“When visitors see wilderness rangers hiking they may think that’s all we do,” says Kylie Heikkila, the North Fork Lead Wilderness Ranger. “We are hiking, but we’re doing so much more out there that people don’t always see.”
In 2025, the Glacier National Park Conservancy fully funded ten seasonal wilderness rangers, as well as partially funding the supervisory wilderness ranger coordinator position, and the Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River Coordinator position.
These positions play a crucial role in monitoring, protecting, and caring for Glacier’s wilderness and ensuring it stays safe and accessible to visitors. So what does a day as a wilderness ranger look like?
On a rainy day in late April, it begins with coffee and a car ride from West Glacier up to the North Fork area of the park. I’m joining Heikkila and Lake McDonald Wilderness Ranger Natalie Erwin on one of their first patrols of the season.
Driving up to the North Fork area of Glacier National Park.
“Today our goal is to see if the Logging Lake Foot wilderness campground is ready to open to summer status,” Heikkila explains during our drive. “Right now it’s in winter status which means only one party can camp there at a time.”
One aspect of the wilderness rangers’ jobs is to monitor and care for all of Glacier’s 65 wilderness campgrounds. This includes transitioning the campgrounds from winter to summer status, cleaning campsites, making repairs, caring for and cleaning backcountry toilets, and making sure any visitor staying in the site is met with a safe environment.
We stop quickly at the North Fork ranger station to check in and make sure we have everything we need for the day, and then we’re on our way.
Heikkila with bear safety signs used in Glacier’s wilderness campgrounds.
The hike to the Logging Lake Foot campground is just over five miles one way, and Heikkila and Erwin have spent the last few days working on clearing enough of the trail to access the campground.
Logging Lake trailhead sign.
As we begin the hike, Heikkila points out different plant species beginning to grow in the early spring weather. Another important aspect of her job is working with invasive plant species.
“Invasive weed work is a big focus for me,” She explains. “Basically mitigating noxious weeds in the North Fork. Everything from pulling, popping heads off, and bagging different invasive plant species to carefully spraying a non-toxic herbicide. We are also collecting data on where the weeds are, so each year I am documenting where I’m finding the weeds and what method I’ve used to remove them so we can see if there’s change over time.”
It doesn’t take long for us to reach part of the trail that is still covered in debris from the winter, downed branches and trees that will have to be cleared to allow visitors to safely pass.
Heikkila and Erwin cross a downed tree on the trail.
While trail crews will come in to clear much of the larger debris, Heikkila and Erwin are responsible for clearing smaller debris and delimbing the downed trees to allow the trail crews easier access. They also keep track of how many downed trees they encounter and how big they are to report back to the crews.
Erwin delimbs a downed tree using a handsaw.
They stop often on the hike to move aside smaller trees and debris, and use non-motorized hand saws to clear large branches off anything too big for them to remove entirely. As they work, they take care to leave all the cleared debris in a way that looks and feels natural to the environment. Cut ends are tucked away and debris is kept away from the edges of the trail, all as part of the wilderness rangers’ mission to preserve wilderness character. The rangers also stop to collect any trash they encounter, packing out remnants left by hikers.
We reach the campground around lunchtime, and the rangers immediately get to work assessing it to see if anything needs to be fixed or replaced. They check all of the signs as well as the food hang in the food prep area to ensure they’re still standing and in good condition.
Next, they dig out and rebuild the fire pit. Ash from campfires can normally be safely spread, but this ash contains partially burned trash and plastic debris, so Heikkila packs it into trash bags which she will have to carry back out to dispose of properly.
They continue on, checking each tent site for snow, flooding, hazard trees, or anything else that might make them unfit for visitor use. As we do this, Heikkila points out areas that have been closed for wildlife management. Another goal of the day’s patrol is to check in on the loons living at the lake to see if any of them are nesting and might need additional protections.
Wildlife management is one part of the wilderness rangers’ larger work with wilderness monitoring. Between all of their other work, they’re also doing visitor use and ecological monitoring, tracking social trails and the effects of recreation on Glacier’s wilderness, and monitoring changes in vegetation and water quality. Their goal is to create a baseline for Glacier’s wild spaces which will help them identify and mitigate potential issues early — all as a part of their mission to maintain the long-term integrity of the park’s wilderness.
One of the closure signs used for wildlife management.
Once the tent sites have been checked, the rangers head up to the campground’s outhouse. They’re responsible for not only cleaning the toilets, but stirring them to even waste levels and reporting on how full they are in order to help trail crews prepare to dig new toilet sites when needed.
As we finish cleaning the toilet and head down, Heikkila and Erwin spot an area near the campground that has been improperly used as a toilet and is covered in toilet paper.
“I think people would be surprised if they knew the amount of human waste we are removing,” Heikkila says. “Not enough people are educated on Leave No Trace and what that really means when they go into these wild spaces. They don’t realize the impact they have on these areas.”
The rangers take care to return the area to its natural state, using gloves to remove all of the trash safely and bagging it up to be packed out. They survey the campground one final time, and we head back on our way.
Along the way, we detour to check on a historic park cabin near the lake. The wilderness rangers take care of the cabins, cleaning them and reporting on anything that might need to be repaired. The cabins serve as administrative spaces for Glacier’s rangers, scientists and other crews to use for their work, and this one was most recently occupied by scientists studying native fish species in the lake.
While we make our way back, Heikkila describes some of the other work the wilderness rangers are responsible for in the park.
“Anytime we’re out, we’re checking wilderness permits, we’re making sure people are practicing proper food storage,” she says. “We spend a lot of time educating visitors, making sure they’re doing the right thing and setting them up for success in the wilderness so we can keep both them and the wildlife safe.”
Wilderness rangers are also involved in the park’s search and rescue program, often leaving patrol to assist with search and rescue or medical situations. They help monitor bear and wildlife activity, post or close trails to keep visitors safe, and patrol the Flathead River to monitor visitor use. Some of the wilderness rangers even assist with wildland firefighting when the need arises.
“In my small community in the North Fork, it’s really all hands on deck,” Heikkila says. “Some days I’m doing my regular wilderness work, but other days we’re helping at the entrance station or in the frontcountry campgrounds. Some days we’re helping to get a boat in the water on Bowman Lake or assisting trail crew or clearing a road. Sometimes as wilderness rangers we are doing day hikes and other times we spend two or three nights out in the backcountry, depending on where we need to go and what we need to accomplish.”
The day wraps up with a return to the trailhead and a call to dispatch to end our wilderness itinerary for the day. Having hiked over 10 miles, cleared many trees from the trail, cleaned a wilderness toilet, picked up trash, conducted wildlife monitoring, and so much more, the thing that stands out the most is the passion with which these rangers approach their jobs.
“We’re so lucky to be visitors in these wild spaces,” Heikkila says. “I feel like that’s really amazing, and I love that I’m helping protect these areas, and protect the native animals and plants that live here. This is their home.”
How can you support wilderness in Glacier?
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