Park closes winter ranges to protect wildlife

Glacier National Park is clamping down on off-trail use in elk, deer and moose wintering range inside its boundaries.

In the superintendent’s annual compendium — a list of rules and regulations for use of Park lands — Park officials have added five areas that are now closed to off-trail travel from Dec. 1 to May 15.

Those areas include:

• A mile-long area at the foot of St. Mary Lake to the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

• A four-mile long by three-quarters of a mile wide area along the north side of St. Mary Lake — the Two Dog Flats area.

• A swath land half a mile wide and a mile and a quarter long on the north side of St. Mary Lake from the Golden Stairs through the Rising Sun Campground.

• A four-mile long area on the south side of the Belton Hills along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River from the Belton Bridge east to just beyond Ousel Creek. The South Boundary trail will remain open.

• An area between the Inside North Fork Road and the North Fork of the Flathead River from Logging Creek south to just beyond Dutch Creek. The river, trails and roads in those areas will remain open.

• Winter range in the Apgar Mountains area on the east side of the North Fork of the Flathead River from Big Creek south through Great Northern Flats.  

Signs will be put up to demarcate closed areas. On the South Boundary Trail, signs have been up for several weeks.

“Scientific evidence and research shows that human disturbance in ungulate winter ranges can adversely impact and stress wintering ungulate populations,” Park officials said in a prepared release. “In particular, ungulates occupy these areas just before and during the spring green-up, at the time of year when they are at their poorest physical condition.”

The new compendium was signed in February by Glacier Park superintendent Chas Cartwright and chief ranger Mark Foust.

The compendium also places year-round restrictions on entering caves in the Park, lists other year-round closures in the Logan Pass area and notes a number of water bodies closed to fishing. Park visitors now cannot legally enter caves without a permit.

The 48-page document, along with maps, can be found on the Park’s Web site at www.nps.gov/glac/parkmgmt/lawsandpolicies.htm.

Glacier Park has also had problems with poaching this winter. Earlier this winter, four elk were killed in the St. Mary Flats area. To date, no charges have been filed in the case.

The Park notes that the new policy mirrors state policy. Winter closures of elk and deer wintering range are common across Montana. The state’s Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, for example, is closed in winter to protect elk and deer there.