Glacier Park gathers input on ticketed entry proposal

Glacier National Park wrapped up a series of conversations this week with businesses and area chamber of commerces over a proposal to create a ticketed entry system onto the Sun Road for the rest of the summer.

The Daily Inter Lake and Hungry Horse News, which are both local chamber members, were blocked from attending the virtual meetings. Calls to park officials have gone unreturned.

The Hungry Horse News, however, did listen in on a portion of one meeting. Park Superintendent Jeff Mow at the ending of the meeting characterized the response from businesses as “tepid” for the reservation system.

It’s not that the idea of a ticketed entry system isn’t warranted — crowds on the Sun Road are a perennial problem. But there was discussion that with the uncertainty of this summer season due the COVID-19 crisis, implementing a system this late in the summer could be problematic for businesses who already have lost several months of revenue due to the state’s shelter-in-place order earlier this spring.

Columbia Falls Chamber Director Laura Gadwa, who participated in a meeting on Wednesday, said Mow largely went over details of the plan that have already been discussed.

Bigfork Chamber Director Rebekah King said a reservation system could be beneficial in the future — most people plan their vacations to Montana 18 months in advance, she said.

“It could potentially create better experiences,” she said. For example, a vacationer would at least know they had a chance at a parking spot at Logan Pass with a reservation, or they would know they could at least get into the park.

On the days they didn’t have a Sun Road reservation, they could go somewhere else, or shop in local communities, King said. “That could help all gateway communities,” she added.

The park has closed on a few occasions because it was full in the past few weeks and people were getting to the gate, only to be turned away

Dylan Boyle of the Whitefish Visitor and Convention Bureau said he appreciated the park reaching out to businesses and keeping open lines of communication.

“Having that dialogue is important,” he said.

Under the proposal, tickets would be required for entry to the park at West Glacier and would be available through recreation.gov, with half being available up to 30 days in advance and the remaining tickets being released two days in advance. Tickets will allow for seven days of park entry, just as the current system. Ticketed entry will not be required for visitors traveling to the North Fork area of the park, tribal members, visitors with camping or lodging reservations, landowners and their guests, business owners, groups holding valid Commercial Use Authorizations, and those participating in park partner activities.

A private vehicle day-use entry reservation would cost $35, and a motorcycle $30, which includes a nonrefundable $2 reservation fee. If a visitor holds a valid Interagency Annual Pass, Glacier National Park Annual Pass or Senior Pass, they would just have to pay the $2 nonrefundable reservation fee.

The tickets reportedly would not be required for visitors before 6 a.m. or after 6 p.m. Mow did not give a specific number of vehicles per day that would be allowed in the park.

The greater problem is that half of Glacier is closed this summer due to the coronavirus crisis. The Blackfeet Tribe has closed the reservation to all non-essential travel. That means all east side entrances to the park are closed.

Normally, once the Sun Road corridor fills, people typically just keep driving out of the park through either the St. Mary entrance or the west entrance.