Glacier Park documentary to air later this month

Seven years in the making, a Glacier Park filmmaker has finished a documentary on Glacier National Park history and the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

Jack Hubbell began work on the “Glacier National Park: Crown of the Continent” back in 2009, but his wife, Rebecca, was stricken with cancer. Becky accompanied Howell on most of his shoots in the Park and she passed away in 2012.

After that, Howell shelved the project for a few years. He was in mourning and out of money.

But then he went back to work on the film.

“It was good for me. I was in a depression after she passed away,” he said last week. “It was therapeutic as well as enjoyable.”

Howell is no stranger to documentary film-making. The award-winning producer did a three-part series on the history of Yellowstone that was broadcast on PBS stations across the country. He’s also done several other documentaries and has won three Emmy Awards for his work. This is Hubbell’s 11th documentary film. The film is dedicated to his wife.

The Glacier documentary details the history of Glacier National Park, including the events that led up to its becoming a Park in 1910. It also talks about the construction of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, climate change, and ongoing disputes between the Blackfeet and the Park Service.

The film interviews locals Bill Dakin, Ian Tippets,  Daniel Fagre, Glacier interpretative ranger Bill Schustrom, the North Fork’s Larry Wilson, as well as several other Park voices.

The film runs 90 minutes and is set to premier on Montana PBS at 7 p.m. Sept. 29.