Glacier National Park ⓘ

“Far away in northwestern Montana, hidden from view by clustering mountain-peaks, lies an unmapped corner—the Crown of the Continent.” When George Bird Grinnell first wrote those words, little did he know the impact they would have for future generations. Although it took time, and a fair amount of persistence, Grinnell along with Louis Hill, president of the Great Northern Railway, are credited as taking the necessary steps that led to President Taft signing the bill that made the area a national park in 1910.

These men are only a tiny sample of the people that shaped Glacier National Park. This area's human history reaches back thousands of years and, in part through the work of the National Park Service, will continue for generations to come.

The lands of Glacier National Park are part of the history and culture of the Blackfeet, Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai tribes.

Starting with fur trappers, Anglo settlers began populating the Glacier area in the early 1800s. Some homesteaders would later become the park's first rangers.

Below text from Through the Years in Glacier National Park: An Administrative History by Donald H. Robinson

George Bird Grinnell, at that time editor of the magazine "Forest and Stream," first came to the area of the park in 1885 and again in 1887, and thereafter almost yearly as long as he was able. To Grinnell goes the credit, and justly so, for swinging public opinion in favor of making this area into a national park, and also for promoting the legislation that made it possible. During his visits in 1885 and 1887 he explored the St. Mary and Swiftcurrent Valleys and named many of the features within them. …Articles [he wrote or published] created considerable interest in the area, and the local, and some national, newspapers began to take it up. Finally, through pressure exerted by Grinnell and others, the necessary legislation was drawn up.

Glacier National Park, established in 1910, predates the National Park Service itself, which was created in 1916. National park employees, be they rangers or clerks or curators, are hired to preserve, protect, manage, and interpret the land and resources entrusted to them.

As part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the CCC employed young men to live and work on public lands throughout the nation. Glacier had multiple work camps and much was done to improve park infrastructure.

There is a long history of Arts in the Parks , particularly the parks of the American West. Glacier continues that tradition through its Artist-in-Residence program.

Glacier National Park's historic buildings and structures are listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, some individually and others grouped in historic districts. The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the nation's places that are worthy of preservation. To meet eligibility requirements, a historic property must be significant to our history in architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture. Buildings must convey a sense of time and place and are generally at least 50 years old.

Among the 375 historic properties in Glacier National Park are six National Historic Landmarks: Going-to-the-Sun Road, Lake McDonald Lodge, Many Glacier Hotel, Granite Park Chalet, Sperry Chalet, and the Two Medicine Store. National Historic Landmarks are nationally significant historic places designated by the Secretary of the Interior because they possess exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the United States.

Read profiles of five of Glacier's National Historic Landmarks in Architecture in the Parks: A National Historic Landmark Theme Study by Laura Soullière Harrison, published in 1986:

Built in the 1910s and scattered throughout Glacier are a number of lodges and chalet buildings still in operation. Step through their doors and you step back in time.

Glacier National Park Headquarters Historic District is made up of a host of interesting buildings and structures chronicling the history of NPS architecture.

Between Apgar Visitor Center on the west side and and Divide Creek on the east, stretch 48.7 miles of history. Construction on Going-to-the-Sun Road began in 1919. Ten years later, visitors could reach Logan Pass. A few more years of hard work and the road reached St Mary.

Both St. Mary Visitor Center and Logan Pass Visitor Center are examples of a modernist architectural design style born out of a National Park Service development program known as Mission 66 .

Inside Glacier National Park's museum storage facility is a diverse range of objects and specimens. There are approximately 600,000 items related to Glacier's natural and cultural history within the park collection, including photographic prints and negatives, original Lake McDonald Lodge furnishings, documents, maps, architectural drawings, herbarium specimens, and fossils.

The park museum collection and archives are open for research to historians, writers, genealogists, and the general public by appointment.

Information can also be found at the park’s George C. Ruhle Library in West Glacier. The research library contains a large collection of published works concerning the history and the management of the park.

Every park site has a collection, making the National Park Service a huge repository of items important to the cultural and natural history of the country. You can virtually explore the NPS Museum Collections .

Researchers are encouraged to complete their preliminary research at libraries with a broader topical focus before approaching the archives at Glacier National Park.

Researchers should submit a request by mail, phone, fax or email to the museum office ahead of time, detailing their research project to the curatorial staff. Requests for materials should be submitted with enough lead time to allow for the evaluation of the request and the scheduling of curatorial staff to oversee the research.

Appointments for research in the museum collection or archives can be arranged between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, Mondays through Thursdays.

Jean Tabbert Museum Curator jean_tabbert@nps.gov Phone: (406) 888-7936 Fax: (406) 888-7937

Glacier National Park is world renowned for its natural beauty and endless recreational opportunities. Overwhelmed by its spectacular wild vistas, many of us fail to consider those who came before us, past peoples who perhaps admired the same views or whose footsteps created the path we now follow. If we take a minute to ponder that we are not the first people to know and love this land, we begin to wonder what other people lived here in this sometimes harsh but glorious landscape. What brought them to this vast mountainous area? How did they travel? What did they eat?

Archeologists try to answer these and other questions by studying the things that early people left behind . Often, when we think of the process of archeological inquiry, we imagine scientists collecting arrowheads or performing elaborate excavations. Archeology involves studying a wide range of objects (artifacts), structures (features), and places that people live (cultural landscapes). Studying these pieces of physical history helps us to connect to people and landscapes from the past. From the smallest flake of chert to a abandoned homesteader's cabin, from an ancient trail to a sunken steam boat, archeologists painstakingly work to unravel Glacier National Park's history and prehistory. They incorporate techniques such as careful excavation and systematic walking surveys, and utilize technological tools such as GPS units, metal detectors, and ground penetrating radar. They also seek the knowledge of tribal members who have memories and stories of this place—part of their traditional lands—and still seek out its special places; or the descendants of more recent inhabitants like the miners, homesteaders, and early park employees. Through the study of archeology and ethnography, people of long ago can still talk to us today.

Glacier's archeologists are involved in many projects throughout the year. By studying prehistoric and historic places and objects, we hope to add to our knowledge of this place we now call Glacier National Park.

Read about cultural resources discovered in the burn area after 2015's Reynolds Creek Fire in the article Fire-Fueled Finds .

In 2017, Glacier National Park archeologists teamed up with Montana Conservation Corps (MCC) members from the Blackfeet Youth Corps and the Veterans Corps to survey and record culturally modified trees in the North Fork. The project involved systematically surveying thousands of acres of off-trail woodland by foot over the course of several weeks. As a result, park archeologists and MCC volunteers recorded over twenty new culturally modified trees.

A very exciting project began at Glacier in 2009, in partnership with members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, the Blackfeet Nation, the University of Wyoming, the University of Colorado Boulder, and the University of Arizona as well as the Rocky Mountains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). As the park's perennial ice patches melt, they are releasing paleobiological materials, like wood and bones, long trapped in the ice. Researchers collected material and drilled ice core samples.

Read more on the Glacier Ice Patch Archeology and Paleoecology Project website or Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center's Ice Patch Resource Brief .

Glacier Ice Patch Project: The Kid's Pages A kid-friendly look at the Ice Patch Project, with interactive acitivities

Physical evidence of human use dates back more than 10,000 years within the boundaries of Glacier National Park. Numerous Native American tribes utilized the area around and within what is now the park for hunting, fishing, ceremonies, and gathering plants. When the first white explorers began arriving in the region, the Blackfeet controlled the prairies on the east side of Glacier, while the Salish, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai lived in the more forested west side.

Explorations to the area by white trappers as early as the 1700s opened the area, and the future Glacier National Park, to trading among European settlers and tribal communities. As resources were depleted, the tribes eventually signed treaties that would increasingly confine native people to reservations and leave them dependent on the U.S. government.

Today, the 1.5-million acre Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which shares Glacier’s eastern border, is home to about 8,600 members of the Blackfeet Nation, the largest tribe in Montana. The Flathead Indian Reservation encompasses approximately 1.3 million acres mostly along the Flathead River and is home to approximately 7,000 members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation.

View a series of videos made in cooperation with tribal leaders who are At Home in This Place .

During your visit to Glacier, hear from tribal members by attending a Native America Speaks program . Or explore exhibits in St. Mary Visitor Center that invite visitors to experience Glacier from the point of view of its original inhabitants.

Learn more about the tribes on their websites: The Blackfeet Nation Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation

In the early 1800s, French, English, and Spanish trappers came in search of beaver. In 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition came within 50 miles (80.5 km) of the area that is now the park.

By the middle of the 1800s, the mountainous region of Glacier National Park had been "discovered" and explored by early white explorers. The Blackfeet Indians continued to dominate the region until the 1870s. However, white settlers would soon start to take a foothold in the area as greater interest in exploration and exploitation of resources increased.

With railroad tracks over Marias Pass completed in 1891, the relative ease of venturing further west increased the number of homesteads in the area. People came to the area to run trap lines, establish home sites, prospect for coal, metals, and oil, or just enjoy the scenery.

Apgar The first buildings here were homesteads, but the early trappers, loggers, and miners quickly realized the opportunities of tourism. By 1892, settlers Milo Apgar and Charlie Howe were offering rental cabins, meals, pack horses, guided tours, and boat trips for visitors who arrived in Belton on the Great Northern Railway. Frank Geduhn offered cabins and services at the head of the lake.

Early tourists arrived at Belton Station via Great Northern Railway. In the late 1800s, the west entrance to what is now Glacier was shrouded and tree-lined with towering, ancient western red cedars. There was no bridge across the Middle Fork until 1897. Guests were rowed across the river. It was not until about 1895 that a rugged dirt road connected the river to the foot of Lake McDonald. From there, guests would board George Snyder's steamboat for the trip up the lake to the Snyder Hotel. It took most of the day to reach the hotel, if all the equipment ran smoothly. After a night at the hotel, visitors could ride horseback into the mountains.

East Side Under pressure from miners, the mountains east of the Continental Divide were acquired by the U.S. government from the Blackfeet in 1895. Miners came searching for copper and gold. They hoped to strike it rich, but no large copper or gold deposits were ever located. Although the mining boom lasted only a few years, abandoned mine shafts are still found in several places in the park. The area that would become Glacier National Park first received protection from Congress as a forest preserve in 1900. See A Brief History of the East Side of Glacier National Park for more.

North Fork The existing wagon road up the North Fork became the western boundary of the park when Glacier was established in 1910. Forty-four homesteads to the east of the new boundary then became inholdings within Glacier. A rich history of characters, from the first rangers to innovative bootleggers, helped to define the early years of Glacier. Read the resource brief on North Fork Homesteading.

We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune. Theodore Roosevelt

From its humble beginnings in 1910, Glacier's work force has grown into a collection of individuals (often) fiercely loyal to this magical place. The National Park Service was created by an act of Congress in 1916.

Glacier National Park's first superintendent was Major William Logan . Logan lived in Montana off and on for many years, and had explored the Glacier area on survey crews. In the park's first year there were few trails and practically no roads. The first headquarters were tents on Lake McDonald.

The first federal officers in the Glacier area were with the U.S. Forest Service. Now a park, Logan hired Glacier's first park rangers. Some of them were local homesteaders and trappers that knew the land, like Joe Cosley and Dan Doody . It was a small crew at first, but grew to over a dozen men by 1912. Each man was assigned a portion of the park to patrol. The main tasks were to stop poachers, look after game animals, hunt large predatory animals, and fight fire. These rangers were a rough group, used to hard work and hard living in their small, rugged, and remote patrol cabins.

In 1922 a free Nature Guide Service was established by Dr. Morton J. Elrod , of the University of Montana, under the joint sponsorship of the University and the National Park Service. To start this program, Dr. Elrod, assisted by Drs. Severy and Fredell, also of the University staff, inaugurated a series of nature walks and nature information desks in certain hotels.

...Dr. Elrod continued to expand his service to the public by widening his field of operations, until, by 1927, he had one man at each of the following places: Many Glacier, Sun Camp and Lake McDonald. One gave evening talks illustrated by slides furnished by the hotel company, established self-guiding nature trails, took conducted walks and maintained cut-flower exhibits in the hotel lobbies, he also had a number of publications for sale, dealing with the natural features of the park. In 1924 he published the first Guide Book of the park, Elrod's Guide, which sold for many years as the official park guide but is now out of print and on the rare book list.

Read interviews with longtime NPS employees through the Association of National Park Rangers Oral History Project .

Get an NPS history overview from the Ken Burns PBS Series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" as well as biographies of significant figures; and explore the filmmakers' research material.

One of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first acts after he took office for the first time was to tackle the problem of acute unemployment. This problem was particularly serious among the young men of the cities and towns throughout the United States, who could not compete for jobs with the men who had families to support. As part of his program to solve this unemployment, on March 31, 1933, Congress passed an act authorizing the establishment of a program of public works for these young men in National Forests and National Parks. Under this program termed "Emergency Conservation Work" the Civilian Conservation Corps was set up.

During the months of May and June 1933, eight so-called "CCC" camps were established in the park, each consisting of from fifty to two hundred and fifty men. The boys, mostly teen-age, were under the supervision of Army officers in camp and under civilian foremen and supervisors on the job. The first month was spent in camp construction, followed by increasing amounts of fieldwork, mainly involving cleanup of the burned area of the fire of 1929 in the southwestern corner of the park. This program continued to grow as work was laid out for them, and before long these crews became the mainstay of the park labor organization. Fourteen different campsites were located within the park along with numerous "spike" camps for small work crews. One of the biggest jobs carried out by these crews was the cleanup after the 1929 and 1936 forest fires, in which over 12,000 acres of unsightly snags were felled, cut up into wood or lumber, and removed from the area. Six and one-half miles of lead-covered telephone cable was carried in and laid down over Logan Pass, all by hand, for the first trans-mountain telephone cable installation. Over 150 acres of campground sites were prepared for use and many miles of roadside cleanup accomplished. Buildings, trails, roads, and telephone lines were constructed and maintained throughout the park. Sewer and water systems were installed, enlarged, or repaired. These and thousands of other jobs were accomplished by these boys in the years they were in the park—many of them jobs that could not have been accomplished otherwise because of the high costs involved.

One of the CCC's biggest values to the park, as well as to other forested areas, was in fire-suppression work. Hundreds of thousands of hours were spent by these crews in suppressing forest fires, at times when civilian crews were not available in sufficient numbers or in time to do any good. Trained crews were stationed at various areas on other work projects, with their tools ready for instant getaway in case of fire call, and it was not unusual to see a twenty five- or fifty-man crew on the way to a fire within five minutes following the first call.

During the latter part of the CCC period crews were cut down until there were only two camps in the park, both located near Belton (West Glacier). After the entrance of the United States into World War II all CCC projects were halted and the last camp, NP-9, was evacuated on July 17, 1942, ending the CCC program in the park.

Above text from Through the Years in Glacier National Park: An Administrative History by Donald H. Robinson, published by Glacier Natural History Association, Inc.

The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933-1942: An Administrative History by John C. Paige

The interaction between Glacier National Park's landscape and artists is not a new phenomenon. Native American and European artists have found spiritual inspiration in the land, wildlife, and flora of the region beginning long before the park's establishment in 1910. That inspiration has been expressed in a wide diversity of media: painting, poetry, folklore, sculpture, woodcarving, photography, music, and prose.

The Great Northern Railway built a network of accommodations to serve park visitors in the park's early years. In order to enhance their promotional efforts, the railway invited accomplished European and American artists to live and work in Glacier. The work of artists such as John Fery, Kathryn Leighton, and Winold Reiss depicting Glacier's landscape and the lifestyle of the neighboring Blackfeet tribe were featured in Great Northern's brochures and adorned walls in the hotels and chalets throughout the park.

Not all of Glacier's artists came to the park by way of the railroad. One of the most well known artists associated with the park was Charles M. Russell. Known to his friends as 'Charlie', this self-taught painter, sculptor, and storyteller came to Glacier in 1907 and spent almost twenty summers on the shore of Lake McDonald. Best known for his depictions of the 1800s American West and its inhabitants, Charlie found a somewhat different inspiration in Glacier's mountains and forests. During his summer retreats to the park, he created paintings and sculpture made from moss, bark, and other natural materials gathered from the woods surrounding the rustic cabin he and his wife Nancy christened "Bull Head Lodge."

View the Montana Historical Society online collection , including American Indian art and many works by Charlie Russell.

The Montana Historical Society has two "foot lockers" available for loan that contain information and lessons for teachers about artists with ties to Glacier National Park, including Charlie Russell. The "Land of Many Stories" and "Cowboy Artist" can be viewed on the society's educational footlocker web page .

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, the Glacier National Park Headquarters Historic District is a complex of office buildings, trade shops, and employee residences ensconced in a forest environment. The buildings reflect the National Park Service's distinctive use of architectural styles, from a simple Craftsman style in 1917, to the development of Park Service Rustic in the 1920s and 1930s, to Park Service Modern during the Mission 66 era (1956-1966).

To learn more about the architecture and history of these buildings, you can listen to the audio files below. Click to hear students from Whitefish Independent High School relate how these cultural resources reflect not only the architecture of the time, but also the changing needs of the national park. The students researched and wrote the tour with the assistance of park staff in 2011 thanks to a Cultural and Aesthetics grant from the Montana Arts Council . Download the tour script (pdf file).

If you come to the park, you can visit each stop. The tour is about a mile long and will take approximately 1 hour. For your safety, please walk on the left side of the road, facing traffic, and be aware of park personnel working and driving. Also, all of these structures are working facilities and many are private residences. Please be respectful of this and do not approach or enter structures. Enjoy your stroll back in time!

Glacier National Park was established in 1910, and immediately new visitor accommodations started springing up. Many were built by the Great Northern Railway (GNR). Visitors were able to journey through the park on trail, following established routes, with accommodations spaced about a day's horse ride apart. Some nights were spent at a chalet, others a charming tent camp, and others at one of the opulent lodges.

Glacier was deemed "America's Switzerland" so the lodges were built in a Swiss-style. Besides stunning mountain locations, the lodges share characteristics like gabled roofs, exposed beams, ornate decorative mouldings, balconies, and plenty of large windows.

Sprinkled throughout Glacier's backcountry were a number of chalet complexes, all continuing the Swiss-style theme. The complex generally consisted of guest cabins, dining hall, employee dormitory, and other outbuildings. Between 1910-15, Great Northern Railway constructed nine chalets. The sites were Belton, St. Mary, Sun Point, Many Glacier, Two Medicine, Sperry, Granite Park, Cut Bank, and Gunsight Lake.

Two Medicine Built in 1914 The log building that is now the Two Medicine Campstore was once the dining hall of Two Medicine Chalet complex.

For Glacier, the decades leading to Mission 66 were much like those in the rest of the country. During the Great Depression, park visitation dropped. Some accommodations did not even open for business. Though visitors were few in the 1930s, Civilian Conservation Corps workers were many. Work camps were set up in parks across the country, Glacier included. Roads, trails, and buildings were built or improved in a "rustic" architectural style that capitalized on the cheap and plentiful labor force.

Once the war ended, the country's economy boomed and Americans took to the new interstate highways in great numbers. Glacier already boasted Rising Sun and Swiftcurrent Auto Camps, but much was still to be done to accommodate the increased visitation and the increased staffing Glacier required.

National Park Service Director Conrad Wirth saw similar needs throughout the park system. His Mission 66 program proposal called for millions of dollars to be spent on visitor centers, ranger stations, employee housing, concession buildings, landscape development, roads, and trails—not only new construction, but on repairs, better maintenance, and more staff.

Between 1945 and 1973, over $1 billion was spent on improvements to parks. Many were infrastructure related, while some improvements were in resource management philosophy.

Having outgrown their small, log cabin-style rustic buildings, park rangers needed a new way to greet visitors and share resource information. The concept of a "visitor center" was created during the Mission 66 program. The modern visitor center is a prominently located building where visitor facilities (restrooms, water, information, etc), interpretive programs, exhibits, and administrative offices could all be found under one roof. These new visitor centers gave park buildings a uniform look and exemplified efficiency.

Mid-century Americans were focused on progress. Mission 66 architecture sought to symbolize American progress through efficiency of plan and efficiency of building material. Different schools of thought influenced Mission 66 modern design, but they shared key characteristics:

Glacier boasts two Mission 66 visitor centers: St. Mary and Logan Pass. St. Mary Visitor Center was completed in 1967 and is located adjacent to the park entrance. Because these multi-purpose facilities were to be large and obvious, most park visitor centers are found in less sensitive areas, like entrances. Designers wanted to attract drivers for orientation, rather than allowing them to miss key resource information and go aimlessly through the park.

On the other hand, Logan Pass Visitor Center, completed in 1966, sits in the middle of the park. The philosophy behind this location choice, was to put visitors right on top of the resources, allowing visitors to see everything from the visitor center with rangers on hand to explain and interpret.

Burt L. Gewalt, of the firm Brinkman and Lenon, Architects and Engineers of Kalispell, Montana, was responsible for both visitor centers, though preliminary design of Logan Pass Visitor Center was done by Cecil Doty of the National Park Service Western Office of Design and Construction.

Designed and constructed in 1965 Like other Mission 66 buildings in Glacier National Park, the coffee shop was designed by Gewalt. Collins Construction Co. of Kalispell built the coffee shop at a cost of $140,130, and it opened to the public along with the Lake McDonald Lodge in 1966. The low profile, one-story, 40' x 100' rectangular facility was designed to reflect the nearby historic Swiss chalet style buildings while incorporating modern materials and construction methods of the Mission 66 era.

Historic objects, such as this hacksaw blade and threaded plumbing pipe elbow, give archeologists clues to the kinds of tools and quality of living that people had available to them in the historic period. Items such as these can also be used to date the occupational period of the site they are associated with. They also tell researchers that during the time that they were deposited, people were installing plumbing and enjoying some of the modern conviences in Glacier National Park that we take for granted today.

This grooved maul, found on the bank of the Flathead River, tells archeologists that Native people traveled up and down the river corridor, bringing their tools with them.

This tractor was found at a homestead that is currently inaccessable to any but foot or horse traffic. It would have required a major effort to either float it across the river to the homestead or haul it up a trail along the river, since the homestead was never accessed by vehicular road. This effort attests to its extreme value and utility to the early homesteaders who brought it in. It also shows their relative wealth and commitment to mechanized farming practices, while giving archeologists an exact date of use.

This photo shows pieces of china, glassware, and bottles from a historic dump associated with one of Glacier's grand hotels. From the wide variety of objects present, you can begin to get a snapshot of daily life in the tourism industry from the early 1900's. The blue willow style "hotel" china was commonly used to serve meals to hotel guests in Glacier; the more plain utilitarian wear may have been used by the staff. Maker's marks show that the hotel "blue willow" was produced in the United States, being made to resemble more prestigious (and more expensive) English Blue Willow china.

This smokehouse, is an excellent example of the importance of food preservation to early settlers. It is of extremely sturdy construction, half buried in a hill, and was originally sheathed with metal, no doubt to deter maurading bears. A smokehouse would have been key to preserving meat in the days before refrigeration, ensuring that there would always be food on the table.

Some Native peoples considered the inner bark (cambium layer) of the Ponderosa Pine tree to be a delicacy. To acquire it, they would strip bark from large trees and then separate it into edible and inedible layers, without killing the tree. Many of these trees can be found throughout Montana and the American West.

The remains of old buildings, such as what was left after this fire, are also important archeological and historic resources.

In 2017, Glacier National Park archeologists teamed up with Montana Conservation Corps members from the Blackfeet Youth Corps and the Veterans Corps to survey for and record culturally modified trees in the North Fork. The project involved systematically surveying thousands of acres of off-trail woodland by foot over the course of several weeks. As a result, GNP archeologists and MCC volunteers recorded over twenty new culturally modified trees.

A culturally modified tree is any tree that has been cut into and scarred by humans. There are many reasons why people in the past would have modified or scarred trees. For example, Native Americans living in and around Glacier peeled the bark off of ponderosa pines in order to access the inner cambium layer, which could then be harvested as a food source. These bark peelings from the inner layers of ponderosa pine could have been roasted, boiled, or even consumed raw. Another tree species found in Glacier that is associated with the activities of prehistoric peoples is the Western Red Cedar. The bark from cedar trees can be pulled off in strips and put to use in the making of clothing, baskets, and even canoes.

The scarring of trees did not end with the arrival of euro-americans and the establishment of Glacier as a National Park. For example, early park rangers would scar trees to use as trail blazes on winter snowshoeing routes, or in the case of a least one Belly River ranger, simply to leave their mark.

No, the prehistoric modification and scarring of trees occurred all over the wooded areas of Montana and beyond. Today, however, culturally scarred trees are only found in a few places in Montana, such as the Bob Marshall Wilderness and Glacier National Park. The reason for this is the lands within Glacier have been protected by law from logging and development since 1910. As a result, Glacier still retains old growth forests with trees that can be half a millennium old or older! Since the regular scarring of trees in Glacier stopped with the arrival of euro-americans in the latter half of the 1800s, our only evidence of this activity is contained on trees that are at least 150 years old, and ideally much older.

Part of the job of an archeologist is to monitor, manage, and protect cultural sites throughout the park. By establishing an inventory of culturally modified trees in Glacier, the park is able to implement management actions such as fuel reduction without the risk of destroying a culturally modified tree.

Another reason that park archeologists are interested in recording these trees is that unlike other types of archeological sites, they are organic and will not be around forever. By documenting these resources now, future generations of scholars, staff, and visitors will be able to learn about them even after they are gone.

Finally, these culturally modified trees tell a story both individually and as a whole about the people who lived in and used these lands before us. When standing before a large old ponderosa with a massive scar, one can imagine early foragers returning to the tree year after year, perhaps making camps right beside them. And when archeologists plot the locations of all the known culturally scarred trees on a map, one can begin to see prehistoric travel corridors and seasonal resource gathering patterns.

Thousands of acres have been surveyed for culturally modified trees within Glacier National Park, but Glacier is big—over a million acres! The park's cultural resource team discovers new sites and site leads every day, and is already planning for the next big culturally scarred tree survey. What secrets still remain in Glacier's old-growth forests?

Evidence of human use in this area dates back to over 10,000 years. By the time the first European explorers came into this region, several different tribes inhabited the area. The Blackfeet Indians controlled the vast prairies east of the mountains, while the Salish and Kootenai Indians lived in the western valleys, traveling over the mountains in search of game and to hunt the great herds of buffalo on the eastern plains.

The majority of early European explorers came to this area in search of beaver and other pelts. They were soon followed by miners and, eventually, settlers looking for land. By 1891, the completion of the Great Northern Railway sealed the area’s fate, allowing a greater number of people to enter into the heart of northwest Montana. Homesteaders settled in the valleys west of Marias Pass and soon small towns developed.

Around the turn of the century, people started to look at the land differently. For some, this place held more than minerals to mine or land to farm…they began to recognize that the area had a unique scenic beauty all to its own.

By the late 1800s, influential leaders like George Bird Grinnell, pushed for the creation of a national park. In 1910, Grinnell and others saw their efforts rewarded when President Taft signed the bill establishing Glacier as the country's 10th national park.

Through Glacier Park by Mary Roberts Rinehart, a 1916 account of adventuring in Glacier

279 bird species have been documented in Glacier, with 144 species known to nest in the park. Raptors, songbirds, shorebirds, waterfowl, and more rely on Glacier's diverse habitats and location along important migratory pathways. While there are currently no bird species in the park that are federally listed as threatened or endangered, there are 38—including the common loon, harlequin duck, great gray owl, and Clark's nutcracker—that are listed as Montana Species of Concern. Biologists and citizen scientists at Glacier and the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center monitor a small portion of breeding bird species, gathering information about reproduction, abundance, distribution, and habitat use.

As climate change progresses, the population and distribution of bird species in Glacier may shift. Rising temperatures and changing seasonal weather patterns can affect the timing and availability of food. While these impacts are ongoing, Glacier continues to serve as a refuge for birds, those who study them, and all who love to find birds in the wild. Learn more about birds and birding throughout the National Park Service .

Use the legend below to learn where, when, and how often birds are found in the park. Common names conform with the American Birding Association Checklist Update, 2015. List compiled by Dave Shea, November, 1971. Revised by Dave Shea, Steve Gniadek, and Lisa Bate, November, 2015.

As the meeting ground of four major floristic provinces, Glacier's ecosystem supports a diverse array of plant species and plant communities. Many species and plant communities reach the edge of their range here. Glacier Park has 30 species that are "endemic" to the region, those with ranges limited exclusively to the northern Rocky Mountains. All but one of these occur in cold, open areas characteristic of harsh, post-glacial environments. Many are relics of the post-glacial age or occur here because the diverse combination of environmental conditions create unique micro-habitats. Three major North American watersheds arise from Glacier National Park (Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific). Two climate zones (Pacific Maritime and Prairie/Arctic) are separated by the Continental Divide. Biomes range from the lower elevation pacific cedar-hemlock forest to the high alpine tundra. Plant varieties change somewhat north to south as well because the north half of the park is in the rainshadow of the Whitefish Range. The cedar-hemlocks give way to drier Douglas fir and lodgepole pine forests in the North Fork, Flathead River drainage.

Glacier National Park is home to at least 1,132 species of vascular plants (those containing vessels that conduct water and nutrients). There are 88 annual or biennial plant species and 804 types of perennial herbs. Included in these numbers are 127 non-native species. Sixty-seven vascular and 42 non-vascular plant species found in Glacier Park are listed as "sensitive" by the State of Montana.

Though only a small percentage of park vegetation, grasses are an important source of food and habitat for park wildlife.

A walk through a meadow in summer may lead you to believe there are an infinite number of wildflowers in Glacier.

With the headwaters of three continental drainages located in Glacier Park, flora and fauna have diverse affinities with many species occurring near the geographic limits of their range. Even slight differences in elevation and directional exposure can radically alter the occurrence of specific habitats and, hence, the distribution of plants and animals.

Monitoring changes to the environment, such as impacts due to global climate change and the spread of exotic species, is matched with serious restoration efforts. We want to pass this place to future generations the way it is today, or better.

Glacier's alpine glaciers make it one of the top research sites for climate science and a place to see climate change in action.

Invasive plants and aquatic species threaten native species existence, spurring park restoration efforts.

The preservation and maintenance of Glacier's natural resources is a daunting task for park managers given the growing list of threats, including some that are global in scale such as a warming climate. The introduction of invasive, nonnative (exotic) plant and fish species are major issues too.

For an up-to-date list of federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act, please visit the species list maintained by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Glacier National Park provides habitat for state-listed species of concern. More information can be found by visiting the Montana Natural Heritage Program.

Glacier has joined over 120 other parks in the Climate Friendly Parks initiative. Member parks make it a top priority to respond to climate change and move park operations in a more sustainable direction.

Glacier National Park is home to 71 species of mammals, ranging from the tiny pygmy shrew , about the weight of a dime, to large majestic species like elk, which weigh upwards of 500 pounds. What's unique about Glacier's ecosystem is it is intact and relatively undisturbed. This is due to two things: 1.) the park was designated early, in 1910, giving wildlife over a century of protection; and 2.) space. Not only is the park large—over a million acres—but the surrounding national forests, Wilderness Areas, and Canadian protected lands ensure that wide-ranging animals such as grizzlies and wolverines have plenty of room to roam.

Bats Glacier supports ten species of bats, the most common being the little brown bat. The only mammal capable of sustained flight, bat species in Montana are insectivores able to consume one third of their body weight in insects during their nocturnal feeding periods. Since their appearance 52.5 million years ago, many bat species have developed sophisticated echolocation mechanisms to find their prey in the dark via sound waves. With the approach of winter, some bat species fly to warmer areas, while others remain to find safe roosting sites and go into torpor, slowing their body functions down until roused by warm weather. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park has the most substantial migration route currently known for Hoary Bats across North America.

Recent outbreaks of white-nose syndrome, which has killed more than 5 million bats in the eastern U.S., has sparked bat studies in the West. Bat surveys in Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks have resulted in the discovery of three species previously unobserved in the region. Learn more about Glacier's bat populations and the threats that face them.

Bears Bears have always attracted human attention. When many people think of Glacier, they think of bears. Glacier provides the core of one of the largest remaining grizzly bear populations in the lower 48 states.

Beaver Castor canadensis North America's largest rodent is known for its stick and log construction. They are semi-aquatic, building their lodges and dam on rivers and streams. They are herbivores with webbed hind feet and chisel-like teeth for chewing wood. In Glacier, Lower McDonald Creek is a great place to see beavers. When alarmed, beavers will make their presence known by aggressively slapping the water surface with their large flat tails. Some of the first Anglo traders came to the area to the hunt and trap the beaver for its prized pelt. Read about how beavers impact their environment .

Bighorn Sheep Ovis canadensis Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, named for their large horns that can weigh up to 30 pounds on males, inhabit alpine meadows and grassy mountain slopes in the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the United States. Their ability to climb steep terrain allows them to find cover from predators. Traveling in herds and feeding on grasses and shrubs throughout the year, they are one of the few species that can survive winters at high elevations.

Elk Cervus canadensis One of the largest land mammals in North America, elk range in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses, plants, leaves, and bark. Remaining at higher elevations during the summer, they move to lower refuges in the fall, sometimes traveling scores of miles to winter feeding grounds. Mating season, or the rut, occurs between late August and December when dominant males attract a harem by a show of large antlers and ritual sparring with competitors. The male’s characteristic bugle call is often heard during this time.

Lynx Lynx canadensis Rarely seen in the continental United States, and listed as a threatened species in the lower 48 states, the Canada lynx does frequent portions of Glacier. More than twice the size of a domestic cat, lynx prefer the shelter of dense forests. They hunt in higher elevations, where their long legs and broad furred feet aid them in traveling through deep snow, using their large ears and eyes to find prey. Snowshoe hares comprise 60% to 97% of their diet, with rodents, birds and sometimes larger animals, and occasional carrion, making up the rest. While prominently solitary, females and their cubs have been known to work together in hunting, one lynx scaring prey out of hiding while the others attack.

Mountain Goats Oreamnos americanus Dwelling in the cliffs at high elevations throughout the year, the mountain goat, also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is well suited for survival in the mountains. With two layers of wool, a dense undercoat covered by an outer layer of long hollow hairs, the species can survive temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit and winds of 100 mph. Specialized cloven hooves with traction-creating inner pads and dewclaws provide sure footing on steep slopes of up to 60 degrees, beyond the reach of most predators. If threatened, they use their size, agility, and horns to protect themselves. Herbivores with a diet of grasses, herbs, sedges, moss, lichen, twigs, and even foliage from conifers, mountain goats have the ability to stay in the alpine through the winter months.

Mountain Lions Felis concolor The mountain lion is the largest feline in North America. Although not commonly seen, they persist in stable densities throughout Glacier. Read about mountain lion safety before hitting the trail. As one of Glacier’s larger predators, mountain lions pursue a wide variety of prey, including deer, elk, moose, and bighorn sheep, as well as smaller animals. They usually hunt at night, dawn, or dusk, and after a successful hunt, will hide large carcasses and feed on them for several days.

Mountain lions can be found in most habitat types, but tend to prefer wooded areas where they can utilize cover for sneaking up on prey. With the exceptions of mating, and when females are raising young, mountain lions are solitary and elusive. They have one of the largest home ranges of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere. These home ranges include areas to hunt and rest, sources for water, lookout positions, and denning sites where cubs can be safely reared.

Pikas Ochotona princeps Pikas are one of the few animals able to survive winters in the alpine. Solitary herbivores, they spend the summer months gathering plant materials and storing them under rock enclosures. Known as haystacks, these collections of grasses, sedges, twigs, moss and flowers allow them to endure the harsh climate of the mountains without having to hibernate or go to lower elevations. The pika’s small size, about 4 inches (10 cm), allows it to find cover under rocks in talus slopes to avoid predators such as weasels and birds of prey. With grey to brown fur and round ears, they can also blend in with their rocky surroundings.

Wolverines Gulo gulo Wolverines are the largest member of the weasel family and tend to prefer subalpine fir forests in isolated, remote wilderness with ample spring snow cover. Short, stocky legs with five-toed paws give wolverines the ability to travel easily through snow, and its thick, oily fur is resistant to frost. With powerful jaws and sharp claws, wolverines are opportunistic predators and scavengers. Scat analyses show that a large portion of a wolverine’s diet consists of large mammals such as deer and elk that are mostly scavenged. In addition, they hunt animals such as ground squirrels, marmots, snowshoe hares, and mice, and will supplement their diet with insect and plant material.