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Fauna Series No. 1
Methods
Fauna of the National Parks
of the United States
CONSPECTUS OF WILD-LIFE PROBLEMS OF EACH PARK
GLACIER
That part of the Selkirk Mountains from which Glacier National Park has been carved is exceptionally rich in wild life. The lavish flora provides varied and abundant food and there are a wealth of animal habitats. Before it was reached by civilization this region contained representatives of all the large game mammals of temperate North America, inclusive of antelope, bison, caribou, mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, mountain sheep, mountain lion, wolf, and grizzly and black bears.
The history of human development has been kinder here than in many other parks. The region was inaccessible and remained relatively unknown for a long period. Consequently, its rich fauna did not suffer long hard years of exploitation such as decimated that of Rocky Mountain before it was rescued for park purposes.
The other side of the story is that Glacier suffers from poaching to a greater extent than any other national park, and under such circumstances that it can not be justly stopped. Under present conditions, a majority of the transgressors have a moral if not a legal right to what they take. The whole question is greatly complicated by lack of winter range and by the large number of private holdings within the park. Each side of the park has conditions peculiar to itself, and the solutions to the problems of one locality are in no way applicable to the others.
To the north, where the international boundary is the park line, the outlook is very favorable. When the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park 24 becomes established, a real opportunity will be provided for administration of the combined parks as one faunal area. The boundary cuts arbitrarily through the heart of mountains which, from every natural consideration, are a unit area. The favorite goat haunts, bottoms frequented by moose, and habitats where caribou are most likely to occur lie astride this line. As it is the existence of Waterton Lakes Park has been a most fortunate circumstance for the wild life of Glacier. Much greater benefit would derive from the closer linking of the two as an international park, particularly as the favorable situation thus created might be expected to lead to a closer conformity of boundaries on the east and west.
The present eastern boundary of Glacier is also the west boundary of the Blackfeet Indian reservation. This line more or less severs the park game from its natural winter range on the Indian lands and cuts off the Indians from their ancestral food supply – the game in the mountains of the parks. The very designation of the boundary was the portent of trouble. Circumstance must take the blame. It would not be fair to place it upon either party to the conflict. Certainly the Indians who face starvation with the coming of every winter are not to be condemned if they step across the line and take for the gratification of hunger what the white man tries to conserve for the satisfaction of aesthetic longings.
From the park viewpoint there is no panacea for the wild-life problems along the eastern face. The boundary can not be pushed eastward to impinge much more heavily on the lands of the impoverished Indians. However, as an obvious administrative necessity it should be moved out to take in the small areas between its present position and the road which parallels this side from Glacier Park Station to the Canadian line. Such a boundary could be patrolled. It would be recognizable to everybody. All domestic stock could be effectively kept off park lands, thus giving the game the maximum use of winter forage within the park.
A second approach to the problem, and one which the superintendent has been ably forwarding, is that of conciliation of the Indians. In this undertaking he has become pioneer in a new and promising field. Looking into the future, the interests of park and reservation, far from being at variance, are seen to be surprisingly akin. It is to the greatest interest of the park that the Indians continue to contribute their presence with all the valuable appurtenances of their culture. They will degenerate and their arts crumble unless they can prosper and be self-sustaining. Hence the influence of the park should be directed in their favor wherever it is consistent with policy.
If the interest of these Indians can be stirred on the side of perpetuating the game for them and their descendants, and the danger of starvation among them can be averted, not only will they no longer be driven to poaching in the park but any that do transgress can be prosecuted with a free conscience. Best of all, the sympathies of their leaders will be with the law, without which there never can be effective enforcement.
The south boundary from Glacier Park Station to Belton is Theodore Roosevelt Pass, which follows these streams: Summit Creek east of the Continental Divide, and Bear Creek and the Middle Fork of the Flathead River down on the west side. The rule that streams make the poorest boundaries for wild life is nowhere better exemplified than here, where the railroad accentuates the evil. The whole length of the pass is occupied by the Great Northern Railway, and it can not be expected that all persons who travel have knowledge of national-park ideals.
Snows force the park game of this section down to the river bottom and the railroad, where it is greeted by poachers even before it crosses the line. Whereas the railroad practically limits the boundary from extension to its natural course along the crest of the Flathead Range and the headwaters of the South Fork of Two-Medicine Creek, the answer to this problem must be sought in a rigid system of patrol and perhaps feeding in an emergency to keep animals on the park side of the line.
On the west, the boundary follows the North Fork Flathead River from Lake McDonald to Canada. Again the disadvantage of bounding a faunal unit by a river which cuts through the winter range becomes evident, but this time there is another more immediate concern in the ranches which are privately owned and operated within the park.
These mountain ranches are not self-sustaining. The stock formerly ranged on the domain adjacent to the farms themselves, and the Park Service has been obliged to issue permits for the continuance of this practice. Not to do so would be to starve the ranchers out. Still, this use of the natural forage of the winter range has resulted in artificial feeding of the game, which is detrimental to the animals and a burden upon the park besides.
Further, these same ranchers were used to piecing out their living by utilizing the game for food in winter and by trapping for fur. It is not to be wondered that they have continued to reach for what they once considered part of their right of homestead. For this reason it is hard to secure a conviction even if a poacher is apprehended in this district. Existence on these marginal farms was always slim and the coming of the park has undoubtedly made it more precarious. There never will be a satisfactory solution of the problem until these private holdings are extinguished. This should be done promptly in fairness to all concerned. Otherwise, either the game must continue to suffer because of the incomplete adherence to park rules or the ranchers must be unavoidably harmed because of strict enforcement of those rules.
If this situation can be cleared up, the river may serve at least passably well as a boundary because it happens that a large part of the winter range of its drainage is on the park side. It only remains to make the forage on this range in the park properly available to the park's game.
AMERICAN BISON (Bison bison). – Abundant skeletal remains place the range of the bison well within the limits of the park. A skull and a number of leg bones were found by a member of the party near the head of Red Eagle Lake. The bison was the principal factor in the economy of the Blackfeet Indians and without it the pageant of life on the east side is sadly incomplete.
As a project undertaken by the park alone, the bison could never be brought back except as a paddock display. But there is genuine hope of building up a herd in joint ownership which will range in the park in summer and on the reservation in winter. If the Indians felt that the bison belonged to them, too, and knew that the annual increase would feed them in winter and provide them with the buffalo robes so dear to their lives and even to their religion, they might well be expected to guard the herd jealously.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN BIGHORN (Ovis canadensis canadensis). – The status of this species is generally satisfactory though its numbers fluctuate from time to time. They are choice food and there is no doubt that the Indians take some toll from them each year. Unless there should be an alarming decline in the total mountain-sheep population of the park, it would seem unnecessary to take any more drastic step than to guard as carefully as possible against poaching.
Certainly artificial feeding should be avoided entirely unless it becomes an absolute necessity. One of the many likely consequences of this practice was manifested at Many Glacier during the winter of 1931-32, according to a report of the superintendent. A band of sheep was being fed hay by the keeper of the hotel. They were enticed by the feed to abandon their usual caution and their safe retreats, with the result that a number of them fell prey to coyotes. There is no end to the complications when wild animals are made dependent upon man.
FIGURE 43. – A number of mountain sheep from this
Many Glacier band fell prey to
coyotes at the feed yard. This is one
of the many complications resulting from artificial
feeding.
Photograph taken September 1, 1931, at Many Glacier,
Glacier. Wild Life Survey No. 2394
MOUNTAIN GOAT (Oreamnos americanus missoulae). – This animal seems to be as secure in Glacier as could be desired. Its relationships in the matter of presentation to the visitor are ideal. Everyone who so wishes can see these strange creatures on the precipitous rocks that are home to them. Yet there is just enough uncertainty as to where and when to go to give zest to the chase. Exercise afoot or on horseback is required, and the successful hunters have stories to tell in the hotel lobby at night.
FIGURE 44. – Mountain goats at Cracker Lake.
Presentation here is ideal, as everyone willing
to walk or ride can
obtain views of this animal on the rugged cliffs that are its native
home.
Photograph taken September 3, 1931, in Glacier. Wild Life
Survey No. 2071
AMERICAN PRONGHORN (Antilocapra americana americana). – Vernon Bailey25 believes that antelope were originally present in this vicinity. There would be no likelihood of having them in the present park in a free state, and their presentation in an inclosure would be subversive of national park standards.
MOOSE (Alces americana). – Moose are not common in the park now, but, whereas they were very scarce a few years ago, they are reported by everyone as steadily increasing. The best moose country is on the west side in the vicinity of the private ranches discussed above. Their improving status is undoubtedly due to the decrease of poaching, but they still suffer somewhat from this cause. That they are still hunted was attested by their wildness when sought out by a member of the party. When the private holdings are eliminated, this problem will be solved and moose will undoubtedly become one of the familiar sights of the park.
AMERICAN WAPITI (Cervus canadensis canadensis). – As is the case in each of the parks where elk are found, the critical factor is one of winter range. There are two herds in the park which probably intermingle in the summer in the vicinity of Triple Divide. The smaller St. Mary herd of the east slope, now comprising about 70 head, is in constant danger of being annihilated whenever a heavy winter forces the animals out onto the Indian reservation. This very occurrence brought about a slaughter a few years ago and the herd has not fully recuperated since. The situation would be greatly helped if all domestic stock could be kept off the winter range around St. Mary Lake in the park to restore its full carrying capacity for the native game.
The larger herd of elk, numbering perhaps 300, is in the Nyack district. It suffers from poaching along the railroad when it is forced down from the heights in winter. These elk were found frequenting a lick on Coal Creek within 2 miles of the boundary in August. As suggested above, patrol will have to deal with this problem as well as it can. The boundary is bad for game and can not be moved to the top of the watershed to the south.
WESTERN WHITE-TAILED DEER (Odocoileus virginianus macrourus) and ROCKY MOUNTAIN MULE DEER (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus). – Both forms are found in the park in numbers, though the white-tailed deer are by far the commoner. The mule deer belong more to the interior high country and there is no question concerning their status.
The white-tails are the common deer of the west side, which contains many square miles of ideal habitat for their kind. At Logging Creek, where they are artificially fed, some 300 were reported in the winter of 1930-31. The reason given for this practice was the scarcity of forage due to heavy grazing of the range by ranchers in the park. As suggested above, there is only one real solution and that is to buy out the ranchers.
Even under present conditions there is question as to the advisability of the winter feeding, with its tendency to accentuate yarding of large numbers of deer, to concentrate coyotes, etc. The deer are, if anything, too abundant in this section, considering that the forage is used by domestic stock as well. If deer continue to increase, serious damage to the range may ensue. It would be better to keep their numbers even below normal to preserve the carrying capacity of their range until such time as the domestic stock is removed.
MOUNTAIN CARIBOU (Rangifer montanus). – Caribou can not be considered as a member of the Glacier Park fauna at the present time its occurrence being limited to an occasional straggler in the Kintla district in the extreme northwest corner. Undoubtedly mountain caribou have frequented the area to a greater extent in the past, but it is the very fringe of their range. A few are still found in the United States further to the west in Montana and northern Idaho near the Canadian line.
There is little likelihood that this wandering animal of the north can ever be made a permanent resident of the park, but there is a hope that rigid protection in the adjacent national forests, including the Kootenai, Pend Oreille, and Blackfeet, will favor its increase in this country. If the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is established, a cooperative effort to improve the status of this caribou on both sides of the international boundary would be a worthy project. If successful, the mountain caribou might be a frequent enough visitor in Glacier Park to merit a real place in its fauna.
CANADIAN BEATER (Castor canadensis canadensis). – That the beaver population is kept to the minimum, particularly on the west side, is evidenced by the large number of old workings and the very small amount of fresh cutting. Because of the manner in which they are taken, it can not be expected that poaching of beaver will ever be stopped until private holdings are eliminated, and an improved sentiment toward the park wild life is adopted by the inhabitants of the surrounding regions.
PREDATORS. – The status of these secretive animals in this park is not very well understood and should be carefully investigated. The coyote is abundant, probably more so than in primitive times. But if mountain lion, wild cat, Canada lynx, and gray wolf are no longer present in normal numbers, then the coyote is filling their place as the natural control of the herbivores and should not be controlled except in the event of an emergency. The ultimate goal should be to have all the native predators present in reasonable numbers, which would probably mean an increase of mountain lions, a restoration of that rare animal, the wolf, and a decrease of the coyote in proportion. The present situation should not be interfered with until adequate studies are made.
MUSTELIDS. – All members of this family should be encouraged and protected as carefully as possible, the more because they are persecuted everywhere outside the parks. Mink, marten, and weasel are probably safe. Badgers do not find suitable habitats in the park, though two were observed in an old burn on the west side near the North Fork Flathead River. The wolverine is probably gone. If it fails to come back it could be reintroduced some day. The fisher is native and may still be present, though no one could tell us anything about it. It is so insistently trapped and has become so rare in the United States that a valuable service would be rendered if it should came back in Glacier under rigid protection.
BLACK BEAR (Euarctos americanus). – Whereas black bears are fairly common, they are not encouraged to become tame. Hence there is no serious bear problem. On the other hand, they are thoroughly enjoyed by the visitors. For instance, when a bear appeared at McDermott Lake all the occupants of the dining room at Many Glacier Hotel rushed to the windows. Bears are most attractive when the contact is not too intimate.
GRIZZLY BEAR (Ursus horribilis sp.). – These occur at high altitudes and are rarely seen even by the rangers. This is the only park in the United States besides Yellowstone where this vanishing species is found, and it should be jealously guarded.
TRUMPETER SWAN (Cygnus buccinator). – Though trumpeters nested in this part of Montana until very recently, no suitable nesting lakes were seen within the park boundaries. One of the few specimens of trumpeter swan in existence is from St. Mary Lake,26 but the park waters probably never figured except in the migrations of this species. It can not be hoped that Glacier Park will be one of the places where the trumpeter can be saved.
SANDHILL CRANE (Grus canadensis tabida). – The sandhill crane has gone from the park as a nesting species. Its return is most unlikely.
FISH-EATING BIRDS. – This question has been discussed in relation to Glacier on pages 65-66.
24 Since this manuscript was prepared, the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park has been established.
25 Wild Animals of Glacier National Park, by Bailey, Vernon, and Bailey, Florence Merriam, 1918, p. 31.
26 Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl, by Bent, Arthur Cleveland. United States National Museum, Bulletin 130, 1925, p. 295.
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Last Modified: Tues,
Feb 1 2000 07:08:48 pm PDT
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