Fact Sheet

History

  • Established as a park on May 11, 1910
  • Established as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in 1932
  • Going-to-the-Sun Road completed in 1932
  • Established as an International Biosphere Reserve in 1974
  • Waterton Lakes National Park established in 1895
  • Established as Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park World Heritage Site in 1995

Water

  • Number of named lakes: 131
  • Number of unnamed lakes: 631
  • Total number of lakes: 762
  • Acres of named lakes: 25,622
  • Largest lake: Lake McDonald at 9.4 miles long; 1.5 miles wide; 464 feet deep; 6,823 acres
  • Number of streams: 563
  • Total length of intermittent streams: 1307 miles / 2103 km
  • Total lenght of perennial streams: 1514 miles / 2436.5 km
  • Total miles of streams inside the park: 2,865 miles / 4,610 km
  • Longest stream: Upper McDonald Creek at 25.8 miles / 41.5 km

Land

  • Acreage: 1,012,837
  • Square miles: 1,583
  • Miles of exterior boundary: 205
  • Shared with Waterton National Park: 21 miles / 33.7 km
  • Shared with British Columbia: 31 miles / 50 km
  • Shared with U.S. Forest Service: 130 miles / 209 km
  • Acres of defacto wilderness: 963,155, or 1,489.3 sq. miles / 3,857 sq. km
  • Elevation at Logan Pass: 6,646 feet / 2,025 m
  • Number of mountains: 175
  • Highest mountain: Mt. Cleveland at 10,448 ft / 3,190 m
  • Number of glaciers: 26; all shrinking in size
  • Largest glacier: Harrison Glacier at 1,661,456.75 sq. meters

Facilities

  • Number Class A campgrounds: 8, with 943 sites
  • Number Class B campgrounds: 5, with 61 sites
  • Number of trails: 158; total length - 745.9 miles
  • Miles of Continental Divide Trail in Glacier: 110
  • Number backcountry campgrounds: 65, with 208 sites
  • Paved bicycle path: 2 miles (3.2 km) between Apgar and West Glacier/HQ
  • Number designated picnic areas: 8, with 175 sites

Plants and Animals

  • Number of fish species : 24 — 18 native and 7 non-native (Lake trout are native in the Hudson Bay drainage, but are non-native west of the Divide. They are listed on both the native and non-native lists.)
  • Number of species of mammals: 71
  • Number of species of birds: 276 documented
  • Number of species of plants: 1,132 vascular and 858 non-vascular
 

Visitation

For more visit the NPS Visitor Use Statistics page.

10-Year
Increments

Increase
Decrease

Annual
Visitation

Increase
Decrease

Visitation 1911
4,000

Visitation 2010
2,200,048

+ 8%

Visitation 1920
22,449

+ 461%

Visitation 2011
1,853,564

- 16%

Visitation 1930
73,776

+ 229%

Visitation 2012
2,162,035

+ 15%

Visitation 1940
177,307

+ 140%

Visitation 2013
2,190,374

+ 1%

Visitation 1950
482,298

+ 174%

Visitation 2014
2,338,528

+ 7%

Visitation 1960
724,500

+ 49%

Visitation 2015
2,366,056

- 1%

Visitation 1970
1,241,600

+ 71%

Visitation 2016
2,946,681

+ 24%

Visitation 1980
1,474,578

+ 19%

Visitation 2017
3,305,512

+ 12%

Visitation 1990
1,986,737

+ 35%

Visitation 2018
2,965,309

- 10%

Visitation 2000
1,728,693

- 13%

Visitation 2019
3,049,839

+ 3%

Visitation 2010
2,200,048

+ 27%

Last updated: August 12, 2024

Park footer

Contact Info

Mailing Address:

PO Box 128
West Glacier, MT 59936

Phone:

406-888-7800

Contact Us