Glacier National Park
Eleven thousand years ago, the Pleistocene Epoch,
Huge ice sheets covered much of the earth;
It was the remnants of this ice age, 150 glaciers,
That gave Glacier National Park its birth.
The U.S. Congress, protecting one million acres,
Created Glacier May 11, 1910;
Today 25 glaciers, none by 2030,
Climate change creating "Remember When?"
© F.W. Heaton May, 2017
In one sense, this recent May 11th was the celebration of Happy 107th Birthday for Glacier National Park! From another perspective, however, the birthday might be considered more ominous. Scientists estimate that, due to forecasted accelerating global warming exacerbated by human caused greenhouse gasses, Glacier's remaining 25 glaciers will be but a memory in thirteen short years!
An estimated sixty-eight percent of the world's fresh water is locked up in the world's fast-melting ice caps and glaciers. The world's population by some estimates is at 7.5 billion and will reach 9.7 billion by 2050—just thirty-three years from now. All of these people are and will be in need of fresh water! It is a mystery to Mary & me why people follow “leaders” who deny climate change and stand in the way of mitigating its effects.
For our part, Mary & I are doing what we can to visit the parks, enjoy their gifts, and encourage their protection through writing and speaking. In July, 2007, we had the good fortune to visit Glacier, then celebrating its 97th birthday. Its pristine beauty defies description. The two mountain ranges that dominate the landscape involve 1.6 billion years of earth’s geologic history, reach 10,400 feet into azure blue sky, are accented by wildflowers of every color and description in summer, provide glacier-carved bowls for 130 lakes of pristine glacier-fed fresh water run-off, and invite you to hike, taking in its glory in splendorous awe.
We chose to be on foot for our visit. We stayed in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, just north of Glacier National Park, U.S., and the northern half of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park—the park a combination of an international peace park, a biosphere reserve and a world heritage site. It is a truly inspiring example of international cooperation. We reserved the last two spots in a group of 36 to hike from Waterton Lakes NP into Glacier NP, the group led by an American NPS Park Ranger leading and a Canadian Park Ranger in the sweep position, making sure none of us fell off the cliff from the often-narrow trail carved into the mountainside. Spectacular is too mild a word to summarize this all-day hiking experience.
So, dear readers, we write this to encourage your exploration of the parks and activism in their protection. We’d like to end by saying Happy Birthday but instead we will say Hopeful Birthday, dear Glacier National Park!