Lookout project nearly completed

Volunteers and staff from Glacier National Park made significant progress on a stabilization effort on the Park’s historic Heavens Peak Lookout.

The lookout was built in 1945 by conscientious objectors in the Civilian Public Service and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. It’s one of the last remaining structures built by the CPS in the U.S.

Sitting on the north flank of Heavens Peak, the structure was in dire need of repairs — the windows had blown out over the years and the roof was caving in. Park staff and volunteers did repairs on the roof, the floor and other portions of the lookout. They’ll finish the project next year.

The trail to the lookout was abandoned long ago. Getting there today requires a long and difficult bushwhack from Packer’s Roost or a long hike on the north side to Camas Lake followed by a climb up the ridge above the lake. The lookout is visible from Camas Lake and from The Loop on the Going-to-the-Sun Road.

The project drew controversy when Park officials first proposed the project a couple of years ago. Most comments it received were against the restoration, citing wilderness concerns and the number of helicopter flights necessary to haul in equipment to complete the repairs.

One environmental group, Wilderness Watch, opposed the plan, and former Glacier Park biologists Riley McClelland and Steve Gniadek raised concerns about the Park’s interpretation of wilderness.

The Park doesn’t have any designated wilderness but manages most of its backcountry as wilderness. Even so, Park managers went ahead with the project.

“We understand the concerns of Wilderness Watch and others,” Park superintendent Chas Cartwright said last year. “But we disagree with their position and interpretation of the Wilderness Act. The Heavens Peak Lookout is not only an integral part of Glacier’s cultural legacy but also contributes to the unique character of the Park’s wilderness landscape.”

An unusually deep snowpack delayed the project last year. Funding for the stabilization was provided by a donation from the Glacier National Park Fund.