annually by park fisheries staff and should continue as 

high priority into the future. Aquatic invasive species have a high 

potential to seriously damage park resources and change forever 

the park’s aquatic ecosystems and the Crown of the Continent.

FRV Parkwide visitor use 

survey

H A parkwide survey of use levels and activities has not been done in 

30 years.

FRV and 

OIRV

Geohazard risk 

assessment along key 

road corridors

H A risk assessment for certain geologic hazards needs to be 

completed for visitor safety. The assessment would determine the 

impacts of climate change on slope stability in the park, especially 

along key road corridors such as Going-to-the-Sun Road.

FRV Parkwide research 

on effects of climate 

change on the park’s 

keystone species and 

species in the alpine/

subalpine transitional 

area

H Data are needed on moose, mountain goat, pika, white-tailed 

ptarmigan, and their habitats. Data are decades old, except for 

more scant data from the 2000s on ptarmigan and citizen science 

data on pika (Integrated Resource Management Applications 

search). While the older data may be used to establish baselines 

related to these species, the park needs new and continuing 

data to track effects of climate change. In addition, continued 

evaluation and assessment of climate change impacts on rare 

or endemic alpine aquatic macroinvertebrates and cold-water 

obligate fish species will be needed.

FRV Continued 

monitoring of glaciers 

and impacts from 

climate change

H Climate change threatens park resources both within the park 

and at a larger landscape scale. Due to the size and elevation of 

the park, it offers refugia for native species and systems. More 

understanding is needed of how the park can provide refugia and 

what the limitations are, given changes at a global scale as well as 

downscaled to the Crown of the Continent.

FRV Continue monitoring 

health of existing 

whitebark pine and 

limber pines; and 

restoration success of 

whitebark and limber 

pines

H Whitebark pine habitat is changing due to higher elevational 

changes caused by climate change. Climatic conditions favor other 

forest species such as Douglas fir moving into and out-competing 

whitebark pine. Whitebark will also be subjected to mountain pine 

beetle infestations since higher elevations will be more climatically 

hospitable to this insect.

FRV Trail use studies – 

outside of GTSR 

corridor

H Data are lacking on use of trails outside of the GTSR corridor, 

especially in backcountry areas. Would include winter use data.

FRV LIDAR mapping 

of park streams, 

floodplains, geologic 

areas and habitats of 

interest

H This would allow for detailed flood mapping in tributary streams, 

floodplains, geologic areas, and habitats of interest.

FRV and 

OIRV

GIS data and 

corresponding map 

layers for utilities in 

the park

H This data would aid with compliance reviews.
Foundation Document

54

Data Needs – Where Information Is Needed Before Decisions Can Be Made

Related to 

an FRV, or 

OIRV, or 

Key Issue?

Data and GIS 

Needs

Priority 

(H, M, L) Notes

FRV and 

OIRV

National register 

nominations

H The last systematic evaluation of properties in Glacier occurred in 

1995. Many buildings have passed the 50-year mark since then.

FRV Modeling of water 

availability at 

developed sites

H Climate change is affecting availability of water at developed sites 

in the park.

FRV Cultural affiliations 

study

H Would identify tribes in the U.S. and First Nations in Canada with a 

connection to the park.

FRV Continue to provide 

assistance to 

Crown Managers 

Partnership (CMP) 

Large Landscape 

Transboundary 

Conservation 

Initiative 

H Continue to support the CMP collaborative efforts to ensure future 

Crown-scale land cover monitoring and trend analysis continues.

FRV Inventory of coldwater-dependent 

macroinvertebrates 

(e.g., Lednia)

H Continue inventorying cold-water-dependent macroinvertebrates 

(e.g., Lednia [Lednia tumana] a rare, sensitive, and potentially 

endemic stonefly) to evaluate the current status and changes 

in distribution potentially due to climate change impacts 

and stressors.

FRV Continue night sky 

monitoring

H Continue monitoring and documenting the effects of light 

pollution in order to track the condition, health, and trends of the 

resource in part to maintain the park’s eventual International Dark 

Sky status.

FRV Continue migratory 

raptor surveys

H Continue to survey migrating raptors, such as golden eagles, 

Cooper’s hawks, peregrine falcons, prairie falcons, and 

other raptors.

FRV Continue fisheries 

trend monitoring

H Continue monitoring of native salmonids inhabiting park streams 

and lakes to determine changes in populations over time.

FRV Wildlife displacement 

research

H Further research on wildlife displacement within Glacier due to 

climate change stressors and impacts, increased visitation, and 

activities occurring on land adjacent to the park.

FRV Parkwide air quality 

monitoring

M Baseline data are lacking across the park. This information would 

be useful in the event of oil and gas and other development on 

the east side of the park. There is currently no recent data for the 

park’s east side.

FRV and 

OIRV

Ethnographic 

overview and 

assessment

M The most comprehensive background study, this document reviews 

existing information on park resources traditionally valued by 

stakeholders. The information comes mostly from archives and 

publications; interviews with community members and other 

constituents—often on trips to specific sites—supply missing data.

This study also identifies the need for further research.
Glacier National Park

55

Data Needs – Where Information Is Needed Before Decisions Can Be Made

Related to 

an FRV, or 

OIRV, or 

Key Issue?

Data and GIS 

Needs

Priority 

(H, M, L) Notes

FRV Comprehensive 

condition 

assessments for all 

assets in the park’s 

Facility Management 

Software System 

portfolio

M The concession facilities had comprehensive conditions 

assessments completed in the early 2000s. However no other 

structures have had condition assessments completed.

FRV Visual resource 

inventory

M The analysis should be done from inside the park looking 

out (beyond the boundary). Would be valuable if oil and gas 

development is proposed or begins.

FRV Assess sustainable 

park operations

M Small scale hydropower study.

FRV Ongoing monitoring 

of glaciers and caves

M This would assist with climate change research and with 

interpretive programs.

FRV and

OIRV

Trend analysis of 

wildlife-human 

interactions

M Determine where wildlife is becoming habituated to visitors, 

especially near the park’s most popular areas and monitor the 

occurrence. Conduct research to determine the impacts to visitors 

and wildlife.

FRV Communication 

strategy for climate 

change

M Would emphasize how the park experience will change, and how 

visitors will be affected.

FRV Integrate the 

computer aided 

dispatch database 

with Crime Finder

M Need technical assistance on how to integrate computer aided 

dispatch database and Crime Finder.

FRV Delineation of all 

floodplains within 

developed areas in 

the park.

M 100- and 500-year floodplains need to be mapped in all developed 

areas throughout the park with the exception of a few that have 

been completed.

OIRV Archeological surveys M For National Historic Landmark hotels and chalets. In addition, only 

2% of the park has been surveyed. Future surveys should include 

the area near the international border due to regular clearing 

activity that occurs every 10 years. And older surveys need to be 

redone to include better techniques and geospatial information.

FRV Basic wildlife 

composition and 

distribution studies

M

FRV Monitor use / impacts 

to backcountry offtrail sites (e.g., Floral 

Park)

M

FRV Oral histories to 

describe “backbone 

of the world”

L This phrase originated with the Blackfeet Tribe. Collect relevant 

ethnographic information.
Foundation Document

56

Data Needs – Where Information Is Needed Before Decisions Can Be Made

Related to 

an FRV, or 

OIRV, or 

Key Issue?

Data and GIS 

Needs

Priority 

(H, M, L) Notes

FRV Compatibility 

standards for 

architectural style, 

setbacks, etc., for 

private lands inside 

the park

L Would provide guidance to landowners on appropriate types, 

design, and location of development to ensure property 

development does not adversely affect the character of the park.

FRV Water quality 

monitoring of high 

elevation streams and 

lakes in the park

L This would address gaps in existing inventory and monitoring 

network coverage.

FRV Dark sky monitoring L Two types of monitoring need to continue over time: 1) Monitor 

sources of artificial light; and 2) Monitor to track impact on natural 

lightscape, for example, how much artificial light is visible from a 

particular point in the park.

Key Issue Collaborative scenic 

conservation strategy

L Transboundary approach is needed.

FRV Transboundary data 

sets

L This work is underway by the Crown Managers Partnership and in 

partnership with the Universities of Calgary, Montana, NPScape, 

and NPS Rocky Mountain Monitoring Network. Need to support 

this effort with current data to enable trend analysis to be done.

Key Issue Wildlife connectivity 

study

L Work is underway by the Crown Managers Partnership. Need to 

link to and work with this data to maintain a current data set and 

conduct trend analysis.

FRV and 

OIRV

Update the 

comprehensive GIS 

inventory of road 

assets

L Would ensure better management of road assets.

FRV Acoustic resource 

monitoring

L Need to continue to collect baseline data to conduct trend 

analysis.

OIRV Historic structure 

reports on newly 

possessed historic 

buildings

L Would guide rehabilitation work.

FRV and 

OIRV

Cultural landscape 

inventories

L Twenty-nine sites / areas were identified by the region for study.

FRV Analysis of 

transboundary 

conservation 

practices around the 

world

L Would inform best management practices.

FRV Historic structures 

and cultural resources 

best practices for 

treatment guide

L Best practices for the treatment of historic structures and cultural 

resources would guide regular maintenance and preservation.
57

Glacier National Park

Part 3: Contributors

Glacier National Park

Tracy Ammerman, Chief of Interpretation and Partnerships

Paul Austin, Chief Ranger

Mark Biel, Natural Resource Program Manager

Lisa Brewster, Chief of Administration (retired)

Tara Carolin, Director, Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center

Chris Downs, Supervisory Fisheries Biologist

Jim Foster, Chief of Facility Management

Eric Gabriel, Chief Ranger (Acting) (transferred)

Denise Germann, Public Information Officer / Management Assistant (transferred)

Bill Hayden, Chief of Interpretation and Partnerships (Acting)

AJ Johnson, Safety Officer

Lon Johnson, Cultural Resource Specialist (retired)

Jan Knox, Chief of Concessions (retired)

Richard Menicke, GIS Specialist

Jeff Mow, Superintendent

Mary Riddle, Chief of Planning and Environmental Compliance

Eric Smith, Deputy Superintendent

Dave Soleim, Fire Management Officer

Mark Wagner, District Interpreter, Hudson Bay

Phil Wilson, Chief of Science and Resources Management (Acting Deputy Superintendent)

NPS Intermountain Regional Office

Michele D’Arcy, Landscape Architect, IMR Liaison

Sami K. Powers, Archeologist

NPS Denver Service Center, Planning Division

Tracy Atkins, Project Manager

Melody Bentfield, Contract Librarian

Sarah Bodo, Project Manager

Ray McPadden, Project Manager

Laura Pernice, GIS Specialist

Aleksandra Pitt, Project Specialist

Tabitha Carver-Roberts, Contract Editor (former)

Angela Wing, Visual Information Specialist (former)

John Paul Jones, Visual Information Specialist

Nancy Shock, Foundation Coordinator

Laura Watt, Contract Editor

NPS Washington Office of Park Planning and Special Studies

Pam Holtman, Quality Assurance Coordinator
Foundation Document

58

Appendixes

Appendix A: Enabling Legislation and Legislative Acts for 

Glacier National Park

1910 Enabling Legislation for Glacier National Park
59

Glacier National Park

1914 Legislation (Acceptance of Cessation Lands from State of Montana)
Foundation Document

60
61

Glacier National Park
Foundation Document

62

1932 Legislation (Establishment of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park)

1932 Act by Canadian Parliament establishing Waterton Lakes National 

Park as part of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (Waterton-Glacier 

International Peace Park Act, S. C. 1932, c. 55)
63

Glacier National Park

1932 Presidential Proclamation for the International Peace Park
Foundation Document

64

HeinOnline 90 Stat2327 1976

1976 Flathead Wild and Scenic River Designation
65

Glacier National Park

•1YJl••J1ZV Il11Jk►JUV United U`J UVLJUUVLJLif L$Vu•`i4ucx=1•v L••

Nations Educational Scientific

and Cultural Organization

Programme on Manan and the Biosphere

By decision of the Bureau of the International

Coordinating Council of the Programme on fan

and the Biosphere duly authorized

to that effect by the Council

j1accrJIatzona Jnarlt

is recognized as part

of the international network of Biosphere Reserves

This network of protected samples of

the worlds major ecosystem types

is devoted to conservation

of nature and scientific research

in the service of man

It provides a standard against which can be measured

the effects of mans impact

on his environment

Date 17Jcuutar 9977

AJi

AmadouMahrar Mow

DirectorGeneral

of Unesco

•rC

G

aF

El

296

1977 Biosphere Reserve Designation
Foundation Document

66

COME POUR cif = • i1C i

fifty years

US Observer Mission

American Embassy

2 Avenue Gabriel

75382 Paris Cedex 08

Reference WHC795332MRHE 8 January 1996

Dear Sir

Subject Waterton glacier International Peace Park

CanadaUnited States of America3S4rev

I have the pleasure to inform you that the World Heritage

Committee at its nineteenth session held in Berlin Germany from

4 to 9 December 1995 inscribed the nominated property on the

World Heritage List under criteria ii and iii The site has

a distinctive climate physiographic setting mountainprairie interface and triocean hydrographical divide as well as its

scenic values and the cultural importance of its International

Peace Park designation

The Committee recommended that the State Party should

consider creating a single Biosphere Reserve from the three

Biosphere Reserves already existing in the area It furthermore

recommended that the World Heritage site be eventually expanded

with the cooperation of the Government of British Colombia to

include the adjacent protected area in the AkaminaKishinena it

was further agreed that the World Heritage site should be known

as Waterton Glacier Snternational Peace Park

It is recommended to organize on the occasion of the

inscription of the site an the World Heritage List preferably

jointly with the Canadian Authorities a World Heritage

dedication ceremony You may wish to invite the World Heritage

Centre to present at this occasion the World Heritage

certificate Such an event normally tends to be well covered by the media and would thus help to promote world Heritage

yourcaresp0edant 7 pint de Fontenoy

78392 Pang 07 SP France

Tel + 331 45 68 10 00

Fa i 122 7 AS 47 1 On

297

IAPPEND1XESBIBLIOGRAPHYPREPARERSINDEX

CanadaUnited

2 States of America

8 January 1996

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your

help in implementing the World Heritage Convention

Please accept my best wishes for 1996

Yours sincerely

Bernd von Droste

Director

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

1995 World Heritage Site Designation
67

Glacier National Park

Landsnet Summary

AREA: GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, MONTANA 

AUTHORIZATION

Act of May 11, 1910 P.L. 61-171 (36 Stat. 354) 

ACQUISITION AUTHORITY

Act of August 22, 1914 P.L. 63-177 (38 Stat. 699) acceptance of 

cession of said land from the State of Montana. 

Act of July 1, 1916 P.L. 64-132 (39 Stat. 308) authorizes 

acceptance of patented lands by donation. 

Act of March 3, 1917 P.L. 64-382 (39 Stat. 1122) authorizes 

acquisition of land in area described by exchange. 

Act of February 28, 1923 P.L. 67-453 (42 Stat. 1324) authorizes 

acquisition of lands within the Park boundary by exchange. 

Act of August 8, 1946 P.L. 79-695 (60 Stat. 949) authorizes 

acquisition of lands within the Park boundary by exchange. 

ESTABLISHED

May 11, 1910 

BOUNDARY REVISIONS

Act of February 10, 1912 P.L. 61-78 (37 Stat. 64) authorized the 

sale of not more than 200 acres in area described. 

Act of February 27, 1915 P.L. 63-260 (38 Stat. 814) authorizes 

area described to become a part of the Lewis & Clark National 

Forest.

Act of February 27, 1915 P.L. 63-260 authorized acquisition of 

the area described to become a part of Glacier National Park. 

Act of March 2, 1917 P.L. 64-370 (39-994) authorized the sale of 

5 acres of land in area described. 

Act of July 31, 1939 P.L. 76-243 (39 Stat. 1142) authorized 

addition of property described. 

Act of December 13, 1944 P.L. 78-479 (58 Stat. 1944) authorized 

elimination of area described. 

Act of April 11, 1972 P.L. 92-272 (86-Stat. 120) revises boundary 

by adding 267.90 acres and excluding 68.47 acres. 

ACREAGE LIMITATIONS

None

STATUTORY CEILING FOR LAND ACQUISITION

Act of April 11, 1972 P.L. 92-272 (86-Stat. 120) authorizes an 

appropriation of not more than $6,000 for acquisition of lands 

described.

AREA NUMBER

MIS-2380

PFM-1430
Foundation Document

68

Appendix B: Inventory of Administrative Commitments

Administrative Commitments

Title / Agency / 

Organization Purpose / Description Expiration Date Responsible Party

Memorandums of Understanding (MOU)

NPS and Parks Canada Cooperation in management, research, 

protection, conservation, and presentation of 

national parks and national historic sites.

2018 NPS and Parks Canada

Wild and Scenic River Management of the Flathead Wild and 

Scenic River.

Ongoing U.S. Forest Service and 

Glacier NP

Border Patrol Law enforcement and border protection.No expiration USDI, Homeland 

Security, USDA 

Fire Wildland firefighting.Ongoing U.S. Forest Service; 

various state agencies; 

Canadian government

Fisheries (Flathead 

River)

Fisheries investigations in Flathead River 

drainage.

2008 Montana Fish, Wildlife, 

and Parks

University of Montana 

(G-143411-0021)

To involve students and faculty in historic 

preservation of buildings in the park.

July 20, 2017 University of Montana

Flathead County 

(G1437100004)

Mutual aid response for structural fire, 

dispatch, emergency medical requests, law 

enforcement emergencies, searches, rescues, 

and other emergencies on adjacent lands.

June 24, 2020 Flathead County

Glacier County 

(G1437100002)

Mutual aid responses for structural 

fires, emergency medical requests, law 

enforcement emergencies, search, rescues, 

and other emergencies on lands adjacent to 

each entity.

June 24, 2020 Glacier County

Professional Ranger 

Program (Proranger)

Cooperation to provide access to college, 

appropriate academic and student services 

support, and a clearly defined pathway 

through Blackfeet Community College 

and Salish Kootenai College toward 

eventual access to permanent and seasonal 

employment with the National Park Service.

End of 2017 school 

year

NPS Intermountain 

Region and Blackfeet 

Community College 

and Salish Kootenai 

College

U.S. Forest Service 

Northern Region

Procedures and guidelines for crossdesignation of law enforcement authority 

and cooperative law enforcement assistance.

August 24, 2010 U.S. Forest Service, 

Northern Region

Cooperative National 

Security and Counter 

Terrorism

Provide consistent goals, principles, and 

guidance related to border security.

No expiration U.S. Department of 

Homeland Security; 

U.S. Department of 

Agriculture (USDA), 

USDI

State of Montana Wildlife management, assistance with 

research on animals inside/outside park.

March 31, 2019

5-year agreement

Glacier NP and 

Montana Fish Wildlife 

and Parks
Glacier National Park

69

Title / Agency / 

Organization Purpose / Description Expiration Date Responsible Party

Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) (continued) 

Implementing Service 

First Agreements

Describes implementation of Service First 

Agreements to clarify use of agreements and 

facilitate best practices and provides waiver 

for overhead charges if all agree.

No expiration BLM, NPS, USFWS, 

U.S. Forest Service

Cooperative Smoke 

Management in 

Montana and Idaho

Cooperative smoke management.No expiration Montana Department 

of Environmental 

Quality

Sister Park 

Arrangement with 

Gorkhi-Terelj National 

Park in Mongolia

Exchange technical information and cultivate 

a better relationship with a strictly protected 

area in Eastern Mongolia and familiarize staff 

with other park’s resources and management 

challenges.

October 24, 2020 

– 5-year renewable 

arrangement

Glacier National Park 

and Gorkhi-Terelj 

National Park

NPS Glacier National 

Park and Parks CanadaWaterton Lakes 

National Park

Mutual Aid Agreement.Can be renewed 

every 5 years

Glacier National Park 

and Waterton Lakes 

National Park

NPS Glacier National 

Park and West GlacierCoram Volunteer Fire 

Department 

Mutual Aid Agreement.2016 – Can be 

renewed every 5 

years

Glacier National Park 

and West-Glacier 

Coram Volunteer Fire 

Department

NPS Glacier National 

Park and Babb 

Volunteer Fire 

Department

Mutual Aid Agreement.2016 – Can be 

renewed every 5 

years

Glacier National Park 

and Babb Volunteer 

Fire Department

NPS Glacier National 

Park and East Glacier 

Volunteer Fire 

Department

Mutual Aid Agreement.Can be renewed 

every 5 years

Glacier National Park 

and East Glacier 

Volunteer Fire 

Department

Medical Sponsor and 

Medical Directive 

Provides medical direction to park EMS staff.Can be renewed 

every 5 years

Kalispell Regional 

Medical Center and 

North Valley Hospital

Emergency Operations Provide location for emergency operations 

and shelter in event of failure of Hungry 

Horse Dam.

2012 Bureau of 

Reclamation-Hungry 

Horse and Glacier 

National Park

Memorandums of Agreement (MOA)

Montana Cooperative 

Fire Management and 

Stafford Act Response 

Agreement (Six-Party 

Agreement)

Define a framework of cooperation for the 

operating procedures and responsibility 

for wildland fire management among the 

named parties. There are operating plans 

with Flathead County, Glacier County, 

State of Montana, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 

Blackfeet Agency, U.S. Forest Service, Lewis 

and Clark NF, Babb, Browning Cut Bank, 

East Glacier and Heart Butte Volunteer Fire 

Departments under this agreement.

No expiration Regional Director
Foundation Document

70

Title / Agency / 

Organization Purpose / Description Expiration Date Responsible Party

Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) (continued)

Northwest Border 

Arrangement for Fire 

Protection

Between: Province of British Columbia, 

Ministry of Forests, and U.S. Forest Service 

Pacific Northwest and Northern Regions, 

the National Park Service Pacific West and 

Intermountain Regions, and the BLM, 

Oregon/Washington and Idaho state offices.

August 2019 Regional Director

Emergency Services 

Operating Plan with 

Waterton Lakes 

National Park

Identifies the mutual duties, responsibilities, 

and expectations of each park when 

tasked to support emergency operations in 

either’s jurisdiction.

2011 Waterton Lakes 

National Park, Parks 

Canada

Cooperative Wildfire 

Management 

Operating Plan. There 

are two Zone Operating 

Plans underneath this.

One is with Glacier 

County, Lewis and 

Clark NF, Montana 

DNRC, Blackfeet 

Tribe, BIA and rural 

fire districts and the 

other is with Flathead 

County, Flathead NF, 

DNRC and all volunteer 

fire districts and 

municipalities.

Provides for interagency wildland fire 

cooperation.

Glacier County 

expires in 2016.

Flathead County 

expires in 2020

Glacier National 

Park and Montana 

State Department of 

Natural Resources and 

Conservation

Interagency Agreements (IA)

USGS Administrative storage and office space, 

housing when available and supplies.

September 30, 2019 USGS and Glacier 

National Park

USGS Avalanche forecasting.Can be renewed 

every year.

9/30/2015

USGS and Glacier 

National Park

WAN Infrastructure Network connection and equipment.Can be renewed 

every 5 years. Will 

be signed by end of 

2015

USGS and USDI

U.S. Coast Guard Inspection of vessels per coast guard 

regulations.

Can be renewed 

annually

Glacier National Park 

and U.S. Coast Guard

International Boundary 

Commission

Clearing along boundary of park.2017. Will be 

renewed every 10 

years

Glacier National Park 

and the International 

Boundary Commission

General Services 

Administration

Reimbursement for vehicle repairs.No expiration Local towns and 

communities near park

Interagency Agreement 

for Fire Management 

Supports Kalispell Dispatch.Annually renewed USDA and USDI 

agencies
Glacier National Park

71

Title / Agency / 

Organization Purpose / Description Expiration Date Responsible Party

Interagency Agreements (IA) (continued)

Interagency Agreement 

for Fire Management

Agreements with the U.S. Forest Service and 

other NPS sites for prescribed burning and 

initial attack.

September 30, 2016 National Park Service, 

Glacier National Park 

and Grant Kohrs 

Ranch National Historic 

Site, Big Hole National 

Battlefield, and 

U.S. Forest Service, 

Beaverhead-Deerlodge 

National Forest

Meteorological and 

Other Technical Services

USDI agencies, the U.S. Forest Service, and 

the National Weather Service.

FY 2012 USDI

Cooperative Wildfire 

Management 2010 

Operating Plan

Wildfire management.2015 Montana Department 

of Natural Resources 

& Conservation – 

Northwestern Land 

Office, the Badrock, 

Bigfork, Big Mountain, 

Blankenship, Columbia 

Falls, Coram / West 

Glacier, Creston, 

Evergreen, Ferndale, 

Hungry Horse, Marion, 

Martin City, Olney, 

Smith Valley, Somers/

Lakeside, South 

Kalispell, West Valley 

Rural Fire Districts 

and the Flathead 

County and Whitefish 

Fire Service Areas, 

and the Columbia 

Falls, Kalispell and 

Whitefish City Fire 

Departments, and the 

National Park Service, 

Glacier National Park, 

and the U.S. Forest 

Service Flathead 

National Forest

Natural Resources 

Conservation Service 

and Glacier National 

Park Native Plant 

Material Agreement 

Collecting, evaluating, and growing native 

plant materials.

5/30/2018 U.S. Department 

of Agriculture Soil 

Conservation Service 

and Glacier National 

Park

NPS-FHWA Interagency 

Agreement-Park Roads 

and Parkways

Implementation of planning, design, and 

construction for the park roads system and 

funding for above.

None NPS and FHWA
Foundation Document

72

Title / Agency / 

Organization Purpose / Description Expiration Date Responsible Party

Cooperative Agreements

Glacier Institute To provide in-depth cultural and natural 

history field-oriented learning experiences.

September 30, 2018 Park and the Glacier 

Institute

Glacier National Park 

Conservancy

To provide financial support to the park 

through earned and donated revenue.

Cooperating 

Association 

Agreement – 

1/21/2020

Scope of Sales – to 

be renewed on 

annual basis

Glacier National Park 

Volunteer Associates

To provide support to the park through 

coordinated volunteer efforts.

Basic Fundraising 

Agreement – 

5/13/2019

Backcountry 

Preservation Fund 

Agreement – 

5/13/2019

Park and Glacier 

National Park 

Volunteer Associates

Student Conservation 

Association

National agreement for volunteers and 

research.

Expiration date not 

known

Park and Student 

Conservation 

Association and 

National Park Service 

Flathead County – Eagle 

Transit

Operation of and winter use of shuttle 

system.

2016 Glacier National Park 

and Flathead County

General Agreements

Divide Mountain Radio 

Site

Location of 80-foot tower and prefab 

communication building. Tribe and FBI also 

have equipment inside building.

September 30, 2015 FBI, State of Montana, 

Blackfeet EMS and 

Blackfeet Fire and 

Glacier NP

 Duck Lake Radio Site Have a land lease agreement for 1 acre of 

land that houses radio communications 

equipment.

September 30, 2012 Park and Blackfeet 

Tribe

Coram-West Glacier To provide personal services and equipment 

required for prevention/suppression of 

vehicle, structural fires, and the protection of 

life and property from these fires on parkadministered land and lands adjacent to the 

park boundary.

February 1, 2016 Coram / West 

Glacier Volunteer Fire 

Department

Firefighting Assistance 

Relationship between 

Glacier National Park 

and Coram-West 

Glacier Volunteer Fire 

Department

Firefighting assistance.No expiration Glacier National Park 

and Coram-West 

Glacier Volunteer Fire 

Department
Glacier National Park

73

Title / Agency / 

Organization Purpose / Description Expiration Date Responsible Party

General Agreements (continued)

East Glacier Fire 

Fighting Assistance 

(G1437-11-0002)

To provide personal services and equipment 

required for prevention/suppression of 

vehicle, structural fires, and the protection of 

life and property from these fires on parkadministered land and lands adjacent to the 

park boundary.

February 1, 2016 East Glacier Volunteer 

Fire Department

Bureau of Reclamation Exchange of engineering equipment.

Firefighting Assistance 

Relationship between 

Glacier National Park 

and Babb Volunteer Fire 

Department

Firefighting assistance.No expiration Glacier National Park 

and Babb Volunteer 

Fire Department

Firefighting Assistance 

Relationship between 

Glacier National Park 

and East Glacier 

Volunteer Fire 

Department

Firefighting assistance.No expiration Glacier National Park 

and East Glacier 

Volunteer Fire 

Department

Special Park Uses

Special Use Permits In 2014 the park issued 107 special use 

permits for weddings, commercial filming 

and still photography, and First Amendment 

and special park uses.

Issued annually Glacier National Park 

and individuals

Landowners and Life 

Estates

There are approximately 400 acres of private 

lands within the boundary of Glacier NP.

There is one Life Estate Agreement.

The life estate will 

terminate upon the 

death of the last 

surviving child

Glacier National Park 

and private landowner

Duck Lake Mountain 

Radio Site

Land lease agreements.September 30, 2015 Glacier Electric and 

Glacier NP

Right-of-Way Utilities, infrastructure, communications.Qwest-St. Mary4/4/2023

Qwest-West 

Glacier-6/29/2016

NW 

Energy-5/16/2023

Flathead 

Electric-8/27/2024

Glacier 

Electric-3/19/2024

CenturyLink and 

Legacy Quest, Flathead 

Electric, Glacier 

Electric, Northwestern 

Energy

Water Rights Compact 

between the State 

of Montana and the 

United States National 

Park Service (MCA 85-

20-401).

To settle for all time water rights for National 

Park Service lands within Montana, including 

Glacier National Park.

No expiration May 30, 1995
Foundation Document

74

Title / Agency / 

Organization Purpose / Description Expiration Date Responsible Party

Concession Contracts

Xanterra Parks and 

Resorts

Provides lodging, camp stores, historic 

red bus tours, and restaurant services 

throughout the park. They operate the 

Village Inn Motel, Lake McDonald Lodge, 

Rising Sun Motor Inn, Swiftcurrent Motor 

Inn, and the Many Glacier Hotel.

December 31, 2029 Director of NPS and 

Xanterra

Glacier Park Boat Co.Provides boat trips (some with guided hikes 

as an option) and rental boats at Apgar 

Village, Lake McDonald Lodge, Many Glacier, 

Rising Sun, and Two Medicine.

December, 13, 2019 IMR Regional Director 

and Glacier Park Boat 

Co.

Glacier Guides, Inc.Offer guided day hikes and backpacking trips 

into Glacier’s backcountry. They also provide 

camping equipment rentals.

December 31, 2016 IMR Regional Director 

and Glacier Guides, 

Inc.

Sun Tours Offers interpretive bus tours highlighting 

Blackfeet culture.

December 31, 2016 IMR Regional Director 

and Sun Tours

Swan Mountain 

Outfitters

Offers guided horseback rides inside the park 

at Many Glacier, Lake McDonald, and Apgar.

They also provide drop camp service (packing 

visitor’s gear using stock) into certain 

backcountry campgrounds.

December 31, 2016 IMR Regional Director 

and Swan Mountain 

Outfitters

Belton Chalets, Inc. Operates Granite Park and Sperry Chalets—

Glacier’s two remaining historic backcountry 

chalets.

December 31, 2024 IMR Regional Director 

and Belton Chalets

Commercial Use Authorizations

Glacier Park Ski Tours Cross-country ski tours.May be renewed 

every 1 to 2 years.

Glacier National Park 

and Glacier Park Ski 

Tours

Izaak Walton Inn Cross-country ski tours.May be renewed 

every 1 to 2 years.

Glacier National Park 

and Izaak Walton Inn

Waterton Inter-Nation 

Shoreline Cruise Co.

Offers scenic boat cruises on Waterton Lake.

They leave from the town site of Waterton 

(in Canada) and cross the international 

boundary in the United States and land at 

Goat Haunt.

May be renewed 

every 2 years.

Current expiration 

12/31/2016

Glacier National Park 

and Waterton InterNation Shoreline 

Cruise Co.

Glacier Park 

Incorporated

East Side shuttle services.12/31/15 May be 

renewed every year.

Glacier National Park 

and Glacier Park Inc.
75

Glacier National Park

In addition, the following loose (not formalized) agreements exist for Glacier National Park:

Scalplock Lookout: Flathead County, the U.S. Forest Service, and State of Montana have 

communication equipment in and on the Lookout.

Numa Lookout: Flathead County and the U.S. Forest Service have communication equipment 

in and on the Lookout.

Porcupine Lookout: Customs and Border Patrol have communications equipment in and on 

the Lookout.

Chief Mountain: The park owns a radio site at the Chief Mountain Port of Entry between 

Canada and the U.S. that is shared with Customs and Border Patrol.

Cyclone Lookout: The park has a radio site at the Lookout that is shared with the U.S. Forest 

Service and Customs and Border Patrol, and is on U.S. Forest Service lands.
Foundation Document

76

Appendix C: Basics for Wilderness Stewardship

Wilderness Character Narrative

Excerpted from Keeping It Wild in a Crown Jewel: Wilderness Building Blocks for Glacier 

National Park (2012)

This wilderness character narrative describes what is unique and special about the Glacier 

National Park recommended wilderness organized under the framework of the five qualities:

Untrammeled: Wilderness is essentially unhindered and free from modern human control or 

manipulation.

Natural: Wilderness maintains ecological systems that are substantially free from the effects of 

modern human civilization.

Undeveloped: Wilderness retains its primeval character and influence, and is essentially 

without permanent improvements or modern human occupation.

Solitude or Unconfined Recreation: Wilderness provides outstanding opportunities for 

solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.

Other Features of Value: Wilderness may also contain ecological, geological, or other features 

of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value.

Wilderness Background Information

Overview: The Wilderness Act of 1964 directed the Secretary of the Interior to “review every 

roadless area of five thousand contiguous acres or more in the national parks” and to “report to 

the President his recommendation as to the suitability or nonsuitability of each such area . . . for 

preservation as wilderness.”
77

Glacier National Park

Wilderness Status – Glacier National Park completed a study and environmental impact 

statement in 1973 to comply with the Wilderness Act. As a result, over 90% of the park was 

proposed to be formally designated wilderness. President Richard Nixon submitted the Glacier 

National Park wilderness recommendation to Congress on June 13, 1974. It was recommended 

that 927,550 acres of wilderness within Glacier National Park be designated by an act of 

Congress. A bill was subsequently introduced to formally designate the land as wilderness. The 

bill was never enacted, but since that time every president has reaffirmed the recommendation.

Amendments to the 1974 wilderness recommendation were made in 1984 and 1994 to make 

adjustments that increased the amount of proposed wilderness to 963,155 acres. This latest 

proposal was presented and reviewed in the environmental impact statement for the 1999 general 

management plan. Areas currently not managed as wilderness include: the buffered visitor service 

and rustic zones along with road and utility corridors delineated in the 2004 commercial services 

plan, areas adjacent to these zones that are smaller “island” areas, private inholding parcels not 

within the aforementioned zones, and access areas associated with the inholdings.

Natural Quality – Glacier is at the core of the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, one of the 

most ecologically intact areas remaining in the temperate regions of the world.

Glacier is one of the few places in the contiguous 48 states that continue to support natural 

populations of all indigenous carnivores and most of their prey species.

Glacier is noted for its remarkable number and diversity of plant and animal species, a result of 

the park’s unusual geographic position and elevation. Five floristic provinces and three major 

watersheds converge in an area influenced by both maritime and continental climates. While 

predominantly associated with the northern Rocky Mountains, Glacier is at the southern edge 

of arctic-boreal influences. Pacific Coast and Great Plains plant and animal associations reach 

their eastern and western limits in these parks. Past glaciation has isolated many plant and 

animal populations, and the steep terrain provides a broad range of climates for a wide variety 

of plant communities.

The geographic location, climate, and topographic gradients of Glacier have fostered and 

sustained an ecology that includes the plants and animals of a much larger region. The 

park supports about 1,200 species of vascular plants, 675 bryophytes and lichens, 261 

birds (including accidentals), 63 mammals, 23 fish, and at least 8 reptiles and amphibians. 

Invertebrate inventories are incomplete but show a few hundred species for Lepidoptera 

(butterflies and moths), coleopteran (beetles), and hymenoptera (flies, ants, bees, and 

wasps) combined.

Five large ecoregions are found in Glacier: alpine tundra, subalpine forest, montane forest, 

aspen parkland, and fescue grassland. These include extensive stands of lodgepole and mixed 

conifer forests, riparian vegetative zones, and intermediate alpine plant associations.

Glacier is noted for its abundant wildlife. There is habitat for over 300 terrestrial wildlife 

species, including several endangered or threatened birds and mammals and many rare species. 

The Glacier area offers a sanctuary and a corridor for wildlife interaction, migration, and 

genetic exchange. Due to the distinct ecological setting, a number of southern and prairie 

subspecies appear in this area.

The aquatic resources of the park have been examined in some detail. Many drainages where 

there were originally no fish were stocked at an early date, often with nonnative species. Native 

fish were probably restricted to the main drainages and those portions of tributary streams 

that lie below waterfalls and other migration barriers. Twenty-three species of fish have been 

documented in Glacier. Glacier National Park provides one of the last strongholds for the 

native subspecies of westslope cutthroat trout.

Several hundred aquatic invertebrate species have been identified in the park, and scientists 

believe that many undescribed plankton species are yet to be discovered. Researchers have 

relatively recently discovered two amphipod species new to science, the first troglobites 

(aquatic cave dwelling insects) to be identified in Glacier National Park. The opossum shrimp 
Foundation Document

78

(Mysis relicta) occurs naturally in Upper Waterton Lake. This shrimp is a relic species that exists 

in the park because of the pattern of continental glaciers and the glacial lakes associated with 

them. As the southern margin of the ice retreated, the shrimp were left stranded in a series of 

lakes, and slight differences were fixed so that they are now known as separate species.

Nonnative plant species such as spotted knapweed and common timothy grow in the park as 

the result of human activity, and the presence of such nonnatives reduces the diversity of plant 

communities. It is unlikely that future management actions would totally remove nonnatives 

from the park. At best their numbers would be contained. New populations of nonnative 

species are being controlled through management actions.

Changes in nearby land management, increasing visitation, and climate change are challenging 

Glacier’s resource managers. To maintain the natural quality it is important for the stewards of 

Glacier’s wilderness to protect the healthy populations of native species, study adaptations or 

remove invasive nonnative species, restore unhealthy populations of native species to health, 

and restore or perpetuate natural processes that have been disrupted.

Solitude or a Primitive and Unconfined Quality – The total value of wilderness to humanity 

is incalculable. The capacity of wilderness to provide for increasingly rare recreational 

experiences is challenging to gauge. However, Glacier’s wilderness provides outstanding 

opportunities for people to engage their own wild side in the context of the greater wilderness.

There is a diversity of experiences available to visitors to Glacier’s wilderness. Visitors may 

experience solitude, a deep connection with nature, discovery, revitalization, freedom from the 

pressures of society, or personal challenge and self-reliance. The wrinkled topography with its 

deep valleys gives people remoteness from occupied and modified areas outside the wilderness. 

The wilderness setting gives visitors the opportunity to sense humility while recognizing the 

role and involvement of humanity in the wider world and universe.

Glacier offers a diversity of wilderness experiences. The majority of backcountry camping 

is regulated with travel restrictions through permits, prearranged itineraries, and designated 

campgrounds. However, it is a flexible system with access to reserved and walk-up permits. 

Visitors to the Nyack and a few other areas of the park are not restricted to camping in 

designated campgrounds. There are greater opportunities for primitive experiences in those 

regions lacking facilities that decrease self-reliant recreation.

There are some threats to this quality as well. In regard to the remoteness from occupied and 

modified areas outside the wilderness, energy development on adjacent lands may rise into 

visitor sight lines and engine noise from land and air traffic impacts the wilderness soundscape. 

Opportunities for solitude are changing with transitions in visitor use patterns. The Going-tothe-Sun Road transit system may be shifting the predominant patterns of visitor use along the 

Sun Road corridor.

Within the wilderness matrix of Glacier National Park, managers have a variety of leverage 

points at which they can take action to facilitate opportunities for solitude or primitive and 

unconfined recreation. As they have done in the past, they will continue to take a calculated 

approach to ensure that visitors have a diversified range of opportunities to engage the 

wilderness.

Undeveloped Quality – The vast expanses of Glacier’s wilderness exemplify the undeveloped 

quality. Etymologically, a thing is developed when it is “unrolled” and put to purposes for 

improvement. These may be improvements for administrative or scientific ends. While there 

are many administrative and scientific structures within the wilderness, the majority of the 

landscape retains its primeval character and influence.

The Glacier countryside has an adequately structured ecosystem enveloping a community of 

life that is thrown from the past and continues now and in the future with no strict need for 

human designed improvement or oversight. Glacier’s wilderness character is diminished by the 

presence of hovels and fences, just like the sensibility expressed in Montanan Robert Fletcher’s

Don’t Fence Me In.
79

Glacier National Park

Several areas within the wilderness do, however, contain modern developments. Remote 

patrol cabins and ranger stations dot the landscape, along with fire lookouts, scientific 

instrumentation, dams, and other administrative structures. The enclaves at Granite Park and 

Sperry Chalets, despite their iconic status in the cultural history of the park, are commercial 

developments that greatly contrast their wild surroundings and remain high profile sites in an 

otherwise undeveloped horizon.

Overall, the majority of the recommended wilderness remains primarily free from permanent 

improvements or human habitation. This unspoiled condition must be preserved in order to 

render the Glacier wilderness truly wild. National Park Service stewards must be continually 

vigilant by carefully considering the minimum tool required to achieve stewardship goals.

Untrammeled Quality – A trammel can be an instrument used for gauging and adjusting 

parts of a machine. The processes that perpetually make the place called Glacier National Park 

operate organically, not mechanically. There is an irreducible integrity that fundamentally binds 

all things concretely in Glacier National Park.

The park is involved in a dramatic and exceptionally long geologic history with processes 

associated with mountain-building and glaciation. The unrestrained tectonic forces have 

created one of the largest and most visible overthrust faults on the North American continent. 

A continental apex rises up in the park at one of the few oceanic triple divides on earth. Wild 

waters that begin flowing to three oceans come from the wilderness of Glacier National Park. 

These flows begin freely and autonomously and represent the self-willed untrammeled quality.

Perpetuating the untrammeled quality requires managers to restrain themselves, rather than the 

wilderness. Often, upholding the untrammeled quality may degrade another quality. Tradeoffs are required. For example, invasive nonnative species may be removed for natural species 

composition, but it is recognized as a trammeling manipulation of the wilderness.
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80

Other Features Quality – The fifth quality is unique to the park and is based on the features 

in Glacier. Human influence has created a wide range of cultural resources. These include 

archeological sites, modern American Indian ceremonial sites and ethnographic places of 

importance, and historic park administration structures.

Cultural resources represent the human experience of our nation and preservation of these 

resources is one of the three primary objectives of the National Park Service mission. Cultural 

resources can benefit wilderness areas by allowing visitors to understand and feel connected to 

the vital and varied relationships between people and nature.

Glacier encompasses over 200 known prehistoric sites, some dating back to 10,000 BCE. The 

Chief Mountain and Two Medicine areas continue to be important ceremonial and religious 

focal points for members of the Blackfoot Nation. The Kootenai perceive significant meanings 

along the trail of the cedars, among other areas near McDonald Lake, and within the park. 

Tribal entities place significance on cultural resources and have different perspectives and 

relationships to landscapes that are unique to their cultures. The tangible aspect of wilderness 

character might seem like an alien concept to the people whose ancestors walked these lands 

long before the arrival of western explorers.

Issues for Wilderness Planning

Wilderness is a foundational value for the park and should be a guiding concept for park 

planning and management. While managing for preservation of wilderness character requires 

consideration of the five qualities previously outlined, the park currently needs to address 

certain specific challenges for wilderness within this framework, including climate change, air 

and water pollution, proliferation of nonnative species, encroaching development, impacts on 

night skies, soundscape, acoustic environment, and increased visitation throughout the park, 

including in frontcountry road corridors on the edge of Glacier’s recommended wilderness.
81

Glacier National Park

Appendix D: Wild and Scenic River Values

In 1968, Congress passed the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The act “declared to be the policy 

of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation, which with their immediate 

environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and 

wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, 

and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and 

enjoyment of present and future generations.”

Under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, designated rivers are classified as wild, scenic, or 

recreational. The classifications primarily relate to the degree of development along the river. 

Regardless of the classification, each designated river in the national system is to be managed in 

a way that protects and enhances the values that prompted its designation. According to the act, 

the three classifications are defined as follows:

“Wild” River Areas: Those rivers or sections of rivers free of impoundments and generally 

inaccessible except by trail, with watersheds or shorelines essentially primitive and waters 

unpolluted. These represent vestiges of primitive America.

“Scenic” River Areas: Those rivers or sections of rivers free of impoundments, with 

shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but 

accessible in places by roads.

“Recreational” River Areas: Those rivers or sections of rivers readily accessible by road 

or railroad, which may have some shoreline development, and that may have undergone 

some impoundment or diversion in the past.

Designations of the Flathead River

Excerpted from Outstanding Remarkable Values Assessment of the Flathead River System (2013) 

– Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park

Each outstandingly remarkable value was determined to be unique, rare or exemplary in an 

appropriate region by Flathead National Forest and Glacier National Park. The two agencies 

collaborated to procure and evaluate the information in all nine categories and to make 

ORV determinations. In 1976, Congress designated the three forks of the Flathead River as 

part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Wild and scenic rivers are designated 

for their free flowing character and outstanding natural, cultural, or recreational values. The 

Flathead River is located within the Crown of the Continent ecosystem and specifically located 

in northwest Montana in Flathead and Powell Counties. The headwaters are located just west 

of the Continental Divide. The three forks include segments that have been classified as wild, 

recreational, and scenic. From the snowcapped, stunning peaks of Glacier Park that line the 

North Fork to the wild, trout-filled waters of the South Fork in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, 

the Flathead River is one of exceptional value in all categories. With an intriguing history, unique 

plants and wildlife, and nationally acclaimed recreational opportunities, the Flathead River 

System is a wild and scenic river that will be preserved to benefit many generations to come.

The Flathead Wild and Scenic River is 219 miles of free flowing water in northwest Montana that 

spans an area from the Canadian border to the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The three 

forks of the Flathead travel through some of the most wild, rugged country in the United States.

The designated reach of the Flathead includes the North, Middle, and South Forks of the river. 

Together, these three forks flow through Glacier National Park, the Great Bear Wilderness, 

and the Bob Marshall Wilderness before joining near Hungry Horse to create the main stem 

Flathead River, a major tributary to the Columbia River. Two of the three forks of the Flathead 

Wild and Scenic River form Glacier’s western and southern boundary and contain outstanding 

remarkable values including recreation, scenery, wildlife, botany, geology, fisheries, water 

quality, ethnography, and history.
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82

The Flathead River is currently co-managed by Glacier and the Flathead National Forest, with 

the latter designated as the lead agency. The boundary between the Flathead National Forest 

and Glacier National Park is defined by the centerline of the North Fork, and by the mean 

high water line of the Middle Fork. The Flathead River Management Plan was crafted in 1980 

and was revisited in the mid-2000s. The revision focused on the eligibility of new rivers and 

did not update the past river plan. A comprehensive wild and scenic river planning discussion 

took place in 2013. In recent years, the Flathead National Forest and Glacier have developed 

ORVs for the Flathead River and also have begun discussions of future comprehensive wild and 

scenic river planning.

The North Fork of the Flathead River is classified as a scenic river from the Canadian border to 

the Camas Creek Bridge. This scenic river extends 36.9 miles. From this point to the confluence 

with the Middle Fork at the Blankenship Bridge, it is a recreational river for 21.4 miles. The 

Middle Fork of the Flathead River is classified wild from its headwaters at the junction of 

Strawberry and Bowl Creeks to Bear Creek. Of this 46.6-mile stretch, 13.5 miles are within 

the Bob Marshall Wilderness and 33.1 miles are located in the Great Bear Wilderness. From 

Bear Creek to its confluence with the South Fork, a 54-mile segment, the Middle Fork is a 

recreational river. The South Fork of the Flathead River is classified wild for 51.3 miles from its 

headwaters at the confluence of Youngs and Danaher Creeks in the Bob Marshall Wilderness 

to the Spotted Bear Ranger Station (46.6 miles in the Bob Marshall Wilderness). From the 

ranger station to the upper end of the Hungry Horse Reservoir, 8.8 

miles, the South Fork is a recreational river.

The boundary between the Flathead National Forest and Glacier 

National Park is defined by the centerline of the North Fork, and by 

the mean high water line of the Middle Fork.

Figure 1. Designated river segments and their classifications.

Upper North Fork – scenic

Border to Camas Bridge

Lower North Fork – recreational

Camas Bridge to Confluence with Middle Fork at Blankenship

Upper Middle Fork – wild

Junction of Strawberry and Bowl Creeks to Bear Creek

Lower Middle Fork – recreational

Bear Creek to Confluence with South Fork

Upper South Fork – wild

Junction of Youngs and Danaher Creeks to Bob Marshall 

Wilderness Boundary (near Meadow Creek Gorge)

Central South Fork – wild

Wilderness Boundary to Spotted Bear Ranger Station

Lower South Fork – recreational

Spotted Bear Ranger Station to start of Hungry Horse Reservoir
Glacier National Park

83

Figure 2. River segments and Outstandingly Remarkable Value (ORV) determinations

River 

Segment

ORV Category

Fisheries Geologic Water 

Quality Wildlife Botanic Recreation Scenic Historic Ethnographic

North Fork 

Flathead 

Scenic

X X X X X X X X X

North Fork 

Flathead 

Recreational

X X X X X X X

Middle Fork 

Flathead 

Wild

X X X X X X X X

Middle Fork 

Flathead 

Recreational

X X X X X X X

South Fork 

Flathead 

Wilderness

X X X X X X X X X

South Fork 

Flathead 

Wild, nonWilderness

X X X X X X X X

South Fork 

Flathead 

Recreational

X X X X X X X X
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84

Appendix E: Key Glacier National Park Planning 

Documents 1974-2015

Plan Year

Wilderness Recommendation: Glacier National Park 1974

Proposed Over-snow Vehicle Use at Glacier National Park Environmental Assessment 1975

Final Environmental Statement Master Plan: Glacier National Park, Montana 1976

Flathead Wild & Scenic River recreation management direction 1980

Flathead Wild & Scenic River Management Plan 1980

Glacier-Apgar Headquarters Area Development Plan 1982

Memorandum: new wilderness proposal 1984

Glacier National Park Land Protection Plan 1985

Lake McDonald, Sun Point, Rising Sun, St. Mary, Many Glacier, and Swiftcurrent 

Development Concept Plans

1986

Resource Management Plan: Glacier National Park 1988

Proposed Northern Continental Divide Visitor Center Environmental Assessment 1988

Rehabilitation of Concessions Facilities 1990

Glacier National Park Statement for Management 1990

Going-to-the-Sun Road Transportation Plan 1990

Going-to-the-Sun Road Cultural Resource Plan & Rehabilitation Projects 1991

Flood Hazard Evaluation for Divide and Wild Creeks – Glacier National Park 1991

Going-to-the-Sun Road Environmental Assessment 1991

Interpretive Prospectus – Glacier National Park 1992

North Fork Management Plan 1992

Value analysis – Glacier National Park Divide Creek 1992

Management of Backcountry Chalets Environmental Assessment 1993 / 

1995

Identification of Sensitive Wildlife Areas and Time Periods with Respect to Helicopter 

Overflights

1994

Memorandum: Changes to 1984 Wilderness Proposal 1994

World Heritage Committee: Crown of the Continent report by Canada and the USA 1995

Final General Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement 1999

Lake McDonald / Park Headquarters Wastewater Treatment System Rehabilitation 

Environmental Impact Statement

2000

Waterton Lakes National Park of Canada Management Plan 2000

Bear Management Plan 2001

Many Glacier Hotel Historic Structure Reports 2002

Fire Management Plan Environmental Assessment 2003
85

Glacier National Park

Plan Year

Going-to-the-Sun Road Rehabilitation Plan Environmental Impact Statement 2003

Final Commercial Services Plan 2004

Road maintenance guidelines 2005

Avalanche Hazard Reduction by Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway in Glacier 

National Park and Flathead National Forest, Montana Environmental Impact 

Statement

2006

Glacier National Park Comprehensive Interpretive Plan 2006

Going-to-the-Sun Road Vista Management Plan 2009

Large-scale Removal of Lake Trout in Quartz Lake Environmental Assessment 2009

Divide Creek flood plain study 2010

Outstanding remarkable values assessment of the Flathead River system 2013

Continued Lake Trout Suppression on Quartz Lake and Lake Trout Removal and Bull 

Trout Conservation in the Logging Lake Drainage Environmental Assessment

2013
Foundation Document

86

Appendix F: List of Traditionally Associated American 

Indian Tribes

Traditionally associated tribes refer to those groups that have had a significant connection to 

a place that has endured for two generations or more. The following list was derived from the 

NPS Intermountain Region’s tribal contact database.

Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma 

Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana 

Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana

Chippewa-Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, Montana

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation 

Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana

Kalispell Indian Community of the Kalispell Reservation

Kootenai Tribe of Idaho

Skokomish Indian Tribe

The park also consults with the following First Nations in Canada who are related to some of 

the U.S. tribes listed above. These include the Ktunaxa, Blood, Kanai, and Piikuni.
Intermountain Region Foundation Document Recommendation

Glacier National Park

September 2016

This Foundation Document has been prepared as a collaborative effort between park and regional staff and 

is recommended for approval by the Intermountain Regional Director.

RECOMMENDED

Jeff Mow, Superintendent, Glacier National Park Date

APPROVED

Sue E. Masica, Regional Director, Intermountain Region Date

As the nation’s principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for 

most of our nationally owned public lands and natural resources. This includes fostering sound use 

of our land and water resources; protecting our fish, wildlife, and biological diversity; preserving 

the environmental and cultural values of our national parks and historic places; and providing for 

the enjoyment of life through outdoor recreation. The department assesses our energy and mineral 

resources and works to ensure that their development is in the best interests of all our people by 

encouraging stewardship and citizen participation in their care. The department also has a major 

responsibility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in island 

territories under U.S. administration.

GLAC 117/133300 

October 2016
Foundation Document • Glacier National Park

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR