Glacier's 'well-done' solution
Inter Lake editorial
The recent overhaul of the kitchen facility at Granite Park Chalet in Glacier National Park may not seem like such a big-deal accomplishment to many. But it is, and not just in the logistical sense of getting two 500-pound stoves into the remote chalet on the Highline Trail.
After a rigorous review, park officials made the right call in allowing 53-year old stoves to be flown out and the new stoves to be flown in by helicopter. It was a necessary task for maintaining operations at the stone-and-mortar chalet.
While some folks wince or even cringe at the use of helicopters in the park, they are a necessary tool. And it's important to remember that even though the park has all the characteristics of pristine wilderness, it is not a designated wilderness where the use of helicopters and other motorized equipment can be much more restrictive.
Most important in this case was the park's demonstrated cooperation with a concession contractor in maintaining public use of a deeply important part of the park's history. The Granite Park Chalet wasn't plopped into the backcountry as some modern development - it is part of Glacier's cultural foundation, built by the Great Northern Railway in 1914 and designated as a national historic monument in 1987.
The park has a duty to work with whoever is operating the chalet, to ensure that it does not slip into a state of disrepair where it must be mothballed because it can longer serve as a viable enterprise.
By all means, helicopter flights into the park should be limited and carefully reviewed on a case-by-case basis. We believe another necessary use is the aerial removal of sewage at Granite Park as well as Sperry chalets at the end of the visitor season. Composting toilets at both chalets have proven ineffective, and rather than spending huge sums of money trying out space-age toilets, the current method is the cheapest and most practical.
It's important to consider that environmental protections have vastly improved in the park over the last few decades. Things haven't gotten worse over time, as is often assumed with environmental matters; they've gotten better.
Consider that it wasn't too long ago when sewage from the chalet outhouses was embarrassingly emptied out onto the slopes below at the end of each summer season. Consider that in the 1960s, there were garbage dumps at the chalets that some speculate were intentionally maintained for the purpose of attracting grizzly bears as a spectator sport for visitors. And campgrounds were notoriously littered.
Not so today. The park is clean and a public ethos has developed to keep it that way. The park can and should use the tools at its disposal to help.