Bush says philanthropy needed for national parks

She toured waterfalls, watched a giant full moon over towering peaks, saw grizzly bears, osprey, marmots and mountain goats, and went on several hikes.

"We love Glacier," former First Lady Laura Bush said last week about her stay at Glacier National Park. "It's a magnificent park. We want to come back again."

But to keep places like Glacier Park magnificent, it's going to take help from philanthropists, she said.

"We need to protect our most treasured landscapes," she said, "as well as our historic sites."

In these difficult fiscal times, Bush said, it's important for Congress to fund national priorities, like education and the parks. She also implored citizens to donate to non-profits that support national parks.

Bush hiked and visited the Park with longtime girlfriends from Midland, Texas, who visit a different national park each year. This was Bush's second trip to Glacier Park - she was here in 2004. Bush and her friends had planned to visit in 2003, but wildfires that summer ended her plans just as she had her bags packed and was ready to go.

The former First Lady stayed at a friend's cabin on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation near St. Mary and spent most of the week hiking on the east side. They did several trips, including walks to Baring Falls, St. Mary Falls and Virginia Falls and trips in Two Medicine. They also drove over Logan Pass after it opened to motor vehicles and hiked to Avalanche Lake.

On July 15, she held a brief press conference at a private residence on Lake McDonald and then appeared at a fundraiser hosted by the Glacier National Park Fund. Graciously, Bush posed for photo after photo with guests for more than an hour in a cold wind that whipped off the lake.

The fundraiser brought in more than $20,000. Guests included television personalities Maury Povich, Connie Chung and Jack Hanna, musician Chip Davis, creator of Mannheim Steamroller, and the Von Trapp Children, who sang for the 100-some people at the event.

Glacier Park superintendent Chas Cartwright gave a short speech thanking everyone for attending and joking that the opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road this year was one of the smoothest ever. The road opened July 13 - one of the latest openings ever because of record snow.

Bush didn't mind the cool weather. She lamented she had to return to Texas, where temperatures were in the 100s.