Glacier Park closure part of shutdown

Under a federal government shutdown, Glacier National Park and all other national parks will be closed today to all visitor recreational uses.

The closure will apply to all facilities and services, and visitors using campgrounds in the park will be given 48 hours to leave, according to Denise Germann, Glacier’s public affairs specialist.

“Most employees would go into a furlough status, but all employees are to report to work Tuesday morning,” Germann said Monday afternoon.  

A small number of employees would continue to work to maintain the closure of the park and provide law enforcement, emergency response services and other critical duties.

The park’s work force includes about 150 year-round employees plus 350 to 400 seasonal workers, but many of the seasonal employees already have left.

Park entrances will be closed and secured, but Germann noted that there is private land in the park — including businesses in the Apgar area that are on private land — that will continue to be accessible to their owners.

All Glacier concession services and facilities will be closed, although most of the lodging facilities in the park already have shut down for the season.

There may be no way to notify campers in the backcountry of a shutdown, but those people had to obtain backcountry permits, so “we will be able to monitor them and when they get out,” Germann said. “That’s one of the responsibilities we will have to maintain in the event of a shutdown.”

People visiting Glacier’s website will be redirected to a national website notifying them of a shutdown, and all of Glacier’s social media will be suspended.

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