Glacier Park wants to relocate St. Mary employee housing

Glacier National Park is seeking public comment on a proposal to construct replacement employee housing in the Swiftcurrent employee housing area at Many Glacier and in the East Glacier Ranger Station compound.

The proposal calls for replacing 10 Park-owned trailers deteriorating from age, rodent infestations, mold and other factors. The trailers were installed in the 1960s and were intended to be temporary, but lack of funding led to their continued use.

The Park says one trailer has been condemned, and three others have been removed from the housing list due to their poor condition.

Housing will not be rebuilt at the existing site in St. Mary because it is within the Divide Creek floodplain. Divide Creek floods frequently, usually as a result of rain-on-snow events, putting human safety and government property at potential risk.

Locations inside and outside the Park have been considered over the years for a new housing site. Initially, the Swiftcurrent housing area and ranger station compound were dismissed due to long commuting distances. Now these areas are considered the best options — both have adequate existing utilities, and building at these sites would cause the least amount of new disturbance. Both areas are historic districts.

Three alternatives have been identified to date: 1) no action, do not replace employee housing once the St. Mary trailers are removed; 2) construct replacement housing in the Swiftcurrent housing area and the ranger station compound; and 3) construct replacement housing behind the 1913 St. Mary Ranger Station, above the St. Mary Campground, at Rising Sun, or outside the Park.

For more information, visit online at www.parkplanning.nps.gov/EastSideHousing. Comments can be posted to this Web site or mailed to Superintendent, Glacier National Park, Attn: East Side Housing EA, P.O. Box 128, West Glacier MT 59936. Deadline is Aug. 6.