Opinion: Don’t abandon the Organic Act

We were all gathered around the buses after getting a firsthand look at Logan Pass, when I asked public information officer Gina Icenoggle who would replace her.

She said it didn’t appear anyone would. That the position would be folded into the Department of Interior and in, short, Glacier could very well have no local public information officer moving forward.

I just sort of stood there, stunned. Over 27 years I’ve not always seen eye-to-eye with Glacier PIO’s as we call them. But I can’t for the life of me see how anyone in Washington, D.C. or Denver or wherever the person ends up being is at all useful when I call them up about details of a road closure or accident or any other incident in a park that hosts 3.2 million visitors annually and has big toothy animals capable of tearing a sizable hole in you with one swat,

Glacier is a big place, but it’s also an intimate place as well and local people care deeply about it. It’s not a partisan issue. A talking head out of Washington, D.C. isn’t going to pass the smell test with local businesses and the Flathead public. Oh sure, there’s always a goon or two on unsocial media who claim the park doesn’t matter, but for most people, it does, whether they visit or not.

I can’t blame Icenoggle for leaving. She took the early retirement offer as have quite a few folks I’ve known for many years in Glacier.

They, too, have not been replaced, as currently there’s a hiring freeze in the federal workforce.

Some of the situations are downright comical, though exceedingly serious as well. One person I know was fired, but worked in a position that requires someone be available around the clock. His colleague told management he can’t work 24/7, so the Park Service had to hire my friend back.

On the surface it sounds funny. But if this particular system breaks down, it would be highly unpleasant for people visiting the park.

Some of this smacks of “create a crisis” of course. You can let the agency fail by not properly funding it, then tell the public how poor a job they’re doing and try to replace them with the private sector, which is a lousy way of doing things. The private sector has tried and failed in Glacier in the past.

It takes a certain person who really wants to plow the Sun Road, or work with grizzly bears, or run a saw and Pulaski clearing trails all day. 

Most people don’t have the intestinal fortitude, I’m afraid.

The Park Service has long been the whipping boy when it comes to federal funding. In 1995 Glacier had a budget of about $7 million. The plan back then was to cut about $1 million.

The superintendent at the time said he was considering letting the Sun Road melt out.

That crisis was eventually averted, but this time feels more ominous. More controlling. There’s not that many permanent employees in Glacier to begin with. Maybe 120 or so year. Fewer today for sure. That’s not much of a staff for a place that hosts about 25,000 people a day in the summer. The city of Whitefish as a comparison, has about 75.

Another story: In one instance, a person was in a meeting and two Park Service people had to excuse themselves and told the person they would no longer be his contact. Why? They had just been fired.

Glacier will still have plenty of seasonal staff this summer. They’re friendly, mostly younger outgoing folks. I’ve already met a few. But they also say they’re filling in doing the jobs of the former permanent employees.

I’m also deeply worried about public safety and  protecting the place. Some backcountry areas have a summer ranger, a presence that is needed to protect the resource primarily and to respond to emergencies because help is miles away. For example, I can’t imagine the Belly River not having a ranger in the summer.

There’s staff this summer, but will there be staff next?

It’s time for Montana’s congressional delegation to step up and speak out for our national parks and Glacier in particular. We need the green and the gray on the ground in Glacier, or we will have abandoned one of the very tenets of the Organic Act, which states “(the) purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Let’s uphold the law.