(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Glacier National Park: Public should comment on vehicle reservation system – Daily Montanan [1] ['Daily Montanan Staff', 'More From Author', '- August'] Date: 2023-08 Did you get skunked trying to get into Glacier National Park recently? Do you have an opinion about Glacier’s new vehicle reservation program? The park, in its third summer of piloting a vehicle reservation system for major park entrances, is seeking public feedback through Sept. 30, 2023, how visitors will access the park in 2024, according to a news release this week from Glacier National Park. The pilot program means people who want to enter the park in peak hours during the summer generally need a reservation, not just a pass. And reservations are limited. Glacier started the program in 2021 to respond to traffic jams, including backups onto U.S. Highway 2, and other problems, the park said. “The park will host a series of virtual and in-person public meetings in late August to provide information from the past vehicle reservation pilot programs and answer questions,” the park said. “The public input from this process will be used to inform a strategy for summer 2024.” In two decades, the number of visits to Glacier have increased from 1.5 million a year to more than 3 million, the park said. “Much of this use is concentrated along the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor and other front-country destinations during the peak season of June through September,” Glacier said. Since the park started the pilot, it has collected data and feedback to “refine the parameters of the reservation system and continue to improve the visitor experience.” “We have learned a lot from the last three years of pilot reservation systems,” said Park Superintendent Dave Roemer in a statement. “We’d like to hear from the public about what has worked, what hasn’t worked, and what ideas they have for managing high visitation at Glacier for 2024. “We are listening, and truly need that input before we begin to develop a strategy for next summer.” Scheduled meetings to learn and ask questions include: Wednesday, August 23: Virtual meeting from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Join by following the link at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/MeetingNotices.cfm?projectID=118357 Monday, August 28: Open house from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the St. Mary Visitor Center on the east side of the park. Tuesday, August 29: Open house from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Cedar Creek Lodge in Columbia Falls. “The goal of this effort is to provide the best possible access while protecting the park and ensuring visitors have meaningful and enjoyable experiences,” Roemer said. “This work is central to the National Park Service mission, and we are looking forward to continued engagement with our partners, communities, tribes, and park friends to make sure that happens.” The project website provides a summary of key issues, the history of visitation and visitor use management in the park, and instructions for how to formally submit comments. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/briefs/glacier-national-park-public-should-comment-on-vehicle-reservation-system/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/