Glacier Park's budget looks better for '08

By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News

Glacier National Park will see about a 10-percent increase to its budget this year over last year based on preliminary numbers trickling out of Washington.

Last year's budget was about $12.2 million, Park spokeswoman Melissa Wilson said, so the increase would be about $1.2 million, if it holds.

The increase will fund federally-mandated cost of living increases for existing employees and will allow the Park to restore some of its interpretative programs, which have seen cuts in recent years.

Part of that 10 percent increase be $690,000 through the National Park Service's Centennial Program, which matches Park Service Funds with philanthropic donations.

That funding will boost seasonal hires and allow Glacier to extend tours for existing seasonal employee positions. Those increases are virtually across the board — from law enforcement to education and biology.

The budget also includes $48,000 for a volunteer coordinator position, as Glacier increasingly relies on volunteers for a host of duties.

Currently, Glacier relies on volunteers to help with the shuttle service, to assist visitors at its visitor centers and do biological surveys, such as its loon program.

The budget numbers are still preliminary and further details should shake out in the coming weeks as individual Parks receive complete appropriation details.

In past years, the Park has seen relatively flat budgets that didn't keep up with cost of living adjustments and increased retirement costs. Last year about this time President Bush announced a big boost to the Park Service's overall budget.

Bush last February originally proposed to boost the Park Service operating budget by $258 million and also instated a plan that would match philanthropic donations up to $100 million annually.

But in the end, that increase was trimmed by Congress and the President.

Bush's fiscal year 2009 budget calls for just a 3.1 percent increase for Glacier, however. Under the Bush proposed budget, the Park would get just under $14 million in 2009, according to figures provided by Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association.

Bush's 2009 budget has drawn a decidely mixed review from the organization, which praised Bush for increasing the overall Park Service operating budget by $161 million, but the $172 million proposed for construction is down $46 million from the current budget.

"The $161-million operating increase is an important step toward restoring our national parks, but cutting other critical Park Service funding will impede these efforts to fully restore the park system by its 2016 centennial," said NPCA President Tom Kiernan.