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Confluence | Lake McDonald Dec 06, 2020

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How does fire affect our relationship with the park? In this episode of Headwaters we explore our relationship to fire through different lenses. What is it like to be in a wildfire? How have native people used fire? How does fire affect plants and animals? And finally, what can we learn about our history from fire? Featuring: Chris Peterson, Tony Incashola Sr., Dawn LaFleur, Teagan Hayes, Mike Sanger, Sarah Peterson, and Brent Rowley. For more information, visit: go.nps.gov/headwaters ---TRANSCRIPT:--- SPRAGUE INTRODUCTION Michael: It's Thursday, August 10th, 2017. And I have the day off. Andrew: For context, we were both rangers here in the summer of 2017. Michael: Yes. And the job of leading guided hikes campground talks and staffing the visitor center is very rewarding, but can also be exhausting. So when the weekend rolled around some friends and I planned a relaxing backcountry, camping trip. We got a permit for the backcountry campground on the West shore of Lake McDonald. One of the few back country campgrounds that you can paddle a canoe to. So we loaded our gear into dry bags, packed our life jackets and set sail for some RNR. The campground itself is known for being sunny, that burned over in a wildland fire in 2003 and the remaining lifeless and limbless trees offer little in the way of shade. Andrew: That's an understatement. Michael: So we set out in the afternoon thinking we'd arrive after the heat of the day had passed. The first half of the paddle was nice and sunny, but the further we went, the clouds began to roll in. With each stroke the sky seemed to grow darker and we paddled faster and faster and faster to reach the shoreline. We thought we'd beaten the weather as we pulled our canoe ashore, but a clap of thunder echoed off the mountains and signaled the night that was yet to come. As we frantically assembled our tents and shabby burritos, the storm arrived. Rain came in a torrent instantly soaking me through my jacket. We hung our food up so we could retreat to our tents. But then the wind began to pick up. In my memory what came next was a loud, deafening blur. Rain pelted the ground, and began to sound like angry radio static. Michael: The wind was strong enough you had to brace yourself against it or be blown over and begin to topple the trees around us. And as they crashed down left and right, we ran to the lakeshore for safety as lightning and thunder reverberated up above. But just like that, it was over. The air was calm. The rain had stopped and we breathed a collective sigh of relief as we returned to the soggy rice and bean burritos we'd put away. As we ate, we tried to make sense of what had just happened, pointing out the trees that had fallen down, comparing how well our jackets had worked. But only then, with mouthfuls of burrito, did we notice a column of smoke across the lake. Smoke that would eventually grow to become the Sprague fire that burned 17,000 acres and the Sperry chalet. Andrew: Wow, that's crazy that you sat through the storm that started it all. I was actually just straight across the lake from you. At the same time at the Lake McDonald lodge, I was supposed to give the evening ranger program up at the Lake McDonald lodge auditorium that night. It was super stormy as I drove up from Apgar. And while I was getting ready for my talk, the power went out in the building. It was pitch black in the auditorium. I didn't think people would really be able to safely walk around the room so I just decided to cancel the program. So if you were trying to attend the ranger program at the Lake McDonald Lodge auditorium on August 10, 2017, I'm very sorry. You'll have to catch me another time. When I canceled, I stood outside the building to let people know that the program wouldn't be happening that night. It was at 8:36 PM, a few minutes after the talk was scheduled to start, that lightning struck the hillside above me and ignited the Sprague Creek fire. With no program to give I drove back down to my office in Apgar. There were lots of people just standing around and watching the flames. So in a routine that would become common over the coming months from across the Lake, I watched the fire glow against the dark night sky. I was still wearing my ranger uniform. So I stayed on the beach there for hours answering questions from concerned visitors. Michael: The fire became a spectacle. At night people would gather to watch it burn. Slowly at first, then rapidly as one hot and dry week was followed by another. Andrew: In all the Sprague fire burned for about three months on the east shore of Lake McDonald, until it was finally extinguished by autumn snow. Michael: Here on Lake McDonald, wildfire is a fact of life for plants, animals, and people are like, if you want to exist here, you've got to learn to live with it. Andrew: In this episode, we're going to learn about something that's becoming an everyday concern for people around the American West: what happens when people and wildfire come together. Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many native American tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people. Michael: We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here. Andrew: I’m Andrew. Michael: I’m Michael. Andrew: And we’re both rangers here. And today we're in the Lake McDonald valley. Michael: Near the west entrance of the park, the Lake McDonald area is the most visited region of Glacier. Lake McDonald itself is one of the park's, most cherished attractions, at 10 miles long, and over a mile wide it's also the largest lake in glacier. Andrew: This area gets hit with a ton of lightning, and that means that wildfires start with considerable frequency. Michael: What happens in a place dense with people and fire. And that's what we're going to explore in this episode. TRAPPER PART 1 Michael: To start out. I wanted to talk to someone who knows the park as well as anyone even better than most rangers. Chris Peterson: My name is Chris Peterson and I am the editor of the Hungry Horse News. Andrew: Oh yeah, Chris! Michael: Hardly anything happens in Northwest Montana without Chris writing or at least knowing about it. Andrew: It seems like he's been here forever. How long has Chris been around? Chris Peterson: Since 1998, which would make it a, this will be my 23rd summer. Andrew: I've seen his byline a lot, but he's a photographer too, right? Michael: Yeah. You're right. After graduating college, Chris started working for a small town daily newspaper in New York where he started to pick up photography. Chris Peterson: Back in New York, uh, at the daily you had to shoot your own photos. So my photos were terrible. I was awful photographer. Didn't know what I was doing. And so I started shooting Buffalo bills, games, you know, at a Buffalo bills game you know, it was like 85,000 people there, but there's also 120 photographers. So you could, you can learn a lot just by watching the other guys. Michael: And after he really developed his photography skills. New Speaker: Oh boy. Michael: He landed a new job. Chris Peterson: So that kind of set up my portfolio and then the Hungry Horse News had put out an ad for a photographer and I applied and I got the job and the rest is kind of history, I guess. Andrew: That's a big switch to go from photographing Bills games to bald eagles. Michael: Yeah. It's a big adjustment, but he took to it. But part of covering news in the West is wildfire something Chris didn't have any experience with from his time in New York. Chris Peterson: Oh, well, you know, in, in New York there are, I mean, big fires. Yeah. But they were all houses or, um, you know, tire dumps. Michael: But it didn't take him long to get experience. The second summer, he covered the West Flattop fire, two years after that the moose fire, then the Anaconda fire. Chris Peterson: So, so I'd cut my teeth. Michael: All of which led up to 2003. You had a couple of seasons of experience then covering summer fires. What was the feeling going into the summer of 2003? Chris Peterson: You know, in retrospect, um, we probably should have known that we were going to have a big fire year, but I can remember in June, like just people just having fun. Cause it didn't rain. I mean, June typically is one of the wettest months. If not the wettest month in the park. It didn't rain. So everyone was having, you know—everyone's camping and fishing and float. And you know, the park is just full of people... Radio: The fire danger rating has been moved up and is now high. Michael: But by July fires began to crop up. In fact, on July 17th, after a morning storm, six fires were spotted in the park. Andrew: Wow. That's a lot. Michael: Yeah. More fires than the park season. Some whole years, just in one morning. The next day, Numa Ridge lookout spotted the Wedge Canyon fire in the North fork, which within two days had grown to 4,000 acres. And due to the number of homes in the area was the number one priority fire in the nation. Andrew: Wow. Uh, so what was Chris doing at the time? Chris Peterson: We were out running around, taking photos of them. You know, drove up and looked at Wedge Canyon and man, it was ripping across the ridge one day. So we knew unless it rained that things were probably going to get worse, not better. I don't think we thought they'd get as bad as they did. Michael: At the same time the Wedge Canyon fire was burning in the North fork, a fire was burning in the heart of the Upper McDonald Creek Valley: the Trapper Fire. The fire at the heart of our story was at the time. So remote that it was seen as a low priority. Park employees like Chris Baker, the lookout stationed on Swiftcurrent mountain, described what it looked like. She wrote an article after the fire all about it. Here, can you read the first part? Andrew: Okay. "When I arrived back at Swiftcurrent, flattop mountain was puffing here and there, but the smokes just weren't that impressive. The lightning storm had planted its seeds, but nothing much was showing yet." So for a while, trapper was underwhelming? Michael: Yeah, it was. Andrew: But that obviously didn't last forever. Michael: No, it did not. Chris Peterson: July 23rd comes along, changes everything. Michael: The forecast for the 23rd called for extreme winds, 30 miles an hour or more. Chris Peterson: Right. Right. Exactly. And so that's why, that's why we're at the loop on the 23rd. Michael: Now, if you've ever driven the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass from Lake MacDonald, you may remember the loop as the single hairpin turn on the whole route. As the road turns back on itself, you've got eight miles left to Logan Pass as you rise above the trees, getting a view of the McDonald Creek Valley—And, Chris hoped, the Trapper fire. Chris Peterson: Okay, it's pretty windy day. Let's get up there, see what's going on. And let's take a look at it. Michael: His instincts were right. Chris Baker, the lookout at Swiftcurrent watch the trapper fire grow that day. And rather than have you read everything, Andrew, I had a friend read the rest of her quotes for it. Chris Baker: There was no mistaking it when Trapper decided to make its move. I was looking right at it when it did. That wimpy white column suddenly grew tall, turned to brown, then black. Then it was wider and moving. Chris Peterson: And you could see that fire probably I'm guessing five miles away. And it's just starting to look like a tornado. If you can imagine a huge, a really big tornado in the sense that it's like this big circular cloud black and it just starts spinning and you can see it and it's coming closer and closer and closer. Andrew: That's nothing like what I expected. Michael: And Chris was far from the only person at the loop watching this unfold. Chris Peterson: I mean more and more people showed up and were just watching it. And there were other people there everyone's taking pictures. Michael: So there were reporters like Chris there, visitors had stopped to take pictures. There was even a corporate marketing team there. Chris Peterson: One of the more memorable things was there was this a couple of women in their twenties, um, with like tank tops on. And they had a red bull pickup truck, you know, red bull, that energy drink, but it had it like a big fake can on the back of a pickup truck. Michael: As the fire was coming closer and closer and everyone was taking photos. The red bull staff was running around with free samples. Andrew: Okay. I think watching a fire race towards you is a situation where you definitely would not need the extra boost from an energy drink. Michael: [laughing] Yeah, I think you're right. But without the Red Bull, Chris described the atmosphere being charged with anticipation and excitement. Chris Peterson: So we're taking pictures of her with the smoke and the fire and smoke and stuff in the background and they're taking pictures and it just kind of got into like almost a party type atmosphere in the sense that here it comes. And it came like right to the edge of the, you know, the Canyon. Chris Peterson: It was just a, like a, you know, a freight train. Andrew: But he must've gotten out safely. Michael: He did. Chris Peterson: The fire gets to the loop. Everyone he takes off because it didn't burn over the loop. It's obvious it's not going to stop. Michael: As it burned over the loop. It claimed anything in its path vehicles that were parked there, trail head signs, heck for years there were stains on the pavement from where port-a-potties melted into the asphalt. Andrew: That's kind of gross. Uh, what happened next? Michael: Well, the Trapper fire continued to burn uphill straight towards the Granite Park Chalet and... Well you'll have to wait and see. I talked to Mike Sanger, one of the employees that was at granite park chalet that night later in the episode. Andrew: I see. Michael: But Chris' experience goes to show that even when it's coming towards you, even when it's endangering your own safety, you can't help but watch fire. As powerful and destructive as it is. It has a sort of magnetism. TRADITIONAL FIRE Tony Incashola: My name is Tony Incashola Sr. I'm the director for the Salish Kalispell Culture Committee for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. Andrew: People interacting with wildfire here is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it's been happening for thousands of years. To learn more I decided to talk to Tony Incashola Sr. about the role that fire plays in the traditional Salish way of life. We talked about how, from Tony's perspective, not enough people understand the significance and value of fire. This misunderstanding of our environment makes fire more dangerous. And he talked about how national parks are a place where we can learn to connect with the natural world. So Tony, if we have listeners from other parts of the country or the world who aren't familiar with, the Selis people, what do they need to know about Selis history? Tony Incashola: According to the stories from our elders, the Selis-speaking people have been in this area since the last ice age. My, my group, my band of Selis are the most eastern Selis-speaking people here in Montana, and our aboriginal territory consisted of about 22 million acres. And then it came along in 1855 when more settlers and homesteaders moved into our area a treaty was, was negotiated. And it took several days before the…

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Confluence | Logan Pass Dec 06, 2020

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In this episode of Headwaters we visit one of Glacier’s most popular and unique destinations: Logan Pass. First, we’ll learn about the road that gets us up here, the Going-to-the-Sun Road, and about some hilarious attempts to reduce our impact at Logan Pass. We’ll learn about appreciating the natural smells of the park, and end with the search for a rare and disappearing flower. Featuring: Bill Schustrom, Jeff Hoyt, Emlon Stanton, Will Rice, and Darren Lewis. For more info, visit go.nps.gov/headwaters ---TRANSCRIPT:--- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT BIKING INTRODUCTION Andrew: One spring, shortly after I first came to Glacier National Park to start working as a ranger here, I made my first trip up to Going-to-the Sun Road. In spring while the plow crews are still working on clearing the winter snow from the road, the area past Avalanche Creek is closed to cars. At this time of year, it's popular to bicycle up on the closed part of the road. One afternoon, I took my bike up to Avalanche Creek to ride. Only planning to bike a few miles. I was outfitted in just a t-shirt and carrying only a simple repair kit, a small water bottle, and of course a can of bear spray. When I reached my intended destination, a switchback in the road called The Loop, I was still feeling strong. The sun was bright, and the sky as that deep blue color you only really get in wide open country. From that spot there's a spectacular view of a mountain called Heaven's Peak. I just couldn't turn around. Andrew: I eschewed my original plan [sound of bike pedaling] and kept pedaling up towards Logan Pass. I couldn't stop. Those miles above The Loop are home to some of the grandest mountain views you’ll find anywhere. As I came around each corner, a new and breathtaking vista came into focus. The effect was magnetic. As my legs became leaden from the miles of climbing up towards the pass, the mountain views compelled me forward foot by foot. The beauty of the scenery, practically physically pulling me up. If you've ever ridden the Going-to-the Sun Road, you know exactly what I mean. The feeling was ineffable and unforgettable. Eventually I reached the high point of the road, Logan Pass. And by then I was in a complete euphoria. As I looked around, I relished the alpenglow lighting up the mountains, the evening light shimmering in the snow, and the glacier lilies pushing up through the fresh soil. Andrew: The pinkish orange of the sunset was so beautiful I screamed. I couldn't react except primordially. I breathed the crisp mountain air and the place became part of me. I turned the handlebars of my bike back towards the car and began to cruise down the road. But as night started to close in on me, my bliss quickly turned to worry. The sun dropped behind the tall peaks and the temperature plummeted. The road was coated with frigid water from the melting snow, which was kicked up by my tires and soon saturated my green t-shirt. My stomach growled with hunger. I had cycled much further than planned and missed dinner. But worst of all was the wind. The air itself was still, but biking, downhill and picking up speed, I would generate my own wind faster and faster. I couldn't decide whether to descend slowly, staying warmer, but dragging out the experience, or to just let go and frigidly descend as fast as possible. Andrew: Gravity and the thought of my warm car were irresistible. I let loose. As I picked up speed, the cold wind turned my hands numb. They slumped over the handlebars pale and useless. Suddenly I regretted that decision. In the fading light I saw a herd of bighorn sheep jump down into the road from a rocky outcropping above, directly into my path. I squeezed my brakes as hard as I could with my unfeeling hands, not knowing if it would have any effect. With a shriek my tires locked up and my bike came to a halt. I was a little too close for comfort to the curly horns of a large ram. He seemed unmoved. Slowly. I made my way down to the car arriving safely, but well, after dark. At home, I cooked up fried eggs, refried beans, anything caloric and warm I could find in my cabinet. Since then I've biked the Going-to-the Sun Road many times and the views still capture my heart. But now before I leave, I always make sure I have all the necessary safety gear, including snacks, a jacket, and especially gloves. Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many Native American Tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people. Michael: We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here. Andrew: I’m Andrew. Michael I’m Michael. Andrew: And we’re both rangers here. And today we're at Logan Pass. And after a brief description of the place itself, we'll hear some stories about what makes it so important. Michael: As the highest point on the Going-to-the Sun Road Logan Pass is a place of extremes. Andrew: One extreme is visitation. This is the starting spot for two of Glacier's most popular trails, the Highline and Hidden Lake, and has some of the most coveted parking spots anywhere. Michael: To get one of the 234 spots here on a summer day, often means arriving before 7:00 AM. Andrew: Logan Pass is also home to extremes of weather. Michael: Once, wind speeds of at least 99 miles per hour were recorded for 12 hours straight. Andrew: It can snow any month of the year here and often there's still 10 plus feet of snow on the ground into July. Michael: As crazy as this may sound to listeners from warmer areas, if you show up to hike at Logan Pass in July, don't wear your sandals. You'll likely be walking on snow. Andrew: Because of the extreme geography and weather here. There's really only a short window to visit. Michael: Crews start plowing the Going-to-the Sun Road every year at the beginning of April, but it's a monumental task. Andrew: The plows will have to maneuver through avalanche chutes, manage extreme weather, and finally tackle a section simply called "The Big Drift" where snow often blows into a pile 80-feet deep. They do all of this on extreme terrain and it all has to be finished before the road can open to the public. Michael: Typically, the Going-to-the Sun Road opens for the season in late June or early July, but the opening date will depend on conditions. So if you're planning to drive to Logan Pass, don't plan your trip any earlier than that. Andrew: If you want to bike, like I did, the road will be available for biking before it opens to cars, but you're not allowed to bike in the immediate vicinity of working plow crews for obvious reasons. Michael: To reach Logan Pass you'll need to bike after hours or on the weekend when crews aren't working. Andrew: Once Memorial Day hits and car traffic really ramps up, there are more restrictions on when and where you can bike on the Going-to-the Sun Road. Michael: You'll really want to consult the park website or a newspaper to read all the details. Andrew: It's only a few short months before winter makes it's return to the past. Winter storms have ended the Logan Pass season as early as September in recent years, but mid-October is more typical. Michael: It's a narrow window and that's not accounting for wildfire or other natural events that can lead to unplanned closures. Andrew: But Logan Pass is a magical place full of wildflowers, wildlife, and unsurpassed views. The wild and rugged nature of this place, which makes it so appealing, can also make it unpredictable. It's good to keep in mind that some things you plan to do just might not be available. Be flexible and have a backup plan. There's always something fun to do if you're creative and prepared. Michael: With all that in mind, let's move into our first story of the day, about how workers in the 1920s and 30s were able to build the engineering marvel that is the Going-to-the Sun Road. GOING-TO-THE-SUN ROAD Andrew: So Michael, how many times would you estimate you've driven the Going-to-the-Sun Road? Michael: Oh gosh. Um, I've never really counted, but I'd say over the last seven years, over a hundred? Andrew: That's a lot of trips. Do you ever get tired of it? Michael: Absolutely not. No. Every time you drive it, thanks to changing sunlight or weather, it looks different. And out of all those trips, I've only ever seen one porcupine or wolverine. So it really does feel like each time you go, you notice something new. Andrew: Yeah. We're pretty lucky to live in this place and to get to drive that road all the time. Michael: Yeah. You can say that again! Andrew: When I'm driving the Going-to-the-Sun Road, as it climbs along those sheer cliffs and hugs the side of the Garden Wall, I always think about the engineering that must've gone into it. I mean, they constructed that thing in the 1920s. Michael: Yeah. And the road would still be impressive if it had been constructed today. So how did they pull that off nearly a hundred years ago now? Andrew: You know, I have an idea of just who we should talk to someone who's been teaching the history of this road for decades. Michael: Ranger Bill? Andrew: That's exactly right. Andrew: Bill has been working here for a long time. Bill Schustrom: Well, I started in Glacier National Park in 1966. I worked for the boat company and then in 1988, I was lucky enough to score a job with the National Park Service. And up until this year, I think I had 32 years in. Michael: If you're lucky enough to meet Bill, you'll find that he's got a ton of stories about the park throughout the years. Andrew: When I asked him what he'd say to someone about to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road for the first time he didn't undersell it. Bill Schustrom: First of all, I would tell anybody that I was talking to that they're in for probably one of the greatest experiences of their life. Andrew: In Bill's reckoning, the road really democratized Glacier National Park. It made it a place accessible to a lot more people. Bill Schustrom: It allowed everyone that came to the park, whether you're young or old, or if you're from a different country, it gives you the opportunity to get up very close and personal with one of the finest wilderness areas in the United States, as well as alpine scenery. Andrew: According to Bill, the Going-to-the-Sun Road's origins go all the way back to the inception of the Park Service. Bill Schustrom: It came back to Steven Mather who you probably know was the first director of the National Park Service. The National Park Service came into existence in 1916. Steven Mather, within a year, became the director. Michael: Okay. What about the route? I mean, it seems obvious now, it's absolutely spectacular, but how did they decide where to put it? Andrew: According to Bill, the routing we have today was not even the one that they had originally planned on. Bill Schustrom: The first architect, a landscape architect that was involved in the road, was a guy by the name of George Goodwin. And George Goodwin proposed 15 switchbacks over that 3,000 foot climb up to Logan Pass. And Steven Mather came out, and he rode up to the area where he proposed the 15 switchbacks. And Goodwin's whole thought process was, he wanted to show the human spirit, and what the human spirit was capable of doing. And he felt that a road like that would definitely be there for all time to come. Michael: Oh really? The road was supposed to have 15 switchbacks? I mean it only has one now at The Loop, right? Andrew: [Chuckling] Yeah. They intervened, and the 15 switchback idea was shot down. Bill Schustrom: But along on that trip was another, younger, architect by the name of Thomas Vint. And Thomas Vint said, I don't think that's a good idea. And Steven Mather also said he didn't think it was a good idea, that they would ruin this incredibly beautiful, scenic part of the park. Michael: Okay. Yeah. I've got to agree. That does not sound like a good idea. Andrew: 15 switchbacks would have covered like the whole area in pavement. So Vint proposed a different route instead: one that only had a single switch back. One where the road would blend into the landscape, emphasizing the natural scenery rather than the human engineering. Michael: It sounds a lot more like the road that I know. Andrew: Stephen Mather preferred that proposal as well. He wanted the road to lie lightly on the land, to emphasize the natural over the human. Michael: So what was the next step to take it from drawing board to asphalt? Andrew: Well, they had to do a survey of the route. Bill Schustrom: When they finally decided that it was going to be a one-switchback road, a civil engineer out of San Francisco by the name of Frank Kittredge came in and hired a group of 30 men. And he'd had a lot of experience building roads along the ocean. Andrew: Michael, you know how steep and cliffy that terrain is. Well, surveying it was so terrifying and challenging, that a lot of people simply quit. Turnover was so high on these survey crews that Kittredge had to have three crews simultaneously. One that was actually working. Then he also had to have... Bill Schustrom: One crew coming and one crew quitting. And the ones that quit said that it wasn't worth it to climb up and down those cliffs and put your life in the hands of a rope. Michael: Yeah, I don't blame them. That sounds terrifying. Andrew: To be out on that crumbly sedimentary rock...no thanks. They finished that survey in 1924 and the next yearn the contract to build the West side of the road was given to a company out of Tacoma, Washington called Williams and Douglas. Bill Schustrom: When they came in in 1925, instead of starting from the bottom and working up to the high point, Logan Pass, what they did was, they established along the West side five, maybe six different camps. And they would work from there. They'd work in both directions until they ran into the other camp that was coming their way. Michael: Oh, that's clever. So they were able to work on a bunch of different sections of the road all at the same time. Bill Schustrom: They estimated that there were 300 men that worked on the road. And you know, there was no OSHA, there were no hard hats and there, you know, the kind of clothing they wore, that wasn't such a big consideration. And the amazing thing about that is there were only three deaths. Andrew: It's really pretty humbling to know that three people died working on that road, that we all enjoy so much. I can't even imagine what it'd be like to be part of those crews. Michael: No, I don't want to either. Andrew: Yeah. I asked Bill what some of maybe the biggest challenges they were facing were. Bill Schustrom: I think the biggest thing was safety. You'd see guys rappelling down off the sides of very steep cliffs, you know, with a thousand-foot drop below them. And when they did it, they actually to get all of the materials they needed up to those five camps, they actually had packers that came in. Many of them from Columbia Falls, Montana, one in particular was a guy named Joel Opalka. And the interesting thing about Joe was, in 1983, they had the 50th anniversary of the Going-to-the-Sun Road. And I was lucky enough to be there. They had a lot of the civil engineers, a lot of the people that were responsible for building the road were there and they spoke, and they were eloquent. They were eloquent in the fact that this is going to be a National Historic Site, which it is. And it's actually an, obviously a Civil Engineering National Historic Site an…

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Confluence | Many Glacier Dec 06, 2020

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Many Glacier is home to some of the park’s most popular trails, like the Grinnell Glacier trail. Many want to see Grinnell because—like the other glaciers in the park—it is retreating. In our search to understand how Grinnell has changed, we meet someone who last visited the glacier over 30 years ago and hike with a researcher who discovered the power of portraits. Featuring: Gerard Byrd, Bob Adams, Diane Sine, and Lisa McKeon For more info, visit: go.nps.gov/headwaters ---TRANSCRIPT:--- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT GRINNELL INTRODUCTION Michael: Okay, Andrew. It's summertime as we're recording this. Andrew: Yep. Michael: But I want to rewind the clock to mid-may of this year. Think cool air, drizzling, rain, you know, spring. Andrew: Okay. I'm with you. Michael: This may I volunteered with the Harlequin duck project and we were trying to capture ducks on Upper McDonald Creek. And as we talked about in the Goat Haunt episode, you catch them by stringing a net all the way across the creek, and trying to catch them as they fly down. But with all the melting snow in the spring, that creek is flowing too fast to safely walk across. So a few people, and one end of net, get carried across to the other side in a raft. Andrew: So did you get to go across the Creek? Michael: Well, no, I stayed behind to help spot the birds with binoculars. But at the end of the day, everyone on the other side had to come back, and I volunteered to help catch the raft and pull them to shore. The raft—really conveniently—has a handle on the bow that helps you grab it. And I leaned over to grab it, totally missed, and fell face first into McDonald Creek. Andrew: [laughs] Ouch. Michael: Yeah, I was totally soaked. Andrew: Well, it's pretty cold in the spring. Did you have a change of clothes? Michael: Well, yes and no. Uh, it was very cold, but I didn't have any spare clothes. But the volunteer paddling the raft that I failed to catch had a spare pair of long johns. And despite my insistence that I'd be warm enough, made me go change into them. Andrew: So you had warm legs and a bruised ego... But isn't this episode about Many Glacier? Michael: Okay, let me finish. That volunteer's name is Gerard, and I'd met him before cause he drives a school bus for some of the local students I've led on field trips. But through the Harlequin project, I got to know him a little better. And a few weeks later I had the chance to get him in the studio. Gerard: Yeah, my name is Gerard Byrd, born and raised about nine miles from Glacier National Park in a little town of Martin City. Michael: He's the sort of wonderful person that seems to know everyone and can do anything. What were you doing just before this interview? Gerard: We were helping band songbirds. Yeah. Trapping and banding. Michael: I think he volunteers with every single wildlife research project in the park. Gerard: We started about 12—maybe 13—years ago helping out with the wolverine project, got involved and we put in roughly 175 back country miles. Andrew: Did you make him come into the studio just to return his long johns? Michael: No, he's, he's got wonderful taste and long underwear, but that's not why I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to talk to him about a trip he did with the Glacier Institute in 1986 Gerard: Glacier Institute was founded in 1983, started working in '84, I came on board in '85. I'm a school bus contractor. They were looking for someone to transport students around the park, specifically up over Logan Pass. Andrew: Wait, so what is the Glacier Institute? Michael: The Glacier Institute is one of the park's three official partners. They offer hands-on, field-based learning opportunities for both kids and adults all throughout Northwest Montana. And they do a lot of work here. Gerard: There's grizzly classes, flower classes, and then some geology classes, which included glaciology as well. And this one particular class, we were hiking into Grinnell Glacier—and it was a geology class, but one of the founders had wanted us to go and meet this gentlemen that was giving... I can't remember where he was from now. But anyway, he was giving a speech on Grinnell Glacier. And so— Michael: The guy's name was Bob Anderson, and he was a geologist with the California Institute of Technology. And he wasn't just giving a talk on Grinnell Glacier. He was giving a talk in Grinnell Glacier. Gerard: They had an access point that we were able to enter underneath this glacier Michael: Into an ice cave. Andrew: Whoa. Gerard: It was about maybe three foot high, and it kind of went back maybe 20-some feet. Michael: The times I've spent in other park units like Mammoth Cave National Park. One of the biggest takeaways was just how dark it got, like what was the lighting? Gerard: Straight up? I mean, it's no different than a regular cave. If there were human bodies blocking that entrance. Yeah, it was, it would be no different than being in an underground cave. As I looked around, there was probably 20 of us crowded into this small space and there was a flash photographer taking tons of photos—leaned over and I said: "Lex, what? How come this is so obnoxious?" He goes: "Gerard, National Geographic's in here doing a photo-op here under this glacier." Andrew: National Geographic was there? Michael: Yeah! They published a 20 page article, not long afterwards, which really reads like an introduction to Glacier: where it is, what it's all about. A harrowing search and rescue tale. And here's the one photo they use from the ice cave. Andrew: Wow, this is crazy. So this is under Grinnell Glacier? Michael: Yeah. The photo, it's really dark—this guy's wearing bright yellow pants sitting on the ice and yeah, it's in Grinnell Glacier. Andrew: I've been to Grinnell Glacier a handful of times, and this looks nothing like anything I've seen up there. It's like a totally different world. Michael: Yeah. And it's hard to tell in the photo, I asked him what the weather was like outside, and he said it was sunny. But it doesn't look at all like that. Andrew: No. Michael: It just looks dark. Andrew: And cold. Michael: Gerard described these little threads of ice that would dangle from the ceiling of the Glacier. And if you looked at it too long, either your breath or your headlamp would even melt them. So it was a really powerful experience for him. Gerard: Well, the funny thing was, is, um, I had visited with my wife when I came out and I said, Oh my gosh honey you got to come in and look at this. I said, this was incredible, I was so moved. Well, raising five kids and whatnot, it just was about three years later—and we decided that we could go back in. And we hiked in, come to this rock face, And I, [stammering], this is where the glacier was. I kept looking at the rock face, thinking, God, maybe I'm on a whole different, but I, I, I did recognize the area where we . And the glacier had melted back about 200+ feet. I was absolutely astounded. Michael: Three years. Gerard: Three years. That's when I really became aware of, of man's impact on our beautiful planet. Yeah. Andrew: So if that's how much it changed in just three years, what has he noticed in the last 30 years since then? Michael: Yeah, that was something I was really interested in, but he surprised me. When's the last time you went back to Grinnell Glacier? Gerard: It was back then probably '89. Michael: Really? Gerard: 80's, yep. Michael: Haven't been back since? Gerard: I haven't been back there since then. I've done a lot of different areas in the park since, but um, not, not been back there since '89. Andrew: Wow. 30 years. I can't imagine what he'd say. If he got to see it now Michael: I know. We have got to get Gerard to Grinnell Glacier this summer. Andrew: Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many Native American Tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people. Michael: We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here. Andrew: I’m Andrew. Michael: I’m Michael. Andrew: And we’re both rangers here. And today we're going to be taking you on a journey to the Many Glacier Valley. Michael: Nestled in the northeast corner of the park. Many Glacier is one of its most spectacular destinations. I know every time my family has come to visit, we've made a point of taking Highway 89 on the east side of the park, just to get there. Typically the road is open from mid-May to late October, but the high elevation trails have a much shorter season because they're only reliably clear of snow in August. Andrew: According to longtime Many Glacier ranger, Bob Adams, there are two trails in particular that people come here to see. Bob Adams: ...that would be the Grinnell Glacier Trail. And that would be the Iceberg Lake Trail, which... Andrew: This area is popular, like really, really popular. Bob Adams: ...but there are lots of people, roughly 600 or more a day. Andrew: That's 600 is on each trail. Michael: So this isn't the place for solitude? Andrew: Not exactly. And to make it even more extreme, Bob sometimes has to close one of those trails for bear activity. And if the Iceberg Lake trail is closed, then... Bob Adams: You'll get 900 people on the Glacier Trail. Michael: 900 people on the Grinnell Glacier Trail?! Bob Adams: So that may not be what you want. It may be exactly what you want because you maybe feel safety in numbers. That's, that's a false assumption, but people make that assumption. Michael: Why do so many people come here? HOTEL Andrew: I asked Diane Sine, she's a ranger. And she spent more than 40 summers in Many Glacier. Diane Sine: It not only has the, the actual glaciers that are still hanging in there, just barely. Then we also have the historic hotel, we have in my opinion, the best hiking trails in the park. So if you just wanted one location that sums up all, that's excellent about Glacier National Park it's Many Glacier. And yes, this is a commercial for Many Glacier. Andrew: And she's not totally joking about the commercial thing, the marketing of Many Glacier and of the Glacier National Park region as a whole is a really important part of the Park's history. Michael: What do you mean by that? Andrew: Well, in the early days of Glacier National Park, a lot of the infrastructure was built by the Great Northern Railway and the railway executives wanted this place to look like the Swiss Alps. Michael: Yeah. There's definitely Swiss architecture noticeable, not just at the Many Glacier Hotel, but the Lake McDonald Lodge too. But why Swiss? Andrew: That's actually a pretty interesting story. To learn more about it I decided to join Diane Sine, the ranger you heard a minute ago, on a tour of the Many Glacier Hotel. Michael: Well, I'm jealous. Andrew: Luckily for you and our listeners, these tours are offered during the summer at the Many Glacier Hotel and Lake McDonald Lodge. You can find the schedule in your ranger led activities guide, which you'll receive at the park entrance station. Diane Sine: Well, welcome. My name is Diane Sine. I'm a seasonal ranger here with the National Park Service. I have done this for a whole lot of summers. This is our daily walking tour of the historic Many Glacier Hotel. Andrew: She told us about how she first fell in love with Many Glacier as a child on a family camping trip and all through college worked here in the summers as a singing waitress. Michael: She was a singing waitress? Andrew: Yeah. As she tells it: Diane Sine: In that era, all the employees at the Many Glacier Hotel were hired to staff the regular hotel positions because they all had music or drama backgrounds. And as a little girl just starting out as a cellist, I thought that's what I wanted to do. Michael: Why did they do that? Andrew: Well in those days, the Many Glacier Hotel was a bit beat up and weathered. So to attract guests, the manager decided to use music. Michael: Well, why have I never heard Diane sing at the hotel? Andrew: Well, she's not a singing waitress anymore. After those summers singing and waiting tables, something changed deep inside of her. Diane Sine: After having worked here for four years for the hotel, my life was warped. I was hooked on this place and I figured out how to become a park ranger. Andrew: And once Many Glacier wormed its way into her life, it never left. Diane Sine: Along the way I met my husband, who was another ranger here. We got married at Lake Josephine, had our wedding reception here at the dining room of the Many Glacier Hotel. My stepdaughter met her husband here as well. And the tradition has continued. So... Andrew: But this is all a bit of a digression because although this place is important to Diane... Diane Sine: The Many Glacier hotel is considered to have national significance. It has value to the American story as a place that ties us to the past, not only the past with visitor experiences, but the past with the early development and advertising of national parks. Andrew: Diane told us about the construction of the building in the winter of 1914 when temperatures hit 40 below. Michael: Okay. We've both been here in the winter and 40 below is cold. Andrew: It's very cold. As Diane described it, the workers, the Great Northern hired: Diane Sine: Were hardy Scandinavian descendants and they could withstand hardy winters. And the story is... Andrew: The finished hotel was pretty impressive. Michael: Paint a picture for me. Andrew: Well, as you approach the hotel, a friendly bellhop clad in alps style, lederhosen opens the front door and offers refuge from the harsh winds of the valley in the warmth of the lobby. Michael: Wait, okay, lederhosen? Andrew: We'll get back to that in a minute. Michael: Okay. Andrew: Once you're inside, the lobby is vast and echo-y with a hodgepodge of different styles. A massive copper fireplace anchors one end, while the other opens up to an elegant spiral staircase. Naturally your gaze will be drawn up as your eyes trace the giant Douglas-fir beams towards the ceiling. And dangling from that ceiling is an impressive array of Japanese style paper lanterns. Michael: So I'm standing in a wild Montanan and Swiss chalet with Japanese paper lanterns? Andrew: Now you're catching on that's right. But even though there's a lot going on, the thing that really pulled me in was those giant Douglas-fir beams. And according to Diane, this was their intended effect. Diane Sine: The idea behind the design of both this Many Glacier hotel and the Glacier Park Lodge at East Glacier, they were originally referred to as "big tree lodges." The idea is that you can be down here in the lobby and you can actually feel like you're in the forest with the trees rising above you. Michael: That makes a lot of sense having stood in them, but you still have not addressed the lederhosen thing. Andrew: Okay. Okay. Well, part of it is actually an accident of history in 1914, as construction was just about to begin for the Many Glacier Hotel, World War I, cut off Americans from some of their favorite European vacation destinations. The Great Northern saw in this an opportunity to put the American West on vacationers' radar. And they started to market this area as a replacement for the Swiss Alps. Michael: Okay. But people go on vacation to Spain or to Germany. Why Switzerland? Andrew: Well as Diane tells it Louis Hill, who at the time was the president of the…

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Confluence | North Fork Dec 06, 2020

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In this episode, the Flathead River reveals our own notions of wilderness, and remarkable fossils. We learn about a glacier with a complicated past—and we climb to a mountaintop to learn that even the park’s most isolated office isn’t as lonely as it seems. Featuring: Colter Pence, Amanda Wilson, Kurt Constenius, Dale Greenwalt, Christoph Irmscher, Beth Hodder, Karen Reeves, and interviews & letters from Kay Rosengren—courtesy of the NWMT-FFLA. For more info, visit: go.nps.gov/headwaters ---TRANSCRIPT:--- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT WILD AND SCENIC RIVERS INTRODUCTION Andrew: In 1940, biologist, Dr. John Craighead, famous for his pioneering work with grizzly bears, wrote a letter for Montana Wildlife magazine, about a raft trip on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River, the southern boundary of Glacier National Park. The following is an excerpt from that letter. Alex (as Dr. Craighead): I have rafted most of the large fast water rivers of the mountain west. There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the most scenic wild rivers in the northwest. One which conservationists should strive hard to save. It is essential to preserve intact a few of the wild rivers of this region for recreation and education of future generations. The aesthetic and recreational values of a river are so very easily destroyed, far more easily destroyed than similar values of hill and mountain country. It is my belief that we should strive to keep intact some wild rivers on the basis that they're essential to our way of life. Michael: This idea, born on the middle fork of the Flathead River, and articulated in that letter became the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, which was signed into law in 1968. Andrew: Glacier National Park is bounded by two rivers protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. So it's really special that this is where the idea for the act first originated. And while part of the Flathead River is in Glacier National Park, most of it actually lies outside of the park's boundaries. Colter Pence: The three forks of the Flathead primarily flow through the Flathead National Forest. Andrew: That's Colter Pence. Among other things she's the Wild and Scenic River Program Manager for the Flathead National Forest. As wild and scenic rivers, the forks of the Flathead River flow through the park, the national forest, as well as state and private lands, making their management a deeply collaborative effort. Colter Pence: And I would say from my work as a forest service employee, it's one of the more interesting parts of my job. Our common work with wild and scenic rivers has us interacting all the time. And that's why I say some of my closest colleagues are even national park staff. Michael: Of course, the clear clean waters of the rivers make for spectacular recreational opportunities like fishing and boating. Andrew: But the river also makes corridors for all sorts of wildlife from giant grizzly bears to the smallest of bugs. Michael: All of it protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Andrew: In fact, the corridors around the three forks of the Flathead River are home to an amazing array of resources, which the wild and scenic rivers act refers to as outstandingly remarkable values. Here's Colter Pence, again— Colter Pence: Of our outstandingly remarkable values, it's fisheries, wildlife, botanic in some places, recreation, scenic, historic, ethnographic, like that prehistory, and even geologic. We have all of those present as outstandingly remarkable, meaning to say they're rare or even unique. Andrew: The fact that these rivers were protected was not inevitable. Colter Pence: Yeah, you can't take it for granted that a landscape is protected or that it's always been protected or that it always will be protected. Andrew: And it's important to keep protecting these places because rivers bring people together. You might think of a river as a dividing line, but it can also be a gathering place and a place where people and nature can come together. Michael: Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many Native American Tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people. Andrew: We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here. Michael: I’m Michael. Andrew: I’m Andrew. Michael: And we’re both rangers here. Today, we’re headed to the North Fork, the northwest region of Glacier. Andrew: The North Fork is one of the most rugged, and least developed areas of the park. Michael: Not a paved road in sight. Andrew: Which makes it the perfect place for today’s episode. Michael: Today, we bring you three examples of people coming face to face with the wild and the unknown. FOSSILS Michael: Okay, Andrew when we started this episode, you brought up the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. And you mentioned the phrase outstandingly remarkable values. Andrew: Yeah, I remember that. Michael: Looking at the act itself and the list of values they included, the word fossils stood out to me. When you hear the word fossils, what do you think of? Andrew: Well, I guess dinosaurs is probably the first thing? Michael: Right, me too. Hey Amanda. It's Michael. Amanda: Hi Michael! Michael: So I called a friend, an old coworker from Glacier who now works at Dinosaur National Monument. Amanda: Uh, Amanda Wilson, interpretive park ranger, at Dinosaur National Monument. Michael: What sort of dinosaurs do you have there? I mean, it's your namesake. Amanda: So our main like "famous" dinosaurs are dinosaurs like stegosaurus, allosaurus was the dominant carnivore at the time. Michael: Wow. Creatures straight out of drastic park. So you worked at Glacier, were there fossils like that here? Amanda: Um, no. Michael: If I were a visitor, I came up to you and asked about the fossils in Glacier. How would you respond? Andrew: Well, most of the rock in the park is super ancient, like a billion and a half years old. And it predates most complex life on earth that would leave fossils behind. So really we only have fossil stromatolites, which are these clumps of blue-green algae. Michael: So most of the rock in the park is too old for fossils more complex than algae or cyanobacteria called stromatolites. And fossil stromatolites are really cool, and certainly it's true that they're the most prevalent fossil in Glacier... But as it turns out, our fossil record has a lot more in common with Jurassic Park than you might think. Andrew: Wait, what? What do you mean? Michael: [Laughing] Andrew: What else is here? I've been telling people for years that stromatolites are virtually the only fossils here I've been lying to all these people? Michael: Alright don't, don't worry—I think you're the clear. The visible rock in the park is overwhelmingly ancient, and the only fossils anyone are ever likely to see are still stromatolites. And because of that, for a long time, it was believed that they were really the only fossils in the area. But this story taught me that no matter how well you think you know a place, there is a lot to learn if you dig a little deeper. Which is where Kurt comes in. Kurt: So my name is Kurt Constenius. Michael: He has a long title. Kurt: I am an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona and a research associate of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Michael: I spent a day in the field with Kurt and with Dale. Dale: My name is Dale Greenwalt, Michael: Who also has a long title. Dale: ...Research Associate the Natural History of National Museum of, let me start over. Background: [Laughing] Dale: Where do I work? Michael: He works for Smithsonian. Dale and Kurt are some of the foremost experts on a geologic oddity to this area. Outcroppings of fossils unlike anything else in the park. Now, as a ranger here, you learn a lot about the geology of the park, but I'm not a geologist by trade. So I brought a few friends, Emily and Teagan, along as geologic interpreters. To set the stage, Glacier is a mountainous park. The continental divide runs right through it. To the east, you have the great plains stretching flat into the horizon, and to the west, you can see more mountains, but you'll cross valleys or basins to get to them. And this is where I want to challenge you, Andrew. Andrew: Okay. Michael: We often describe Glacier's geologic history as having four stages. Andrew: Yeah. Silt tilt, slide, and glide. Michael: So to make it difficult, I want you to describe each stage in 10 seconds or less. Okay. You think you can do it? Andrew: I think I'm up for it. Okay. So silt. Okay. So over a billion years ago, sediment eroded from highlands and collected at the bottom of an ancient sea called the belt sea. Michael: Nailed it. Tilt? Andrew: Okay. So about 150 million years ago, this sediment had compacted into rock and tectonic movement lifted up a slab of it that was several miles thick. Michael: Great. And slide! Andrew: This is 60 to 70 million years ago, tectonic forces pushed this slab about 50 miles east; this is what we call the Lewis overthrust fault. Michael: Nailed it, and glide. Andrew: Okay. Now we're back to about 2 million years ago, the place to see an ice age and large ice sheets, advanced and retreated repeatedly carving out the valleys and sculpting the mountains of the park. Michael: Perfect. A whirlwind tour of our geologic history. Silt, tilt, slide, and glide represents the deposition of sediments—it turns to mountains, and then glaciers come in and carve it out. The stage most important to our fossil field day was Slide. That slide, as you mentioned, was driven by the Lewis overthrust fault. Kurt: The main structure that dominates the landscape here is called the Lewis overthrust. And it, it started motions about 75 million years ago. And they continued up to about 50. And in that it translated a plat—. Michael: The overthrust took a slab of earth up to nine miles thick and pushed it over another one. Kurt: And a transported it at about 80 to 90 miles to the Northeast. Michael: In the mountains you find on the eastern side of the park, didn't start out there but were shoved into place. But the Lewis overthrust that shoving force, it didn't last forever. Kurt: And then just about like a light switch, immediately after the Lewis thrust had ceased motions, the mountain belt began to collapse. Michael: When the rock was no longer being pushed upward by tectonic plates, gravity began to pull it back down to earth. The crust broke along fault lines, creating the valleys and basins we see today that separate the mountains in the park from the mountains to the West. One of those basins is called the Kishenehn Basin. Kurt: The history of that collapse are the sediments that were deposited in the Kishenehn Basin. Michael: The sediments collected in Kishenehn basin became the rock of the Kishenehn Formation, which is huge. It stretches throughout the western part of the park. You could find it under Park Headquarters, the Apgar Visitor Center, even the Lake McDonald Lodge. The only problem is, something happened more recently that buried the Kishenehn Formation, covered it up. Andrew: The ice age! That slide stage we were talking about. Michael: Exactly. Ice age glaciers carved and carried a ton of rock and debris. All of which got dumped out eventually completely burying the Kishenehn. So the only reason we're able to see it is thanks to the Flathead River. Kurt: The Flathead River and its tributaries have incised down through all the glacial material. And it gives us this window into, into the Kishenehn, some of the best exposure to the tertiary rocks in North America. Michael: Tertiary in this instance, referring to the most recent era of geologic time. Dale: WIth potassium-argon dating and they gave us an age from the middle part of the Kishenehn of about 46 million years. Michael: And we can learn what this place was like 46 million years ago by looking at the fossil record. Now geologically speaking 46 million years ago is actually pretty recent. 20 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Andrew: Wait. So most of our rock is too old for dinosaurs, but the Kishenehn Formation is too new for dinosaurs. So what did you find? Michael: Well, if we wanted to find anything, we had to look really closely. Michael: [Outside] One to two millimeters. I'm just looking at pebbles and like, these are too big. Michael: We found tiny snails— Kurt: Snails, some snails are only like a millimeter two millimeters in size. Those can be adult snails out. Yeah. Michael: Some snail fossils were the size of your thumb while others look like they could fit through the head of a needle. And I actually brought in some of the snails to show you, Andrew: Wait, are you guys allowed to be collecting fossils? Michael: Oh—good question. Like anything else in the park, wild flowers, rocks, heck moose. You're not allowed to collect fossils and take them home. The only exceptions to this rule are for research purposes. Kurt and Dale both have permits to collect fossils in the park, and take the restrictions associated with the permit very seriously. They gave me these few examples, but I could only take pictures otherwise. Andrew: Okay let's see it. Oh cool! There are like dozens or hundreds in here. Michael: And once they were pointed out to you, you kind of started to see them everywhere. Dale: So many times I reach for a white snail and it turns out to be a bird dropping. That's disappointing. Michael: [Laughing] Michael: We found clams, this one was underwater cemented in the rock and just slightly covered by dirt. It was beautiful! Dale: It looks like you can still see the mother of pearl. Michael: We even found a tooth that belonged to a pretty large mammal. Michael: [Outside] Yeah, and it's probably an inch and a half long, from root to top or... Kurt: Yeah, that's right! I'll go get a container for that. Michael: And then on accident, we knocked it loose and nearly lost it. Teagan: So it's in this area right here. Michael: [Laughing] Oh no, now I can't step anywhere. Andrew: Wait, you lost it? How did that happen? Michael: It was very precariously sitting in the cliff face and someone trying to take a picture of it, shook it loose and it fell into the dirt. Andrew: Who was it? Who knocked it loose? Michael: I will not name names. Andrew: Was it? You? Michael: I, I can neither confirm nor deny, but after what felt like an eternity of me being sure that Dale and Kurt were going to ban us from fossil collecting, we found it! Andrew: Oh—hey, found it. Teagan: That's it! Kurt: That's it. We've got the whole thing. Emily: Success! Teagan: I was about to pass out. Andrew: Okay. Well you said the tooth was what, an inch, Inch and a half? Michael: Yep. Andrew: Okay. That's a pretty big tooth. What did it belong to? Michael: With the benefit of hindsight, and Kurt's friend who is a paleontologist, it was identified as a uintathere, an enormous rhino-looking mammal. Andrew: Whoa. A rhino? Michael: Yeah. So on top of feeling lucky that we didn't lose the uintathere tooth. We were also feeling lucky that we even found it in the first place. Kurt and Dale had told us ahead of time that it was incredibly rare to find mammal fossils. Dale: Yeah. What was the chances? Kurt: I wouldn't say slim to none, but. Dale: In fact, we were able to collect it twice! Michael: Finding a tooth like this is about as good as it gets. You rarely find fossils that are completely intact. Dale: Yeah. You never find a whole fossil organism, unless it's an insect. Andrew: Ooh. Dale: There are some places in the world where the insects ar…

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Confluence | St. Mary Dec 06, 2020

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In this episode of Headwaters, we visit St. Mary, looking for experiences that are disappearing from the world. After hearing about the legendary St. Mary winds, Michael gets up early to try to see a grizzly bear, and we learn how these animals are faring in Glacier’s ecosystem. Andrew stays up late to visit the St. Mary observatory and learn about dark skies and stargazing in Glacier. Featuring: Debby Smith, Bob Adams, Tabitha Graves, and Lee Rademaker. For more info, visit: go.nps.gov/headwaters ---TRANSCRIPT:--- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT WIND INTRODUCTION Debby Smith: I know I had a number of moments early on working over at the St. Mary Visitor Center, as you kind of get to the edge of the building and the building is no longer blocking the wind. I've had things that just got sucked right out of my hand. Andrew: That's Debby Smith, she's in charge of among other things, the St. Mary Visitor Center, Debby: You know, it's also funny, we'll, we'll often get these high wind warnings. I think it was for 40 to 50 mile an hour gusts and maybe even as high as, as 85. And I've, I've told people that, that don't live around here, that that's our weather forecast. And they're like, Oh no, that can't possibly be right. You know, you couldn't possibly have wind that high, but, but we do. Andrew: How does wind affect people's experience when they're visiting the St. Mary area? Debby: Partly, it's just about the sort of obvious things like making sure their tents don't blow away and making sure when you're eating lunch, that you're, you have, you know, a hold of everything that, that you brought with you. And then there's also being able to see what the park is like, and whether it's seeing St. Mary Lake on a day that it's really windy with huge white caps. Even sometimes at the St. Mary Visitor Center on really windy days, we'll get the spray from the lake, hitting the windows on the side of the building, because it's just blowing it that far. Andrew: And the Visitor Center is not right on the edge of the lake there. The wind has to carry that spray over a quarter mile for it to hit the building. When people are hiking in St. Mary, what are some of the effects of wind that they might see in the plants or the landscape? Debby: One would be flagging on trees. When you see trees that basically all the branches on the windward side are broken off, or they're kind of deformed. So that side that's facing the direction from which the wind is blowing. And then it resembles a flag because all of the branches are just on the other side. Andrew: Besides the practical side of not letting things blow away. Do you think you've learned anything from the wind there? Debby: I think a lot of it is just learning about this place. And I mean, there's the obvious challenges that it presents to people like you were mentioning, but I think also the wind is, is something that makes the east side of the park really beautiful, and it makes it, you know, this diverse place and dynamic and harsh and wonderful all at the same time. It just adds to the experience and it, it creates the amazing place that we have on the east side. Andrew: How does wind affect life in your area? Does it invert umbrellas, sculpt dunes, or drive wildfire? Maybe you hardly think about the wind at all. The way you interact with wind is largely dependent on where you live. In tornado alley, wind is a life-altering force, but in other parts of the country, it might be more of a curiosity. In this episode, we're going to look at two elements that, perhaps like the wind, have been eliminated as a major factor in many people's lives, but that still find a home in Glacier National Park. First, you'll hear a story about the grizzly bears in the park, and then about our dark starry night skies. Andrew: Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many Native American Tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people. Michael: We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here. Andrew: I’m Andrew. Michael: I’m Michael. Andrew: And we’re both rangers here. And today we're in the St. Mary Valley. St. Mary Lake is the second largest Lake here and home to some of the most breathtaking scenery anywhere in the park. Michael: I mean, the view from Wild Goose Island overlook is even on Montana State driver's licenses. It's so beautiful. Andrew: Really, it is? Michael: Yeah. I mean, look at your own. It's like the, the shimmery thing in the background that they... Andrew: Oh, yeah, there it is. Wild Goose Island. Michael: So we're headed to St. Mary because it is a great place to look for experiences that over time have grown harder and harder to find anywhere else. Andrew: Yeah, Glacier is in many ways, the last best place for experiences that the rest of the world may once have taken for granted, but have since faded away. Michael: Today, we're going to focus on two of those experiences. One that it helps to get up early for. And one that it helps to stay up late. Andrew: Yeah. Something for the early birds and the night owls. BEARS Michael: Now, one thing that makes Glacier special is that we are home to an abundant and diverse range of wildlife. Andrew: We have 71 species of mammal, 276, different birds, six amphibians, and even three reptiles live here. Michael: Yeah. And I'm curious what your experience has been Andrew, but as an Interpretive Ranger, it seemed like half of the questions I got from visitors were logistical. Like, where should I hike? Is this campground open? Et cetera. And the other half was about wildlife. Do you have moose here? Yes. Where can I see a mountain goat? That sort of thing. Andrew: Definitely. You could make someone's whole trip by just pointing a spotting scope at a herd of bighorn sheep. Michael: But that excitement for wildlife encounters can go both ways, cause some people are thrilled at the prospect, but others are actually scared. Glacier is home to predators like mountain lions and wolves, but the critters most people think about when they're here are bears. [Sound of bear growling] Andrew: [Piano music starts] We have a lot of bears here. Michael: Both black and grizzly bears. Andrew: As of 2018, the population of grizzly bears for the whole Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem of which Glacier is a small part, was estimated to be about 1,050 individuals. Of these about 250 to 300 would live in Glacier. Michael: Wow. Andrew: Some bears are gonna spend part of their lives in the parks part of their lives outside of the park. And the black bear population in Glacier was thought to be about 600. Michael: I've heard that that's more grizzly bears per acre than anywhere else in the lower 48. Andrew: Mmhmm. Michael: But how do we even know that this place is huge? It's like finding a thousand needles in a million acre haystack. Andrew: Yeah, it was actually a pretty big undertaking to get those numbers. I actually talked to Tabitha Graves, the scientist who was involved with a lot of this research. Tabitha Graves: Hi, I'm Tabitha Graves. I am with USGS, I'm a research ecologist. Andrew: Not only is it a massive area to survey, you have to figure out how to distinguish individual bears. So you don't just keep counting the same ones. Michael: And I know with birds in these sort of situations, biologists will catch them and mark them with a leg band, some other animals with ear tags. Andrew: Yeah. But capturing and marking hundreds of grizzly bears would be super expensive and time-consuming, sounds very dangerous, and would probably seriously disturb the animals. So the scientists use some really cool technological advances to measure the bear population in a different way. Tabitha: Back in 1998, my predecessor in my job, Kate Kendall, started doing research using genetics of bears. She put out strands of barbed wire around some trees in the woods with some stinky lure in the center of it and found out that grizzly bears would go into smell that when they did that, when they walked over or under the barbed wire, a few strands of hair would be pulled out. And in that hair there's DNA in the hair follicle. And from that, you can identify individual bears. Andrew: With the DNA captured in a hair trap. You could tell how many distinct individuals were around. This initial experiment proved the concept, and then they did a much bigger in 2004. Tabitha: Where we got a population estimate, it was the first population estimate that had good confidence intervals and was fairly precise. That was 765 animals was the point estimate in 2004... Andrew: From there, they took the survey even wider. And I cannot overstate how big of a project it is. They were monitoring a ton of hair traps across the whole northern continental divide ecosystem. Michael, do you want to take a guess at how many rub sites they were monitoring for bear hair? Michael: Well, I imagine they tried to put them all over the park in the different regions. I'm gonna say, maybe like 500? Tabitha: Um, we had across the whole ecosystem there around 4,000 rub objects per year, Michael: 4,000? Holy crap, that's a lot! Andrew: Yeah. And Tabitha told me that this genetic data is useful for a lot more than just those population surveys. Tabitha: [Music starts] Yeah. That's the cool thing about having genetic data is yet you can not only identify individual bears, but you can actually see who's related to who. Andrew: For instance, they found. Tabitha: One male grizzly bear that had 101 descendants. So that included his offspring, his grand Cubs and his great grand Cubs. Michael: So how's the population doing now? Andrew: It actually seems like it's still growing in, even in Glacier National Park, which Tabitha said is good news. Tabitha: Well, we were actually surprised that the population was still growing in Glacier Park because the protections have been so strong here for so long. We thought it was possible that it would just be completely stable. Because bears have larger home ranges, it could be that changes that are going on on the Blackfeet Reservation or the Whitefish range are also influencing the number of bears here. Michael: Wow. That's amazing. But it makes it all the more frustrating that I haven't seen any in the park this summer. I saw one really early in the spring, but once summer started, I mean, I just haven't been able to find them. Andrew: Have you been out looking for them? Michael: I mean, yeah, I've driven all over. I did a ton of biking and day hiking. [Music starts] I've gone backpacking collectively for nearly 20 days so far and no bears. Andrew: Wow, that's... That's pretty bad luck. Michael: So as a last ditch effort, I thought I'd go to St. Mary along St. Mary Lake is a stretch of open meadows called two dog flats, a place where in the past I've seen bears before. Andrew: Yeah, me too. It's great habitat. Michael: And a common piece of wisdom is that if you want to see wildlife, it helps to get up early. Michael: So this morning I left the house around five. Michael: Really early. Michael: [In car] Let's get this over with Andrew: That's especially true in the summer. When it gets hot in the middle of the day, wildlife like bears are going to be more active around dusk and dawn. Michael: Exactly, so with that in mind, [music starts] I drove over to St. Mary from the west entrance, a nearly two hour drive, to make it there before sunrise. Andrew: Before sunrise? Michael: Yep. Andrew: You don't have the reputation of being a... Michael: [stammering] No, I'm not very much of a morning person. Andrew: There it is. Michael: But this was serious business! I can't have gone the whole summer without seeing a bear. Andrew: Seriously Michael: [In car] That's a promising sign. I just drove through some bear poop. Michael: So I parked on the roadside pull off, got out my binoculars and scanned the horizon. Andrew: And binoculars will definitely help. At a distance, it's pretty hard to tell the difference between black and grizzly bears. Tabitha: So there's eight species of bears in the world and brown bears, grizzly bears, kodiak bears are all the same species. Grizzly bears and black bears are different species. And some of the differences between them are grizzly bears are more oriented towards digging, black bears climb trees more. Andrew: One of the most common misconceptions is that black bears are all black and that grizzly bears are all brown. The truth is we have brown-black bears, black-grizzly bears. And there are examples of both species that are cinnamon or blonde here in the park. Michael: So don't rely on the fur. Look for physical characteristics. Tabitha mentioned that grizzly bears like to dig. That means they have huge shoulder muscles that give them a really pronounced hump on their back. Black bears, on the other hand, spend a lot of time climbing trees—which gives them really strong hindquarter muscles and gives them a nice big rump. And there are other little things to look for too: grizzly bears have longer claws, black bears have a straighter snout—but to use any of this information, you have to find a bear in the first place. Which was something after an hour I had not managed to do. Michael: [From the field] Now, the first thing I've seen that isn't a bush, is a deer bounding through the field. Andrew: You can't find any bears there. Nope. How long did you wait? Michael: Three hours. Andrew: Oh, wow. Michael: [From the field] I’m parked like on top of a pile of bear poop. So I know that they come through here, but there's been nothing. Michael: But I didn't want to throw in the towel that easy. Just a few miles away, the trail to Otokomi Lake started. A trail I've also seen a bear on. So I decided to try my hand at seeing a bear while hiking. And with very high hopes of seeing bears earlier in the summer, I interviewed one of Glacier's resident bear experts. Could you introduce yourself? Bob Adams: Sure. [Music starts] Well, Michael I'm Bob Adams and I have been here in Glacier as a seasonal ranger for, specifically 44 seasons before this. Michael: Bob is a legend in Glacier. After serving in the military, he came to Glacier on a whim in 1966, went on a day hike to the Sperry Chalet and wound up meeting his now wife, Carolyn. Bob: And I did a lot of hiking up to Sperry. In fact, I've packed a half gallon ice cream, solid with dry ice and packed it up to Sperry. I think that's the only reason that Carolyn and I ended up together. I don't know. Michael: That ice cream? Bob: The ice cream, you betcha. Michael: More or less, he's been here ever since wearing a variety of hats. He staffed entrance stations, campgrounds done law enforcement, but he spent most of his time as the lead bear management ranger in Many Glacier. Bob: I haven't counted up exactly the number of years, but it's been about 25 to 30. I would say as bear management ranger at Many. Michael: A job that often direct contact with bears, even deciding if a trail needs to be closed for bear danger. But to hear him say it, the job is mostly about people. Bob: My emphasis is in meeting the public and trying to educate the public every day on the trail about bear safety certainly, and safety around the large animals and safety in regard to other environmental hazards of the park. Michael: I figured he'd be the perfect person to ask about how to safely see a b…

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Confluence | Two Medicine Dec 06, 2020

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Glacier National Park, a place often celebrated for its natural scenery, offers an equally diverse and rich cultural landscape. In this episode of Headwaters, food offers an introduction to the area’s Indigenous communities. We also explore the longest-running Indigenous speaker series in the National Park Service. Featuring: Darnell Rides At The Door, Vernon Finley, Mariah Gladstone, Rose Bear Don’t Walk, Tony Incashola Sr., and Kelly Lynch. For more info, visit: go.nps.gov/headwaters ---TRANSCRIPT:--- EPISODE TRANSCRIPT COOKIES INTRODUCTION Michael: This is Michael. [music starts] I am currently in my kitchen in West Glacier, because while I am not the most accomplished baker, I learned an interesting cookie recipe that I wanted to make for Andrew before recording tomorrow. Michael: [kitchen] I don't know how much I need to add, but let's start with that. Michael: Again, not the best baker, so I hope they turn out all right. But we'll see. Michael: [kitchen] Into the oven they go [tray sliding into oven, timers going off]. Well, I think that's as good as I could have hoped for. I hope he likes them! Michael: Hey Andrew, before we started out today, I have a surprise. Andrew: Oh? Yeah, what is it? Michael: Well, I made some cookies last night and I was wondering if you'd want to try some. Andrew: Oh, for sure! Yeah. Hand me one of those. Michael: Here you go. Andrew: Oh, is that huckleberry? Michael: I had some frozen huckleberries leftover that I put on the top. What do you think? Andrew: [stammering with mouthful, both laughing]. They're pretty good! Not as sweet as I was expecting, but a really nice, fresh flavor to them. What's the occasion? Michael: While these cookies are simple to make and tasty, what interests me the most is that they're made using only ingredients indigenous to North and Central America. Andrew: Oh really? That's, that's pretty cool. Michael: Huckleberries, for instance, are native here. And as you know, have been eaten and used by people for thousands of years. Andrew: Yeah. Lots of people too, Glacier National Park like America as a whole is a place where a ton of different cultures have converged. Michael: In each episode, you'll hear us acknowledge some of those cultures, the ǔmssk̇ǎaṗiiṗiik̇ǔni, Kootenai, Selis, and Qlispe people. Andrew: Because while Glacier National Park has only been around since 1910, this area has long been and continues to be the traditional territory of these and other Tribes. Michael: On the east side of the park, the Blackfeet Reservation is home to the ǔmssk̇ǎaṗiiṗiik̇ǔni South Piegan. Also known as the Blackfeet. Andrew: On the west side of the park, the Flathead Reservation is managed by a Confederation of Tribes, the Kootenai, Selis, and Qlispe or Pend d’Oreille people. Michael: And these Tribes aren't monolithic—like any other culture, they are diverse. And reservation boundaries fail to define the extent of their people today, or their place in a vibrant Indigenous community that stretches far beyond Montana. Andrew: To date, throughout the United States, there are 637 federally and state recognized Tribes. Odds are, wherever you are right now is the traditional territory of one or probably several Indigenous groups. Yellowstone National Park, for example, has 26 associated Tribes. Michael: And whether here or at home, learning about the people who came before you—whose connection to a place reaches beyond scholarly definitions of history itself—that could strengthen your understanding and appreciation of wherever you are. Andrew: That's especially true here at Glacier. A place still visited and used by Native communities today. Michael: But my question is what is the best way to start learning about another culture? Andrew: Uhh. Let me think... Michael: I'll give you a hint. It's not reading. Andrew: Okay. Um... Michael: [whispering] What did I bring in today? Andrew: Cookies? Michael: Yeah, well food. Andrew: Okay. I like where you're heading. Michael: So take as many of these cookies as you like. Andrew: Don't mind if I do, Michael: Because on my journey to learn this simple recipe, I learned a lot, lot more. Michael: Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many Native American Tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people. Andrew: We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here. Michael: I’m Michael. Andrew: I’m Andrew. Michael: And we’re both rangers here. We had the chance to cover loads of different topics in this season of the show. Andrew: And throughout it all, we’ve tried to seek out Tribal perspectives on concepts like wildland fire, the night sky, climate change— Michael: But in this episode, we met with Tribal members directly to learn more about their cultures. How they shaped the place as we know it now, and how it shaped them. NATIVE FOODS AND CULTURE Michael: To kick off this episode, I drove to Two Medicine, the southeast region of the park, Michael: [in the car] Welcome to the Blackfeet Nation, Michael: Which means driving through the Blackfeet Reservation who shares our eastern boundary. There are some opportunities for recreation on the reservation, including a section of the continental divide trail, but you'll need to grab a recreation permit from the Tribe first. If you're going to the park though, you'll pass through the gateway community of East Glacier. Michael: [in the car] Here we are in East Glacier, head straight to make it to Browning or turn left, to get to Glacier National Park. Michael: That left-hand turn takes you under the train tracks at the East Glacier train station. One of the first places early tourists, disembarked from. Michael: [in the car] My favorite part—driving under the train tracks. Michael: And a short drive later, you'll find yourself in Two Medicine. Michael: [in the car] Man. The view never gets old. Michael: When I got there, just past the entrance station, I stopped at the first real destination on the drive in: The Running Eagle Falls Trailhead. Michael: [outside] ...alright, as you hike around this trail, you see the option to go to Running Eagle Falls itself or along a nature trail. Michael: But before we go any farther, have you hiked the Running Eagle Falls Nature Trail? Andrew: I've definitely been out to the waterfall. I don't know if I've walked the whole loop there. Why? Michael: Well it's a short hike, just under a mile, and it's one of the few wheelchair accessible trails in the park. Now the waterfall view is stunning, but on the rest of the trail, you'll find illustrated signs that teach you how to identify native plants. Michael: [outside] Black cottonwood can be recognized by the deep, rough, furrowed, gray bark on mature trees... Michael: And they also teach you their traditional names and uses. Michael: [outside] the wood is said to be ideal for TP fires, because it does not crackle and produces clean smoke. Huh? Michael: I have one of them here. I just sent to you for thimbleberry, if you want to look at it. Andrew: Sure. Okay. Oh, wow. This is a nice watercolor illustration here at thimbleberries one of the best berries in the park. I agree. I'm like a raspberry. Um, okay. This must be the Blackfeet name then, otohtoksinii. Michael: Yeah. So there are seven different signs on that trail, all teaching you something about different native plants and foods. And, I said at the beginning, that food is the best way to start learning about other cultures. And I stand by that. I mean, we all need to eat. So you immediately have something in common with folks you may have never met before. You're pretty well-traveled. Do you agree with that take? Andrew: Definitely. Yeah. You learn so much from, you know, having some yakitori in the stall of a Tokyo market, or sharing some fresh mango on the banks of the Mekong, it's—in many cases, it can be hard to know where to begin otherwise. Michael: Yes, precisely, which is doubly true of the Tribes in and around Glacier, who have been here for a long time. Darnell: [Speaking in Blackfeet] What I just said is: "hello, my name is lone camper and I am from the South Piegan. You know, it as Blackfeet, but we call ourselves the ǔmssk̇ǎaṗiiṗiik̇ǔni. Michael: I met with a Blackfeet Tribal member whose English name is Darnell Rides At The Door, who told me about the history of the Blackfeet in this area. Darnell: Well, we've been here since time immemorial. We have always been here is what we say as the niitsitapiiysinni, the real people, and creator gave us this, this area to take care of. And, um, we are very unique because we are as the Blackfeet, the Blackfoot Confederacy, we're the only inhabitants that are in the original territory that creator gave us. Michael: Now Two Medicine where I went was an area primarily used by the Blackfeet, much like the rest of the east side of the park. But there are a lot of Tribes associated with the land that is today Glacier. Andrew: Yeah. The Kootenai, for example, predominantly used to the area on the west side of the park. I've had the chance to learn some of their stories about Lake McDonald. Michael: That's right. And a lot of these stories were shared with the public and the park by Tribal members like Vernon Finley. Vernon: Uh, my name is Vernon Finley. I am a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes that are on the Flathead Reservation, just, uh, south of, uh, Flathead Lake, which is south of Glacier Park. There are two Culture Committees on the Reservation and I'm the Department Head for the Kootenai Culture Committee. Michael: I had the chance to sit down and talk with Vernon about the Kootenai. And as with the Blackfeet, they've been here for a long time—longer than you could really wrap your head around, which Vernon described using the Kootenai language as an example. Vernon: However, the Kootenai language is a language isolate. Which means, according to linguists, they haven't been able to link it with any of the families of languages that are around. It's a family of its own. For as long as languages have been spoken, the Kootenais have only been here. The Selis, you can link them with other Tribes out to the coast and up the coast. You can link for Dene further South. You can link all the other languages everywhere else. The Kootenai has only always been right here. Michael: And you needn't look far to see imprints of this ancient history. Features throughout the park bear the names that Tribes gave them thousands of years ago, Darnell: Place names can give you, um, markers, land markers, but it also tells you what our people did at a certain time. Michael: But not all of them. Darnell: In the geographical documentation, they changed the names of a lot, a lot, especially the mountains got English names, but we already had had a name for them. Michael: And as Darnell mentioned, many names in the Blackfeet and Kootenai languages were more than mere titles, but often served as instructions of sorts. Darnell: You knew which one was the pass to go onto the other side of the mountain. You knew which one that was and how it was named in your language. If you didn't know where you were, you didn't know where you were going. Michael: Knowing where you were going. There's a tremendous importance to the Tribes in this area because, they might've used the land in Glacier, but they would travel far beyond its boundaries. Darnell: We were good at it. Very good at it. Because you had to know, we had a runners that would go out in this territory, which ranged all the way from way up on the North Saskatchewan River to the Yellowstone. That's a lot of territory. Vernon: The Kootenais were aware, well aware of the existence of the world. There's coyote stories that describe going across the ocean, and the lands on the other side. An awareness of the entire world was there. Michael: The Kootenai, Blackfeet, Selis and Qlispe, or Pend d'Oreille people all traveled far and wide throughout the course of the year. Andrew: Their routes through Glacier in many cases became the routes that roads and trails follow in the park today. Michael: But wherever they went, these Tribes had access to similar foods, foods like some of the plants on the signs at the Running Eagle Falls Nature Trail. But I didn't drive to Two Medicine just to read signs. I mean, as we're doing now, I could have just looked them up on the computer. I went to Two Medicine to meet with Mariah Gladstone. Mariah: My name is Mariah Gladstone, and I am a descendant of the Blackfeet Nation. I am the founder and operator of Indigikitchen, which is an online teaching tool dedicated to re-sharing information about Indigenous diets. Michael: Indigikitchen is essentially like an Indigenous food network, teaching people how to cook using Native foods. Andrew: Oh, that's such a cool idea! Michael: It is! I also sat down in the studio with Rose Bear Don't Walk. Rose: I am Bitterroot Selis and Crow from the Flathead Indian Reservation. And I currently am a Selis ethnobotanist. Andrew: And let's pretend for a minute that I've never heard the term ethnobotanist before. What does that mean? Michael: Well, somebody who studies ethnobotany: Rose: Uh, ethnobotany is the study of different cultures, groups of people, societies, even, and their interactions and relationships with plants, whether it's for tools, for food or religious purposes. Michael: And I wanted to talk to them both, not just because they're knowledgeable (and they are brilliant), but because they have a background in teaching others about Native foods. Mariah: Of course middle-schoolers are always interested in any skills that will help them survive zombie apocalypses— Rose: Talking to people about science, and talking about plants, and— Michael: So they can do it all. Outdoors or online, with adults and students alike. I figured they'd be able to help me learn a little bit about Native foods. But first, I wanted to know what drew them to working with and advocating for Native foods in the first place. And both of them cited the diet related health problems facing Native communities: diabetes, heart disease, obesity— Mariah: And a lot of that stems from the decimation of the bison populations in order to control Plains people. Michael: Meaning that in the 1860s, the U.S. Government sought to kill bison because Native Americans like the Blackfeet relied on them, with one Colonel in the army quoted as saying: "Kill every Buffalo you can, every Buffalo dead is an Indian gone." Mariah: And from that, of course, we see this reliance on government rations like flour and sugar and lard and beef, and things that were not indigenous to our diets. Andrew: So she's saying that after the new eradication of bison, Plains Tribes, like the Blackfeet, couldn't eat or live the way they used to and had to eat government rations, there weren't nearly as healthy? Michael: Precisely. And this switch from traditional diets to rations was a foundational traumatic change with lasting ramifications. Mariah: For the Blackfeet that's especially relevant because our reliance on government food systems led us to make really hard decisions. Michael: Here's Joe McKay and Carol Murray from the video on display at the St. Mary Visitor Center— Joe: In September of 1895, late September, the government sent new treaty commissioners to meet with the people and they called them all together. They said "we come to buy some of that land up there, those rocks, those mountains.…

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Confluence | Trailer Nov 25, 2020

Show notes

Glacier National Park has always been a confluence of conflicting and competing forces that come together in unexpected ways.

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TRANSCRIPT:

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TRAILER TRANSCRIPT ANDREW: When you picture Glacier National Park, what comes to mind?

SARAH: Standing in a forest and there's birds chirping.

NATE: Big craggy peaks is what I see.

MICHAEL: Now known as Glacier National Park, this corner of Montana is renowned for its rich cultural history, charismatic wild animals, and scenic beauty, a place of peace and serenity on the surface anyway. The reality... Well, that's a bit more complicated.

ANDREW: I'm Andrew Smith.

MICHAEL: And I'm Michael Faist, and we're both rangers here in Glacier National Park.

ANDREW: We're going to tell you the story of a paradoxical place, a landscape at odds with itself, where all sorts of forces, large and small converge in interesting and unexpected ways.

LISA: Well, our glaciers are going. They're on a track to disappear now.

BILL: It's just one dangerous, damn hard thing that we were involved in.

BOB: Crazy. We could have died using this, but we had a shaved off wooden baseball bat and we'd shout at the bear and run up and whack it in the butt.

MICHAEL: Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, this is Headwaters--a seven part podcast exploring the characters and contradictions that shape the park.

ANDREW: Join us as we travel to Glacier's busiest and most remote destinations to see what happens at the confluence of an international border,

MICHAEL: rivers of ice,

ANDREW: grizzly bears,

MICHAEL: more than 10,000 years of human history,

ANDREW: wildfire,

MICHAEL: and pit toilets.

ANDREW: Really pit toilets?

MICHAEL: Even pit toilets.

ANDREW: The result is something creative, destructive, maybe even magical. It's Glacier National Park.