1

CHAPTER 1. 1965, Directed Reassignment to Glacier National Park, Montana

The day before our move, Mary T. had fallen off a clothes line pole (while hanging by the insides of her knees) and injured her right arm. Dr. Carr, at Mammoth, had examined it and told us it was not broken, but I thought that the pain seemed severe for only a sprain. After the moving van was loaded, we drove out of Mammoth on the afternoon of 20 May 1965. Mary T.'s arm continued to cause serious pain and nausea. We went only as far as Livingston, Montana, and spent the night in a motel on the southern edge of town. The moving van also stopped for the night in Livingston. The night was unusually cold for late May and all of Pat’s house plants in the van froze. Fortunately, she had kept a few of her favorites in our car and we took them into the motel room where they were safe from cold. Driving from Livingston to Kalispell on the 21st, we kept T.’s arm in a sling; I still thought that it was broken. By the time we arrived in Kalispell, 35 miles from GNP, we were convinced that T.'s arm should be x-rayed. Kerry had a cold that had gotten much worse. We arrived in Kalispell well after business hours, but needed to find a doctor. Dr. Baskett, our physician in Livingston, had referred us to a group of doctors in Kalispell. Dr. Gene Hensler was on call and he was a friendly, helpful M.D. He x-rayed Mary T.’s arm and found that it had a greenstick fracture, requiring a cast, which he applied. He diagnosed Kerry with pneumonia and sent him to the Kalispell hospital. With the help of Dr. Hensler we got a motel room in Kalispell for all of us, except poor Kerry, who had to remain in the hospital overnight. The next morning (22nd) we all went to see how Kerry was doing. The nurse reported that he was very unhappy and had climbed out of his crib. They had put a “roof’ on it to keep him in. Kerry was on an antibiotic and the doctor felt that Kerry should remain in the hospital one more night. Our moving van was due to arrive in GNP that day (22nd), so I had to leave the family in Kalispell and drive to the Park to find out where we were going to live and to meet the moving van. Dr. Hensler offered to let Pat borrow a car while I was gone. Our move from Mammoth (YNP) to West Glacier (GNP) was 450 road miles north and 3,000 feet lower in elevation (Mammoth 6,200 feet above sea level (asl) and West Glacier 3,200 feet asl. Approaching West Glacier on Highway 2, the view of the Livingston Range, in the heart of the Park, was very impressive. The moving van had arrived at Park Headquarters and I spent the better part of the day helping to unload it. I spent that first night alone in our new home. The house (#66) was a standard Mission 66, 3-bedroom structure with a full basement, built in 1961. The standard floor plan was designed by the NPS Design Center in San Francisco, where many of the Mission 66 structures were designed. Rent was $24 per pay period (2 weeks). I returned to Kalispell on the morning of the 23rd. Kerry was released from the hospital and we drove to our new home in GNP. Arrival in our new dwelling was followed within a few days by cases of the mumps for Kevin, then for Pat, Jane, and Mary T. (Mary T. had the mumps on one side in 1959). The West Glacier Elementary School, with three teachers (grades 1-6), had been completed in 1961. It was within easy walking distance (about one mile) of the GNP housing area. Beyond sixth grade, students were bussed to Columbia Falls (17 miles). During 1965 and the first half of 1966, the West Glacier access to the Park and the Going-to-the-Sun (GTS) Road was the street that passed by our front yard. The June 1964 Flathead Middle Fork flood had damaged the main Middle Fork Bridge beyond use. This 2 bridge had provided the westside access to the Park. An older bridge, upstream a half mile from the main bridge, had not been used for automobile traffic for many years. It was a concrete arch (a Melan Arch, similar to the old Chittenden Bridge near Canyon, in YNP), with wood decking. The flood had stripped the decking off the arch, but did not substantially damage the arch. After the flood, the decking was rapidly replaced and the old road through the Headquarters housing area was paved. It became the westside access until the main bridge (a metal structure) was rebuilt and opened in summer 1966. Thus, we had heavy traffic passing our front yard for a year; this meant concern for the childrens’ safety, especially bike riding, or any activity in the front yard. The Superintendent required that no toys o f’junk” be left in front yards, so that incoming visitors would see a tidied-up community. The NPS fenced our back yard, providing a measure of safety. On the morning of 24 May, I entered on duty as a Supervisory Park Naturalist, GS-9, with a salary of $7,710 per annum. My supervisor was Chief Park Naturalist Francis Elmore. Francis was hyperactive and seemed to agonize over every decision, no matter how inconsequential. I had the feeling that Francis never seemed very “comfortable” as my supervisor, perhaps because my position in YNP had been abolished and so my transfer to GNP was involuntary. However, Francis and his wife Toni (an accomplished artist) tried to be very welcoming and friendly to us. Soon after our arrival, they invited us over for dandelion wine(Taraxacum officinale), apparently one of Francis’ specialties. I was not much of a wine drinker anyway and the dandelion wine was too much for my stomach. I did not want to be rude, so I waited until they briefly left the livingroom and I gifted the wine to a house plant. I always wondered if the plant survived. Assistant Chief Naturalist John Palmer was scheduled to move to St. Mary for the summer, to serve as East Side Interpretive Supervisor. That apparently had been the tradition, i.e., the Assistant Chief supervised the East Side activities and lived at St. Mary in the summer. Compared to the westside program, the summer interpretive program on the East Side was much more complex, with activities at Goat Haunt, Many Glacier, St. Mary, and Two Medicine. The duties at Logan Pass were shared by the east and westside staffs. My role on the west side was that of supervising the interpretive activities out of Headquarters: conducted trips (e.g., Apgar Lookout, Sperry Chalet, Fish Lake, Avalanche Lake) evening campfire talks (at Apgar and Fish Creek Amphitheaters, and Lake McDonald Lodge), talks on the concessionaire boat (from Lake McDonald Lodge), and information duty (at the Apgar Visitor Center). My immediate assignments involved becoming familiar with the Park and hiring a staff of seasonal naturalists for the westside program. Most seasonal naturalists would be returning from the previous year, so there were only a few positions to fill. Doug Follett (“Ranger Doug”) was returning as a very experienced seasonal; he continued to work through 2011, his 52nd summer. He had an unusual ability to immediately “connect” with park visitors; he was a good naturalist and a terrific story teller. Other westside naturalists included Neil Nutter, John Mees, Linda Flueckinger, Richard Huckill, Maynard Bowers, and Dick Rensel. To my disappointment, Rensel, who was principal of the West Glacier Elementary School, turned out to be unreliable as a seasonal naturalist. One day when he was assigned to lead a trip to Avalanche Lake, I headed up the trail expecting to meet the group at the lake and see how he was handling the assignment. Instead, as I headed up the trail, I immediately encountered Rensel, who was running down the trail. I thought there must be an emergency 3 and he was seeking assistance. In reality, he had hurried his group of park visitors to the lake, abandoned them, and was rushing home to work on his house. He was very defensive when I questioned his abandoning the group. He stridently argued that he had to meet a critical building deadline. That was, of course, irresponsible. If he had a problem with the schedule, I would have worked something out for him, but he had not asked and obviously thought that I would not be monitoring his walk. And so it went throughout the summer. I could never be sure that Rensel would carry out his assignments. I was too lenient with him and the program suffered from it. I also was responsible for the museum collections (study skins, mounted plants, slide and print files, and numerous archival collections). I supervised seasonal museum curator Dan Harlow and also did some plant collecting and mounting. With the arrival oflate spring, occasional periods of thunderstorms began to appear in the GNP area. Especially with nocturnal storms, attempts to photograph lightning became a family affair. On some occasions, when lightning flashes began to show up to the west, often long after dark, Pat and I woke the kids, hustled them into the car (in their pajamas) and made a dash to the Camas Entrance Overlook, 13 miles north of West Glacier. We could anticipate that storms spotted to the west or southwest of the Park had a good chance of reaching the Park if a typical pattern prevailed. It became an adventure for everyone (1-1). Over the 4 July Holiday, we made a three-day trip into Canada, We overnighted at the Columbia Ice Field Campground; everyone slept in our 6 feet by 10 feet tent, real togetherness for a family of seven. We drove as far north as Jasper, then returned south and spent the second night at the Takakkaw Falls Campground, in Yoho National Park, British Columbia. Takakkaw Falls, with a 1,200 feet drop, is the second highest waterfall in Canada. We traveled on to Kootenay National Park, where we walked the Paintpots Trail, then drove south through Radium Hot springs and to the Border Crossing at Port of Roosville. It was a great trip for the family. During my tenure in GNP, there were many opportunities for hikes and cross-country ski trips, alone, or with friends such as Bob Wasem (management biologist), Jerry DeSanto (ranger), Dave Shea (wildlife biologist), Becky and Larry Williams (seasonal naturalist and seasonal ranger, respectively), or with other rangers, friends, or family. Frequent hikes were possible because of the nature of my assignments in GNP, and the gradual maturing of the children. Because there were so many hikes, in the chapters of these memoirs I will include only those that had some special significance with family members, or those with special wildlife sightings, unusual trails, etc. Many other hikes are included in the appendices. My first overnight backcountry hike in GNP was with Management Biologist Wasem. I had known Bob since we both attended the NPS “Ranger School” in Yosemite, in fall 1957. On 28 July 1965, Bob, Ranger Larry Dale, and I hiked from Two Medicine to Two Medicine Pass, where Larry headed back down to Two Medicine. Bob and I continued to Upper Park Creek Patrol Cabin, where we spent the night. On the next day we hiked to Lake Isabel. The trail was in awful shape, with many trees down, a result of the June 1964 flood. On the way to the lake, I saw my first grizzly(Ursus bear arctos) in GNP. It ran across a tree that was down across Park Creek. At the lake, Bob fished and caught specimens of the only two fish species present there, westslope cutthroat(Salmo clarki lewisi) and bull trout(Salvelinus confluentus). We returned to the Upper Park Creek Cabin for our second night, then back to Two Medicine via Two Medicine Pass on 30 July. 4

One day in August, Chief Naturalist Elmore invited me upstairs to the library (in the Administration Building) to meet Norman Clyde, a mountain climber of great fame. J. Gordon Edwards’ (1960), Glacier’s well-known climbing guide, gives the following information: “ 1923. Norman Clyde, already a famous mountaineer in other regions [the Sierras], visited Glacier National Park. He hiked northward from Two Medicine to Many Glacier, coming out about every ten days for more supplies. He climbed thirty-eight peaks, at least ten of them first ascents. The most notable first ascents were of Mount Rockwell, Norris Mountain, Mount Logan, Clements Mountain, Mount Cannon, and Mount Wilbur. All his ascents were solo climbs . .

When interviewed byLos a Angeles Times reporter in September 1963, Norman Clyde was asked to sum up his fifty years of lonely rambling through the Sierra mountains, without many of the basic commodities that most of us consider necessary to carry on with our lives. Norman Clyde said “I sort of went off on a tangent from civilization and never got back.” During our first summer in GNP, bear management had not advanced much beyond the dark ages. Bear-proof garbage cans had just appeared in 1964 and most of the Park was without them until summer 1969. Some Park locations did not receive them until the early 1970s. To show me how slow GNP had been in embracing a progressive bear management policy, in 1965 Bob Wasem took me up the North Fork (Flathead River) Road and into the Park on the Bowman Lake Road. There was an open pit garbage dump on a short spur road, north off the Bowman Lake Road, about a half mile from Polebridge (1-2). We observed several black bears(Ursus americanus) foraging on fresh garbage (garbage came from Polebridge, the two Bowman Campgrounds, and residents outside the Park). This dump was used until at least 1967. About half a mile from West Glacier, a large open pit dump received garbage and trash from the Park, the community of West Glacier, and surrounding residents (1-3). The open pit dump operated until the late 1970s. It was a notorious site for grizzly poaching. Being so close to the Park boundary, and the Apgar Mountains, the dump attracted many bears from the Park. On several occasions I found the nearly intact remains of large grizzly bears that had been shot; only the claws and the nose had been removed by the poacher— it was a disgusting sight. In the late 1970s, county workers covered the pit with previously excavated dirt and rocks. At that time, dumpsters were placed at the site. In the fall and winter, the six dumpsters were moved to within 300 feet of the West Glacier Elementary School to make them "more accessible” to residents. This choice of location was irresponsible, potentially subjecting children, many of whom walked to school from the Park, to encounters with bears. In October 1983, the daily appearance of bears at the dumpsters finally made it evident to the county that the danger for school children was not tolerable. The county seemed much more concerned about being sued than about the safety of the children. In theHungry Horse News (20 October 1983) a county spokesman was quoted saying that .. he didn’t want the county or the refuse district liable for any injury the bears might cause.” The dumpsters were moved back to the summer site until bears were in hibernation. From the same issue ofHungry the Horse News: “Bears around the dumpsters are a regular happening at West Glacier.” 5

1-1. Lightning viewed from the Camas Entrance Overlook, July 1965. V*1' 1 1-3. -2. Top: Top: Bottom: Bottom: The Polebridge Garbage Dump in 1966 (photo by A1 Hoover). by (photo 1966 in Dump Garbage Polebridge The h etGairGrae up pa onanbhn, n 1975. in behind, Mountain Apgar Dump. Garbage Glacier West The 6 7

Wedum [Montana State Game Warden] pointed out “ It’s a regular problem all the time, whether the dumpsters are at the regular site out of town or in town. There are bears all around there.” In the mid-1980s dumpsters finally were moved south, to a site along Highway 2, near the Dew Drop Tavern, about 4 miles south of West Glacier. The site was fenced, but inadequately and bears often could access the area. In about 2000, the dumpsters were moved farther south to a site south of Coram, Montana, along Highway 2, about 6 miles from West Glacier. This site was properly fenced and the gates closed and locked during nighttime hours. In our first summer in GNP (1965) we heard that surface garbage disposal was practiced nightly at the Granite Park Chalet. Apparently, this had been going on for a number of years. Every evening, a Chalet employee carried kitchen waste to a small ravine 200 feet behind the Chalet, easily visible to Chalet visitors. In this way, a grizzly “show” was provided for the Chalet patrons. I did not visit Granite Park overnight in 1965. On 5-13 August 1965,1 was assigned to assist U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists Arthur Johnson and Jack Dugwyler with the annual measurements of Sperry and Grinnell Glaciers. This involved tent camping near the glaciers. At Sperry we camped on the west side of Como Pass, where we were visited by mountain (Oreamnosgoats americanus)(a nanny and two kids) each night. At Grinnell, we camped near the upper, north lateral moraine. The primary project at both glaciers was the preparation of a plane-table map (1-4). Detailed topographic maps since 1900 had revealed major recession in both glaciers. “Grinnell Glacier decreased in area from 530 acres in 1900 to 315 acres in 1960 . . .” “Sperry Glacier occupied 800 acres in 1901; by 1960 it covered only 287 acres . . . “ (Johnson 1980:1). In GNP, climate change was underway in the early 1900s. We also drilled holes in the ice for the placement of ablation stakes (1-5). The drills were manual powered, with drill bits 3/4 inches in diameter and about three feet long; using extension rods, holes could be drilled up to 20 feet deep. Once the hole was started in the ice, the drilling had to continue with as little interruption as possible until the hole was completed. As it was completed, the drill had to be reversed and backed out without hesitation. Any pause in the drilling ran the risk of the drill bit freezing in place, because friction created by the turning bit melted ice next to it; as soon as friction ceased, the water quickly refroze. Once the drill hole was completed and the bit removed, a calibrated ablation stake was placed in the hole. The change in the depth of ice on the stake, thus the amount of melting, could be read in subsequent months and years. The Logan Pass Visitor Center (a Mission 66 product) opened on 28 August 1965. Previously, the only structure at the Pass was an old stone restroom facility (1-6). The new visitor center, poorly planned and environmentally insensitive, would lead to numerous resource management problems in subsequent years. On 30 August, Mary T., Kevin, and I rode horses to Sperry Chalet. We hiked to Lake Ellen Wilson for some fishing, and stayed overnight in the Chalet. Next morning (31 August) we hiked back to Lake McDonald. During summer 1965, Pat and I addressed a physical problem that we previously had recognized in Terence (then 2 yrs old). His excessively bowed legs became especially noticeable when he began to walk (January or February 1964). Bowed legs in very young children are not necessarily unusual, and many outgrow the condition. Pat had taken Terence to a doctor at the Park Clinic, in Livingston. They recommended that we see a specialist, but that it was not an urgent matter. By that time my position had been abolished in YNP and we were in a state of uncertainty about everything. 8

While Pat was in Ohio with the children in March and April 1965, she took Terence to a specialist in Newark. He recommended that we wait until we were settled wherever we were going to move, and than make an appointment with a local specialist. In July, we made an appointment with Pediatric Orthopedist Dr. John Wolgamott, in Great Falls, Montana, about a 5-hour drive from West Glacier. We left the four older children with friends, and Pat and I drove Terence to the appointment. Dr. Wolgamott diagnosed the condition as Blount’s Syndrome. The following informationwww.pediatric-orthpedics.com (from ) is essentially what Dr. Wolgamott told us: “Blount's Disease affects the inner edge of the upper shin bone at the knee growth plate (epiphyseal plate— runs horizontally across the knee), causing it to decrease its rate of growth in the portion of the growth plate that is closest to the leg's inseam. The outside part of the growth plate continues to grow normally, leading to progressive bowing. Blount's Disease affects two different age groups. There is infantile Blount's, seen in young children, and adolescent Blount's, seen in teenagers. This bowing deformity is always associated with internal tibial torsion (an inward direction of the ankle and foot relative to the direction of the knee. If Infantile Blount's [what Terence hadj is diagnosed early enough, bracing can be instituted. We have had good results bracing children as young as 2 yrs old [Terence was 2 years, 3 months old at this appointment]. Usually by the age of three, treatment will require a tibial osteotomy (surgery of the tibia) to straighten the lower extremity. Many will wait and ‘see how it goes,’ and let the most effective bracing period go right by. We prefer to brace, as bracing early not only works better but heads off the additional damage to the inner growth plate caused by the angular mechanical (nut cracker) compression caused by the bowed leg.”

Dr. Walgamott advised braces immediately for both of Terence’s legs. We agreed to that course of action. Leg and foot measurements were taken and the braces were ordered. On 2 August 1965, we returned to Great Falls with Terence. The braces were ready to be fitted and approved by the Doctor. The braces were adjustable, allowing for leg growth for two years. The braces were designed to put pressure that opposed the bowing. Thus, they were uncomfortable and even painful. On 6 August, Pat wrote to her mother: “Terence doesn’t mind the braces if occupied otherwise. I’ve been taking them off for him to ride his trike before lunch and again for a bath at night. The doctor said to take them off if we go to the lake too. We don’t have them very tight yet. lie is awkward and requires much assistance yet and can’t bend his knees. We got the wagon fixed to pull him in. He likes that.” On 6 November, Pat wrote: “Terence doesn’t like his braces. His legs look a lot better but have a way to go yet. The doctor said not to hurry it too much now so we haven’t tightened them any more recently. His little legs must really hurt when we do. He asks every time when we put them on ‘not too tight, OK.” Another visit to Dr. Wolgamott in Great Falls on 20 December was encouraging; x-rays showed much improvement in correcting the bowed legs. We applied to the “Crippled Children’s Association” for financial assistance with Terence’s medical treatments, but we were turned down. At that point we did not know if surgery would be needed. 9

1-4. USGS employees Jack Dugwyler and Arthur Johnson working their way around Sperry Glacier crevasses during a plane-table mapping project, 8 August 1965. 10

1-5. McClelland drilling a hole for placement of an ablation stake in Grinnell Glacier, 11 August 1965. With bit extension rods, a hole could be drilled up to 20 feet deep. From measurement units marked on the vertical stake, a subsequent observer can determine the amount of ice lost from the surface of the glacier at that site (photo by Jack Dugwyler). 11

1-6. Old stone restroom at Logan Pass, completed for the opening of the GTS Road, in 1933. Top: 1936. Bottom: 1952 (photos courtesy of GNP Archives). 12

In the autumn, much of the naturalist talk was about the migrating bald eagles (.Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that gathered along Lower McDonald Creek. The eagles congregated along the creek to feed on kokanee (Oncorhynchussalmon nerka). The kokanee spawned, then died and became easily obtained food for the eagles and other species including grizzly bears. The kokanee had been introduced into the Flathead Lake system in about 1916 and subsequently had established spawning runs 30 miles upstream to Lower McDonald Creek. By 1935, eagles were recorded in numbers large enough to attract attention. However, no method of systematically monitoring the numbers had been developed. Pat and I saw it as an opportunity for the Park to begin understanding this phenomenon. We initiated weekly counts to record numbers. Rangers Bill Lukens and Bob Sellers, and I were in a canoe. Pat counted from a key point, the Quarter Circle Bridge. The canoe route covered seven miles, from the outlet of Lake McDonald, down Lower McDonald Creek, then down the Middle Fork of the Flathead to Blankenship Bridge, at the junction of the Middle Fork and the North Fork. Our high count of bald eagles on the canoe route in fall 1965 was 189 bald eagles. We often saw other species of special note; e.g., on the 3 December count, we saw a{Lynx lynx canadensis ). In October 1965, we made a home for Harmonica, one of several abandoned kittens that had been found in a trash can. She would be with us for the next 15 years. When desirous of attention, Harmonica went to the piano and walked back and forth on the keys. She was especially into this response when our friend Jerry DeSanto came to visit (Jerry transferred to GNP from YNP in late autumn 1965). Ranger Bill Lukens and I rode horses to Sperry Chalet and Como Pass on 13-14 October. We hiked from the Pass to Sperry Glacier, where we found all ablation stakes that had been placed in the Glacier in the previous August. New snow cover on the Glacier averaged 19 inches. The big event on the trip was sighting a wolverine{Gulo gulo) near Como Pass. We spent the night at the trail cabin near the Chalet, then rode back to Lake McDonald. As a follow-up on implementation of the Leopold et al. (1963) and National Academy of Science (NAS) Reports, NPS Assistant Director Howard Baker sent a memorandum to all field offices (14 October 1965): “The activation of the recommendations of the Advisory Board on Wildlife Management appointed by the Secretary of the Interior is a major undertaking involving many of the areas administered by the National Park Service. The report of the Advisory Board entitled ‘Wildlife Management in the National Parks,’usually referred to as the ‘Leopold Report,’ has been approved, and the Secretary of the Interior by memorandum of May 2, 1963, instructed the Service to ‘ take such steps as are appropriate to incorporate the findings of the Board into the administration of the National Park System.’ it is now desired to move ahead with resource Management planning. The report [Leopold Report] was directed primarily to the problems and question involving management of wildlife in national parks and other areas in the natural category. Due to the close interrelationship with other parts of the ecosystems in the parks, it is necessary in the application of the report to consider all elements of the natural environment. Accordingly, . . .all related resources are to be taken into consideration.”

Hope remained high for a new age in natural resource management in the national parks. 13

CHAPTER 2. 1965-66, Our First Winter in Glacier National Park

In mid-December 1965, Mary T., Kevin, and I looked for our first “Glacier Xmas tree" on Flathead National Forest, along the Garry Lookout road (it became a “trail" a few years later), 13 miles upstream (the Middle Fork) from West Glacier. Kevin picked out a subalpine firAbies ( lasiocarpa) and had the honor of doing the cutting. Garry Lookout, became our favorite short hike in subsequent years. The lookout structure was burned down by the USFS in 1974. By mid-2014, I had done the 4-mile round trip 503 times (through the years, I kept a journal and recorded all hikes). Our other favorite hike became Glacier View Mountain, just outside the Park, near the Camas Creek/North Fork junction (145 trips to the top). This was another 4-mile trip, but a climb of 2,700 ft compared to only 900 feet at Garry. In December, “Stretchy,” our pet rabbitSylvilagus ( sp.), died of arteriosclerosis; she was 2 Vi yrs old. She had a habit of eating kids toys and blackboard chalk whenever she was free in the house, so we could not let her out of her cage without close supervision. The kids did not always follow that rule. We now wonder if the rabbit had gotten a load of lead paint from the toys of that era, which could have contributed to her cause of death. Skiing at Big Mountain, near Whitefish, Montana, and 40 miles from West Glacier, became a routine family event at least every Sunday, and often on Saturdays and Holidays. We purchased season passes for everyone (Terence used only the rope tow in 1965-66, with the assistance of his mother, so he did not need a ticket). Terence was onlyVi yrs 2old, but he could ski down the beginner's slope, unaided after Pat helped him on the rope tow. There were four major slope/lift systems: the rope tow on the beginners’ hill; a Poma lift on the intermediate hill, a T-bar served an easy “advanced" hill; and a chairlift took skiers to the top of the mountain, from which a variety of “advanced" slopes descended to the lift base and the Chalet (food service and equipment rentals). All boots were tightened with laces at that time and it always seemed as if it took hours and all my energy just to get and keep all of the kid's laces threaded and tight. I spent most of my winter work time becoming familiar with the Park’s archives and collections of plants, study skins, photos, audio tapes, etc. Chief Naturalist Elmore forwarded mail requests for natural history information to me for reply. Francis was good about allowing me to accompany rangers on various trips in the Park. On 27-28 February 1966. I went with Ranger Bill Lukens on a ski trip to read the Mineral Creek Snow Course, which averaged a snow depth of 61 inches. We spent the night at the Logan Creek Patrol Cabin. White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginiana) in the West Glacier area sought refuge from deep winter snow by “yarding” in old-growth forests stands in the Headquarters vicinity. The canopies of large western redcedar{Thuja plicata) and western hemlock {Tsuga heterophylla) intercepted much of the snowfall, leaving shallow depths on the ground and providing easier movement for the ungulates. Some {Odocoileusmule deer hemionus) from the Belton Hills also spent the winter at this vicinity. These concentrations of deer attracted feline predators. Evidence of mountain {Felislion concolor) and Canada lynx was commonly seen. In February, a lynx fed on two deer on Fleadquarters Hill. It was not known if the lynx killed the deer, or if they were winter losses. 14

CHAPTER 3. 1966, A Second Year at Headquarters

In April 1966, we purchased a new 1966 Dodge Coronet station wagon in Poison, Montana. It cost about S3,500 and was bronze metallic color. It had 3 seats (with the third seat facing backwards) and 8 seat belts, finally, a car large enough to comfortably carry all seven of us. Prior to that time, we had taken the kids on many trips clear to Denver, without seat belts for everyone (or anyone in the 1950s). Thinking back on those trips makes me shudder, especially one when we were crossing central Wyoming, on the way to Denver with all five kids. The left front tire blew out and I could not stop the car from crossing the center line and leaving the road on the opposite side of the highway. The terrain adjacent to the road was flat, so I was able to bring the car to a bumpy stop without overturning. The first time we arrived to pick up the new car in Poison, the dealer had not installed the promised backseat belts. That was very frustrating because the dealer was 70 miles from our home in GNP. Nevertheless, we refused to take the car in that condition. When we returned again in a week, all belts were in place. In April, the traditional spring ranger conference was held, with a staff photo on the final day (1-7). The museum curator position was vacant in 1966 (Dan Harlow did not return) and I hired a young woman from California, Roberta Seibel, who became a permanent friend of all our family. She was effervescent and cheery, as well as interested in natural history. She was always fun to work with and she was very kind to the children. Management Biologist Bob Wasem developed scientific research and monitoring programs in GNP; he was conducting numerous field studies, from terrestrial studies of browse use by ungulates and pellet counts in grasslands, to aquatic studies of fish distribution and water quality. He often invited me to accompany him on hikes that took him to his field study sites. I had my first opportunity to visit Belly River on a hike with Bob during 3-5 May 1966. We stayed in the Belly River Ranger Station, a six-mile hike from Chief Mountain Customs. That was my first of a number of subsequent trips to Belly River. This first hike was blessed with beautiful warm, sunny days. We saw no other humans, during the three-day period. Pasque flowers (Anemone patens) were at their peak of bloom. I helped Bob record ungulate pellet transects in the Veldt and other meadow sites in the Belly River Valley. We hiked up the Belly River, past the beautiful Dawn Mist Falls, to Elizabeth Lake, and also up the Mokowanis Drainage to Cosley and Glenns Lakes. We measured grass utilization plots and(Cervus made elk elaphus) cow/calf counts. Elk usually were in the horse pasture at the Belly River Ranger Station in May, prior to moving to higher elevations for the summer. In recent winters, elk had been trapped and neck-collared at St. Mary and Waterton Lakes National Park (WLNP), so Bob was carefully observing for marked elk. Bob was a conscientious and capable biologist. He worked very hard to design and conduct studies that would provide a basis for wildlife management in the Park. It was a privilege to work with him. Pat andI decided that we should take the kids on a special family trip, as we had done the previous year when we went to Banff, Jasper, and Kootenay National Parks, in Canada. We had two friends in Olympic National Park, Washington, so we decided on that destination, 7-14 May 1966. In Olympic, the kids could experience a temperate rain forest and explore a Pacific Ocean beach. During the 8-10th, we stayed with Ranger Jack Hughes and family (wife Jane, daughters Kay and Kim) at the Elwha Ranger Station, in Olympic. Jack was responsible for the skiing area at Hurricane Ridge. 15

The ski season had passed, so we did some hiking off and on the remaining snowdrifts on Hurricane Ridge. On the night of the 11th we stayed in our tent at the Kalaloch Campground (located along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the southernmost portion of Olympic’s coastal strip). The next morning the kids explored tidal pools and found starfish and other ocean creatures. On the nights of the 12th and 13th, we stayed with Pat’s friends, Ranger Dan Farrell and family (wife Eve and children). The 14th was a long drive back home. The kids had been exposed to new environments; it was a fine trip. On 22 May, Jerry DeSanto arrived in GNP to occupy his first permanent ranger position, after years of seasonal service in YNP. The lucky guy was assigned to Belly River. Early June saw the departure of Chief Ranger Lyle McDowell to Washington, D.C. to become Chief, Branch of Resources Management. I barely knew Mac, but in 1967 he would become an important part of our NPS career. Ruben Hart became GNP’s new Chief Ranger, transferring in from Mt. Rainier. During the first week of June, my sister Joan, her husband Ron, and children Jodi and Greg, arrived en route to WLNP on a vacation trip from Colorado. On 3 and 4 June, an unusually late spring snowstorm dropped 11 inches of heavy, wet snow on West Glacier (3.26 inches of precipitation recorded at West Glacier). The westernLarix larch ( Occidentalis) had already acquired their needles and the black cottonwoodPopulus ( balsamifera) also were in full leaf. Thus, these deciduous trees intercepted huge snow loads, bending and breaking thousands of young trees, and stripping branches from the older trees in the Headquarters area. Driving over to Apgar, there were hundreds of Swainson’s thrushesCatharus ( ustulatus) and possibly some hermit thrushesCatharus ( gutattus). These birds had just arrived on spring migration; they were on the roadways, hopping around, or just standing motionless as if in shock. The St. Mary Visitor Center opened (another Mission 66 abomination) on 18 June 1966. The new West Glacier Middle Fork Bridge opened to traffic on 30 June. This new steel bridge replaced the old concrete arch bridge that had, since the 1964 flood, routed all of the entering west-side tourist traffic onto the road that passed in front of our house. On 29-30 June, Bob Wasem and I hiked from Lubec Ranger Station to Firebrand Pass, then down Ole Creek to Ole Lake, where we camped for the night. The mosquitoes were horrendous, the densest I had ever experienced. The second day we hiked from Ole Lake out to Fielding Patrol Cabin and to the Fielding Trailhead. Pat and I went on a conducted trip to Sperry Glacier, led by Ranger-Naturalist Doug Follett (Ranger Doug) in July. We spent the night in the Sperry Chalet. This was our first experience with “Ranger Doug,” who had a real sense of how to excite visitors and to provoke their interest in learning and appreciation (read Freeman Tilden’s (1962) discussion of provocation in his book “Interpreting Our Heritage.” In July, I took Kevin and his friend Gregg Hammer on a hiking/camping trip. We hiked from Two Medicine to Upper Two Medicine Lake, where we camped for the night. None of us got much sleep; we were harassed all night by a porcupineErethizon ( dorsalis) trying to get into the tent. 16

1-7. The GNP staff, in April 1966. L-R: Back Row:John Palmer, Dan Nelson, Willie Colony, Ken Beck (way behind), Bob Sellers, Max Edgar, unidentified, Bob Wood, Harry Reynolds, Jack Dodd (Asst.Middle Supt.). Row: Smokey Metcalf, Riley McClelland, Buck Brandt, Larry Dale, Alton Hoover, Keith Neilson (Supt.), Fred Wood, Lyle McDowell (ChiefKneeling Ranger). Row:Lou Hendrix, Bill Lukens, Ralph Roye, Dick Steeves, Bob Frauson, Bob Wasem (Courtesy NPS, GNP, HPF 8646). 17

Father Joseph DeVaney, a Catholic priest from Fort Myers, Florida, fell to his death on Mt. Oberlin, on 31 July 1966. East District Ranger Bob Frauson asked me to go on the body retrieval crew, so I joined Bob and Rangers Bill Lukens, Buck Brandt, and others, on the nighttime operation. We reached the Logan Pass parking area, with the body, at 1:30 A.M. Father DeVaney apparently fell while observing birds. He was a member of the Audubon Society, and had a bird guide in his hands. In August, both of the new visitor centers were “dedicated,” St. Mary on the 27th and Logan Pass on the 28th. Both had been open to public use the previous year, St. Mary in the previous June and Logan Pass in August 1965, but the dedications had been planned to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the NPS (25 August 1916). NPS Director George Hartzog Jr. was present for the dedications. At St. Mary, cliff swallows(Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) had taken to nesting in the eaves and overhangs of the new visitor center. When Director Hartzog was on the temporary platform erected for speakers at the St. Mary dedication, a swallow overhead dropped a “load” that landed on Hartzog’s head. After the dedication, he was an unhappy camper and ordered that the swallows be removed from the visitor center. The removal was henceforth an annual war conducted by the NPS maintenance division. It began with a fire hose being used each spring to blast the nests off the building. This often was done at a time when the nests were full of eggs or young, a horrible example for park visitors. After several years, park maintenance installed an “electrical repel system under the eaves that were being used for nesting. That was at least less overtly less destructive, but the attempt to keep swallows from nesting on the visitor center was, especially to the park naturalists working at the center, a bizarre management decision. In early August, I filled in for a sick seasonal naturalist scheduled to lead an overnight interpretive trip to Granite Park and Swiftcurrent Lookout. It was an especially good group of visitors, thrilled with the vistas and the wildlife. The trip involved an overnight at the Granite Park Chalet. At that time, there was an old refuse dump about 150 feet of the Chalet. The site was covered with broken glass (some of it very recent) and other trash, an accumulation of decades of thoughtless disposal (1-8). As soon as I returned from the trip, I wrote a memorandum to Superintendent Neilson, reporting that at night, garbage still was being dumped about 200 feet from the Chalet to attract grizzlies. The Superintendent took no action on these issues. Our first of several wonderful family hikes to Belly River, in the northeast corner of GNP, occurred on 2-5 September 1966. Our friend Jerry DeSanto was the ranger at Belly River and the whole family got to stay in the ranger station with him. Jerry occupied the main floor, which had a kitchen, a bathroom, and a large livingroom to which the small ranger station office was connected. Our family slept in the attic, which was accessed by a drop-down ladder from the bathroom ceiling. The attic was an open room, with the roof as the ceiling, and a robust population of mice. Jerry was a superb fisherman and he helped the kids fish at Gros Ventre Falls, downstream from Cosley Lake, and at Elizabeth Lake. The NPS horses and mules were still at the station pasture and the kids all got a chance to ride a big, gentle horse named Dominic (1-9). Dominic was the last horse to pull the supply wagon (no longer used, but stored at the Ranger Station) from Belly River Campground, Canada, to the Belly River Ranger Station. 18

Starlings Sturnus( vulgaris) were becoming a common sight during spring and fall migration at West Glacier. On 14 October, I observed several hundred migrating south at the Quarter Circle Bridge. On 19-20 October 1966, Ranger Bill Lukens and I tried to reach Sperry Glacier, but we were blocked by deep snow above the Chalet, where we saw wolverine tracks. Later in October, I observed a wolverine three miles east of Apgar, along the GTS Road. On 7 November, at Lake McDonald, Pat and I observed 4,000 ducks including canvasbackAythya ( valisinaria), buffleheadBucephala ( albeola), green-winged teal {Anas crecca), lesser scaup{Aythya affinis), baldpate (now American wigeon)(HA7

1-8. Open dump with trash accumulation, a few hundred feet from the Granite Park Chalet, summer 1966. 20

1-9. L-R: Mary Teresa, Kevin, Jane, Kerry, and Terence on gentle horse Dominic, at F3elly River pasture; Mt. Cleveland is in the background, 5 September 1966. 21

CHAPTER 4. 1966-67, A Second Winter at Headquarters

Bob Wasem and I conducted the Christmas Bird Count on 22 December 1966. Driving up the GTS Road, as we approached the John’s Lake Trailhead area, four mountain lion kittens came onto the Road from the John’s Lake side. We immediately stopped; I had a 35-mm camera with a 500-mm lens with me, so I jumped out of the car and was able to get a photo (I-10). We could hear the mother, down by McDonald Creek, squalling, apparently urging her offspring to hurry up. Three kittens quickly ran to join her and the fourth bolted back into the woods in the direction of John’s Lake. We found the mother lion’s large tracks in the snow on the road, but we did not see her at any time. It was a very exciting episode. On 18-21 January 1967,1 joined Rangers Bob Sellers and Bill Lukens on a ski patrol. On the 18th, we got a ride in a Tucker Sno-Cat, to the Howe Ridge Trailhead on the inside North Fork Road and started skiing there. We skied to the Howe Ridge Patrol Cabin, where we spent the first night. There were recent moose(.Alces americana) tracks near the cabin. The 19th was a tough day of skiing, from Howe Ridge Cabin to Arrow Lake Patrol Cabin (1-11). District Ranger Bob Sellers wrote in his report to the Chief Ranger: “January 19: Up at 0600 after a pleasant night in the cabin. Four inches of new snow, temperature 24° F at 0600. We left cabin at 0810 and reached the West Lakes Trail Junction, Route #9, at 1215. This is a distance of only three miles. Snow conditions were extremely bad. Reached Trout Lake at 1430. Very wet snow falling. Temperature was above freezing in the afternoon. Snow conditions got progressively worse as the day went on. The ice on Trout Lake was soft, but relatively safe for travel. We were soaked to the skin and noticeably fatigued upon reaching the upper end of Trout Lake at 1530. The last 1.4 miles uphill to Arrow Lake took 2 14 hours Our skis were breaking from 8 to 12 inches of heavy, wet snow. Temperature was 34° F when we reached the cabin by flashlight at 1845. In all, we covered 7.4 miles in 10 hours travel time [in good snow conditions, it would have taken less than 5 hrs]. Tracks of several elk were seen at the lower end of Trout Lake. Single sets of moose tracks and two sets of marten[Martes americana] tracks on Howe Ridge and two sets of moose tracks between Trout and Arrow Lakes were seen. Only one set of snowshoe hare[Lepus americanus] tracks was observed. Snow depth at the cabin was about 50 inches.”

Following is our entry in the Arrow Cabin log book, on 20 January: “All three tired and sore from strenuous day yesterday. Cleaned cabin, chopped wood, worked on skis, and made trip up to Arrow Lake. Ice on lake 3 to 4 inches thick, with one foot of slush on top. Average snow depth in the vicinity of the cabin about 4 14 feet [I-11]. Avalanche at head of Arrow Lake ran sometime in the past day. Avalanche at the cabin has not been active yet this winter. Overcast with occasional snow all day. Immature bald eagle and dipper[Cinclus mexicanus] observed.”

The high temperature on the 20th was 40° F, after a low of only 32° F, making for sticky skiing again. On the 21st, we departed at 8:00 A.M. for the North Fork Road via Camas Creek [1-12]. We were met by the Sno-Cat, driven by DeSanto with passenger 22

Elmore. The afternoon temperature reached 39° F. Ranger Sellers’ summary in his patrol report read: “Although the trip was made under the poorest weather and snow conditions imaginable, it added much to our knowledge and experience. Moose and elk stay in this area throughout the winter. It would appear that the snowshoe hare population is very scarce. The Arrow Lake public shelter cabin can be quite comfortable in the winter and should be maintained for this purpose. Considerable maintenance including a new foundation will be needed or the cabin will be uninhabitable within five years.”

Neither the Arrow Lake nor the Howe Ridge Patrol Cabin exists now. Arrow Lake Patrol Cabin was built in 1927. In 1949, “patrol use discontinued— currently a shelter cabin” (GNP Building Archive Record of 1954). Its use as a public shelter cabin (and also a patrol cabin) continued until the first week in October 1972, when it was burned down by the NPS. In the summer of 1972, entries in the cabin log book described sex taking place in the cabin. This incensed Ranger Bob Morey, who was in charge of the backcountry, and he ordered that the cabin be burned down. It is a shame that it wasn’t simply converted back to patrol cabin status and locked to prevent public entry. The Howe Ridge Cabin was a frame structure, built in 1949. It had an atypical and poorly designed flat roof. The cabin was destroyed by the 2003 wildfire. John Tyers entered on duty as Assistant Chief Naturalist in GNP on 30 January 1967. I accompanied Rangers DeSanto and Hoover to the Kishenehn Ranger Station to take snow course readings on 27-28 February. We drove a Tucker Sno-Cat from Fish Creek, up the inside North Fork Road to Polebridge, then on the Kintla Lake Road to the junction where the road turns toward Kintla and an old road continues north along the North Fork. We drove the Sno-cat over an old, unstable bridge at Starvation Creek, then nearly to Kishenehn Creek. We completed the trip on skis (putting on hip waders to cross Kishenehn Creek)(l-13). The weather was like spring, with clear blue sky and temperatures in the 50°s both days. We saw numerous springtails(Collembola sp.) clustered on top of the snow in several places. When we arrived on skis and entered the station, we could immediately smell the evidence of bushy-tailed woodrat(Neotoma cinerea) presence. We had not yet taken the shutters off, so it was rather dark as we entered the kitchen. As A1 Hoover approached the wood stove, a large woodrat jumped from the top of the stove directly onto Hoover’s chest. A1 was, of course, startled, and let out a gasp. With one swipe of his hand, he immediately knocked it off of his chest, where it was clinging. It fell to the floor and scampered behind the wood pile. It did not attempt to bite or scratch Al. We all spent a restless night in our sleeping bags, wondering if there would be a return visit; there was not. The snow course depth averaged 35.5 inches, with a water equivalent of 9.8 inches. On the return trip we drove the Tucker Sno-Cat to Kintla Lake before heading back to Headquarters Spring 1967 continued to provide good family skiing at Big Mountain (1-14). Spring also recorded some uncommon wildlife observations: on 9 March, I photographed a Canada lynx, two miles east of Apgar Village, along the GTS Road (1-15). 23

I-10. Mountain lion kittens on the GTS Road; the John’s Lake Trail sign is ahead, on the right side of the road. Photographed during the Audubon Christmas Bird Count, 22 December 1966. 24

1-11. Top:Rangers Lukens and Sellers in a snowstorm at the Arrow Lake Patrol Cabin. 20 January 1967. 1-12. Bottom: Rangers Lukens and Sellers skiing across Trout Lake, on the final leg of the Howe Ridge/Arrow Lake ski patrol. 21 January 1967. 25

1-13. Rangers M cClelland(L) and Hoover wading Kishenehn Creek, en route to the Kishenehn Ranger Station and Snow Course, 27 February 1967.L-R: In the background: Starvation Peak and King Edward Peak, in British Columbia (photo by DeSanto). 26

1-14. The McClelland family skiing at Big Mountain, near Whitefish, Montana, March 1967. 27

1-15. Canada lynx, along the GTS Road, two miles northeast of Apgar Picnic Area, 9 March 1967. 28

On 6 April, John Tyers and I observed a (Lynxbobcat rufus ) meandering among the inholder cabins north of Apgar. That was the only bobcat I ever saw within GNP. On 21 April, I observed a Canada lynx on the road, east of the Trout Lake Trailhead. On 23 April, we (Pat and I and all five kids) drove to the head of Lake McDonald, then canoed to Kelly Camp. On the way home, when we approached the bridge over Upper McDonald Creek, at the head of the lake, we encountered a mother grizzly with three small cubs (of the year). We stopped and watched them come to our end of the bridge, then disappear into the woods. On 25 April, I watched a large grizzly foraging in the government horse pasture at the head of Lake McDonald. On 3 May, I saw 25 red-necked grebes (Podiccps grisegena) and a pair of harlequins(Histrionicus histrionicus) at the head of Lake McDonald. In mid-May we (all of the family) were taking evening car rides, looking for bears. On the 13th, along the road from the Camas Road to Fish Creek, we saw a mother black bear with a brown yearling, and two grizzlies (one large bear and one smaller, not together). All bears we grazing along the road cuts, primarily on nonnative species such as clovers(Trifolium spp.), common dandelion, and several grasses (note: there are no native clovers in the Northern Rocky Mountains). We were able to drive right up beside the grizzlies and watch them feed on the roadside vegetation. Pat had majored in education at Ohio State University, so she was much in demand as a substitute teacher at the West Glacier Elementary School. She also volunteered to teach kindergarten class in 1966-67, concluding on 17 May. At the end of May I declined a transfer to a naturalist position at Grand Canyon National Park, offered by Chief Naturalist Merrill D. (Dave) Beal. 29

CHAPTER 5. 1967, A Special Summer at St. Mary

Earlier in the spring, I had been told by Chief Naturalist Elmore that Assistant Chief John Tyers would have the option of running the East Side summer program out of St. Mary. After several discussions with my good friend John, he agreed that I could go. However, housing was very tight at St. Mary and finding a suitable dwelling for us was a problem. Fortunately, we would be able to keep our West Glacier house because the East Side assignment was just for the summer. At first, it looked as if we might be allowed to live in the old Baring Ranger Station (Sun Point Ranger Station), on the shore of St. Mary Irnke, near Baring Falls. Ranger-Naturalist Lloyd Parratt, his wife, and three small boys had lived there in the summers of 1951-60 and Seasonal Ranger Jerry Bell and family had been there for two summers. Chief Naturalist Francis Elmore abruptly ended that possibility because the old phone line (with a crank telephone) apparently had fallen into disrepair, and the NPS had no interest in fixing the line. Francis believed that I needed to be accessible at all times and that a phone was essential. There were two other options: we could have a one-bedroom apartment in a Mission 66 building) in the main St. Mary housing area, or, we could live in the historic, rundown, and isolated 1913 St. Mary Ranger Station, nearer to St. Mary Lake about a mile from the main housing area. The prospect of a unit in an apartment house in a crowded employee housing area did not please us, so we focused on the 1913 Station. I visited the station in April, to see what work was needed before 1 could move the family in. The old station was rustic and generally falling apart. On the first floor there were two very small bedrooms (one had been created years ago with a wall that divided the living room), a small kitchen, and a bathroom in a small addition that had at some time been added to the back of the house. The second story was a bat roosting “cave,” and the floor was covered with guano (bat droppings). They probably were primarily little brown(Myotis bats lucifugus). The second floor had a small bed space screened off, but the bats had been there too. I was told that if we chose the old ranger station, we would have to accept it as is, with whatever cleanup done by me. Park maintenance personnel would not be available for any kind of work on the station, including cleanup. The only “concession” offered was that we could use whatever government furniture we could find in Park storage. Pat always was ready for a challenge and she loved to “rough it,” so we eagerly chose to live in the station. I drove to St. Mary on several occasions in May and spent many hours trying to clean up the place and make it liveable for a family of seven. I removed the guano upstairs, then washed the second-story floor and walls with a sterilizing solution. I chinked the cracks between logs as best 1 could, to try to prevent bat entry, but it was impossible to close all of the potential access points. It became evident that it would be impossible to get the second story in living condition before summer, so we left it to the bats. There also was the problem of a striped skunk(Mephitis mephitis) that was living under the house. I finally managed to live trap and relocate it. During these cleaning trips, I was able to watch spring come to the East Side. Of course it was nothing like living there year-round, but it at least gave a glimpse of what an East Side spring is like. On 22 May, the pasque flowers(Anemone patens) were at their peak of bloom in the St. Mary area. On one of my trips to St. Mary (25 May) to work on cleaning the station, I made the following entry in my log: 30

“Sky cleared in late afternoon. Cleaned at house until 11:30 P.M. Walked out of the house to be treated to a tremendous display of aurora borealis. Blood red and dark green soon disappeared, but flashing cloudlike objects, rays, beams, bars all over the sky. The zenith was especially interesting. Bright flashes and impulses seemed to emanate there. All in all, one of the most impressive and spectacular natural displays I’ve ever seen. Activity in all quadrants. Watched until 2:30 A.M.— still going then.”

On 31 May, at West Glacier, we received a report that a grebe was floundering around on the ground in the maintenance area. I went over and found an eared grebe (Podiceps caspicus). It appeared unhurt, but grebes find it nearly impossible to get airborne from anything but water. I brought it home and we placed it in a bathtub full of water to see if it appeared to swim normally, and it did. The next day we released it in Take McDonald at Fish Creek. It immediately dove, then swam away from us. We hoped that it would be able to fly normally, but never knew. We moved from West Glacier to the 1913 St. Mary Ranger Station on 2 June. When we arrived at St. Mary there was a heavy, driving rain; the cold rain changed to snow the next morning and showers of snow or rain continued for the next two days. Pat was the usual good sport she always was in spite of the primitive facilities and the wet start to our summer. We had found a hide-a-bed for the livingroom and that would suffice for Pat and me. In one bedroom we put two cots, for the three boys; they slept crosswise on the cots. In the other bedroom, the two girls each had a cot. We found an old-fashioned wringer washing machine abandoned in a Park shed and we were able to get it to work (sort of). It had to be filled by hand and when the wash was done the machine had to be wheeled into the bathroom and drained in the shower. There was a cook stove in the kitchen. Although the living conditions were rather primitive, it was a wonderful setting— isolated from the other buildings and facilities at St. Mary. It was a great place for the kids. There was a large Douglas-fir(Pseudotsuga menziesii) in the front yard. The tree was perfect for climbing and for attachment of a tire swing. St. Mary Lake was only a half mile away and the kids spent a lot of time playing on the beach, always supervised of course. Our girls often played there with Debbie and Karen Frauson. District Ranger Bob Frauson and his wife Ann and their two girls lived at St. Mary year-round, in a Mission 66 house. The Frauson girls went to school in Cardston, Alberta, so every day during the school year Ann had to drive them to the Canadian border, where they could catch a school bus. I had first met Bob in 1954, when we both worked in Rocky Mountain National Park. At that time, Bob was the Longs Peak climbing ranger and I was on the trail crew. Bob was the epitome of a level-headed, experienced outdoorsman. He was an outstanding ranger and I always considered it a privilege to work with him. Pat and I hoped that we had the bats confined to the second story, which we closed off and did not access for the summer. However, one morning Pat and I were awakened by Terence’s exclamation that there was a big black butterfly flying around his bedroom. We of course knew immediately what it was. We managed to catch it with a fishing net. On another occasion, our cat Harmonica discovered a bat inside one of the hiking boots I was about to put on. Given what we know now about the incidence of rabies in bats, I suppose that we were too cavalier about sharing the house with bats. 31

Cliff swallows were beginning to build nests on the St. Mary Visitor Center on 7 June. That brought out the maintenance crew with hoses. How dare the swallows use the visitor center! This Park is for people, not wildlife! Throughout the summer, stray and abandoned dogs were continually showing up at St. Mary. District Ranger Frauson always did his best to find the owner or someone who might adopt an abandoned animal. In midsummer, a sheltie type dog showed up and we told Bob that we would care for it, at least for a while. It was about a year old, brown and white, very shy and sweet. We called him Laddie; he remained our dog until his death at age 13 or 14. The entire family had several fine hikes in July, including Aster Park and Upper Two Medicine Lake, both from Two Medicine. In early July, the family drove two miles from the 1913 Ranger Station to the Red Eagle Lookout, a metal tower with a small cab on top (60 feet high)(I-17) that had been moved from Swiftcurrent Ridge on the Blackfoot Reservation in May 1959. Later in July, daughter Jane (8 yrs old) and I hiked from the Red Eagle Lookout Tower (the trailhead in those days) to Red Eagle Lake, a beautiful spot 4 miles beyond the Red Eagle Lookout. Kevin (then 9 yrs old) and I hiked to the Divide Mountain Lookout, a unique wood octagonal structure on the north ridge of Divide Mountain (1-16). Part of my duty as the East Side Naturalist was to monitor talks and hikes led by the seasonal naturalists and to provide suggestions to them on ways to improve. Pat accompanied me on a conducted trip led by seasonal naturalist A. M. Johnson The route was from the GTS Road to Siyeh Pass, Sexton Glacier, and down Baring Creek. A. M. was a good naturalist, easily establishing rapport with park visitors. Siyeh Pass was always one of our favorite flower trips. Near the Pass was one of the best places to find Jones’ columbine (.Aquilegia jonesii) and alpine poppy(Papaver pygmaea). In addition to naturalist program supervision duties, I continued to try to learn as much as possible about GNP’s backcountry. On 18-20 July, I took the International (concessioner launch) from the Waterton Townsite to Goathaunt, where I met Jerry DeSanto (he was stationed at Goathaunt that summer). We spent the night in Jerry’s apartment, then got an early start the next morning, with 24 miles ahead of us, to Belly River over Stoney Indian Pass. We spent the night at Belly and hiked to Dawn Mist Falls the following morning, then hiked out to Chief Mountain Customs. On 24-25 July, Bob Wasem, Larry Dale, and I hiked from Two Medicine to Dawson Pass, Cutbank Pass, Katoya Lake (camped overnight at the lake), then to Cutbank Ranger Station. On 30 July, the new Mission 66 buildings (ranger station apartment units, dormitory, boat landing with exhibits, and a viewing platform) at Goathaunt were dedicated. These buildings were as inappropriate as were most of the Mission 66 structures foisted on the western national parks. The Goathaunt viewing platform, with a roof, was known to employees as the “Snowflake.” Like the St. Mary Visitor Center, the Snowflake attracted nesting cliff swallows. The response by NPS maintenance personnel was again to wash down the nests with a hose. During the last week in July, Biologist Bob Wasem sent me a copy of Lowell Sumner’s report on the history of research and management in the NPS. Sumner was retiring as the Chief Biologist of the NPS. It is a document well worth reading. Sumner had struggled through his career, trying to bring credit to biological research in the Parks, but with little support from the NPS hierarchy. At retirement, Sumner had been buoyed by the 1963 Leopold Report and NAS Report; most of their recommendations (described in Part 1) had been adopted by Secretary of Interior Udall and thus the NPS. Sumner’s Report (later 32

published as Sumner [1983]) concluded: “ ... the Service’s program to rescue and restore the unique biological resources which are ‘the very foundation upon which the National Park Service is built,’ is back in high gear. But it is not enough to raise the level of achievements to what it was in the ‘30s. Since those days the biological clock has kept ticking and for some park situations the time for rescue has nearly run out.” “It is also clear that another recession like the last (the three decades after the death of George Wright) would bring irreversible ecological destruction to many of the national parks. To save these world-famous treasures we must learn this lesson from history.”

Unfortunately, many superintendents were not listening or comprehending. In early August, we climbed Mt. Oberlin, at Logan Pass. This is a simple walk up, but the views are very good. In early August, Pat, Kevin, Jane, and I hiked from the GTS Road, over Piegan Pass, to Morning Eagle Falls, and out to Many Glacier. My main memory of that trip is the rain. It rained the entire trip and we all were soaked, but it was a great hike anyway. On 9 August, Kevin and I joined Jerry DeSanto on a hike to Crypt Lake, in WLNP. Jerry arranged a ride on Waterton Lake from the Waterton Townsite to Crypt Landing, in the NPS Goathaunt patrol boat. It is an 11-mile round trip hike from the boat landing to Crypt Lake. The trail gradually ascends the south side of forested Hell Roaring Canyon. Near the end of the trail, just before reaching the lake, there is a near-vertical limestone cliff through which a tunnel passes. The tunnel, about 70 feet long, was a natural passage, but it was enlarged just enough to make it possible for a human to crawl through it. To access the tunnel, there is an 8-foot steel ladder in place. On emerging (lake side), there was a cable attached to the rock wall, enabling the hiker to more safely traverse a narrow ledge on a nearly vertical cliff section before descending to an easy walk to the lake. On the evening of 11 August, after a picnic at our house (the 1913 Station) for the east-side naturalists, we watched from the porch as an intense lightning storm began to move down the St. Mary Valley from the west. There were numerous strikes and little rain. I photographed some strikes hitting East Flattop. Then, the 5 kids, Pat, and I jumped into our station wagon and raced to the Lower St. Mary Lake Overlook. By that time, there were strikes up the Many Glacier Valley, within a context of a bright orange sunset. We saw numerous strikes into Mt. Merritt and some strikes appeared to be going into Old Sun Glacier. We photographed from that Overlook for about 15 minutes. (1-18). As a brief heavy shower ensued and the lightning was above us, we noticed that some lightning activity appeared to be moving toward Chief Mountain, to the north. Pat and I immediately thought, “wouldn’t it be special to get a photo of lightning hitting the top of Chief!” We drove rapidly to the Chief Mountain Customs Road and to a pullout with a good view of the Chief. I quickly set up the camera on a tripod and opened the shutter for a time exposure (the sky was nearly dark). Within a few seconds, there were two brilliant lightning strikes in rapid succession into the top of Chief (1-19). I closed the camera shutter, advanced the film, and waited for the next strike. But there were none. The storm had dissipated and we had captured on film the only two lightning strikes into Chief Mountain in that storm. That photograph is on the cover of Dave Shea’s (2010) Chief Mountain booklet. We had met Dave, a seasonal biologist, earlier in the summer, when Bob Wasem brought him to our home in the 1913 Ranger Station. 33

1-16. Kevin at Divide Mountain Lookout, July 1967. 34

* « •’feylgB >Tr

1-17. Jane and Kevin on Red Eagle Lookout, July 1967. The Lookout was removed from the Park in October 1986. 35

1-18. Lightning west o f Lower St. Mary Lake. The three strikes in the distance are near Old Sun Glacier, on Mt. Merritt, 11 August 1967. 36

1-19. Lightning hitting Chief Mountain, shortly after sunset, 11 August 1967. These strikes were simultaneous, at least to the eye, and were the final ground strikes from this storm. 37

During the storm, park lookouts recorded more than 100 cloud-to-ground strikes within the Park; of these, 30 were observed to cause ignitions and 20 received suppression efforts. Park records indicate that about 12,400 acres burned. The Flathead River (North Fork) Fire burned about 9,000 acres, including much of Huckleberry Mountain. Huckleberry Lookout was spared after numerous retardant drops. The Glacier Wall Fire burned about 3,100 acres. During the 1967 fires, there was an intense and highly mechanized effort at fire suppression, especially on the Flathead River and Glacier Wall Fires. Bulldozers were used extensively. While bulldozers were in the process of putting in 28 miles of bulldozer fire line on the north end of the Apgar Mountains, I went in to see Superintendent Keith Neilson. I wanted to stress that the bulldozers were doing much more landscape damage than the fire ever could. He was of the old school and thought all fires were evil. He said that he had authorized them to "save the wilderness." He did not take kindly to my attitude and impatiently dismissed me. Now, 46 years later, the bulldozer roads are as apparent as when they were made. One, across the talus at the northwest base of Huckleberry Mountain (just south of the Camas Junction)(I-20), is especially obvious and will remain so for centuries, a reminder of the NPS's ill-advised and incessant reliance on a heavy hand, completely contrary to stated principles. In the post-fire flurry of activity, the Superintendent also authorized bulldozer use to clear and pile more than 20 acres of small fire-created snags (they posed no safety hazard) around the Camas Entrance Station, believing that a bulldozer-denuded terrain was aesthetically more desirable (1-21) (McClelland 1975). The NPS conducted a Fire Review of GNP’s 1967 fires, during 30 November through 1 December 1967 (a report on the proceedings was distributed by memorandum from Superintendent Neilson on 12 February 1968). Les Gunzel, a man always ahead of his time on policy issues, had been directly involved in the suppression efforts, submitted the following comments on bulldozer use (p. 35, Fire Review Proceedings): “I strongly feel the use of bulldozers on fires in the National Park Service wilderness areas should be seriously reviewed and definite guidelines established. Individual opinion under the stress of a going fire should not be the key to such an important issue. One factor to remember is that once bulldozers are approved and in use, things are going to happen that are undesirable, such as lines cut where they may be visible long after the fire scars heal; extremely wide lines may be cut where afterwards it will be realized they were not needed; and many lines may be constructed way ahead of where the fire is finally controlled by hand line. It is impossible to retain full control of the machine and the operators.”

Twenty years later (1988) on the Red Bench Fire, GNP’s superintendent would make the same illogical use of bulldozers. One line, two or more dozers wide in many places, and nearly paralleling Logging Creek all the way from the Park North Fork Road, extended 6 miles to Logging Lake. The episode exactly fit one of Gunzel’s scenarios; the fire did not reach the bulldozer swath. 38

During the last half of August 1967, at the height of the fire season, I was assigned as fire photographer. I had the option of filming from the ground, or from the air whenever I could arrange a flight. On one flight, in a Cessna 182, I was the only passenger. The pilot had removed the door on my side so that I could photograph without obstruction. There were several fires up the North Fork and I was shooting each one. As we were flying between fires, I unhooked my seat belt to reach additional film in the back seat. I reloaded and when we reached the next fire area I asked the pilot to bank steeply so that I could photograph straight down, out the open doorway. As he banked and began circling, with the wing on my side pointing nearly straight down toward the ground, I heard banging metal against the fuselage behind me. I looked back and saw my seat belt flowing back out the door. The wind was banging the buckle against the fuselage. I had forgotten to rebuckle the belt and I was looking straight down at the ground; nothing was holding me in the aircraft except the tightness of my fit in the compartment. I motioned the pilot to level off, and retrieved my belt, surviving a nightmare. The night of 12-13 August, one night after the severe lightning storm of 11-12 August, there were two fatal maulings by grizzly bears, one at Granite Park and one at Trout Lake (roughly ten miles apart). These were the first recorded deaths caused by a grizzly in GNP. On the night of the deaths, there were several wildfires, ignited by the previous night’s lightning storm, burning in the Park. Nearly a year after the incidents, GNP released its report of the incidents; the reportGrizzly “ Bear Attacks at Granite Park and Trout Lake in Glacier National Park, August 13 ’ 196Twas undated and unsigned as to author. The NPS could have established an accurate and complete historical account of the tragic events in their report; “they” did not do so. The NPS Report was embarrassingly superficial, unprofessional, and sketchy. It omitted many important aspects of the management actions taken before and after the incidents. Stephen Herrero's (1985) book "Bear Attacks: their causes and avoidance," is a useful perspective and presents meaningful recommendations for behavior in grizzly country. Although the book by Herrero (a wildlife scientist) contains some brief comments on the Granite Park and Trout Lake incidents, one must rely on the controversial book by Jack Olsen (1969): "Night of the Grizzlies." to discover detailed accounts. Although some of Olsen’s descriptions are generally close to accurate, his exaggerations, embellishments, and naivete tend to discredit the book. Perhaps Olsen is excessively sarcastic in his allegation that GNP’s NPS upper echelon exhibited a lack of concern about potential problems with grizzlies. However, it was general knowledge that for many years concessioner employees at Granite Park had been dumping garbage in a ravine about 200 feet from the Chalet, for the purpose of attracting grizzlies for their clientele to see in the evenings. GNP’s hierarchy had eschewed any action to stop this invitation to the disaster. Without an honest and complete record from the NPS, a reader is forced to rely on Olsen’s book for the most detailed descriptions of management activities at Granite Park and especially at Trout Lake, where Miss Koons died. I have some familiarity with the events at Granite Park. I was stationed at St. Mary as East District Naturalist when the deaths occurred. Seasonal naturalists at St. Mary routinely led overnight nature walks to Granite Park Chalet. On 12 August the naturalist assigned to conduct this walk (Fred Goodsell) was on forest fire duty. Seasonal Naturalists Joan Devereaux (now Watson), was chosen to be the substitute leader. 39

i,v.

■ v-»^->- ______. ’ - - ^ " •:

1-20. Top: NPS bulldozer clearing snags in the Park, after the 1967 Flathead River Fire, an example of management’s lack of understanding fire’s role (photo by C. R. Wasem). 1-21. Bottom: Bulldozer scar viewed in May 2013. The scar was created in August 1967, in talus at the base of Fluckleberry Mountain. The purpose of the swath was to prevent fire movement from the Park to the Flathead Forest (across rocks?). The North Fork Road and the North Fork of the Flathead River are in the lower right corner. The middle of the River is the GNP boundary. 40

Joan had hiked to Granite Park Chalet previously, but had never led a group there. Joan and her hike participants were staying in Chalet rooms the night of the death at Granite Park. The day after Joan returned from Granite Park, I was instructed to interview her regarding details of the grizzly mauling. The interview was recorded on audio tape and transcribed to print form (now in the GNP Archives). This documentation provides the only accurate and first-hand description of the events that transpired during the initial rescue effort at Granite Park on the fateful night. For the current reader, I will spare the details of the death of Miss Helgeson at Granite Park, which Joan Devereaux described in her interview. About 45 minutes after midnight, screams were heard from the campground and it became apparent that people there needed help. Joan led the initial rescue party to the campsite where the maulings had occurred (half a mile from the chalet). For light, in addition to flashlights, she built a wood fire in a wash tub. The episode was a challenging and of course upsetting experience for Joan. However, during the complex search for victims and all other aspects of the terrible event, Joan maintained her composure and provided necessary direction and communication that night, until help finally arrived via helicopter. The following morning, Joan led 58 park visitors from the Chalet to the GTS Road, on the Loop Trail. Joan received a “Citation for Courageous Action” from the NPS. On the morning of the deaths (13 August), Assistant Superintendent Jack Dodd sent three men, each equipped with a high-powered rifle, to Granite Park Chalet, with instructions to "kill all the bears you can find up there." The were Management Biologist Bob Wasem, Seasonal Ranger Kerel Hagen, and Cliff Martinka, a new Research Biologist in the Park. Martinka had arrived in GNP on 4 August, transferring from the Montana Fish and Game Department, in Havre. Chief Naturalist Francis Elmore was a fourth member of the group, but he did not carry a rifle and was assigned to other duties. The four men hiked to the Chalet via the Loop Trail. Olsen (1969:145-146) described the participants as follows: “Francis Elmore, the chief naturalist, was relieved that his part of the mission would consist only of tape-recording the reports of survivors and measuring distances and describing the various venues of the attack. He would function, in other words, as a sort of wildlife detective. The other three carried high-powered rifles, and there was no doubt in any of their minds that they were to use them. Robert Wasem, an experienced park biologist, was more or less in charge of the killing group, and the assignment did not sit comfortably on him. A mild, soft-spoken Ohioan, Wasem had the dedicated biologist's inevitable tendency to think of the park as a closed receptacle full of life forms that must be allowed to live as normally as possible. In such a setting man could be the only disruptive influence. Although Wasem had hunted grouse a few times, he did not enjoy killing. He preferred to bag his wild game through the end of a spotting scope. Cliff Martinka, originally from Pennsylvania, was a newly hired research biologist; he had just completed two and a half years with the Montana Fish and Game Department and had come to his new post in Glacier Park two weeks before. In his own way Martinka was as dedicated a scientist as Wasem. He was so steeped in the jargon of biology (he had both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees) that he was sometimes difficult for the layman to follow. In the world of Cliff Martinka, animals did not eat berries; ‘they utilized them for consumptive purposes.' Bears were not killed; they 41

were ‘dispatched,’ ‘taken care of,’ or ‘eliminated.’ Nor did Cliff Martinka have any compunction about dispatching or taking care of or eliminating bears, provided of course that there was no alternative. As he explained later, ‘I've been a hunter all my life. I've killed more than my share. Regardless of the situation, it doesn't disturb me at all to see something dead or to have to kill it. I was thinking as we climbed up there that this was something that had to be done, and if it had to be done, I preferred to be involved. I felt competent enough with a rifle, and perhaps other less experienced people may not have been able to handle the situation.’ The fourth member of the execution team was a seasonal ranger and wintertime high-school teacher named Kerel Hagen, a short, wiry Montanan who had worked his way up to a high rating on the park's personnel charts despite his part-time employment. The word had gone out many summers earlier that Kerel Hagen was uniquely adaptable to the special problems of the park's backcountry.”

Late that evening, well after dark, the three riflemen, shooting from the Chalet, killed two adult female grizzlies that had entered the garbage disposal ravine behind the Chalet. Initially, the men assumed that one of the bears must have been the killer, but this turned out not to be the case. The NPS Report made no reference to Seasonal Biologist Dave Shea, a level-headed outdoorsman and personal friend; he played an important role in the management action at Granite Park the following day. Returning to Olsen (1969:151-152): “Shortly after 2 P.M. [August 14], the tall, red-haired Dave Shea came up the trail, carrying a rifle. He was listed on the park records as Wasem's assistant, and headquarters had ordered him to interrupt an elk research project on Belly River and join his boss at Granite Park. When the young seasonal ranger-biologist saw the two bear carcasses lying behind the chalet, he said, ‘Where are the other ones?’ ‘What other ones?’ Wasem asked.’There's a sow with two cubs that comes late at night,’ Shea said. ‘Bert Gildart and I saw them here last week,’ and after dinner, the firing squad, now augmented by Shea, again took up its position behind the chalet. There was no garbage at the dump, but the bodies of the two dead bears lay redolent in the moonlight.”

At about 1:00 AM on the 15th, the four riflemen shot a sow that was accompanied by two cubs. Ultimately, the NPS concluded that this probably was the grizzly that had done the killing. The NPS Report did not mention that Biologist Martinka shot and wounded one of the grizzly cubs that accompanied the third adult grizzly killed near the Chalet. Again quoting from Olsen (1969:156-157 ): “Wasem drew the final shift, from 4 to 6 A.M., and he heard nothing whatever, not even a breeze. He sat in a canvas chair on the upper balcony and wondered where the cubs had gone and what would happen to them now that their mother was dead. He was thankful that no one, in the wild excitement of the shooting, had pegged a bullet at the young bears. By now they were eight or nine months old and weaned to a normal diet, and there was reason to believe that they had a chance for survival. When daylight came, the biologist [Wasem] walked across the ravine and up the steep side of the lava flow where the cubs had been seen last, but there was no trace of them. Wasem's shift was over, but he had been up almost 42

all night, and he figured he might as well finish his assignment. The evening before, park headquarters had radioed that one of the most obstreperous journalists in the area, G. George Ostrom of Kalispell, would be arriving at the chalet the next morning, and a high-ranking ranger executive had ordered Wasem and the other members of the party to remove all traces of dead bears before the arrival of the press. With his . .. Assistant, Dave Shea, senior biologist Wasem started down toward the trail cabin at about 7:30 to get some rope to drag the carcasses away. The two men had gone a short distance when Shea heard a bawling noise and spotted the cubs on some rocks about 150 yards below the chalet in the draw that led to the campground. Shea turned toward the chalet and saw Cliff Martinka standing several hundred yards away ... shots rang out. Both men [Wasem and Shea] looked up and saw that Martinka was taking aim for another shot at the young bears. Now the cubs seemed to double their pace and headed for the far edge of the bench and the underbrush that ran down the hill on the other side. Martinka fired a few more times, but soon the bears were gone. In the bushes not far from where Julie Helgeson had been killed, Wasem and Shea found fresh spots of blood, and they knew that one of the cubs had been wounded.”

And continuing from Olsen (1969:163): “By Wednesday morning, four days after the double killing, Bob Wasem and his assistant, Dave Shea, were the only representatives of the National Park Service at Granite Park Chalet, and since no grizzlies had been sighted after Monday night, they decided that the mission had been accomplished. Wasem radioed the chief ranger's office, learned that the trails into the chalet were closed, and received permission to hike out via the Alder Trail to Logan Pass. Before the two biologists departed, they sprinkled fresh lye on the carcasses of the dead bears. The bawling cubs had been hanging around the corpses, and apparently they would not leave until both grizzlies had been converted into dust. At 10:15 A.M., Wasem and Shea tightened the hitches in their packs and said good-bye to the overwrought staff of the chalet. The two men had not gone far along the trail when they came to a high point, and they stopped to take a last look at the wooded valley below. ‘There they are!’ Wasem said, pointing to a narrow stream far down the slope. The two cubs were running along the banks, and every few minutes one of them would dip its head in the water and shake it vigorously from side to side. Shea pulled out his binoculars for a better look, and he saw that part of the cub's jaw had been shot away. ‘Let's go,’ he said to Wasem, and the two saddened biologists resumed their long walk back to civilization.”

Inexplicably, and without the concurrence of his colleagues, Biologist Martinka had shot one of the cubs; the erratic shot destroyed the cub’s lower jaw. The poor animal somehow survived the winter and showed up at Many Glacier the next spring. According to our friend, Many Glacier Sub-District Ranger Bob Wood, the cub was in terrible shape and had to be dispatched. Bob was thoroughly outraged by the inaccurate shot from which the cub’s horrible condition had resulted. 43

CHAPTER 6. 1967-68, Graduate Study at Colorado State University: studying the ecosystem concept

On 8 May 1967,1 received a phone call from Lyle McDowell, NPS Chief, Branch of Resources Management, asking if I were interested in a training program that involved a year at Colorado State University (CSU) to earn a Master’s Degree. The purpose would be to prepare the individual for a new type of “Wildland Resources Management” position in one of the large national parks. McDowell stated: “After completion of the M.S. program and assignment to a large national park, the incumbent would provide continuity to resources management over the long term. The incumbent probably would not transfer again during his career.” I responded enthusiastically that I was interested in applying. McDowell had been Chief Ranger in GNP when we first arrived, in 1965. I knew him by name and little more before he transferred to the Washington Office. On 20 June, we received a copy of a memo from the Assistant Director, Administration, C. P. Montgomery, to the Regional Director, Midwest Region (written on 15 June 1967). It read it part: “We are pleased to announce that Park Naturalist Riley B. McClelland (sic), Glacier National Park, has been selected to participate in the Full-Time Academic Training Program for the 1968 F.Y. to pursue a graduate course leading to a Master’s Degree with an appropriate major in the field of wildland resources management. Mr. McClelland was selected from those who submitted applications in response to a Servicewide announcement for the 1967 F.Y. The training program for the 1968 F.Y. will be at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, commencing with the fall or winter quarter, whichever is most advantageous to the trainee's course of study, and will continue for four consecutive quarters. During the period of this training Mr. McClelland will be transferred to the University and while there, he will be under the supervision of the Division of Resources Management and Visitor Protection of the Washington Office. Mr. Lyle H. McDowell, Chief, Branch of Resources Management, will act as the coordinator for the program; will establish the parameters of the study area; and will approve the curriculum, including the topic for a professional paper, in consultation with the trainee and the University. In addition, Mr. McDowell will act as the trainee's ‘contact’ in the Washington Office for such assistance and liaison as may be required in connection with the training program. It is anticipated the trainee will attend meetings, conferences and training sessions relating to his course of study as directed by the program coordinator. At the completion of the training period, Mr. McClelland will be assigned to a field area where his training in wildland resources management can and will be directly applied. This area will be identified at the earliest possible time in the training program so the trainee may have an opportunity to adjust his schedule in accordance with needs peculiar to that area.”

We then received the following memorandum from Lyle McDowell (D-1): 44

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE W ashington,D.C. 20240

IN REPLY REFER TO: P8615-ORM June 20, 19&7

Memorandum

To: Riley B. McClelland, Park Naturalist, Glacier National Park

From: Chief, Branch of Resources Management

Subject: Long-term Academic Training Program, 1968 Fiscal Year

Congratulations on your selection as a trainee in the subject training program. This program is being sponsored by the Division of Resources Management and Visitor Protection, WASO, and I have been designated as the program coordinator. As such, I will act as your "contact'’ for liaison here and with field areas. Questions or problems relating to the training program should be referred directly to me for assistance.

During the period of this training you will occupy an "Identical Addi­ tional" position to your present position and officially you will remain on the staff of Glacier National Park. For purposes of program coordination you will be under the supervisory control of the sponsor­ ing Division.

The objective of this program is to train personnel for management of wildland resources. It is intended this training will be directed to the management of resources instead of the administration of wildland areas. This distinction must be clearly understood and reflected in the course of study. What we hope to achieve is a professional approach to the management of resources for their perpetuation as elements of the total environment.

In view of this revised approach to resource management, arrangements for a special graduate seminar have been made with Colorado State Univer­ sity, Fort Collins, Colorado. Dean Wasser and Dr. Wilcox have assured us they can provide the training required.

You can readily appreciate that the curriculum to be pursued would be heavily oriented to ecology; however, it is not mandatory that ecology should be your major subject. It has been recommended that your graduate study should remain in the general area of your baccalaureate work but oriented to ecology and research. In the latter case we foresee the resource manager being engaged in research directly and as a coordinator

D -l. Memorandum from Lyle McDowell to McClelland, 20 June 1967. 45

of research being conducted by others. Therefore, a working knowledge of research methods, techniques, and statistics is essential.

Dr. Wilcox has advised that your program would be classified as "Plan B" - special program, and the only unalterable standard will be 60 required credits and a special paper instead of a thesis. After care­ fully reviewing the enclosed material you should work out a suggested curriculum, quarter by quarter, to include sufficient course work for your major subject and courses in plant ecology (forest, grasslands, brushlands, etc.), animal ecology, wildlife ecology, aquatic ecology, statistics, research techniques and methods, et cetera. You should also suggest one or more topics for a professional paper relating to a resource matter of concern to the Service. It is anticipated that a field research project will not be undertaken because of the time factor. Two topics I would suggest for your consideration are ’’Ecosystems Manage­ ment as Applied to the Natural Resources of the National Park System, ” and "A Resource Management Plan f o r ______National Park Based on the Ecosystem Concept." You probably will have other suggestions. After completing your suggested curriculum, please forward it directly to Dr."'Arthur T. Wilcox, Professor, Forest Recreation and Wildlife Conser­ vation, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521, with a copy to me. By copy of this memorandum I am asking Dr. Wilcox to review your suggested curriculum and forward a copy of his comments and sugges­ tions to me. It is essential the needs of the Service and academic requirements of the University are met. It is highly desirable that these requirements be coordinated with your own study plans. The overall program should be worked out at your earliest opportunity.

If you have any questions about this program please feel free to call me at any time.

Lyle H. McDowell

Enclosure

D-l. (concluded). 46

I replied to McDowell (D-2 ):

10 July 1967 Lyle H. McDowell, Chief, Branch of Resource Management, National Park Service

Dear Mac:

One aspect of the training program and subsequent change in position continues to concern me—the location to which I will be assigned. This concerns me primarily because, as you mentioned in our first telephone conversation, the assignment will be long term, perhaps even for the remainder of my career. As you no doubt have considered, an assignment which could last the duration of a career is a different ball of wax (if I may borrow an expression of yours) than, is one of three or four years. You asked if I would consider assignment to an area other than Yellowstone. I indicated I will, although 1 believe that I can contribute more to the Service at that location. Perhaps it would be helpful to you at this point if I mention other areas I feel I could commit myself to on a long term basis. These include the following: Glacier, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain and Olympic. There may be other possibilities, but I am not familiar enough with any to commit myself without reservation. It seems to me that it would be most efficient to have the assignment location decided before schooling commences. This might not only avoid misunderstanding after the program has been initiated, but it would substantially aid in arriving at an appropriate topic for the required professional paper. Any clarification on these thoughts will be most welcome, Mac.

Sincerely, Riley

D-2. Letter from McClelland to McDowell, 10 July 1967. 47

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE W ashington, D.C. 20240

IN R E P L Y R E F E R T O : P8615-ORM July 17, 1967

Memorandum

To: B. Riley McClelland, Park Naturalist, Glacier

From: Lyle H. McDowell, Chief, Branch of Resources Management

Subject: Assignment following long-term academic training, 1968 F.Y.

This is in reply to your letter of July 10 concerning the above subject.

We are hopeful that specific location assignments can be determined before your training program starts or progresses very far; however, this may not happen as early as we would like. One of the problems will be in getting a Superintendent to obligate a position or hold a vacancy until you are available, about September 1, 1968. Rest assured that I will work this out as quickly as possible.

It seems that I remember being told that Glacier now has a GS-11 Ecologist position authorized but unfunded. I would certainly like to see this position filled, even at the expense of an existing posi­ tion. Of course, this is a matter for the Superintendent to decide.

One of the reasons we would like to identify the assignment area at an early date is to coordinate the course of study, particularly the professional paper, with the needs of that area. It is my hope that you should have more specific information on this at an early date.

D-3. Memorandum from McDowell to McClelland, 17 July 1967. 48

We were very excited about the training opportunity, especially because it meant going back to my alma mater, Colorado State University (CSU)(name changed from the original "Colorado A & M College" in 1957). In August, I flew to Denver, then drove to Fort Collins, to meet Dr. Arthur T. Wilcox, Head of the Department of Recreation and Watershed Resources, College of Forestry and Natural Resources, at CSU. I also wanted to look for a house that would accommodate the family, hopefully on the edge of town, where we could have a horse for the kids. Perusing the Fort Collins newspaper, there were few houses for rent that would accept children and pets (we had our dog Laddie and cat Harmonica). However, I was fortunate and found a nice house for rent about three miles from campus, at 3609 Lynda Lane. The rent was about $300 per month. An adjacent acre (fenced), bounded by Horsetooth Reservoir Road, was included with the house. This would provide an opportunity to get a horse for the kids. I returned to Glacier and we moved back to West Glacier from St. Mary to prepare for the move to Fort Collins. One of the significant uncertainties related to this training assignment was the question of where we would be assigned after the year at school. Superintendent Neilson was supportive of our returning to GNP, but finances were very uncertain (D-4). I had to receive approval from Dr. Wilcox and Lyle McDowell for all classes in which I wanted to enroll. They did not disapprove any class I proposed, so I felt very fortunate being able to take classes in which I had a real interest. I enjoyed mammalogy, plant physiology, bio-environmental relationships, limnology, limnological methods, aquatic vascular plants, glaciology, biochemistry, grassland ecology, forest and range soils, watershed management, and even statistics. At first I really feared statistics and started the class with a lot of struggling. But, I was able to do well by the time the course was completed. How funny it seems to think back to the statistics labs, in which we solved statistics problems by spending hours on an adding machine with a hand crank. Those statistical tests now are accomplished in seconds with computer programs. My lab partner in the mammalogy class was a Catholic nun, Sister Alicia. We conducted a small rodent sampling study along a fence line not far from where Pat and I lived. In part at least we used snap traps. Removal of mice from snap traps was not one of the things Sister Alicia found appealing! Dr. Lechleitner gave weekly quizzes at the beginning of a lab session, ten questions with short answers. Until the first lab quiz, I felt confident about my academic ability to do graduate work, although I had been out of school for eleven years. The first quiz knocked me on my ears: 3 correct out of 10. If the intent was to give a tough exam to induce serious study and preparation, it certainly worked on me. I immediately began to fear that I could no longer do high quality work in school and that I would fail. Fear is a powerful motivator and I studied very hard (no doubt neglecting Pat and the children) and earned an A in the class. Dr. Lechleitner was a wonderful teacher. In 1969, we were shocked to read that he had committed suicide; apparently he had cancer. He was only 46 yrs old. 49

August 18, 1967 Memorandum

To: Regional Director, Midwest Region

From: Superintendent, Glacier

Subject: Appropriate duty assignments for long-term academic trainees

This refers to Mr. Keith R. Williams' memorandum of August 4 and Mr. Hanson's memorandum to the Director of August 15 on the above subject. I regret that we did not answer your August 4 memorandum sooner, but perhaps this will suffice. Glacier very definitely needs a Management Biologist. The recent grievous tragedies here served only to emphasis this need. We cannot, however, provide a position from within our present uniformed staff (ranger or naturalist) to be filled by either Messrs. Barbee or McClelland about September 1, 1968. The reduction in the park's uniform staff during the last two years together with the recent assignment of the C. Robert Wasem position and funds to the Director's Office has left us without any further leeway in this respect. As indicated in Mr. Hanson's memorandum of August 15 to the Director, we would like to have Mr. McClelland reassigned to Glacier after he has completed his academic training. This can be done, however, only if the salary and expense funds can be appropriated for such a new position. It simply is not possible to absorb those costs within our present resources without doing so at the expense of other equally important park management programs. If it is not possible to finance an additional position for a Management Biologist, then as an alternative I recommend that Mr. Wasem's position together with the salary funds therefore be returned to Glacier. This would then give us one research position currently occupied by Mr. Martinka and carried on the Washington Office rolls and one management position carried on park rolls. Mr. Wasem, of course, carried out the park's wildlife management functions prior to his assignment to the research staff of the Director's Office. Certainly one research position and one management position would provide a better balance in staffing than two research positions and no management position. I have discussed the above proposal with Mr. Glen Cole during his present Glacier assignment.

/s/ Keith Neilson

Superintendent

D-4. Memorandum from GNP Superintendent Neilson, 18 August 1967. 50

All graduate students were required to take a graduate seminar. I enrolled in the wildlife biology seminar. It was coordinated and taught by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel from the Wildlife Cooperative Research Unit on campus. The primary instructor was Assistant Unit Leader Jack Gross. Gross had been a graduate student at Colorado A & M when 1 was an undergraduate. He was opinionated and seemed interested only in "game" management. He had disdain for the National Park Idea and used his position of teaching authority to belittle anything I presented in philosophical defense of NPS policies. He gave me a B in the class. Everyone else got an A, so he showed me! That was the only class I did not enjoy. The only other class in which I received a B grade was biochemistry, missing an A by one point. There was one other NPS employee, Robert Barbee, in this university training program during the year I was there. Bob was from Big Bend National Park, where he was a park naturalist. He and I had different interests, so we didn’t see much of each other. Bob was more interested in political science than in natural sciences. I can't remember a single class that we both took. Bob was very intelligent, did well in school, and moved rapidly up the NPS career ladder after school. He became the superintendent of YNP in January 1983 and was in that position during the firestorm year of 1988. He survived the huge controversy over the fires that affected about 36% of YNP. Bob kept bulldozers out of Pelican Valley, a major accomplishment. I respected his accomplishments. He remained superintendent for 6 years post-fire and then transferred to the position of Regional Director in Alaska in 1994. Bob had the tact and political savvy that I did not possess. In the initial weeks at CSU, I struggled to determine my approach to the required professional paper. The uncertainty about our post-school assignment continued to be unresolved. Lyle McDowell sent a helpful memos with suggestions on the paper topic, but he was not making much progress in working out a post-school assignment for me (D-5, D-6, D-7): 51

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE W ashington,D.C. 20240

IN REPLY REFER TO: P8615-ORM October 11, 1967

Memorandum

To: Riley McClelland

Prom: Lyle H. McDowell, Chief, Branch of Resources Management (Coordinator, Long Term Academic Training)

Thanks for your memo of October 2 and your schedule.

Don't let the professional paper topic throw you! What I have in mind is an in-depth discussion of the ecosystem concept applied to the management of natural resources in natural areas. In other words, what is the meaning of "ecosystem" and how could it be applied in the management of natural areas for their unimpaired conservation? Within the context of Service responsibilities, what does impairment mean? What does conservation mean? What is the purpose of the National Park Service? What is its mission? What is the purpose of natural areas of the National Park System? If we apply the ecosystem concept to management, where do people (visitors) fit into the management scheme? If we employ the ecosystem concept, does this mean we must put a 10-foot fence around parks and keep people out? Where does protection, as a concept, fit into management by ecosystems? What has been done in the past that does not coincide with ecosystem management? What must be undone? What new concepts must be adopted? What policies at the present conflict with ecosystem management? Where does resource manage­ ment as a function of area administration fit in the overall picture? These are a few of the questions that might be considered. What^E have in mind is a paper that would constitute a basis for the management of natural resources along objective ecological principles rather than subjective considerations. In other words, if you were establishing the foundation for the scientific management of natural resources, what would you suggest? Riley, this is an opportunity to stretch your imag­ ination and come up with some really new thinking. I believe the Service is on the threshold of accepting broad new ideas, so don't be hamstrung by tradition. Tour approach should be purely objective and supported by scientific thinking. This undertaking is far broader and more demand­ ing in "mental gymnastics" than working on some specific problem. What I am asking for is the development of a new concept in natural area administration in which natural resources are to be managed for their perpetuation.

D-5. Memorandum from McDowell to McClelland, 11 October 1967. 52

Heretofore, we have been concerned with the protection of things in the guise of management. All living things, including caves, die when the processes which generated, sustained and made their perpetua­ tion possible are changed from what they were to something else. The case of the Sequoias is an excellent example. The Sequoia will survive as a relic species only as long as its habitat is preserved. On a favorable habitat it will perpetuate itself. We have been concerned with the protection and preservation of individual living trees as if they would live forever. This loving protection did not include the habitat or the processes which made perpetuation of the species possible. The Sequoia groves must be managed on an ecological basis rather than a "loving protection." If we don't preserve the habitat of the Sequoia, we will see another species pass into extinction. To "conserve unim­ paired" means to manage for eternal perpetuation.

This is a tremendously challenging undertaking! I have done some preliminary writing on this topic for inclusion in the Resources Manage­ ment Handbook and when it is ready I will send you a copy.

I can find nothing new concerning the Frazier Darling study. Good luck.

.n

Enclosures

D-5 (concluded). 53

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE W ashington, D.C. 20240

IN REPLY REFER TO: December 22* 1967

Mr. B. Riley McClelland 3609 Lynda Lane Fort Collins, Colorado 80^21

Dear Riley:

As you can plainly see, I have been "sitting” on your letter of November h hopeful that I could tell you something positive about your future assignment. This is a steep uphill fight! As of right now I have been unable to make any progress at all.

I had high hopes of getting you or Bob back at Glacier since I was responsible for getting the position established there, but unfor­ tunately the research boys pulled the rug from under me and hired a man from outside. Another position was authorized for Sequoia and this too is being filled from outside. I had a talk this a.m. with Bob Linn, Deputy Chief Scientist, concerning these assignments and he suggested we get together after Christmas and "coordinate our inputs" - in other words, get our heads together. As of right now I don’t know where either of you will be assigned. After Christmas I will take this matter upstairs and try to get something positive.

This won’t help with your immediate need for next quarter’s schedule. All I can say now is to keep your schedule general and in the broad field of plant and animal ecology.

Believe me, Riley, I am very much alone in this effort, but I believe it can be worked out. If more specific commitments can not be made for the next academic year, we probably will not have any trainees. I finally got Dave Butts located at ROMO and I am sure you and Bob will be properly placed but the old mill doesn’t turn fast enough to suit me0

Sincerely yours,

Lyle H. McDowell

D-6. Letter from McDowell to McClelland, 22 December 1967. 54

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE W ashington, D.C. 20240

IN R EPLY R EFER T O : January2h, 1968

Memorandum

f^°* Riley McClelland, Trainee, Colorado State University

From: Lyle H. McDowell, Chief, Branch of Resources Management

Subject: Past correspondence

X will try to catch up withr r y overdue correspondence with you.

First, let me try to build up your spirits by saying that I feel quite certain an appropriate assignment w ill be available when you complete your training. However, in all honesty, right now I don’t know where it will be, but don't despair.

Your schedule for the winter quarter^ looks good. I am not too sure how glaciology will fit into our thinking but I'm sure it won't hurt. The spring quarter looks particularly good. Maybe you should take another look at Ethnography of North American Indians and how this will relate to our overall responsibilities.

With regard to the Yellowstone Research Expedition, I am in the dark. Just what is this all about? I am inclined to believe you should submit your paper through channels (Supt., Yellowstone, Midwest Region, WASO) for forwarding to Dr. Schaefer, unless this would pose a particular problem; in which case, send the original and a copy to me and a copy each to Yellowstone and Omaha. If there is some problem here, give me a call. I don't want to delay anything unnecessarily.

Now, for the professional paper. Some advice: This should be a completely objective and academic approach, free from criticism of the N.P.S. and written in the third person. You should view yourself as a scholar presenting a scientific point of view. In other words, divorce your thinking from past stumbling blocks, clashes of ideas, etc. This is your big opportunity to present what you think. I would suggest the following title , "A Resource Management Concept for Natural Areas of the National Park System." From here, I would then develop the concept. This would include a resume of past management practices and the effects of those practices. Of course, this would have to be done within the mandate of the Congress to the Secretary of the Interior for the management of the National Park System; the

D-7. Memorandum from McDowell to McClelland, 24 January 1968. 55

relationship of resource use to conservation "uninpaired." This should not be developed from a negative point of view that all has been had, but rather from a factual point of view, ever mindful that no guidelines existed for the management of natural areas. To point out the falacies of past management is not a negative approach and it should temper the reader to the thought that perhaps a new concept of management is in o rd er. Then, what concept is recommended and how would it be applied to the resources at hand. Here, we are interested in the management of ecological relationships and the preservation of those processes which made ’’things*' (wildlife, trees, caves, fish, etc.) possible. Heretofore, protection as a management concept was applied to "things” instead of the processes which made those things possible. For example, the purpose for the establishment of Redwoods National Park should be to perpetuate the plant and animal associa­ tion of which Sequoia serapervirens is the dominant species. Inci- d en tly , th is is not the s ta te d purpose. What concept of management should be applied? Look at the situation in the Giant Sequoia groves or the lodgepole pine forests of Teton!

This concept of management should distinguish between naturalness and "beauty" or at least point out that naturalness within our context is beauty. This topic is timely but you may not wish to include it.

What I have suggested above does not necessarily fit into your tenta­ tive outline. What I have in mind is a scholarly analysis of the need tojaanage resources and the scholarly presentation of a concept for themahagement of resources to fu lfill the mandate of the Congress. Development and presentation of the concept for adoption by N.P.S. should be your basic concern. Its implementation and training of employees, public relations, etc., is the responsibility of the Service.

I will be in Arizona during February and if possible I will come up to Fort Collins and discuss this with you.

Tour attendance a t the American S ociety of Range Management has been approved. Travel orders w ill be issued by Midwest Region.

D-7 (concluded).

My first objective in tackling McDowell's challenging ecosystem topic was to locate all of the relevant literature. I wrote to ecologist/author Fraser Darling concerning the availability of his recent work (“Man and the National Parks”), about which I recently had heard. I was pleasantly surprised that Fraser Darling replied personally (D-8): 56

t f T S • A A , ; THE CONSERVATION FOUNDATION RESEARCH • EDUCATION

1250C o n n e c t ic u t A v e n u e, N. W.

W a s h in g t o n, D. C. 20036 Telephone • 659-2180 Cable Addresa •c o n s e r v i t March 5 , 1 9 6 8

Mr. B. R iley M cClelland 3609 Lynda Lane Fort Collins, Colorado 80521

Dear Mr. McClelland:

I have your letter of February 19, which was forward­ ed to me in England and I have now brought it back with me to W ashington. The re p o rt on Man and the N ational Parks is on sale from this office for $1.50. To save your time I am send­ ing a copy under separate cover and would be obliged if you would return $1.50 to our Marvin Zeldin, Director of Informa­ tion Services Division.

I am interested to read of your -title for the study of The Ecosystem Concept as a Basis for Resource Management in the Natural National Parks and trust we shall have the oppor­ tunity of seeing a copy when it is published. Meanwhile I am enclosing a copy of a recent paper which may be of interest to you, A Wider Environment of Ecology and Conservation.

With kind regards.

Yours sincerely,

F. F raser D arling Vice-President

FFD:bjm

enclosure 1

D-8. Letter from Fraser Darling, Conservation Foundation, 5 March 1968. 57

After much deliberation, the paper’s title evolved into: "The Ecosystem—A Unifying Concept for the Management of Natural Areas in the National Park System." During the school year I had two interesting trips. Both were appropriate as complimentary training in the ecosystem management project that I was pursuing in the professional paper. Dr. Vincent Schaefer (Director, Atmospheric Science Research Center, State University of New York, Albany) invited me to participate in the Eighth Yellowstone Field Research Expedition (YFRE 8) during 15-22 January 1968. The Expedition was still being held at Old Faithful. Dr. Schaefer had started these annual seminars when we were snowed-in at Old Faithful, in 1960, and we had maintained contact with him after we were transferred out of YNP. In the 1968 Expedition, I conducted a seminar entitled: "The Management of Natural National Parks." My report on observations of Seismic Geyser was published in Dr. Schaefer’s annual report (McClelland 1968a). The other trip was in February, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to attend the annual meeting of The Society of Range Management, in which I had been a member since undergraduate days at Colorado A & M. The theme of the annual meeting was "the ecosystem concept in range management." That was particularly relevant to the professional paper on which I was working. Pat and I attended seminars and lectures by visiting professors and dignitaries whenever we could. I remember most clearly an evening lecture at the University by the eminent geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky. In his later book, “Mankind Evolving,” Dobzhansky wrote: “Science is cumulative knowledge. This makes scientific theories relatively impermanent, especially during the epochs when knowledge piles up something like geometric progression. Scientists should be conscious of the provisional and transient nature of their attainments. Any scientist worth his [or her] salt labors to bring about the obsolescence of his own work.”

In addition to our pets Laddie and Harmonica, which we already had, we purchased a horse for the kids: "Sparkles," a big, loving, gentle, old Welch pony. He had a bad case of arthritis in the knees, but was always willing to plod around the pasture with the kids on his back. Terence often would just lay on Sparkles' back, and feel perfectly safe (1-22). We often used another pony, Warlock, which belonged to the Barnes family. They lived a mile away and had several horses and ponies. Our Jane became friends with Cary Barnes, who was about Jane's age. Cary had another pony, Merry Legs, that the older kids occasionally rode. Mary T., Kevin, and Jane did a lot of riding and joined the pony club. The needed mounts were loaned to them for weekend competitions (barrel racing especially) at the nearby arena. We have a box full of ribbons they received (1-23). The older three kids joined the drill team. They rode in the Cheyenne Days Parade in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and other local parades. The kids rode a school bus to their elementary school. I attended the kids’ weekend activities as often as possible, but school was very demanding and the bulk of the childrens' logistics and daily supervision was left to Pat, the consummate and dedicated mother. One of my recollections of the kids in Fort Collins was the day that Terence tried to fill the basement with water from the garden hose. He wanted to create an indoor swimming pool! Don't remember how deep it got, but at least several inches. We managed to work in a 58 couple of family skiing trips. We skied at Hidden Valley, in Rocky Mountain National Park one weekend. This was one of the sites at which I had worked when on the NPS trail crew in 1954. At that time the ski area was just being surveyed for "development." It was never a very good area for beginners—open, windy, drifting slopes up high and narrow trails through the trees at the bottom toward the lifts. Appropriately, the ski area was gradually eliminated beginning in 1977, when the chair lift was removed. We also took a family ski trip to Steamboat Springs Ski Area, staying two nights. On one occasion, we could not locate Kevin. We discovered him steaming down a very steep closed run that had been set aside for Olympic training sessions. He made it in fine shape. With my folks only 60 miles away, in Denver, we made several trips there on weekends and they came to visit us a few times. During the break between spring and summer quarters. Bill and Lorraine Baker came down from Billings, Montana, and joined us on a trip to Mesa Verde National Park and the Great Sand Dunes, in southwestern Colorado. Our hope of returning to GNP was bolstered in early April by the receipt of copies of two memoranda from Superintendent Neilson, the first to three of his staff members (D-9) and the second to the Regional Director (D-10). However, April also was a depressing time for us and much of the World with the devastating news of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on 4 April. Spring Quarter was speeding by and I bore down on trying to finish the “professional paper” required to complete the MS degree. I sent Lyle McDowell a detailed outline and he responded with satisfaction (D-l 1) and included a draft of his vision of the Resource Management (Management Ecologist) Position (D-l 2). I was confident that applying the ecosystem concept to natural resources management in “natural” national parks was a progressive step. The NPS in the Mission 66 era had overemphasized facility construction and recreation activities for visitors. In the process, “naturalness was being further degraded. It seemed equally important to recognize that sound ecological management would never provide all the answers. It could not speak for intangible values embodied in the National Park Mystique. I tried to incorporate that point in the paper McDowell had assigned. Years later, Bratton (1985:133) further emphasized this point: “The ecosystem mode of thought can provide a sound scientific foundation for management, but it cannot provide a complete set of values for us.” 59

1-22. L-R: Kevin, Kerry, and Terence on Sparkles, our Ft. Collins pony, October 1967. 60

1-23. Horse riding competition ribbons for Jane, in Fort Collins, CO, 7 July 1968. 61

3-29-68

To: Chief Ranger, Administrative Officer and Personnel Officer From: Superintendent, Glacier Subject: Position Description for B. Riley McClelland

During the Zone meeting at Denver, I discussed with Regional Director Fagergren and Director Hartzog the proposed assignment for Mr. B. Riley McClelland, when he completes his Masters Degree in Resources Management. I mentioned to Messrs. Fagergren and Hartzog that we would very much like to have Riley McClelland return to Glacier upon completion of his schooling and to serve in the capacity as a Staff Park Ranger (Resource Management Specialist). In addition to the resources management activities, we would designate Mr. McClelland as the key man to prepare for Glacier's Wilderness hearings, which are as yet unscheduled. I pointed out that this was a most important subject since all indications are that there would, be a considerable variance of opinion as to the area in Glacier that should be included in the so-called Wilderness Designation. Both Messrs. Fagergren and Hartzog agreed that this would be an excellent approach. It was agreed that on my return to Glacier I would prepare a memorandum to the Regional Director stating the reasons why we wanted Mr. McClelland to return to Glacier and would also prepare a preliminary position description. The Regional Office, in turn, would submit this to the Washington Office for review and approval. It was recognized that for the time being, we would, not settle the question of whether this would be an additional position for Glacier or in lieu of one of the existing positions. I stressed the fact that Mr. McClelland was currently on the Park payroll and didn't see any reason why be should not continue on the Glacier payroll on his return. Accordingly, Chief Ranger Hart and personnel Officer Henry should get together and collaborate on a preliminary position description as Staff Park, Ranger "Resources Management Specialist.'The preliminary position description should not stress or emphasize the part Mr. McClelland will play in the Wilderness Hearings since this is a temporary matter. It should include the above but as a part of the overall resource management function. This should include all phases, such as soil and moisture control, wildlife management, including bear management, insect disease control, etc. At one time Mr. McDowell prepared a brief description of such a staff position for budget or estimate purposes. This should be a good guideline to follow in drafting a preliminary position description.

Keith Neilson Superintendent

D-9. Memorandum from Superintendent Neilson to three staff members, 29 March 1968. 62

O P - n O N A l . FO R M NO. 10

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT Memorandum

TO B. Riley McClelland d a t e : * < - 1 1 -6 8

FROM Superintendent, Glacier

s u b j e c t : Possible reassignment - Glacier

In my March 12 memo, I mentioned that on my return from Denver I might have some additional information for you on your possible reasignment to Glacier. I did discuss with Director Hartzog and Regional Director Fagergren your possible reassignment to Glacier at the close of your academic training. I stated that your services were urgently needed to fill a long standing need for a Staff Ranger (Resources Management Specialist) who would report directly to the Chief Ranger. A copy of the preliminary draft of the job sheet is enclosed for your review. Incidentally, I am also sending a copy directly to McDowell. I will appreciate any comments you may have on the job sheet after you have reviewed it.

Also, we are Justifying your return to Glacier on the basis that we would also designate you as our key man to prepare and help pave the way for Glacier's wilderness hearings which may come next summer or the following year. As you probably know, both Mr. Stewart Brandborg, the Director of the Wilderness Society, and Mr. John Ball, Assistant Director, are from Montana. Naturally they carry considerable weight, with the Montana Congressional delegation, on wilderness matters. The Park Service's concept of "true wilderness", of course, provides for so-called Type 3 zones - threshold areas. Whereas the Wilderness groups strongly believe that the so-called "threshold areas" should be included in the wilderness designations. I am enclosing the January 19 issue of the Wilderness Society publication. Pages 5 and 6 will explain their views on wilderness as compared with our own. Please return this issue when you return the job sheet.

Although the Director and Regional Director cannot make any commitments at this time, they did agree that they would do what they could to assist in your return. One of the big problems at present is our personnel ceiling. At the present time the Region is still over its permanent ceiling by some 6 positions, in other words, 6 more heads have to roll before we can even start filling jobs. If further cuts are made in the budget come July 1, this may complicate matters, but at least we will know how the situation stands sometime before September. Keep your fingers crossed and I think everything will work out.

With best regards to you and the family,

Keith Neili Enclosure

Buy U.S. Savings Bands Regularly on the Payroll Savings Plan

D-10. Memorandum from Superintendent Neilson to McClelland, 11 April 1968. 63

OPTIONAL FORM NO. 10 MAY t962 ED IT IO N G SA G E N . R E G . NO. 17 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT Memorandum

TG : Riley B. McClelland date: April 25, 1968

from : Lyle H# McDowell

subject: Outline for professional paper, etc.

The outline looks very good indeed. It is just what 1 had in mind and I will be looking forward to the finished product.

Enclosed is my suggested job description for what you would be doing at Glacier. What I have in mind is a strong resource management position. You will note that Bunny would be under your supervision. Keith may not approve this suggestion. I would like to see all present resource management activities (S&MC, I&DC, weed control, exotic plant control, fire control, fish and wildlife, etc.) under the control of the Management Ecologist for staff direction. As you know, there are presently carried out as staff activities at the present time. This would be in line with the so called "FOST Concept." That group has recognized resources management to be a basic function of the Superintendent's staff. I don't get too much agreement here for the creation of a division of resource management at the park level, however, I believe it is in the cards. When the FOST idea is implemented, someone on the staff of the area manager will have to do resource management work as a basic responsibility. For the present, I believe we are making progress just to get you assigned to the park as a resource manager. It may be slow going for a while but still there will be plenty to get done.

Enclosed is a draft of a part of the Resource Management Handbook. You will note some chapters devoted to my concept of management which may be of interest to you. This draft will be severely edited. We are having a review here April 2 9 .

Let me know if I can assist in any way. A

dz> P Oy A ^ ' «

D-l 1. Memo from Lyle McDowell, 25 April 1968. 64

STAFF PARK RANGER (MANAGEMENT ECOLOGIST) G S-45-3-11

I. INTRODUCTION

This position is on the staff of the park Superintendent. The incumbent is responsible for applying the ecosystem concept to the management of all natural resources within the park; the coordination of all resource management programs; the identification of research needs for resource management and the application of research findings to management; the preparation of resource management plans for the maintenance and/or the restoration of ecological integrity; the preparation of the wilderness proposal for the park; provides professional advice and assistance to the Superintendent concerning park management as it relates to the perpetuation of natural resources.

IE DUTIES

The incumbent is a professional ecologist responsible for the development of a plan for the management of the natural resources for the maintenance of and/or the restoration of natural ecological relationships as they most probably existed prior to their disturbance by non-aboriginal man. The incumbent will formulate ecologically sound programs for supervisors and will assess the effectiveness of management measures. A primary concern will be the coordination of all resource management programs such as the management of wildlife and its related habitat; fish and aquatic resources; soil and moisture conservation; insect infestations and disease; infections in vegetation and wildlife; fire control, including the application of prescribed burning as a management technique; the eradication of non-native plants and animals; the reintroduction of extirpated species of plants and animals; the control of overpopulations of animals; the development of plans for the elimination of wildlife-visitor conflicts; coordinates and monitors the pesticide use program for its effect upon resources; and reviews and monitors maintenance programs and development plans for possible adverse effects upon resources.

The incumbent will work closely with representatives of the Office of Natural Science Studies in order to coordinate resource management programs with the natural science study program and to apply research findings to resource management programs. He will identify research needs and document these by the preparation and submission of Research Study Proposals. He will coordinate all research activities conducted within the park by non-Service scientists and students. The incumbent may conduct, from time to time, investigations on his own toward the solution of resource problems, but such investigations will be closely coordinated with research projects underway and/or anticipated. The incumbent will test management techniques derived from research prior to broad-scale application through management programs.

D-12. McDowell’s draft of his proposed GS-11 Staff Park Ranger (Management Ecologist) position. 65

The incumbent will provide professional leadership and guidance in the development of a wilderness proposal for the park and the management of wilderness areas for the perpetuation of their wilderness values.

The incumbent maintains close liaison with other resource management bureaus and agencies of the Federal Government and the State of Montana, Flathead and Glacier Counties and the Blackfoot Tribal Council in all matters of mutual interest. He represents or advises the Superintendent in negotiations concerning hunting and fishing adjacent to the park and at meetings of organizations interested in park management programs.

IIL SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY The incumbent directly supervises the Staff Park Ranger (Resource Management Specialist) and other personnel as may be assigned as Staff Specialists for resource management.

IV. SUPERVISION RECEIVED The incumbent is under the supervision of the Superintendent, GS-301-15, Position No^_, who establishes broad guidelines for the management of natural resources within the park. He receives technical advice and guidance from Research Biologists stationed in the park.

D-12. (concluded). 66

On 6 June I passed my final oral examination, held by committee members Professor JVK Wagar, and Drs. Donald Hervey, Harold Steinhoff, and Arthur Wilcox. Summer session courses would fulfill the final requirements in the M.S. program. On the evening of 6 June, there was a terrible blow to our country, with the assassination of Robert Kennedy. As Summer Quarter progressed, we still did not know with any certainty where we would be assigned. Of course we were still hoping for return to GNP, or even better, YNP. On 25 July, Superintendent Neilson wrote with some good news (D-13):

Date: 7-25-68

To: B. Riley McClelland

From: Superintendent Neilson

Subject: Reassignment to Glacier

Apparently your Position Description is approved, with the exception of some rather minor reservations. The rewrite is going into the Region within the next few days along with a personnel action moving you into the position. This, of course, isn't official until such time as we get the final O.K., personnel-wise, through the Regional Office.

It appears that Bob Wasem may get a two year education detail beginning this Fall. If so, we will tentatively hold his house for your use. There may be a lag, however, between the time you arrive and the time he departs. We will have to work this detail out later. In the mean time, I am enclosing three sections of the "Christian Science Monitor" on their National Park coverage. Please return the one entitled "Private Pockets in Public Parks" after you have finished with it. Best regards,

D-13. Memorandum from Superintendent Neilson to McClelland, 25 July 1968. 67

We were very pleased, but with some disappointment in the “insulation” the position had received. It was a Park Ranger, Resources Management position, no longer the “Management Ecologist” position that Lyle McDowell had proposed, and I would be reporting to the Chief Ranger, not the Superintendent. But those were minor matters to us and I replied to Superintendent Neilson (D-14). His reply follows (D-15).

August 2, 1968 Memorandum

TO: Keith Neilson, Superintendent, Glacier

FROM: Riley McClelland

SUBJECT: Assignment

We are happy to hear that the position description has been approved and hope that the “final” official clearance will soon be forthcoming from the Regional Office. Thanks for sending the articles from the Christian Science Monitor. They are quite interesting. I am returning them along with two reprints of pertinent talks given at the Conservation Lectureship of the University of California. Perhaps you have already read them. I have other copies, so there is no need to return them. I will assume that final details of my reassignment will work out without a major hitch, as I must begin to make arrangements for our move. School will be completed August 23. The lease on our house here in Fort Collins expires September 1, so we will probably have to be out by soon after that date. As you mentioned, this may create an overlap of two or three weeks between the Wasems and us if we are to be assigned to the house they now occupy. We have a question concerning pets and will pose it at this time. As I recall, the pet regulations were in a state of flux when we departed last year, so we are uncertain about current rules. When we left, we had a pet permit for a cat. We still have the cat and have had a dog for the past year. We wonder if it would be permissible to keep the dog and return with him rather than the cat. This way we will still have only one pet, which is what we had a year ago. The dog is not large, doesn't bark, and would pose no problem. We could keep him indoors most of the time. This year has been very interesting and worthwhile. It has also been expensive and rather exhausting, so we are really looking forward to returning to the park.

Sincerely,

Riley

D-14. Memorandum from McClelland to Superintendent Neilson, 2 August 1968. 68

PlA August 15, 1968

Memorandum

To: B. Riley McClelland

From: Keith Neilson, Superintendent, Glacier

Subject: Assignment

We have received the approved position description for Staff Park Ranger (Resources Management) GS-^53“H and a one name certificate of eligibles consisting of one B. Riley McClelland. We will issue the personnel action effective with the beginning of the first pay period after you return to Glacier, or September 8. Ken Beck will issue the travel authorization based on this action and forward it to you with your copy of the promotion action. You might contact him as to exact dates you wish to travel and give him an estimate of expenses if you require a travel advance.

There was question at the Region and WASO levels as to whether you should work directly with my office or the Ranger Division. The final outcome was that your position should be a part of the Resources Management and Visitor Protection Division, so Chief Park Ranger Hart will be your immediate supervisor. The nature of your duties will, of course, give you considerable independence of action.

Unfortunately, I cannot honor your request for a dog permit. The issuance of these permits has been suspended for over a year now, and several rather serious management problems involving dogs in the past have convinced me that they should eventually be eliminated from our housing areas with the Park environs.! Enclosed is a copy of our memo to employees on the subject of Dogs, Cats and Other Pets. I trust that you and your family will be reconciled to the need for such a policy. The permit for your cat is still in effect.

Roy Smith has accepted the position of Foreman IV at Theodore Roosevelt and his house should be vacant by about August 23* I believe this will solve the problem of the overlap between your arrival and Wasem‘s departure. This house is very similar to Wasem's but is on a back street further removed from traffic congestion end should be more suitable for your family.

We shall look forward to having you back. I'm sure you will find your new duties both challenging and rewarding.

Sincerely yours,

Keith Superintendent

D-15. Letter from Superintendent Neilson to McClelland, 15 August 1968. 69

Superintendent Neilson’s refusal to allow us to bring Laddie back to Glacier meant we would have to abandon Laddie, as well as the pony Sparkles and Kerry's cat Snowball—at least temporarily—a very disturbing thought to all of us. By this time it had become hard to think about leaving even Chaps, a badly mistreated Doberman from next door. He was huge and wonderfully friendly; he had essentially adopted us, at least at times he needed affection and could escape his owners. One of our neighbors volunteered to keep Laddie until we worked out some plan for getting him. Our year in Fort Collins had been a wonderful and stimulating experience, for all of us. Pat took courses in botany (taught by Professor Bruno Klinger) and ornithology (taught by Professor Keith Baldwin). She earned A grades in both classes and did a very interesting study of black-billed magpie(Pica hudsonia) and western meadow lark(Sturnella neglecta) nesting for the ornithology class. I received an M.S. Degree on 23 August after completing the required professional paper. Pat did all the typing on the professional paper and all other reports and papers required for classes. How much easier it would have been to have had a computer in those days, to avoid having to retype multitudes of drafts. The abstract from my “professional paper’ follows:

“THE ECOSYSTEM—A UNIFYING CONCEPT FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL AREAS IN THE NATIONAL PARK SYSTEM When considered in terms of what will remain for future generations, many unique national park resources are in jeopardy. Natural areas of the national park system have been managed primarily within a user-oriented, selective-protection concept. A slow but obvious disappearance of the distinction between natural areas and mass recreational areas has resulted. Selective protection has not functioned to preserve naturalness. While vast portions of many national parks remain in a wilderness condition, many of the unique areas in parks are seriously degraded. The ecosystem concept is a unifying principle which can serve as a framework for the reorientation of natural area management. Ecosystem is a contraction of the words ecological and system. As a mental image it is a means of coordinating a multitude of complex parts and interrelationships into an orderly whole. All ecosystems are open, have theoretical limits, and may be characterized by structure and function. Resource managers must ‘think in ecosystems,’ i.e., they must relate every decision and every action to the entire complex picture rather than to an isolated component of the ecosystem or to considerations based on expediency. In any ecosystem, everything, at least indirectly, affects everything else. Establishment of Goal Ecosystems, subdivided into Management Unit Ecosystems, provides the nucleus in development of a Resources Management Plan. Active management measures are necessary to perpetuate those portions of a natural area that remain ‘unimpaired.’ Restoration of man-altered landscapes will require technical skill, patience, and a considerable shift in existing management priorities. The increasing trend of deterioration in the quality of unique resources and experiences found in natural areas is not inevitable. The path toward mediocrity can be reversed by acknowledging the problems, recognizing their causes, and by implementing the ecosystem concept. In this context, the ecosystem concept includes a land ethic, an ecological conscience, and perspective.”