Glacier National Park seeks public comment on fire management plan

Glacier National Park is seeking initial public scoping as it looks to update its fire management plan crafted 20 years ago.

The 2003 plan was signed off on just as the Park saw a historic fire year that burned some 310,000 acres across the region, including massive blazes inside the park.

Since then, Glacier has seen even more wildfires, both east and west of the Divide and some areas have burned twice in the past 20 years.

The Robert Fire, for example, burned up the north shore of Lake McDonald in 2003; in 2018, the same area burned again in the Howe Ridge Fire, destroying a host of private cabins along the lake shore.

The 2003 fire management plan called for a blend of mechanical and prescribed fire treatments on both sides of the Divide. but while prescribed fires are used to manage grasslands like Big Prairie up the North Fork, none were ever set east of the Divide.

Mother Nature did her own bidding in that regard. The Red Eagle Fire of 2006 burned about 24,000 acres both in and outside of the park. The human-caused Reynolds Creek Fire in 2015 also burned several thousand acres along the Going-to-the-Sun Road near Reynolds Creek and up above Two Dog Flats before it was put out.

West of the divide, there have also been a host of fires since 2003. Including the Howe Ridge Fire, the most notable was the Sprague Fire, which burned down the Sperry Chalet in 2017. The chalet was later rebuilt.

Glacier has done more mechanical fuel treatments of its woods near developed areas. In recent years it has thinned the woods near Park headquarters and near Apgar. The trees in that area are largely lodgepole pine that were planted after the 1929 fire.

Fires aside, other conditions in the woods have evolved over the past 20 years. For one, the whitebark pine, a keystone alpine species, is now listed under the Endangered Species Act. Also, climate change has resulted in hotter, drier summers, with wildfires either burning inside or near the park almost every summer.

“The proposed plan (new) would provide a framework and parkwide guidelines for the management of all wildfires, regardless of cause, size, or complexity. The plan would provide guidance on the use of prescribed fire and non-fire fuels treatments to reduce hazardous fuel loading and accomplish resource protection objectives. The plan would provide for firefighter and public safety, consider the ecological benefits of wildland fire, and remain consistent with Glacier’s resource management goals,” Glacier said in the scoping document on the new management plan.

“An updated FMP is needed to ensure Glacier’s fire management guidelines are consistent with current conditions and the latest Park Service  guidance, and to continue to provide for firefighter and public safety, protect park values and resources, and remain consistent with the park’s resource management objective,” the scoping letter notes.

A scoping newsletter with more information is available on the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/FMP2024. Submitting comments through the PEPC system is strongly encouraged or comments can be mailed to: Superintendent, Glacier National Park, Attn: Fire Management Plan EA, PO Box 1, West Glacier, MT 59936. Comments by email or phone will not be accepted. People can provide comments by March 27, 2024.

After scoping, the Park Service will likely craft a formal Environmental Assessment on a new fire management plan for the park.