Glacier Park emerging as research hot spot

Recreationists aren’t the only people drawn to the natural bounty of Glacier National Park’s 1 million acres.

From deep in grizzly habitat to the middle of open grasslands, scientists are scouring the park for answers to a variety of ecological equations.

By SONJA LEE
Tribune Staff Writer

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040905/localnews/1181517.html

With its array of ice age relics and only one main road, Glacier’s mountain ecosystem is emerging as a hot spot for research, particularly in the field of climate change.

The park launched its formal research program in the mid-1960s, but independent researchers began studying in the park before World War II.

Today more than 60 research projects are under way in Glacier.

About 10 are park-sponsored and focus on resource management and restoration, such as the study of native seeds and noxious weed control.

The rest are funded by independent researchers or university and government initiatives. They run the gamut from a study of the effects of non-native lake trout on native bull trout to a look at what tree rings explain about drought.

Until last fall, the park’s science programs were lumped into a division with its cultural programs.

With the break came an effort to highlight developments in the park’s Science and Resources Management Division.

For example, Glacier was host to the first Glacier-Waterton science conference in early August.

The program gave park biologists, U.S. Geological Survey scientists, Canadian investigators and university researchers a chance to tell the public about their work. At least 200 people attended.

‘Unique opportunity’

The USGS does a great deal of research in Glacier, with scientists stationed there year-round learning about grizzlies and glaciers. The USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center is based in Bozeman.

Because Glacier is protected, it offers "an increasingly unique opportunity on the planet today," said Dan Fagre, an ecologist with the USGS who works in Glacier.

Since 1993, Fagre has been monitoring the rapid decline of the park’s glaciers, a study that could offer insight on climate change and the subsequent effects on plant growth and aquatic organisms.

The park also offers an opportunity to see how people affect the ecosystem, and it provides a good model for mountain systems around the world, Fagre said.

Glacier and neighboring Waterton Lakes National Park are among 325 internationally recognized biosphere reserves, which represent the world’s main ecosystems. Biosphere reserves were established to conserve biological diversity and promote research.

Collaboration between Glacier and Waterton helps with restoration projects, said Cyndi Smith, a conservation biologist with the Waterton Lakes National Park Service.

"There are a lot of times we can share resources as well as expertise," she said. "We have the same goals in mind for both parks. Even if there are different rules and regulations on the ground, we both work closely in furthering science and research."

Parks as laboratories

The National Park Service’s Natural Resource Challenge also is increasing science throughout the country’s national parks. The programs work closely with colleges, universities and nongovernmental researchers.

Glacier Park, for example, benefits from the Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit at the University of Montana in Missoula.

"Through this program we have really increased the visibility of our small parks," said Kathy Tonnessen, NPS research coordinator for the unit. "The idea is to get universities involved to help us figure out what makes these ecosystems tick."

Research is taking place not just in Glacier but in a variety of other parks in the West, she said.

This year more than 100 projects, worth about $2.5 million, are taking place with just the Rocky Mountain studies unit and parks. With other agencies’s projects, the total probably is closer to $6 million, she said.

The program also continues to grow. Cultural resources, for example, are the topic of a great deal of research. Students and tribal elders are searching Glacier for trees once marked by Native Americans for cultural purposes.

"We are trying to get faculty and students to think about our parks as a place to research," Tonnessen said.

Yellowstone paves way

While research in Glacier is growing, Yellowstone National Park continues to be a scientific hot spot.

In Yellowstone about 250 permits are issued each year. With more than 2.2 million acres, Yellowstone is a much larger park. Researchers there are studying everything from microbes to moon rocks, Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said.

"We have an extensive amount of research that is ongoing at any time in Yellowstone," he said. "The breadth of research is pretty astounding."

Some of the earliest expeditions into Yellowstone were of a scientific nature.

Tonnessen said Yellowstone also has an in-park research staff of close to 500. Glacier’s permanent staff, which includes researchers and a variety of other employees, is about 100. While the Glacier Fund, a nonprofit partner with the park, is growing each year, the Yellowstone Foundation also is a larger organization and able to contribute more money to research, she said.

Glacier is inaccessible for much of the winter, which adds a unique research opportunity. Because only one road runs through Glacier, additional benefits for wildlife research exist, she said.

The Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center, established in 2002, also works closely with UM and other institutions in Glacier.

The program works to link management decisions in the park more closely to the findings of scientific research. It also is an opportunity to integrate information, said Leigh Welling, director of the center.

"We’ve been good in the parks about providing access, but we don’t always know a lot about our resources," she said. "To learn more we need to partner with universities and government entities."

Welling also said science programs are increasing in the park.

"We have a lot to offer to people trying to understand a mountain ecosystem," she said.

Lee can be reached by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at (406) 791-1471 or (800) 438-6600.