Glacier National Park caps off busy year while preparing for the next

Debates over an expanded vehicle reservation system, construction on the Going-to-the-Sun Road and seeing bison return to the plains all made for an interesting year in Glacier National Park. 

All the while visitation to the park continues hovering around 3 million per year. Through November of this year, the park saw 2,918,770 visitors, according to the National Park Service, which is already ahead of the 2022 visitor total of 2,908,458. 

“I think we actually had the busiest May we've ever had, so visitation was up a little bit,” said Glacier Superintendent Dave Roemer while reflecting on 2023 while he and park staff prepare for another year of managing one of the most visited national parks in the United States. “I know we're up a little bit for October, last year and this year — for both, we had some pretty nice weather going into fall,” Roemer said.

People are increasingly choosing to visit the park during its shoulder seasons in May and October, he notes. 

There were 211,341 visitors to the park in May of 2023, which is 30,000 more people than the previous year. In October, the park saw 138,938 visitors, compared to 115,740 in October 2022. 

Roemer said the weather has a lot to do with how many people visit during these shoulder seasons, pointing to lower visitation in the spring of 2022 due to colder, wetter conditions.

This spring saw hot and dry weather that quickly melted snowpack and led to Logan Pass and the alpine section of Going-to-the-Sun Road opening in mid-June. Roemer said at that time, he was anticipating a tough fire season in the park. However, there were only a few small fires that were close enough to resources to be quickly doused and therefore did not affect operations. 

“I've been fortunate for two summers to not really be challenged by big, impactful fires,” said Roemer, who began his position in July 2022. “So, I know those will happen in the future, they've happened in the past and they will again. But, so far, I've been pretty lucky that we haven't had to have that on top of what's happening.”

Park officials have spent the last several years rolling out and making adjustments to the pilot vehicle reservation system, Glacier’s effort to curb overcrowding and traffic issues — and they say it’s made a difference. Glacier National Park Public Affairs Specialist Brandy Burke said in August that data collected from visitors shows an improvement in their experience in the park. 

Roemer said when he looks back on this season’s pilot vehicle reservation program, he is proud of how park staff strived to communicate more with stakeholders and local communities. He points to work completed to improve the park’s website and efforts to simplify or clarify the reservation system information thus giving guidance to hotels and tourism bureaus.

“We know when people ask how to visit Glacier, they might ask a park ranger, but they'll probably ask five other people that they meet first,” Roemer said. “So in that sense, we have partners all around. The hotel clerk at the front desk in any of the hotels in Kalispell answers as many questions about Glacier as our own staff do.”

Part of making the reservation system effective is moving vehicles through the filter station efficiently while checking vehicle reservations, particularly at the busy west entrance to the park. 

“Part of our goals is that we don't want to back traffic up on U.S. 2. And so that means the interaction with a ranger, if it's 30 seconds, that's too long,” Roemer said. “So ‘boom, boom!’ real quick — they have to figure out whether those people are going to continue straight to the gate or be diverted, make a right-hand turn (toward headquarters) and go into what we call the ‘corral area’ and get some information about when they can visit.”

Staff working the filter stations are among some of the most important people in the park, Roemer said, while noting a “less than pleasant experience” with a visitor, which later prompted him to spend some time on the frontlines. 

“I could not move people as quickly as they were,” Roemer said of the staff members. “I was trying to find the right words to make this conversation both friendly and fast. You know, the rest of the team were rolling their eyes at me, but I wanted to spend some time out there with the yellow vest to show them that we're all invested in the job that they're doing.”

Fewer people are showing up without a reservation compared with previous seasons, according to Roemer. He said 14% of people who visited the park did not have a reservation, leading to a less crowded corral and fewer unpleasant experiences for staff. 

Roemer attributes this to the reservation system being in its third season of operation, and that people are aware it exists and know what to expect.  

“It's not ideal that we make changes each year. We don't necessarily have to make a change for the sake of making change. But, as long as we're piloting these projects, it's not a permanent change. We do have to demonstrate that we have a learning objective with what we're doing,” Roemer said. 

This has led to park officials trying different approaches at the busiest entrances. In 2022, there were 57 unplanned closures at Many Glacier and 22 at Two Medicine due to vehicle congestion, leading to an expansion of the reservation system to these areas in 2023.

But next year, reservations will no longer be required in Two Medicine or at the St. Mary entrance of the Sun Road. The decision to roll back the system at these gates came after a public comment period where park officials heard from business owners, community members and visitors from across the country. 

“We had 1,408 correspondences, which is awesome. It's not as much as Yellowstone bison (management plan) but it's high up there … That's just to show that there's a lot of interest in what we're doing,” Roemer said. 

Roemer said there was a great diversity of opinions, and that it wasn’t a “popularity contest” among them, however, there were a lot of helpful suggestions that made them think about things differently.  

“Both in-person at our meetings and in the written comments, there was a lot of discussion that maybe reservations at Two Medicine were not necessary and asking that we consider more of the viability of businesses and communities on the east side of the park. Which I want to say we always have wanted to do that,” Roemer said. 

Another “loud and clear” suggestion included something that park staff already wanted to implement: moving the filter station for Sun Road reservations to Apgar, past the west entrance to the park. That change had to wait until construction along that section of the Sun Road was complete.

The reservation system isn’t without its critics. Among those is U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke made it a priority this year to address qualms with the ticketed entry system in Glacier National Park. In addition to calling for its removal and attempting to starve it of funding at the national level, he has said he would like to see the shuttle system transformed. After the park announced the changes to the reservation system in 2024, Zinke said it was a “giant positive step forward.” He called it a win for locals, and said the next step was to create an “enriching transportation system” in the park. 

Roemer said park staff always try to stay in touch with Montana’s congressional delegation. Some of them have participated in congressional hearings on the topic of overcrowding in national parks, and Roemer said he is interested to see if any solutions can come as a result. 

“They have the ear of the community, people will tell them things that they won't necessarily tell the park superintendent. So, keeping the lines of communication open is really important,” Roemer said. 

Public comment has shown those who want an expanded shuttle system. The park plans to add six buses to its fleet next year, which are expected to help with long lines during peak times. 

If the park adds a large number of shuttles, Roemer points out, a new problem would arise: where would more people park? Currently, on the west side, visitors can park at Apgar Visitor Center or throughout Apgar Village to access the shuttle, with parking available at St. Mary Visitor Center for access at the east entrance.

“To expand the shuttle system I think is going to involve larger conversations with the community to try and locate areas for parking outside of the park — and services being provided on some different model,” Roemer said. 

CONSTRUCTION THIS year along the Sun Road focused on a stretch between Apgar and Lake McDonald Lodge, but completion won’t occur until next year. The work is the last segment of reconstructing the road’s more than 50-mile length, which initially began in 2007. 

“We have a mile-and-a-half that’s going to bug me all winter long, which they’ll finish up as soon as it’s dry enough to work next spring,” he said. 

In addition, work on the Upper McDonald Creek Bridge project will continue through next August, according to the Federal Highway Administration. 

Roemer said there won’t be too many public-facing projects like the Sun Road construction in 2024. However, in September of 2024, work is expected to begin on water and road improvement projects that will close the Swiftcurrent developed area through the spring of 2026. 

“Then there'll be more construction projects, you know, they're vital, they can't be avoided. We're certainly not doing anything that we don't need to do, but we're taking care of the assets that we have so that they can continue to serve the public,” Roemer said. 

He said he’s glad to see needed utility improvements at headquarters be addressed this year, along with reconstruction of bridges in the North Fork area being “substantially finished.” 

A HERD of 20 bison were released in June in the Chief Mountain Wilderness which is immediately adjacent to the park boundary. The Iinnii Initiative, a collaboration led by the Blackfeet Nation looks to restore free-ranging bison to the landscape after a 125-year absence. 

“There are bison on the east side of the park right now, and I am really happy with how that is going, with the way that landowners on both sides of the international border are communicating with each other and our understanding of why it's important for bison to be in Blackfeet territory,” Roemer said. 

He said it’s an honor for the National Park Service and Parks Canada to be invited to support the Blackfeet in the initiative and expects more work to continue on that front next year. 

Other initiatives Roemer said he’s looking forward to in 2024 include projects that study the effects of climate change in the park. Along with continuing work on whitebark pine restoration and seeing through the reintroduction of bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout to Gunsight Lake. 

“It's not without controversy that we plan to put bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout into Gunsight Lake, but I believe that is what we need to do to be responsible stewards. If we want to have these coldwater fishers in the future, then that is what we should be doing, we should be bold when it comes to things like that,” Roemer said. 

Roemer’s first introduction to Glacier was in 2003, as he helped map the severity of that summer’s wildfires as a GIS specialist with a Burned Area Emergency Response team. He said he didn’t even really get to see the park then, but after years building a career in public land management and the National Park Service, he found himself back in Montana. 

“What's so awesome is that everybody loves Glacier, so there's really no such thing as a bad or a difficult conversation because everyone's coming from the same core set of values. I think that we want what's best for the park and so I'm honored by that,”  Roemer said. 

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at 406-758-4433 or by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com.