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Glacier National ParkHeavy Runner Mountain at daylight
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Glacier National Park
Purpose and Significance Statements

Purpose

  • To preserve and protect the natural and cultural resources for future generations.
  • To provide opportunities to experience, understand and enjoy the park consistent with the preservation of resources in a state of nature.
  • To celebrate the ongoing peace, friendship, and goodwill among nations, recognizing the need for cooperation in a world of shared resources.

Significance

  • Glacier’s scenery dramatically illustrates an exceptionally long geologic history and the many geological processes associated with mountain building and glaciation.
  • Glacier offers relatively accessible spectacular scenery and increasingly rare primitive wilderness experiences.
  • Glacier is at the core of the “Crown of the Continent” ecosystem, one of the most ecologically intact areas remaining in the temperate regions of the world.
  • Glacier’s cultural resources chronicle the history of human activities and show that people have long place high value on the area’s natural features.
  • Waterton-Glacier is the world’s first international peace park.
Jackson Glacier  

Did You Know?
If current trends continue, some scientists have predicted that by the year 2020, there will be no more glaciers in Glacier National Park due to global climate change.

Last Updated: November 17, 2006 at 14:02 EST