Brooke Linford's Volunteer Blog - April 2010
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Glacier National Park Volunteer Blog The summer season’s first volunteer events will take place over the next few weeks. On Tuesday, May 11th Glacier National Park will be sponsoring a Rededication Ceremony at the park Community Building. On this day in 1910 Glacier National Park was created! Everyone is invited to join us as we celebrate this once in a lifetime event. Volunteers from the Centennial Committee and the Glacier National Park Associates (GNPA) will be helping with parking, cutting cake, setting up for the event, and a variety of other tasks. It should be an exciting day for everyone. Learn more about the event at glaciercentennial.org I hope to see you there! On Saturday, May 15th the Glacier National Park Associates will be at work again as they host their annual Volunteer Day. They will be serving a free breakfast, and then getting down to business! After a brief business meeting and presentations, volunteers will get to work on a variety of projects. If you are interested in volunteering for the day and/or joining the GNPA find out more here. Last summer a group of volunteers from the Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club traveled to Polebridge and completed a variety of projects in the north fork. Last week one of these volunteers disappeared from outside her and her husband’s home near Las Vegas. It has now been over a week and after an extensive search she is still missing. Our thoughts go out to her husband and friends at this difficult time. Until next time, have fun, be safe, and keep up the great work! Glacier National Park Volunteer Blog I am pleased to announce that Kass Hardy and the Glacier Centennial Program have won the coveted George and Helen Hartzog Group Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service! This is a National Park Service wide award and is a very big deal. The winners are flown to Washington D.C. and a presentation will be made on May 13th with national-level dignitaries usually present for the ceremony. Below is a quote from one of the letters of support written for the nomination: “…hundreds of events and programs have been brainstormed, planned, and implemented with the full support of the local communities. As a matter of fact, many of the ideas for these events and programs CAME from the local communities. This type of integration with our local communities is not only important in celebrating anniversaries such as this, but the ongoing relationship with Glacier National Park.” This type of outreach and cooperation are the real success of this program. Using an event such as the centennial of Glacier National Park to make and reinforce connections with our local communities will far outlast this centennial year. Please join me in congratulating Kass, the volunteers, and the park staff that have made this program a success! Until next time, have fun, be safe, and keep up the great work! 
Glacier National Park Volunteer Blog April 14, 2010 Planning for the 2010 summer season is in full swing throughout the park, but all of this planning will soon be replaced by action as the season begins. Seasonal employees are already arriving in small numbers and the first seasonal orientations have begun. For the Volunteer Office this means that full-time volunteers have been selected and managers are beginning to finalize their programs for the upcoming year. Between now and June paperwork will be coming across my desk to establish files for new volunteers, and updating returning ones. It is very exciting to see all of the volunteer programs come together! I was speaking to Merry Lynn Southers from the Glacier National Park Fund earlier this week as she is finishing the planning of the Volunteer Trail Days that the Fund sponsors each year. If you are not familiar with them, the Fund is one of our 4 park partners and is dedicated to supporting Glacier National Park by fostering public awareness and encouraging private philanthropy. For 2010 they will have 4 Trail Days beginning in early June, as well as working with the Continental Divide Trail Alliance (CDTA) in coordinating 3 other events. The CDTA projects filled up almost immediately, but there may be a few spots left with the Fund. If you are interested, are physically fit, and willing to dedicate a full day to trail work, please contact Merry Lynn at 406-892-3250. These trail days are on Thursdays only and space is limited. There will be many other volunteer opportunities throughout the season, so if you are interested in contributing your time to Glacier National Park, stay tuned! I will be continuing to let you know on this blog, as well as using twitter (glaciernps) and facebook (glaciernps) to get the word out. Until next time, have fun, be safe, and keep up the great work! 
Glacier National Park Volunteer Blog April 5, 2010 The Boy Scouts are coming! As mentioned in my last blog entry, there are many events taking place to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Glacier National Park. 2010 is also the centennial year for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). I was approached last year by Jim Atkinson of the Montana Council of the BSA to recognize this joint anniversary by developing service projects for troops here in the park. Jim has been doing quite a bit of research on the history of scouting in Glacier and helped me recognize the amount of work scouts have contributed over the years. The most famous contribution, for those familiar with park history, is the creation of the St. Mary Lake Trail. After many discussions and emails, last fall we agreed that we would put together 2 projects (1 on each side of the divide) each week for 10 straight weeks. The total projected volunteer hours for these projects is expected to be well over 5,000 hours! When the Montana Council put out the call for scout troops to participate, the roster filled almost immediately! Scouts from all over Montana, as well as from Pennsylvania and Canada will be participating. In addition to spending 5 or so days in one of the best places in the world, each scout will receive a special minted metal commemorating the joint anniversary, and the National Park Service Scout Ranger Patch. I hope that these scouts will also leave with lifelong memories of their time at Glacier National Park. I know that their efforts will be appreciated by park staff and visitors that will be able to enjoy the park and its facilities for many years to come. Until next time, have fun, be safe, and keep up the great work! |
Did You Know?
Did you know that once Beargrass blooms and then dies, a new stalk will bloom 5-10 years after that?