Former Glacier National Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright remembered as possessing 'a very big heart'

Glacier National Park said goodbye to a giant of conservation and research with the passing of Chas Cartwright last month.

The 21st superintendent of the park, Charles “Chas” Cartwright held the position from March 2008 until his retirement from the National Park Service in December 2012. Cartwright died Sept. 24 in Cortez, Colorado at the age of 72. He leaves behind his wife, Lynda Stocks, two children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Highlights of Cartwright’s tenure at Glacier National Park included the resolution of mining issues in the North Fork, major rehabilitation along the Going-to-the-Sun Road, the proactive response to aquatic invasive species and protecting the region's water, and serving as superintendent during the park’s year-long centennial celebration in 2010.

While the fingerprints of Cartwright’s tenure are visible on the improvements to the Going-to-the-Sun Road to the expanded Apgar Visitor Center (which Cartwright envisioned, but was not completed until 2014), perhaps his most enduring legacy was his instrumental role in the formation of the Glacier National Park Conservancy.

With the merging of the Glacier National Park Fund and the Glacier Natural History Association on Jan. 1, 2013, the Glacier National Park Conservancy became the only nonprofit fundraising partner for Glacier National Park.

“Chas had the vision and determination to bring the park’s partners together to form one organization to benefit the park, and that was no easy task,” said Karen Chickering, a Conservancy Board member and former Glacier National Park Fund chair. “Now, we are a far more effective organization than we could have ever been alone, and it’s thanks to him.”

Today, the organization provides millions of dollars in funding and support for many projects in the park, including scientific studies and projects, trail restoration, field trips and more.

Chickering recalled how Cartwright would call her during the merger process and the two would hash out the details on the cross country ski trails around Apgar.

“He was a tough superintendent to deal with, but he had integrity, intelligence and drive and, in my mind, a very big heart,” she said. “He was a wonderful human being and my life was tremendously benefitted by knowing him.”

During his time as superintendent, Cartwright was responsible for the management of over 1 million acres, a staff of approximately 130 permanent and 360 seasonal employees as well as volunteers, and an annual operating budget of almost $14 million, but he always took time to appreciate the people and landscapes surrounding him.

"I am so fortunate to have worked with so many great people, internally and externally, that have a passion for Glacier National Park," Cartwright said upon his retirement in 2012. "It has been an honor to be involved with public land management and public service for the past 40 years. I've enjoyed my career and protecting many of the nation's special places."

A 1972 graduate of Michigan State University with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, Cartwright traveled west to begin his career in public land management.

“I just had a hankerin' for, an achin’ for the West,” Cartwright told Daily Inter Lake reporter Jim Mann in an August 2008 interview.

Cartwright worked for the Bureau of Land Management in Idaho, Arizona, and Utah as an archeologist from 1977 through 1987. He also worked for the U.S. Forest Service in California and Idaho as a firefighter, river ranger and fire lookout from 1972 through 1977.

Cartwright began his career with the National Park Service at Canyonlands and Arches National Parks and Natural Bridges National Monument as the group's first permanent archaeologist.

His career with the agency included superintendent positions at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado, Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in North Dakota, and Hovenweep National Monument in Utah and Colorado. He held acting superintendent positions at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico and National Bridges National Monument in Utah. He also served as the associate to the deputy director of the National Park Service in Washington, D.C.

Despite the many assignments, Cartwright maintained that his time at Glacier kept him the busiest.

“I’ve been at busy jobs before but this has been like being shot out of a cannon," he told the Daily Inter Lake in 2008.

An avid hiker and skier, Cartwright enjoyed leading the annual Superintendent’s Hike in the park, but could never pin down his favorite location to do so.

“My favorite part of the park is whatever place I last went to,” he would say.

Reporter Jeremy Weber can be reached at jweber@dailyinterlake.com.