National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Glacier National Park Student Reading Unit 1: People and Glacier National Park 1 Education National Park Glacier National Park is an awe- people to be good stewards of the designation- What inspiring place. Many aspects of this country’s public lands. Still, this may does it mean for land are also sacred to the Blackfeet, mean creating regulations for where people? Salish, Kootenai and Pend d’Oreille people can camp or hike. It also may Tribes.1,2 George Bird Grinnell and limit the type of activities people can other conservationists lobbied do in the park. In Glacier National Congress for seven years to protect Park, regulations forbid taking any- the area as a national park. Grinnell thing out of the park - rocks, flowers, felt that the establishment of Glacier sticks or firewood. Hunting is also National Park in 1910 would save the not allowed in the park. land from the development which was the fate of many other American One way to teach people about car- Indian territories. With the discovery ing for the earth is through story of minerals west of the Continental telling. Here is an example of a con- Divide, demand for more Blackfeet temporary story that teaches about land increased. Not everyone agreed caring for the Earth. that this area should be made into a national park. Even today, there are people who do not think it was the right thing to do. What do you think? Today, Glacier National Park is man- aged by the National Park Service. It is a federal agency whose mission is to preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources of the United States. “Glacier in Focus” student group at In 2014, over two million people Apgar Campground, (Parks in Focus from all over the world visited Photo, 2010). Glacier National Park. Most of those visitors come to the park in the summer. The park has roads, trails, campsites, and buildings. These things were developed to make Glacier National Park acces- sible to visitors. It is park policy not to expand the developed areas within park boundaries. If a facility is updated, new construction must be done in existing developed areas. In fact, there are fewer roads and maintained trails in the park now then there were fifty years ago. Most of the park, over one million acres, is managed as wilderness. Cover: “Parks in Focus” How do you protect and preserve a photo from student wild place that has so many visitors? group at Logan Pass. The National Park Service relies on 2 Education Lucy Lone Walker - As near as she could tell, Lucy Lone that the beavers were more a part of An example of a Walker was almost 90 years old. her life than even her children and contemporary story She hadn’t always thought of life grandchildren were. about caring for the in terms of years. She seemed to Earth remember her father talking about It had almost killed her that evening the days before the white men came twelve summers ago when she stood and took the land away. Her father over the dam and saw the scattered had enjoyed hunting in the area that limbs and mud, and saw what was was now the park. After the tour- left of the lodge standing nakedly ists began to come by the hundreds above the silty bottom of the pond. on the train, he never went back When she had heard the dynamite in in again. But they kept the cabin the morning she had been a bit upset, on the ridge overlooking the park. but she attributed it to road work in Even when she was very young, she the park. It was several days before remembered, her father would take she learned that it was the Looks her small hand in his big hand and Back boy who had blown up all the walk along the ridge, looking down dams in the string just to gather a few onto the string of beaver dams on the pelts worth less than thirty dollars one side, and off into the park on the each. other side. Every now and then he would stop, lift her in his arms and When she had gone to the boy’s gaze off toward the mountains. He mother, the woman had told Lucy would sigh a deep sigh occasionally, that she was sorry that the beavers but he never said much. had been so important to her, but it was really hard to raise boys these Her father had been gone for many days. The son had told her that he years now. Even one of her own chil- needed to learn to hunt if he was dren had passed on, but she didn’t going to be a provider and a warrior. feel particularly old. She had seldom missed her evening walk along the “No warrior ever used dynamite to ridge. She was sure that the walking catch a defenseless animal” re torted had kept her young. Lucy. She hadn’t regretted making such a scene. She had never got- Lucy seldom looked up into the ten used to the sight of the dried-up park. She had always enjoyed watch- ponds. The trees and vegetation ing the beavers at their work among along the creek had clearly thinned the ponds. Lucy had been so famil- out over the years. The birds had iar with some of the beavers in the been gone since just after the dams past that she had given them names. went. Lucy hadn’t even seen a brook She even spoke to them at times. trout in the creek in the last three The beavers looked at her and were years. They used to pop the sur- always aware when she was watch- face like rain in the years before the ing, but she never got the feeling dynamite. that they cared to interact with her. At least they had grown to trust her. Then one evening Lucy’s heart They seldom dove or even sounded jumped into her throat. There an alarm when she came around, but beneath her were two beavers and Beaver, NPS Photo they were much more skittish on the the creek was beginning to back up (Glacier Student Guide few occasions that she was joined over the old pond bottom. Lucy had CD). in her walk by her daughter or her never dreamed that beavers would grandchildren. Lucy sometimes felt return to the drainage. She got so 3 Education Lucy Lone Walker excited she was afraid she’d have a An example of a stroke. contemporary story about caring for the Then the thought struck her, “It Earth won’t be long and there will be another generation of young war- riors nosing around here. What can I do. I couldn’t bear to see it happen again.” She hoped against hope that nobody would come along and see the new dam and the newly gnawed tree stumps. The next evening and every eve- Beaver lodge, NPS photo (Glacier ning after that Lucy carried a small NP Digital Image Library). paintbrush with her. Along the edges of the pond she rubbed the newly and Game in Missoula. They’ve got gnawed tree stumps with grass and extra on Lolo Creek. I wanted my painted them with mud. She scat- daughter to see you and them.” tered the chips among the deeper grass and heavy brush. The stumps On the way back to the cabin that actually looked like they had been evening Lucy gazed off into the park there for years. She would just have and sighed, “I guess I’ll probably to hope that no one would notice be able to walk around up here for that the pond had ever drained. another 90 years now.” 3 One evening as Lucy bent over her work near the pond, a deep voiced chuckle sounded immediately behind her. “What are you doing Little Grandmother?” “You nearly killed me young man. Can’t you cough or something? Don’t you know better than to sneak up on an old person like that?” The young man held a young girl in his arms. The child looked down when the old woman turned to her. The young man chuckled again, “I’m sorry Grandmother. I thought you heard us coming through the grass.” 1 Montana Historical Society Education Office. Land of Many Stories: The People & Histories of Glacier National Park. Helena: Montana Historical Society “But who are you? I’ve never seen Footlocker, 2010. PDF file. you here before.” 2 Glacier National Park. At Home in This Place. St. Mary: National Park Service Visitor Center Exhibits, “But you have; a long time ago. I am 2010. called Charlie; Charlie Looks Back. 3 Glacier National Park. Work House: A Glacier Years ago I killed your beavers. I National Park Science Education Program. West Glacier: National Park Service, 1992, 1998. This story could never tell you how badly I felt. appears as it was written from the original version of I brought this pair back from the Fish Work House. 4 Education Vocabulary Federal - having or relating to a system of government in which several states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs. Generation - the average length of time between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring. Gnawed - worn down from being bitten or chewed on. Manage - to coordinate functions of people to reach goals and objectives. National Park - a federally designated area set aside and managed to preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources present there for current and future generations.