National park gateway land use evolution : a case study of Glacier National Park, 1890-2001

Baracz Lamoreux, Lisa

This study of national park gateway communities focuses on the Glacier National Park setting. It examines the evolution of landscape changes in Glacier’s gateway communities as they were created by various public and private institutions. The study also investigates the gateway communities through changing patterns of land use and landscape because cultural and historical geographers agree that such changes can tell a great deal about a locality’s changing cultural values and economic base. Multiple objectives were addressed by the study. The first objective was to reconstruct the evolution of the past land use in the gateway communities of West Glacier and East Glacier. The key years of reconstruction were 1910 (the establishment of the park), 1930 (the rise of automobile tourism), 1960 (the post war era) and 2000 (the present day community). The second objective was to reconstruct how the cultural landscapes of these communities changed and how those landscape features contributed to distinctive place images. The third objective was to identify the key issues that face gateway communities as they enter the twenty-first century. The final objective was to use the Glacier case study to develop a regional and local model of national park gateway community development and evolution. The results of the study will be useful in future land planning and development of national park gateway communities. The impact of technology has been a significant part of the evolution of the gateway landscape. Therefore, the regional and local evolution models will be an asset to gateway community evolution.