In 2020, building a vision for West Glacier

In October of 1949, the town of Belton’s name was changed to West Glacier. The move came as a way to promote the town as the entrance to Glacier National Park and with it, a tourist economy was born.

Today a little less than half of all visitors who come to Glacier travel through West Glacier. A lot has changed in West Glacier over the decades, but a lot hasn’t changed as well. The Belton Chalet still stands and serves guests; the storefronts have changed ownership, but largely maintain their historic charm and the train still picks up and drops off folks at the depot, just like it did 70 years ago.

But there have been significant changes as well. There’s many more rental cabins and homes and employee housing is scarce. Pursuit Collection has built a new RV Park and cabins on once vacant land it acquired from the Lundgren family when the company bought most of the town in 2014.

Still, West Glacier is a pretty special place and a group of stakeholders, including the Park Service, Forest Service, local businesses, state and local governments, the University of Montana and interested residents are planning to get together in the next year to develop a vision for the place with assistance from a National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program.

Mary McClelland, the community coordinator who is helping spearhead the effort, said the grant doesn’t actually provide any funds, it just facilitates the meetings with stakeholders, who are all “pretty aware of the sensitivities and qualities that make (West Glacier) special.”

She said the hope is to craft a plan that will act rather than react to change in the region and will bring a diverse group of views together.

“It’s a good time to take a positive approach,” she said.

That could include changes to the Canyon Area Land Use Regulations, the zoning document that guides growth in the region. McClelland noted that the foundation of CALURS is strong, but it may need some updating.

“It would be done in the visionary process,” she said.

The nationwide program isn’t just about addressing growth, however. It also looks to create recreational opportunities and enhance the quality of life in an area. In Powder County, for example, the program was used to extend an existing trail along the Powder River from a fishing access site back to the town of Broadus in eastern Montana.

The West Glacier effort is expected to have a website up in the beginning of 2020 and will have a host of public meetings and brainstorming sessions as well. A schedule hasn’t been developed yet.

Folks interested in the process can contact McClelland at marytreemcclelland@gmail.com