Bus boy, trail crew, ranger, science chief
Some people retire from jobs at Glacier National Park and never return. Jack Potter retired late this spring and almost immediately found himself back in the Park volunteering at the Belly River ranger station with his wife Rachel.
For Potter, working in Glacier Park wasn't just a job - it was and still is a passion. That passion was recently recognized by Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who named Potter to the Flathead Basin Commission - a non-regulatory organization created by the Montana Legislature in 1983 to monitor and protect water quality in the Flathead River watershed.
"I guess I can't get enough of meetings," Potter quipped in an interview last week.
In the summer of 1969, a 19-year-old Potter rode the train from western Pennsylvania to Glacier Park to work as a bus boy at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn Coffee Shop.
The following summer, he was hired to work on a Park trail crew. Over the next seven summers, Potter worked seasonally while studying political science at Colgate University and later forestry at the University of Montana-Missoula. He became a trail crew leader in 1973.
Potter was all ready to go to law school when he tore up the application and decided to stay in the Park.
In 1978, Potter started a permanent, subject-to-furlough position as the Hudson Bay District trails foreman. He was subsequently promoted to backcountry supervisor in 1984. In 1992, Potter took the position of assistant chief ranger, supervising field resources. In 2003, he became assistant chief of the newly formed Science and Resources Management Division. He served as the division chief since 2005.
Working trails in the early days, Potter had plenty of adventures. He has hiked every trail in the Park - including some which no longer exist - and he's done the Nyack Loop by horse or foot 21 times.
He recalled the time he needed to quickly get some explosives for trail work on the upper Highline Trail. Canada wouldn't let the Park transport the dynamite through Waterton without a number of permits, so Potter lugged the charges up and over Iceberg Notch in the Many Glacier area.
"I was pooped when I was done," he said.
All told, Potter estimates he's hiked 20,000 to 25,0000 miles over the course of his career - and his body has paid for it. He recently had knee replacement surgery, and both knees have had other surgeries in the past.
Today, at age 61, he said he enjoys day hikes, but overnighters with heavy packs may be a thing of the past. That's why he enjoys volunteering at the Belly River Ranger Station. Not only can he help out, but the area offers a number of day hike opportunities.
Potter's love of Glacier Park has also resulted in protections for the Park. He has long lobbied behind the scenes against coal mining in the Canadian Flathead. This year, the Nature Conservancy and the British Columbia provincial government struck a deal that could end mining in the North Fork drainage north of the border, but B.C. has yet to actually pass the laws necessary to finalize the agreement.
"It's not over, but it certainly looks better than it did a few years ago," he said.
Potter still holds concerns about oil and gas development outside the Park on the Blackfeet Reservation, and his career, while it has many successes, also has a few regrets. He said he wished the Park Service could have stopped an inholder from building a large home in Big Prairie and another inholder from using a helicopter to put a cabin in Cummings Meadow. Department of Interior officials at the time wouldn't let the Park Service condemn the lands and take over the properties, he said.
Potter has received numerous awards over the years, including the Superior Service Award in 2007 from the Department of Interior and the National Park Service Intermountain Region Director's Award in 2003 for Excellence in Natural Resource Management.
He also developed the Park's backcountry maintenance plan, which directs overall maintenance goals and standards for trail and packing operations, and he was intimately involved in the development of the Park's general management, North Fork and commercial services plans.
He established Glacier Park's Wilderness Management Plan, served on the National Wilderness Task Force and regularly lectures on resource management issues for the University of Montana and others.
There's still places in Glacier Park he'd like to see, Potter said. He'd love to go to Jefferson Pass via the Guardhouse. And if he had one last hike? If it was a backpacking trip, Potter said, he'd probably go to Hole-in-the-Wall or 50 Mountain. But for a day hike, Dawson-Pitamakan is hard to beat, he said.