Happy 100th, Glacier Park

Glacier National Park’s 100th birthday approaches, and Montanans and Americans should be thankful and proud to have such a majestic park on the landscape.

The park was officially established on May 11, 1910, when President William Howard Taft signed a bill designating the country’s 10th national park. To commemorate that day, the park will be holding a ceremony at the West Glacier Community Building on May 11 this year. Park entrance fees will be waived for the day, and the public is encouraged to attend.

Because of the centennial celebration, which includes many events and programs throughout the year, park officials are expecting a 2 to 12 percent increase in park visitation this year. That would carry visitation well over 2 million people, added to the millions who have enjoyed the park since its inception.

What’s remarkable is how Glacier Park remains much the way it was 100 years ago. Sure, there have been gradual changes, modest development at places like Apgar, Many Glacier, West Glacier and East Glacier, but the vast majority of the 1 million-acre park has been preserved and protected.

The most striking sort of human footprint in the park is the historic Going-to-the-Sun Road, a fantastic engineering feat that indisputably improved the park because it provided the general public with better access to the park’s pristine interior. In the park’s early history, those destinations were reached on horseback mostly by well-to-do visitors.

After Sun Road was built, however, the park was opened to a far broader constituency. And it is well known that, over the decades, the biggest Glacier buffs have had a deep passion for protecting the park. That passion and dedication has served Glacier well for the last century and we expect it will continue to do so for the next hundred years as well.