Written and photographed by Greg Beaumont 1978 Natural History Series Division of Publications National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior The landform of Glacier National Park is a monument to the power of moving ice. This view from Stoney Indian Pass is startlingly different from the scene of a million years ago, when the glaciers of the Pleistocene were sculpturing the land. Only the higher peaks would then have been visible above the blanket of ice that flowed like a slow-moving ri

This natural history of the mountain wilderness called Glacier National Park is not a guidebook, but provides an overview of the ecology of the region. At the same time, it is a personal statement, revealing one individual’s response to this rugged, delicate land. For their consistent cooperation and helpfulness, I wish especially to thank Chief Naturalist Ed Rothfuss and his capable staff. Technical and field assistance came from many; for special thanks, I would like to single out Art Sedlack,

April again and the wind turns on the Great Plains. Wedges of geese, high and determined, began this storm of spring, their voices sharp as the morning frost. Sicklebills cry to claim the land, sandhill cranes wheel and talk overhead, and everywhere the killdeer shout. Pasqueflowers push the bleak soil aside, beginning the westward rush that I must join, seeking again the sight of mountains. In Glacier National Park the land is folded up. On the east, Chief Mountain, Curly Bear, and Rising Wolf

On the trail that connects the Logan Pass visitor center to Hidden Lake overlook there is a shallow pond. Near Hidden Pass, it collects its meltwater from the Continental Divide and sends it down the shallow gorge that drains the Hanging Gardens; as a waterfall it plunges into the upper St. Mary Valley where it becomes Reynolds Creek; joined by other tributaries, it continues its long journey to Hudson Bay. The surface of this pond is seldom still, for the wind treats it like a sea. Because the

As if to make up for the days-long darkness of this last blizzard, the peaks today wear snow plumes—long, graceful trails of white, curving up into an ice-blue sky. Yesterday the snow-mad wind raced through the forest. Today the motionless trees are cloaked in heavy, glistening robes, the leafless aspen and young larch bent down. Moderate snowfall helps many plants and animals survive the winter. For ground dwellers it provides insulation from the wildly fluctuating winter temperatures encounter

I like to begin with St. Mary, a lake the whitecaps love to run. From the far passes the several winds gather and collect, arranging long lines of white waves for the race downlake. Past the purple scree of Mahtotopa and Little Chief they go, white as the headdress of Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, colliding, collapsing along the promontory snares about the Narrows. Onward they press, spreading out and setting sail for the straight rush to the final shore where a line of cottonwoods sings with a sou

There is something about spring on the prairie that gets me up before dawn. I like to watch the seasons change their guard over the landscape, from the wintry cold of pre-dawn dark to the spring-scented morning air to the hot summer-foretaste of the noon May sun. Hoarfrost surrounds these patches of pasqueflowers, blue goblets on downy stems. On this windless night, frost has formed everywhere, reclaiming for a time its vast winter range, sparkling over the green handiworks of spring. But the go

On Gunsight Pass, the rain lancing down, I found a sharpedged rock that split the continent in two. On both sides the rain rivulets ran down, a fraction of an inch determining the stream’s destination: Pacific or Atlantic. The Continental Divide is a mighty barrier, a line of consequence that does more than determine watersheds. Its effect in Glacier is dramatic, as a look at the forests will reveal. Obstructing the eastward flow of the moisture-laden Pacific winds, the Divide extracts a heavy a

The crowning beauty of Glacier—the high, cirqueheld meadows that scent the wind with wildflower and waterfall—belongs to the zone of scrub-forest. At Logan Pass you are introduced to the highlands. Here an exquisite upland basin holds the Hanging Gardens, a wildflower-clothed gradient laced with stair-step bogs and lines of wind-bent subalpine fir. In the dawn sun, before the first engine noise, it shines unbroken, dewbright and sagging like a spider web secured to the circle of surrounding peak

Porcelain-cold, the November sun dawns in the southeast sky. The ledges, ice-encrusted, layered with sleet from a recent squall, whistle the cold morning wind aside. Rattling down, a slide of rock plunges off the final ledge, seconds passing before the hollow sounds of impact clatter back. Like an apparition of winter itself, white beard bent sideways by the wind, a mountain goat steps to the precipice edge. Looking out across the vast white void, its long belly hair and pantaloons streaming wit

Snowfields begin again their summer-long melt. The alpine stream, vocal again, collects its water from a thousand places. Miniature gorges drain the meadow, gurgling with the sparkle and rush of meltwater in the lengthening spring days. Gathering volume, the stream seems to hurry faster; at the first rock staircase, it begins to sing. I follow the gully downward, drawn like the water. There is excitement in the growing dash and roar, a wind-gust sweeping spray into the air. A rainbow appears, ho

This park is very special. The people who know it well feel proprietary toward its mountains, scattered lakes, and glaciers. Perhaps it is the arrangement of the land, an unsurpassed concentration of American wilderness. Time and again I have thought, as I regarded some aspect of this country, yes, this is exactly right —almost, it would seem, as if some magic existed that could translate thought and emotion into rock and bark. Glacier remains largely unexploited, bearing still the aspect of the

Distribution information was obtained from Meet the Mammals of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park , by Robert C. Gildart (see Reading List). Nomenclature follows, for the most part, a Field Guide to Mammals , by William H. Burt and Richard P. Grossenheider. Cougar Coyote Wolverine Longtail weasel Beaver Mountain goat...

Note: This check list is based upon actual specimens in the Park and other collections, according to Dr. Royal Brunson, Montana State University. Northern Alligator Lizard Western Spotted Frog...

Classification and common scientific names are from: “A List of Common and Scientific Names of Fishes from the United States and Canada,” American Fisheries Society Publication No. 2, 1960. Lake Trout Redside Shiner White Sucker...

Common Loon Western Grebe Great Blue Heron American Bittern Mallard Wood Duck Ruddy Duck Cooper’s Hawk Marsh Hawk Sharp-tailed Grouse American Coot Greater Yellowlegs Herring Gull Mourning Dove Great Horned Owl Common Nighthawk Belted Kingfisher Ash-throated Flycatcher Barn Swallow Common Crow Winter Wren Mountain Bluebird Cedar Waxwing Starling Red-eyed Vireo House Sparrow Evening Grosbeak American Goldfinch...

Alexander, Taylor R. and George S. Fichter, Ecology (a Golden guide). Western Publishing Co., Inc., Racine, Wis. 1973. Alt, David D. and Donald W. Hyndman, Rocks, Ice and Water, the Geology of Waterton-Glacier Park . Mountain Press Publishing Co., Missoula, Mont. 1973. Baker, William, et. al., Wildlife of the Northern Rocky Mountains . Naturegraph Co., Healdsburg, Calif. 1961. Borland, Hal, The History of Wildlife in America . National Wildlife Federation, Washington, D.C. 1975. Brooks, Maurice,