"Unusual" behavior by a grizzly bear or bears prompted some temporary closures in parts of Glacier National Park on Sunday/NPS
"Unusual" grizzly bear behavior prompted closure of trails Sunday evening at Glacier National Park in Montana, with rangers planning to hike into the area Monday to observe the bears.
According to reports passed onto park staff, "(T)he bear or bears exhibited behavior consistent with being disturbed and frustrated by human presence. Bears can respond aggressively in defense of themselves, a food source, or cubs."
As a result, the park closed the Highline and Loop trails and Swiftcurrent Pass area, from Swiftcurrent Pass to Granite Park Chalet, Sunday evening, meaning that access to the Granite Park area is not possible.
The Granite Park backcountry campground will be closed to campers arriving Monday.
The park expects that the trails will be closed at minimum until park staff can evaluate the area on Monday, and may be closed an indeterminate period of time afterwards, depending on their findings.
Park staff who live in the Granite Park area have been monitoring grizzly bears frequenting the area and on Sunday received several first-hand visitor reports of encounters with a bear or bears along the trail within the general area of the campground and the chalet.
“We appreciate the public’s patience while we evaluate this situation,” said Glacier Superintendent Jeff Mow. “The park has a proactive bear management program, and we take reports of aggressive bear behavior very seriously.”
People can monitor trail status by visiting the park’s Trail Status webpage.
Visitors planning to hike to Granite Park Chalet with reservations for Monday night should call the Granite Park Chalet Office at 888-345-2649 for more information and updates. The park does not expect that any trail status updates will be available before Monday afternoon.
People currently in the Granite Park region departing Monday morning will be permitted to hike out the Loop or Swiftcurrent Pass Trails, but not the Highline Trail.
Comments
Its the bears habitat first, humans are the visitors. Its that simple, leave the bears alone, take all precautions not to encourage them foraging for human food.
Peter - that isn't simple, it's simplistic.
The entire nation was at one time bear habitat. With the onslaught of time, we have to keep up. Were you planning on deeding your home back over to the bears? I agree with leaving the bears alone and not feeding them, but the larger the country gets, I"m afraid the simple solutions that work are more and more unrealistic.
Actually in a National Park like Glacier its the "bears habitat" first, obviously human safety is a must but if you've even seen the beauty of Glacier firsthand you would know that. A protected area like the park is helping preserve areas of land where the wild animals can remain for hopefully generations, although there is some debate about that. I would be very upset if the government took National Parks and sold them off for "human expansion". Visit Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, heck even Iowa and see the vast open spaces, overrowing is not an issue. Just my two cents from Ohio. I love our National Park System and visit as often as time allows our family.
Thats a complex statement, you seem be overthinking what Peter said. The bears have as much right to live and thrive in the parks as humans do...just use common sense and dont provoke them when you have an encounter. Who said anything about deeding your house to them? Get real !
I'm coming to visit next week but this trail is not on my itinerary. Bears are protected in national parks and I'm happy to see the closure for everyone's safety, animals and people!
That was just me poking around the woods...the bears got spooked.
Absolutely correct, Rick.
Bear management continues to evolve in GNP. With more and more visitors in the park bears are being disturbed by people during the fall feeding time. Closing these trails protects people and bears. It would suck to miss out on these hikes, but fall is not the time to come across an irrational bear. I think there is still a missing person in the highline area.