Bad weather, lack of a presidential inauguration, and safety concerns along the Southwestern border with Mexico apparently were the major drivers behind a slight dip in 2010 visitation to the National Park System from 2009 levels.
Sweeping, grandiose landscapes are a staple of many of the West's iconic national parks, and among those Glacier easily stands out when you look from horizon to horizon atop Logan Pass.
Organizations that start out small and simple can expect to end up large and complex, but what can be expected of an organization that starts out small and stupid?
Grassroots efforts are not without their expenses, and when it comes to advocating for a large swath of landscape that includes Glacier National Park and its Canadian neighbor, Waterton Lakes National Park, well, you can probably imagine the financial outlay.
Night-time cross-country ski excursions can be wonderful opportunities to see a national park landscape from a different perspective. On February 19, Glacier National Park rangers will lead a four-mile ski for all interested, weather permitting of course.
With the 112th session of Congress less than a month old, Montana's two U.S. senators have wasted no time to renew their efforts to provide a buffer from energy development along the western border of Glacier National Park.
How important is it to you to know that Glacier National Park saw record visitation in 2010, that visitation to Great Smoky Mountains National Park dipped, or that overall visitation to the National Park System declined by 1 or 2 percent or rose by 1 or 2 percent in any one year?
Across the National Park System many changes are expected from climate change, from more wildfires and vanishing glaciers to invasions of non-native species and flight of long-term residents. Writer/photographer Michael Lanza, concerned that today's park landscapes will change significantly by the time his young kids are his age, has been touring the park system with his family to show his children what they might miss later in life.