Glacier's Green Team Gains

NPS/Daniel Lombardi

For decades, the National Park Service has pledged to “preserve park resources unimpaired for the enjoyment of current and future generations by reducing our environmental impact through sustainable operations, design, decisions, and management at every level of the organization”. Sustainable decision making has been at the forefront of many NPS operations since. The Green Team at Glacier National Park was founded in 2004 and has been instrumental in the coordination and implementation of many of the park’s sustainability initiatives. Some of the large strides Glacier has made towards sustainability include installation of green energy sources such as solar panels and retrofitting the parks historic buildings with modern, energy saving utility systems.

In 2023, the Green Team in Glacier had two primary objectives:

Results of the Greenhouse Gas Inventory show the distribution of emission sources within Glacier National Park boundaries.

NPS

1. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

A recent executive order (EO 14057) mandated that all federal institutions such as National Parks must achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

According to a greenhouse gas inventory performed in 2021, the park amassed over 22,000 metric tons of carbon emissions- comparable to around 365 households’ energy use.

While a portion of the emissions was due to park operations and concessioners (hotels and restaurants), a whopping 83% of this amount was attributed to visitor vehicle use.

Donated electric vehicle charger located in the St. Mary Visitor Center parking lot

NPS/Clarine Phipps

To help mitigate this, the Green Team successfully installed a free-to-use EV charger at the St. Mary Visitor Center. They also plan to install a second charger in Apgar Visitor Center next year. The chargers were generously donated by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, who provides crucial support to many projects in the park and will also be covering the charging costs during the pilot phase of the initiative. By closing the gaps between charging stations in rural Montana and providing free charging locations, the Green Team hope that more electric vehicle drivers will be encouraged to take an emissions-free road trip.

Further reduction of carbon emissions from vehicles has been improved by the park implementing a no-idling campaign to encourage visitors to “Turn the key, be idle free” and shut off their vehicles when waiting in high-traffic areas such as parking lots or roadside construction.

In the future, the park will move toward converting its whole vehicle fleet to electric, starting with light duty vehicles and progressing towards heavy-duty vehicles as technology and supply allow. Our funding goals also include converting the free visitor shuttles that travel the Going-To-The-Sun road daily to electric alternatives. With the increasing availability of electric vehicles and the improved technology that allows the engines to run longer in more extreme temperatures, the park is committed to staying ahead of the curve when it comes to modernizing their vehicle fleet.

Glass, plastic, and aluminum recycle bins located throughout the park.

NPS/Clarine Phipps

2. Improve recycling rates

Recycling presents a unique challenge in Glacier. With half the park split by the Continental Divide, resources and facilities are equally divided. While Glacier has offered plastic, aluminum, and glass recycling to visitors for many years, contamination is still a major issue that condemns many loads of recycling to the landfill.

In August, with funding from the National Park Foundation, external contractors performed a solid waste audit, where they examined four popular areas in the park; Apgar, Avalanche, St Mary, and Many Glacier. They studied visitor behavior, interviewed park staff, and examined recycle bin locations and contents. Their findings were disheartening but unsurprising; bins they examined were frequently contaminated beyond the ability to safely remove nonrecyclables.

However, the solutions are simple and relatively inexpensive. A complete remodel of recycle bin signage and visitor educational materials will be conducted to make the information clear, eye-catching, and memorable. Starting at one pilot location in 2024, we will also rearrange bins to create Consolidated Collection Areas, where all trash and recycle facilities will be collocated in the hopes that the increased convenience will improve the accuracy of the items that end up in recycling.

Glacier offers seasonal glass recycling to both visitors and staff, and in 2022 implemented a seasonal composting program for staff. While the composting had originally only been available for staff in the Lake McDonald area, the program has been so popular that it will be included for East Side staff in upcoming years.

In 2023 from May-October alone, Glacier successfully:

• recycled approximately 6,300 lbs of glass
• composted nearly 1,200 lbs of food waste

The actions taken by the Green Team laid groundwork for future sustainability initiatives both in and out of the park. Over time, these efforts will have a twofold effect of both reducing greenhouse gas emissions and diverting recyclable materials from the landfill, furthering the parks decree of protecting and preserving Glacier for current and future generations.

Rangers love to recycle too!

NPS/Hannah Schwable