Glacier Park navigates leadership changes

Glacier National Park continues to be in transition as new leaders and supporting organizations prepare for a busy summer season that is quickly approaching.

A new era of Glacier leadership was ushered in last year when Jeff Mow was named the new superintendent, Xanterra Parks and Resorts won a concessionaire contract, and two longtime park supporters merged to form the Glacier National Park Conservancy.

Mow, along with Conservancy executive director Mark Preiss, and Xanterra general manager Marc Ducharme each spoke last week at a Whitefish Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Mow opened the conversation by acknowledging the recent changes in leadership and saying that collaboration will be the best way to provide great services going forward.

“There’s a lot the National Park Service can’t do,” he said. “It takes a team to offer all the experiences in a national park.”

One of the changes planned includes moving the visitor center currently located in Apgar into the nearby transit center, making it the central place where visitors get information. Mow noted the potential to have exhibits and other interpretive information at the transit center.

The park will also begin work on a Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor study this year to look at how the road is being used and how it should be managed, including if changes should be made to the transit system. Mow said he expects alternatives will be out for public review in the fall.

Another big change came last year when Xanterra was awarded a 16-year contract to operate concessions in the park that were previously managed by Glacier Park Inc.

Ducharme, who previously worked for GPI, said his company is excited to put its efforts into rehabilitation of the five hotels it will manage, while caring for the park’s famous fleet of red buses, and managing retail and food outlets.

“We want to create a positive experience for guests this summer,” he said.

Xanterra is looking to construct a state-of-the-art facility in Columbia Falls to maintain and store the 33 red buses that were previously stored in East Glacier. Ducharme said the company hopes to acquire the former Pamida buildings in Columbia Falls to house its administration offices and laundry.

He added that Xanterra expects to hire about 65 full-time employees and another 600 seasonal staff.

During the question and answer section of the program, Ducharme was asked how a transit system might be set up to get visitors between Whitefish and the park.

“A small business needs to take advantage of the opportunity,” he said. “A shuttle system to get people to the park from Whitefish and the valley is a good idea.”

The Glacier National Park Conservancy is the nonprofit fundraising partner of Glacier National Park. Preiss has taken over leadership of the newly formed conservancy that came from 18 months of negotiations between the Glacier Park Fund and Glacier Association as the groups merged.

Last year the conservancy was able to raise $500,000 in support of Glacier and this year it has a goal of raising $800,000.

Preiss said the conservancy has worked with the park to create a strategic plan that will help guide how the partners work together.

“We want to help the park do things it can’t do on its own,” he said.