Glacier National Park, on the US side, and Waterton National Park, on the Canadian side, are two national parks which, together, form a World Heritage Site, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and
an International Peace Park, the world's first! Stretching through Glacier National Park, from its western edge to its eastern edge, is a road named Going-to-the-Sun Road. The Road, nearly 50 miles in length, took 11 years to be completed. With construction beginning in 1921, it was not until 1932 that the first car journeyed the complete route from the west gate of Glacier National Park to the east gate at St. Mary. It wasn't until the following year that, with both U.S. and Canadian dignitaries on hand, Going-to-the-Sun Road was officially opened on July 15, 1933. It was this road which finally allowed access from either of its ends to the interior of one of the most scenic National Parks in the country.
Waterton Glacier International Peace Park
In 1932 Waterton Lakes National Park (Alberta, Canada) was combined with the Glacier National Park (Montana, United States) to form the world's first International Peace Park. Situated on the border between the two countries and offering outstanding scenery, the park is exceptionally rich in plant and mammal species as well as prairie, forest, and alpine and glacial features.
From UNESCO
From Triple Divide Peak within the park water flows to Hudson's Bay, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Mount Cleveland, îts highest peak, reaches an elevation of 10,434 feet, and there are many other rugged mountains ranging from 6,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level.
Crown of the Continent
A showcase of melting glaciers, alpine meadows, carved valleys, and spectacular lakes. With over 700 miles of trails, Glacier is a paradise for adventurous visitors seeking wilderness steeped in human history. Relive the days of old through historic chalets, lodges, and the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road.
Glacier National Park's glaciers support the American way of life by contributing meltwater to irrigation for agriculture, to cold streams for wildlife, and to lakes for recreation.
The melting of the park's glaciers does have consequences, but for many people glacier retreat itself has become enough reason for concern. The national park was named for its many active glaciers. Losing these glaciers may be a lesson about the significance of the crisis. Though other effects of climate change are felt closer to home–more frequent heat waves, rising seas, larger wildfires–the loss of the park’s namesake asks us to imagine what the future of Glacier should be.
From the National Parks Service
Within the 1 million acres (4,000 km2) of Glacier National Park are to be found more than 130 named lakes, more than 1,000 different species of plants, and hundreds of species of animals. Officially established on May 11, 1910 when President Taft signed the bill establishing Glacier as the country's 10th national park. Glacier National Park is managed by the
National Park Service and today is host to more than 2 million visitors annually.
Glacier National Park
Known as the Crown of the Continent and the Backbone of the World, Glacier National Park is one of the most beautiful destinations on earth. Located in Montana, the park is home to more than 1 million acres with diverse terrain that includes a lush rainforest, ancient cedar trees, wildflower-filled meadows, glacial-carved peaks, glistening lakes and incredible hiking trails. Open year-round, each season in Glacier National Park delivers distinct experiences like biking the Going-to-the-Sun Road in the spring, kayaking or standup paddleboarding Lake McDonald and the emerald waters of the Flathead River in the summer, watching wildlife and wild autumn colors in the fall, and snowshoeing among a quiet forest of giant snow-covered trees during winter.
From Visit Glacier
When established in 1910 Glacier National Park contained 60 or more true glaciers, ranging in size from small glaciers of a few acres each to those covering five square miles. It also contained over 250 glacial lakes, from a few hundred square feet to ten square miles in area. Given the current rate of retreat of the glaciers of Glacier National Park, it seems likely that its glaciers will all have vanished within a only few short years. This is truly lamentable, for reasons much beyond their visual allure and their ability to attract tourists.
GLACIAL RETREAT
In the 1980s, the U.S. Geological Survey began a more systematic study of the remaining glaciers, which has continued to the present day. By 2010, 37 glaciers remained, but only 25 of them were at least 25 acres (0.10 km2) in area and therefore still considered active.[5][65] Based on the warming trend of the early 2000s, scientists had estimated that the park's remaining glaciers would melt by 2020;[67] however, a later estimate stated that the glaciers may be gone by 2030.[6] This glacier retreat follows a worldwide pattern that has accelerated even more since 1980. Without a major climatic change in which cooler and moister weather returns and persists, the mass balance, which is the accumulation rate versus the ablation (melting) rate of glaciers, will continue to be negative and the glaciers have been projected to disappear, leaving behind only barren rock eventually...
...Glacier National Park has a highly regarded global climate change research program. Based in West Glacier, with the main headquarters in Bozeman, Montana, the U.S. Geological Survey has performed scientific research on specific climate change studies since 1992. In addition to the study of the retreating glaciers, research performed includes forest modeling studies in which fire ecology and habitat alterations are analyzed. Additionally, changes in alpine vegetation patterns are documented, watershed studies in which stream flow rates and temperatures are recorded frequently at fixed gauging stations, and atmospheric research in which UV-B radiation, ozone, and other atmospheric gases are analyzed over time. The research compiled contributes to a broader understanding of climate changes in the park. The data collected, when compared to other facilities scattered around the world, help to correlate these climatic changes on a global scale.
From WIKI