Glacier looks to expand cell, radio coverage in developed areas; says it will have little impact on wilderness

Glacier National Park has released an environmental assessment on a new communications plan that could bring cell phone service to places like Many Glacier and Two Medicine, but the Park Service says the service would be limited to developed areas.

“Under the plan, commercial cellular and/or Internet infrastructure and coverage would only be considered in developed areas at Many Glacier, Rising Sun, Two Medicine, and Lake McDonald Lodge. Coverage would be restricted to these developed areas only,” the park said in a release.

The plan calls for a host of communications improvements in the park, including improving radio communications, phone service and Internet service in developed areas.

There are, at least temporary, wilderness impacts as well, as the ark is considering placing a 20-foot mast on Elk Mountain. Another 10-foot mast is planned for Looking Glass Hill outside the Park.

All told, the plan calls for a 40 foot towers at the Many Glacier Ranger Station and another one at the entrance; a tower at Goat Haunt, and a 30-foot mast at the Loop on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

At Chief Mountain, the tower would be increased from its current 40 feet to 80 feet.

Many Glacier already has poles of the same height in place. Chief Mountain has a 40 foot pole currently, so it would be doubled in height.

The park says the towers should not impact the viewsheds in Many Glacier and other locations, as they’ll be in areas that are shielded by trees,

“At the Many Glacier Ranger Station, viewshed modeling combined with vegetation data indicate that the new 40-foot tower would be visible over an approximately 10.9-square kilometer area within a 5-mile radius. This would be about a 1 % increase in visibility … compared to the existing 30-foot pole … But the taller tower is not likely to stand out visually since the viewshed is dominated by the hotel, surrounding mountain peaks, and forested areas,” an environmental assessment notes.

At Chief Mountain, which is the tallest tower, people could see it, depending on their location.

“Modeling indicates that visibility would increase from an area encompassing approximately 2.0 square kilometers outside the park boundary on Blackfeet Nation land. Other areas from which modeling shows increased visibility, including the U.S./Canada border and lower elevations on the north aspect of Chief Mountain, are tree-dominated, which would mask the increase in visibility. Modeling shows little if any increased visibility of the taller tower from the summit of Chief Mountain,” the environmental assessment notes.

Similar results are noted for the antennae at the Loop.

“Model results show the slight increase in visibility along the Going-to-the-Sun Road in the vicinity of Haystack Creek, from a switchback on the Loop Trail, and near the hairpin on the Flattop Mountain Trail. Elsewhere within the 5-mile radius, modeling indicates little to no increased visibility of the 30-foot mast compared with that of the (existing) comfort station,” the EA states.

At Looking Glass Hill however, the mast would be more visible.

“Visual impacts would be more apparent at Looking Glass Hill and Elk Mountain since these sites are undeveloped. At Looking Glass Hill, GIS-based viewshed modeling combined with vegetation data indicates that the taller 20-foot mast would be visible over an approximately 24 square kilometer area within a 5-mile radius. This would be an approximately 15.4 percent increase in visibility (approximately 3.2 square kilometers more) compared with that of the existing 10-foot mast, which is visible over approximately 20.8 square kilometers,” the EA states.

At Elk Mountain, the EA notes that it might not be installed at all, though if it is, it would be visible from a broad area at the southern end of the park.

“Modeling indicates that a 20-foot mast associated with the repeater would be visible over an area of approximately 20.0 square kilometers within a 5-mile radius.

“Inside the park, the mast would be visible from upper elevations and surrounding peaks, including the Elk Mountain Trail near the approach to the summit and the summits of Mount Shields, Little Dog Mountain, and Brave Dog Mountain. The mast would be less apparent from lower elevations due to screening from forested areas but would be sporadically visible along the Ole Creek and Autumn Creek Trails,” the EA notes.

Glacier is also planning on improving existing communications on Apgar Mountain, which might mean more solar panels.

Glacier also doesn’t expect the “spillover” of cell phone signals to have much impact on adjacent recommended wilderness.

“The chance of signal spillover into recommended wilderness from commercial telecommunications infrastructure in four developed areas would be low since conditions and parameters would require commercial providers to minimize spillover, and due to the distance between the identified coverage zones and the 1974 recommended wilderness boundary,” it claims.

There are plenty of areas in Glacier where there is little or no cell phone coverage, even in developed places like Two Medicine and Many Glacier. Even Park Service radios don’t work in many places, which is partially why the park is proposing the upgrades.

The full environmental assessment is available at: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?projectID=82423

The public comment period closes July 11.