2017 Glacier entrance pass now available

Glacier National Park announced Wednesday that the 2017 Glacier National Park annual entrance pass, featuring a photo of Glacier’s first Blackfeet park ranger, is now available.

The park also announced it is raising the price of the one-year passes to $50 this year, an increase of $5 from 2016.

The pass depicts the image of Francis X. Guardipee, who in 1930 became the first Blackfeet Native American to serve as a ranger in Glacier National Park.

Guardipee’s duties took him throughout the park, including Two Medicine, Nyack and East Glacier. He retired in 1948 and spent his retirement in Browning with his wife, Alma.

A dedicated Boy Scout troop leader, Guardipee died in 1970 after he spent more than a half-century leading Boy Scout Troop 100. Chief Lodgepole Peak, located in the Two Medicine area of the park was named in honor of Guardipee in 1973.

The park retains 80 percent of the entrance and camping fees it collects. The remaining 20 percent is distributed throughout the National Park System. Basic park operations are funded by direct appropriations from Congress.

The $5 fee increase for annual passes reflects input from the civic engagement process Glacier National Park implemented in November 2014 following a nationwide National Park Service review of fees. No other entrance or campground fees will change this year.

For more information on entrance and camping fees, visit www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/fees.htm.