Chapter 18
Commerce and Conservation in the Crown
of the Continent
John S. Waller
Abstract While railroads figure prominently in U. S. history and culture, their
environmental impacts are often overlooked. Here, I describe situations where
operation and maintenance of a section of transcontinental railroad in Montana, USA,
resulted in high mortality of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), a threatened species under
the U. S. Endangered Species Act, and where proposed avalanche control measures
conflicted with the preservation mandates of Glacier National Park. A unique
public/private partnership was created to work towards effective solutions to environmental problems. The partnership was successful in decreasing high grizzly bear
mortality rates, but less so in finding a consensus on how best to reduce avalanche risk.
I suggest that collaborative partnerships, such as that developed here, will be essential
to solving future environmental problems associated with railroads.
Keywords Avalanche control Á Connectivity Á Cooperative conservation Á Grizzly
bear Á Highways Á Partnerships Á Ursus arctos
Introduction
Railroads hold an important place in U. S. history. They served an important
function in settling the west and transporting homesteaders and all the goods they
needed to build a life on the frontier. Completed in 1893, the Great Northern was
one of the last of the frontier railroads. It penetrated the vast wilderness of northwest Montana, opening an area of scenic wonder to a nation hungry to explore
itself. The Great Northern railroad was instrumental in the development of what is
now Glacier National Park, constructing numerous grand lodges and chalets that
now are themselves historic tourist attractions. These lodges and tourist facilities
were small islands of civilization within a largely untamed wilderness.
J.S. Waller (&)
Glacier National Park, West Glacier, MT, USA
e-mail: john_waller@nps.gov
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_18
293
Commerce and Conservation in the Crown
of the Continent
John S. Waller
Abstract While railroads figure prominently in U. S. history and culture, their
environmental impacts are often overlooked. Here, I describe situations where
operation and maintenance of a section of transcontinental railroad in Montana, USA,
resulted in high mortality of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), a threatened species under
the U. S. Endangered Species Act, and where proposed avalanche control measures
conflicted with the preservation mandates of Glacier National Park. A unique
public/private partnership was created to work towards effective solutions to environmental problems. The partnership was successful in decreasing high grizzly bear
mortality rates, but less so in finding a consensus on how best to reduce avalanche risk.
I suggest that collaborative partnerships, such as that developed here, will be essential
to solving future environmental problems associated with railroads.
Keywords Avalanche control Á Connectivity Á Cooperative conservation Á Grizzly
bear Á Highways Á Partnerships Á Ursus arctos
Introduction
Railroads hold an important place in U. S. history. They served an important
function in settling the west and transporting homesteaders and all the goods they
needed to build a life on the frontier. Completed in 1893, the Great Northern was
one of the last of the frontier railroads. It penetrated the vast wilderness of northwest Montana, opening an area of scenic wonder to a nation hungry to explore
itself. The Great Northern railroad was instrumental in the development of what is
now Glacier National Park, constructing numerous grand lodges and chalets that
now are themselves historic tourist attractions. These lodges and tourist facilities
were small islands of civilization within a largely untamed wilderness.
J.S. Waller (&)
Glacier National Park, West Glacier, MT, USA
e-mail: john_waller@nps.gov
© The Author(s) 2017
L. Borda-de-Água et al. (eds.), Railway Ecology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57496-7_18
293