Glaciers are receding worldwide. Most watchful of this regression are those closely associated with Glacier National Park.
This glacier shifts about one inch a day and due to global warming, could be gone by 2035. From the original 150 glaciers dating to the small ice age in the park, only a few still exist.
Covering more than one million acres, Glacier National Park became America’s 10th national park on May 11, 1910 and then joined with Canada in 1932. Half the park is in Canada, the other half in the United States.
Glacier is the only park of its kind. Major environmental decisions and park regulations are decided jointly between the two countries.
The park is protected from logging, mining or grazing. A motorway built in the 1920s and ‘30s, cuts through the park’s most picturesque countryside.
Glacier has more fossils than any other world park and draws countless scientists. The park, however, is unpopular with climbers because the rock formations creating the mountains yield. They don’t hold pitons, and outcrops are notorious for falling away at the merest weight.
In Alaska, where grizzlies are enriched by salmon protein diets, the bears are larger. Glacier’s grizzlies are smaller due to a diet more of huckleberries and glacier lilies. Delicious dark purple huckleberries grow wild over much of the park in late summer and fall.
Glacier lilies are fragile yellow blooms, smaller than a half dollar. The grizzlies four-inch claws are virtually unbreakable and are perfectly adapted to digging.
During its bitter winters, Glacier National Park experiences hundreds of avalanches. During warmer months the majestic park engulfs visitors with stunning mountain peaks, many covered year-round with glacier snow and the sheer diversity of plant and animal life.
Glacier National Park was named to exemplify the slow-moving glaciers that carved its awe-inspiring valleys. The park is best known for its geographical beauty, adventure and eco-friendliness. Glacier National Park is also a reminder of America’s ties with Canada, our northern neighbor.
