Conservancy doubles Park giving

The Glacier Park Conservancy will give 100 percent more to Glacier National Park projects than it did last year, it announced last week.

The Conservancy, the non-profit fundraising arm of the Park, is giving $1.3 million toward park projects in 2017 and has a goal to give $2 million by year’s end. Part of the boost came from Glacier’s record visitation year, where more than 2.7 million people visited the Park.

“We’ve seen an up-tick in giving this year,” Amy Dempster, director of marketing and communications for the Conservancy said last week.

The funding will run a gamut of park projects, from a class and curriculum at the Blackfeet Community College designed to get Native Americans interested in the Park and the Native American Speaks project, to funding for a wheelchair accessible trail project around Swiftcurrent Lake in Many Glacier.

“Private donations to the Glacier Conservancy support critical projects aimed at preserving the park’s history, exploring its present, and securing its future,” Nikki Eisinger, the Conservancy’s Director of Development said. “Whether raising funds for the preservation of park facilities or funding the education and outreach programs in the Park, the Glacier Conservancy is wholly dedicated to preserving the landscape, its unique history and experience of the Park.”

The Conservancy funding has a local and immediate impact. Over the past few years, it has continually funded a program that helps pay for students from area schools to visit the park and go on ranger led hikes.

Ten years ago, about 3,000 to 5,000 students visited the park. Today that number is about 8,000.

The Conservancy also funds or helps with matching grants to fund research projects in the Park. This year it’s looking to help fund research on endangered stoneflies in the Park as well as continued research on Glacier’s mountain goat population.

There are some large-scale projects also in the mix, including restoring the historic Wheeler Cabin at the head of Lake McDonald. One project that will happen next year is improving the access and overlooks at four waterfalls in the Park, including Appistoki, Aster, Hidden and Running Eagle.

The full list of Park projects is available at the Conservancy’s web site at www.glacier.org.