During the winter of 2018, storms brought the snowiest winter in nearly 50 years to Glacier, and the Granite Park Trails Cabin was destroyed by snow creep. The cabin, historically located just below the Granite Park Chalet, serves as a vital hub for every aspect of Glacier National Park’s operations in this remote area. Thanks to donor support, Conservancy funding is being utilized for the materials, transport costs, and labor to reconstruct the cabin in a new, safer location.
To kick off construction, the park has partnered with Columbia Falls High School with the “School to Park Program,” a pioneering program through which the Glacier National Park carpenter helps lead a construction class at the high school. This program has produced housing cabins and entrance stations for the park in the past while preparing students for careers in the National Park Service and beyond.
This school year, the sixteen students in the class are starting with the timber elements that make up the primary structural skeleton of the cabin. They began the fall semester by practicing their timber layout and raising the roof, cutting tenons that would be used in the timber joinery of the cabin. Following these practice sessions, they advanced to cutting tenons on the actual posts.
While participating, students learn lifelong skills and help provide critical support to the park. When they graduate from the program, they are awarded a professional tool belt and tools to utilize in their chosen vocation or career.
How can you support School-to-park programs in Glacier?
This project and many other critical projects and programs would not be possible without your donations to the Glacier Conservancy.
Donate now to support important work like this in Glacier National Park!
