Glacier National Park
The pride of Montana
Home to a pair of mountain ranges, over 130 lakes, hundreds of different animals and some 1,000 unique plant species, Glacier National Park is one of the most precious natural environments in the world. Covering some 1,500 square miles, some have called the area the “Crown of the Continent Ecosystem.” Indeed, if Glacier National Park was to ever be sapped of its many local mammals or vegetation, the planet’s atmosphere would suffer.
Fortunately, the American government has made the park a protected area. Many naturalists have argued that the entire region - about 16,000 square miles - should be likewise protected, an attitude that seems ironic considering Montana’s longtime reliance on the mining industry.
Like many areas across the massive border, Glacier National Park is joined by a Canadian landmark. Glacier is linked to Waterton Lakes National Park, with the pair uniformly referred to as the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. The two were designated as the world’s very first international peace park in 1932, and have since been recognized as a United Nations Biosphere Reserve (1976) and World Heritage site (1995).
Both legend and archeological evidence suggest that the first Native Americans arrived in the valley around Glacier National Park around 10,000 years ago. Some believe the blood of these peoples still flows in the veins of today’s local Salish, Shoshone and Cheyenne tribes, all known for having crafted Montanan history. By the 18th century, the warriors of the Blackfoot began their watch over the eastern side of the park and the Great Plains off in the distance.
Although famous explorers Lewis and Clark never came within 50 miles of the park, subsequent ventures into modern day Montana by George Bird Grinnell established that the area should become protected. By 1901, Grinnell had coined the term “Crown of the Continent.”
In May of 1910, President William Howard Taft signed a bill designating the area as Glacier National Park, largely thanks to the petitioning of George Bird Grinnell.
Today, the park remains a peaceful habitat. Overseen by the fewest staffers of any federal agency, it welcomes two million visitors a year. Although that number is impressive enough to keep the local tourism industry in full production, its modesty keeps Glacier one of the cleanest and most beautiful parks in the country.
