In Glacier, she's a champion for quiet

A West Glacier native who has railed against noisy skies over Glacier National Park recently received the Jack Potter Glacier National Park Stewardship Award from Headwaters Montana, a local conservation group.

Mary T. McClelland has spearheaded the effort to restore natural quiet to Glacier Park, working cooperatively with the Park to promote public awareness of the issue surrounding helicopter tours over the its skies.

She formed a coalition of 29 local and national stakeholders under the name “Friends for a Quiet! Glacier” and started an educational website and an online petition. The petition has garnered more than 31,000 signatures and 3,200 comments supporting a Quiet! Glacier from all 50 states and 40 countries.

The Park general management plan calls for a ban on helicopter overflight tours over the Park, but it has never gone through with it.

McClelland grew up in West Glacier and is the daughter of biologists Pat and Riley McClelland. Riley was a former Glacier Park biologist. The fight against overflights has gone on for years.

Mary’s efforts have garnered support of many conservation groups, she noted, including the National Parks Conservation Association, Headwaters Montana and the Sierra Club.

She hasn’t done it on her own.

“I’m not a one-man show,” she said.

She said growing up in Glacier had a profound impact on her life.

“I definitely learned to respect nature and the wisdom it has,” she said. “The beauty of national parks is they’re available to anyone.”

For many people, a trip to Glacier is a once-in-lifetime experience.

“Most people don’t have a place like that to escape to,” she said.

That passion is what keeps her pushing to make Glacier a quieter place. But she notes the Park is getting more noisy, not less.

According to information provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, there were 272 scenic overflights over the Park in 2013. That number jumped to 741 in 2014 and was 672 in 2015. The year 2015 was slightly lower because of wildfires. McClelland said she’s seeking 2016 flight information, but has yet to receive any. The numbers are self-reported by the operators.

Those numbers are exacerbated by the short summer season in Glacier, she noted.

McClelland plans on continuing her lobbying effort with the coalition. There may be a compromise.

“This is noise issue,” she said. “Not an aviation issue.”

Fixed-wing aircraft, for example, are much quieter, she notes.

“It takes real guts, dedication and a lot of hard work to take on an issue like this as a citizen- advocate,” said Headwaters Director Dave Hadden. “Glacier Park helps drive the local economy, and as a crown jewel in our national park system, we need to protect its natural features — like natural quiet — that make it special in the first place.”

While the issue of noise in national parks continues to grow, McClelland said she’s not about to give up. She has optimism for the future.

“You don’t stop working on something just because it’s hard,” she said.