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Location Information:
Glacier National Park is located in
the U.S. state of Montana, bordering
the Canadian provinces of Alberta
and British Columbia. The park
encompasses over 1,000,000 acres
(4,000 km2) and includes parts of
two mountain ranges (sub-ranges of
the Rocky Mountains), over 130 named
lakes, more than 1,000 different
species of plants and hundreds of
species of animals. This vast
pristine ecosystem is the
centerpiece of what has been
referred to as the "Crown of the
Continent Ecosystem", a region of
protected land encompassing 16,000
square miles (41,000 km2).
The
region that became Glacier National
Park was first inhabited by Native
Americans and upon the arrival of
European explorers, was dominated by
the Blackfeet in the east and the
Flathead in the western regions.
Soon after the establishment of the
park on May 11, 1910, a number of
hotels and chalets were constructed
by the Great Northern Railway. These
historic hotels and chalets are
listed as National Historic
Landmarks, and a total of 350
locations are on the National
Register of Historic Places. By
1932, work was completed on the
Going-to-the-Sun Road, later
designated a National Historic Civil
Engineering Landmark, which provided
greater accessibility for
automobiles into the heart of the
park.
The
mountains of Glacier National Park
began forming 170 million years ago
when ancient rocks were forced
eastward up and over much younger
rock strata. Known as the Lewis
Overthrust, these sedimentary rocks
are considered to have some of the
finest fossilized examples of
extremely early life found anywhere
on Earth. The current shapes of the
Lewis and Livingston mountain ranges
and positioning and size of the
lakes show the telltale evidence of
massive glacial action, which carved
U-shaped valleys and left behind
moraines which impounded water
creating lakes. Of the estimated 150
glaciers which existed in the park
in the mid 1800s, only 25 active
glaciers remained by 2010.
Scientists studying the glaciers in
the park have estimated that all the
glaciers may disappear by 2030 if
the current climate patterns
persist.
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