(Columbia Falls, MT) Earlier this year, Glacier National Park submitted funding requests for 48 projects to the Glacier National Park Conservancy, totaling over $2 million and highlighting ambitious and new strategies in preservation, education and research. To kick start the year end push to fund as many additional projects as possible, the Conservancy has announced its first ever community giving campaign, Give Back to Glacier Week, beginning Sunday, November 1.
To help with the effort, the Glacier Conservancy’s Board of Directors has stepped forward with a $50,000 gift. All new donations to the Conservancy will be matched one to one up to $50,000, now through November 7, 2015.
“This represents a significant opportunity for our community to support projects and programs that are important for our families. Glacier National Park is why so many of us choose to live here and part of living here is supporting this special resource in our own backyards,” said Glacier National Park Conservancy President Mark Preiss.
Even with significant closures related to fires this summer, Glacier is still on track to set visitation records this year. This ongoing, increased use of the park leads to additional needs, many of which are not covered by government funding alone and need private support to come to fruition.
Projects that still need funding include significant trail improvements to the Hidden Lake Trail at Logan Pass that sees six thousand visitors a day during the busy summer season, replacing the roadside interpretive exhibits along the heavily traveled Going-to-the-Sun Road and an ambitious Crown of the Continent Wildlife study that would stretch beyond Glacier into neighboring states and across the border to Canada – the first large-scale trans-boundary and multi-species project ever attempted in the Northern Rockies.
There are many ways to support the park and no donation is too small. The Conservancy will be accepting donations on their website, but there are also other ways to support the park including choosing to fund a project in full and in-kind donations of materials or labor.
Full details are available at glacierconservancy.org.
