Ask a Ranger: Interpretation in Glacier National Park

That second kind of exchange has a name inside the National Park Service: interpretation. Interpretive rangers are the staff who translate a place into something a visitor can understand and care about. They work the information desk at visitor centers, lead hikes and hotel tours, give evening programs, and have thousands of unplanned conversations on trails and boat docks.

Thanks to the generous support of Glacier National Park Conservancy donors, you’ll encounter interpretive rangers across most of Glacier National Park this summer: from Apgar to Avalanche on the west side; at Logan Pass, in the St. Mary, Two Medicine, and Many Glacier valleys; and at Goat Haunt on the Canadian border.

Glacier National Park Conservancy President Tagen Vine joins a hike guided by an interpretive park ranger.

A record year at Logan Pass

Logan Pass, at the high point of Going-to-the-Sun Road, is one of the most visited areas of the park, as well as one of the most fragile. It is also where visitor questions change character. Elsewhere most questions revolve around trip logistics, but at Logan Pass, park staff note, questions are often more focused on resource information, learning, and stewardship.

Last summer set a record. Interpretation rangers at the Logan Pass Visitor Center received 417,824 visitors, the highest annual total on its record. Staff there:

• Presented over 350 programs on alpine plants and animals, glaciers, and other Logan Pass topics, that reached nearly 35,000 park visitors
• Spoke with over 18,000 visitors one-on-one across the visitor center area and the Hidden Lake and Highline trails, improving safety and the visitor experience
• Held extended hours until 7 pm through the summer

Those extended hours do more than add program slots. Interpretive rangers are often the first staff that visitors find when things go wrong, an important safety role.

A ranger provides information at the Logan Pass Visitor Center.

The Ranger on the Dock

Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier were joined in 1932 as the world’s first international peace park, and Goat Haunt is where that partnership is most visible. An interpretive ranger is stationed there each summer, in a spot visitors reach by boat cruise or a long hike.

Last summer that ranger was Frank Jahn. Over the season, Jahn presented 146 programs reaching 5,169 visitors: 10 International Peace Park hikes co-led with a Parks Canada interpreter, 22 guided hikes to Rainbow Falls, and 114 short talks at the Snowflake Pavilion. He reached another 20,000 people doing informal work, including touch tables, roving, commentary on boat tours, and drop-in programs at the Waterton Lakes National Park Visitor Centre.

“Having a ranger greeting boats arriving at Goat Haunt, as well as waving goodbye at departure, is loved by many visitors,” said Hudson Bay District Interpreter Debby Smith. Smith explained why the position is worth the complicated logistics of living in Goat Haunt: “For many international visitors, this may be their only experience in the United States and Glacier National Park.”

A ranger guides a boat tour on St. Mary Lake.

The Season is Underway

The interpretation season is currently in full swing. Interpreters are working around the park, making connections, assisting visitors, and improving safety.

The daily schedule of ranger-led programs can be found on the NPS website.

Subscribe to our Glacier Daily Updates email newsletter to receive a ranger-led activity schedule in your inbox each morning of your trip.

Generations of park visitors have had their experience of Glacier shaped by an interpretive ranger: raising a right hand to be sworn in as a Junior Ranger, spotting a first grizzly bear from a guided hike, or seeing that ranger on the dock after a boat ride in from Waterton. Those are the moments people carry home, and the ones that turn visitors into the people who protect this place next.

Visitors on a scenic boat tour enjoy the view out the window.