Park's wildlife viewing regs causing concerns
Glacier National Park’s new wildlife viewing regulations have caused a bit of a stir in the wildlife photography community.
The new regulations state that “willfully approaching, remaining, viewing or engaging in any activity within 100 yards of bears or wolves or within 25 yards of any other wildlife, including nesting birds; or within any distance that disturbs, displaces or otherwise interferes with free unimpeded movement of wildlife, or creates or contributes to a potentially hazardous condition or situation” is prohibited.
In addition, the “failure to remove oneself to prescribed distances during inadvertent, accidental, casual or surprise encounters with wildlife” is also prohibited.
East Glacier photographer Tony Bynum, whose work has been published in several magazines and has worked for the Montana State Tourism Office, understands that people need to keep a safe distance from Park wildlife, but he wonders if he’s breaking the current law just by being in an area.
“To me, I feel like I’m violating the law just by being on Logan Pass,” he said last week.
Bynum notes that mountain goats routinely walk the same trails that humans do, including Hidden Lake Trail, the most popular trail in the Park, where visitors routinely photograph goats sitting on rocks overlooking the lake. The problem is the goats are closer than 25 yards — sometimes just a few feet away.
“What are you supposed to do?” Bynum said rhetorically. “Are you supposed to leave?”
He brought up these questions and others on his blog, and several readers have also questioned the intent of the regulations.
The regulations aren’t new to the Park Service — Yellowstone National Park has the exact same regulations, as do other parks.
Glacier Park spokeswoman Denise Germann said the intent of the regulations is not to hand out tickets to visitors who encounter wildlife on designated trails and in developed areas — it’s about safety. The Park doesn’t want people approaching wildlife in an unsafe manner.
“We want to maintain safety for the person and the wildlife,” she said. She said the regulations are consistent with other parks and she didn’t anticipate any changes being made.
But one professional photographer, who asked not to be named, said he was yelled at by a Park ranger at the Oberlin Bend parking lot when two mountain goats came close to his vehicle.
“I didn’t even have my camera in hand,” he said. “Was I supposed to go out into the road to get away from the goats?”
Rangers chase goats and sheep out of the Logan Pass parking lot and other parking areas near the pass. The animals are attracted to chemicals that come from vehicles, especially antifreeze. But the strategy doesn’t appear to be effective — the animals return as soon as rangers leave.
Photographer Larry Stolte said he’s frustrated by the atmosphere at Logan Pass. He claims some rangers are simply too aggressive around animals — they shoo away visitors and then chase away goats and sheep as well.
“What are you going to do when a goat walks toward you?” he said. “Some of those goats are getting 10 feet from you.”
Yellowstone Park’s wildlife viewing policy used to be less stringent. A section in its 2010 compendium stated: “This rule does not apply to inadvertent or casual encounters with wildlife in developed areas where normal foot traffic is required or essential or in areas where there is no reasonable alternative route.”
It also exempted people in vehicles or a hard-sided building, but that section has been struck from the regulations.
Bynum and others aren’t against wildlife viewing regulations. They note that many visitors get too close to wildlife to get photos. It’s the language that’s the problem, and Germann agreed that the regulations could be better written.
Liability may also well be a concern. In 2010, hiker Robert Boardman was gored by a mountain goat and bled to death in Washington’s Olympic National Park. His widow, sued the National Park Service for $10 million. A federal judge threw out her claims but she has appealed the ruling.