Glacier Projects Shelved on National Park Service ‘Low Priority’ List

Sixteen projects at Glacier National Park, including new vault toilets, sewer lift stations and generator repairs, are on a National Park Service “low priority” list, a designation that officials told The Associated Press means almost all of the work is expected to go undone this year.

The AP reported in August that Park Service headquarters moved about 1,500 approved projects at more than 200 sites to the list, with a combined cost estimate of more than $400 million. An official told the AP that park employees were told not to expect work on the list to be contracted, and that White House priorities came first. The Park Service also keeps a separate high-priority list of more than 2,000 projects, many already under contract.

The list of Glacier entries was released this month by the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation-focused research group, which said it obtained the underlying NPS project database.

The Glacier entries include:

• Two precast concrete vault toilet buildings at Huckleberry Trailhead and Rising Sun Campground
• Replacement sewer lift stations at the Rising Sun Boat Dock and Fish Creek Campground Loop C
• Replacement of failed generator components at St. Mary and Rising Sun
• Renewal of the septic treatment system serving Two Medicine employee housing, concessions and the campground
• Replacement of two aging bridge decks on North Lake McDonald Road
• Chimney and wood-stove inspections at 27 housing locations across the park
• Exhibit and audio-video updates at the St. Mary Visitor Center
• Repairs to a snowplow blade, a crane and a work truck, and the purchase of two pack mules

Other entries include 3,000 tons of crushed gravel, furniture for a new employee dorm and other routine supplies and services. Funding sources listed include cyclic maintenance, park operations and recreation fees.

Not every entry reflects unfunded work. One item, the move of a newly built employee cabin to Many Glacier, is waiting on repairs to a bridge at Walton rather than money, according to Tagen Vine, executive director of the Glacier National Park Conservancy. The Conservancy has funded the cabin work, built by Columbia Falls High School students, for years.

The shelved work contrasts with spending in Washington. The AP reported that Freedom 250 projects, including reflecting pool repairs, landed on a separate list for White House priorities. The New York Times reported in May that the administration is using at least $67 million in visitor fees on the reflecting pool and D.C. fountains. Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, said that fees collected at parks are being diverted to Washington projects. The Beacon could not confirm that fees collected at Glacier paid for any of that work.

Glacier’s deferred maintenance is estimated at about $132 million, including $77 million for paved roads and $18 million for buildings, according to a Park Service fact sheet. Nationally, the AP reported, the backlog has more than doubled over the past decade to more than $24 billion. The Park Service has lost roughly a quarter of its permanent workforce under the current administration.

Keagan Zoellner, Montana state director of the advocacy group Mountain Mamas, said the message to Congress should be to “put parks first.”

The Beacon sent questions about the list to Glacier National Park and the Interior Department on Oct. 9 and followed up multiple times. The park had not responded as of Oct. 28.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ office did not answer questions about the list. A spokesperson said in a statement that protecting parks and public lands is a top priority for the senator and that the office “remains in close contact with Superintendent Roemer about projects in Glacier.” Sen. Tim Sheehy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

[email protected]