Glacier National Park Seeks to Reduce Human-Wildlife Interactions

The owner and manager of an Indiana-based dog breeding company, Dave Chupp oversees the breeding and care of Yorkies, Havaneses, French Bulldogs, and several other breeds. When not busy caring for his puppies, Dave Chupp travels to various national parks. Glacier National Park in Montana is among his favorites.

The country’s 10th national park, Glacier National Park has been drawing in visitors since the 1800s. Recently, the park implemented a new pilot program designed to reduce human-wildlife interactions at Logan Pass. Funded through the Glacier National Park Conservancy’s NPS Centennial year funding, the program involves using a trained herding dog to move animals a safe distance from areas that are highly populated by humans. Glacier National Park implemented the program due to recent increases in human-wildlife interactions, specifically between bighorn sheep and mountain goats at Logan Pass.

Prior to the new pilot project, employees at Glacier National Park moved animals away from parking lots by waving their arms, shouting, or moving vehicles. While the methods worked in the short term, the animals would eventually return. Both bighorn sheep and mountain goats fear predators, so the park hopes that using a herding dog will keep them away longer. Currently, the project is training one dog, a border collie named Gracie. She is being trained to not make any physical contact with the animals and will only be off a leash during herding activities, which are expected to take place three to four times a month.

Glacier National Park Rapidly Losing Its Glaciers

Based in Nappanee, Indiana, Dave Chupp and his family maintain a respected dog-breeding business. Also passionate about travel, Dave Chupp particularly enjoys visiting areas of natural beauty in America’s national parks. One of his favorite destinations is Glacier National Park, which straddles the Canadian border in Montana’s northern Rockies.

The park is known for having some of the largest glaciers in the lower 48 states, including the crescent-shaped Grinnell Glacier. Unfortunately, the park’s glaciers are receding quickly in the face of sustained climate warming trends. U.S. Geological Survey scientists monitor the two dozen remaining glaciers in the park, including the Grinnell Glacier. Currently losing mass at a rate of as much as 10 percent per year, the glacier is unlikely to exist by 2030. With alpine ice sheets in rapid retreat, all glaciers in the park are expected to be gone by the half-century mark.

Beyond the natural beauty of the glaciers, geological scientists warn that this will have a major impact on the availability of water throughout the Western states during the critical summer months, when snowmelt from the Rockies feeds numerous streams and rivers.