Big Blooms
Bear grass going gangbusters in Glacier this year
By CHRIS PETERSON / Hungry Horse News
It's not a grass, and bears, as far as anyone can tell, don't eat it. But bear grass, the iconic plant of Glacier National Park, is having a banner year.
The plant started blooming en masse in Glacier starting earlier this spring and has gradually been blooming in large numbers in higher elevations.
Currently, large fields of the plant are blooming along the Highline Trail and other high elevations in the Park.
The plant is actually a member of the lily family, notes Tara Carolin, acting director of the Crown of the Continent Research and Learning Center in Glacier.
The plant was named bear grass by Meriwether Lewis during the Lewis and Clark expedition. The old story goes that Lewis saw a bear walking through a field of the grass and thus it got its name.
Bears don't eat bear grass, but mountain goats, bighorn sheep and deer all eat the buds and blossoms, and rodents use the "grass' portion of the plant not only as food, but to line their nests.
The plant takes about 12 years to develop fully from seed and once it blooms it sends out "pups' that will create new plants, Carolin noted.
Those pups then bloom again about every five to 10 years. But the timing of bear grass blooms also is likely influenced by climate and moisture availability — possibly from even the year before when the buds are beginning to set, Carolin mused.
Previous bear grass profusions in Glacier last happened in 2002 and 2004, Carolin noted.
Bear grass is difficult to propagate artificially, but it is common in the Park from the valley floor to the alpine zone. In the valleys it blooms in more open forests and even survives in areas that have been burned over by wildfire.
The heads aren't a single bloom, but are made up of hundreds of separate flowers. The "grass' portion of the plant, which is very slippery, is actually its leaves.
Right now it is blooming heavily along many of Glacier's high trails to the delight of hikers and photographers.