Glacier primed for wilderness designation

On the eve of its centennial year, Glacier National Park is primed for a long overdue wilderness designation, Glacier Superintendent Chas Cartwright said Tuesday at a Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Just over 900,000 of Glacier's 1 million acres were included in a formal wilderness designation recommended by President Richard Nixon 35 years ago, but Congress has never acted on it.

"Is that overdue business, or what?" said Cartwright, who has made it a cause to challenge knee-jerk presumptions against a designation, and offer several reasons to support one.

Cartwright makes the case that a designation would give Glacier the highest level of protection, specifically from the development whims of future superintendents, and it would be a powerful, symbolic statement about the importance of the park.

"What we're saying is that this is the cream of the crop," Cartwright said. "What it says is that Glacier deserves the highest level of protection."

Cartwright said he can address nearly every concern he has ever heard about wilderness.

"It will not change how the public enjoys the park, and it won't change how we manage the park," Cartwright insisted.

Because of a "minimum requirement" provision in wilderness law, the park would have the flexibility to continue with many practices that are prohibited in other wilderness areas, he said.

Trail crews would continue to use chain saws because the short field season would require it. If trails weren't cleared of downed timber as rapidly as possible, hikers would start to create undesired new trails.

Helicopters would continue to be necessary to haul sewage waste from the park's two backcountry chalets, because there are no reasonable alternatives.

"Will it shut down the chalets? No it will not," he said.

A designation would not include the park's developed areas and existing road corridors, so it would not have a negative impact on concession contractors and other businesses that operate inside Glacier.

A designation would limit future road and trail development in the park, but Cartwright contends that the existing routes serve the visiting public well.

He said he would prefer wilderness legislation that is "the simpler, the better," and he believes the political momentum for passing legislation will be best in Glacier's centennial season.

"What better, long-lasting legacy is there, going into the centennial year?" he asked.

Cartwright also discussed the ongoing Going-to-the-Sun Road reconstruction project, saying park and Federal Highway Administration officials are exploring ways to have more flexibility in construction constraints to finish the project sooner.

For example, construction currently cannot cause combined delays of more than 30 minutes across the entire length of the road. That requirement limits the number of work zones, even though most visitors do not travel the entire length of the road. Instead, most visitors tend to travel to Logan Pass and leave the park the same way they came in.

By having more work zones on both sides of the pass, with longer combined delays, the project would be expedited, he said.

But Cartwright stressed that the park would not be forcing changes like that without buy-in from the public.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com