Keeping the North Fork district rustic

North Fork resident Clark Helton was a hunter and a photographer, and he loved Glacier National Park. But he wasn’t in love with some of the Park’s management decisions — biologists were radio-collaring bears and wolves — even elk and deer, and Clark was no fan of man’s intrusion into the natural world.

So whenever Helton saw the Park’s North Fork district ranger, Scott Emmerich, he’d give him an earful — often for an hour or more. It got to the point that if Emmerich saw Clark’s pickup approaching, he’d hide lest he be caught up in chat he didn’t have time for.

Then one day Emmerich decided to meet Clark on his own terms. He went to Clark’s house at Red Meadow, and the two sat and had coffee, which was unusual because Emmerich didn’t drink coffee. Over the years, the two became friends and went on hunting trips together until Helton’s death.

Emmerich continued to manage the North Fork area of the Park with an emphasis on keeping the place rustic. There are no commercial operations in the North Fork, no flush toilets, no cell phone service and no paved roads.

That’s how Emmerich likes it.

“We’re trying to stop change as much as possible,” he said during a recent talk sponsored by the Glacier National Park Volunteer Associates. “We’re trying to protect the rustic integrity as much as we can.”

Emmerich’s efforts over his illustrious career have not gone unnoticed. In 2010, the National Park Service gave him the Harry Yount Award — the highest honor a ranger can receive.

Emmerich began his Park Service career in 1983 and has been the North Fork district ranger since 1991. It’s one of the few posts in Glacier Park where a ranger lives on site most of the year.

This will be Emmerich’s last summer in the Park. He’ll turn 57, and Park Service rules say law enforcement rangers must retire at that age.

He doesn’t disagree — law enforcement rangers must be able to perform a variety of physically difficult duties, from climbing mountains to arresting criminals, and the Park Service wants a young and vigorous work force.

The North Fork is getting busier every year for a host of reasons, Emmerich said. The usually dusty and potholed North Fork Road has been treated for dust for several years, and the better the road attracts more visitors. Polebridge is now a tourist attraction with a popular bakery, and even the Park Service has played a role, promoting the North Fork online as one of the finest regions in the Park.

But Glacier Park’s general management plan is blunt on how the landscape will be managed.

“Visitor facilities would be rustic and would preserve a national park quality and style of development that has become increasingly rare,” it states.

To that end, the Park Service is considering some proposed changes. The Quartz Lake Loop Trail, for example, could become a one-way route to reduce hiking traffic. There’s a proposal to make the Inside North Fork Road one-way from Logging Creek south. The Park also could limit towed units on North Fork roads in the peak summer months of July and August.

Emmerich recalled that when the Park Service first proposed no motor boats on Kintla Lake, critics said no one would go there, but just the opposite has happened.

“It doubled or tripled the use,” he noted.

People want peace and quiet.

There’s also a concern about toilets — one of the most popular backcountry campgrounds in Glacier Park is Hole-in-Wall, between Brown and Boulder passes.

The Park Service has put a composting toilet there, but it’s been dogged by avalanches. If the toilet can’t be maintained, the Park will have to close that camp, Emmerich warned.

Emmerich has plenty of help preserving the North Fork — “world class,” he said. Ranger Lyle Ruterbories plans to return to Kintla Lake next summer, even though many had expected the 94-year-old would retire.

But Ruterbories recently had knee surgery and is doing well, and if he’s ready by summertime, Emmerich told him he can have his job back.

Even after retirement, Emmerich will remain a North Forker and a voice for its preservation. He said he’s optimistic about the future of the landscape, particularly since both the U.S. and Canada have agreed to end energy development in the region.

Emmerich also has a home at Red Meadow, thanks to an old friend. Helton gave Emmerich his five acres and cabin when he passed away.

It’s a fine spread with a nice view back into Glacier Park, — a great place to keep an eye on home.