Park proposes St. Mary radio tower

Glacier National Park is requesting public comment on a proposal from CenturyLink to install a new telecommunications tower in the St. Mary administrative area inside the Park.

An environmental assessment financed by CenturyLink is being conducted. The tower would serve the greater St. Mary area and is part of a statewide initiative to upgrade telecommunications facilities. The telecommunication capacity in the St. Mary area is currently inadequate to support resident, visitor and government Internet demands.

The Park's existing 50-foot radio tower would be removed and replaced with an 80-foot tall microwave antenna and radio support structure. The new tower would be set up in the administrative area just to the west of the St. Mary entrance, in a wooded area about a half-mile from the Red Eagle Lake Trailhead. The tower will not have a light on top.

The new tower would be constructed of steel lattice supported on a concrete footing, and would include a 6-foot diameter microwave dish for CenturyLink and up to three National Park Service antennas. The new structure would be designed to provide a direct line of sight to the CenturyLink transfer station near Divide Mountain.

Comments can be posted online at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/glac or mailed to Superintendent, Glacier National Park, Attn: St. Mary Microwave Tower Proposal, P.O. Box 128, West Glacier MT 59936. Deadline is Feb. 3. Comment will be taken when the environmental assessment is completed.