Glacier Park welcomed Mongolian guests from sister park

Glacier National Park received visitors from its sister park in Mongolia for five days last month.

The group came on behalf of Gorkhi-Terelj National Park and the Mongolian Department of Protected Areas Management. The visit included the signing of a Sister Park Arrangement between Glacier National Park and Gorkhi-Terelj National Park on Oct. 24. The parks are located at the same latitude, at about 48 degrees, and have similar landforms, ecosystems and wildlife.

The Mongolian delegation included the park director, director of the Ministry of Environment, Green Development and Tourism and four staff members. Glacier National Park volunteers and past employees Fred and Lynne Vanhorn organized the visit. The Vanhorns are the only people from the Park to have made the trip to Mongolia.

Glacier National Park has had a sister park agreement with the Khan Khentii Protected Area in Mongolia since October 2004, which Fred Vanhorn helped set up. In 2013, Gorkhi-Terelj National Park was separated from the Khan Khentii Protected area, which is now just north of Gorkhi-Terelj. The park is located in northeast Mongolia about 22 miles from the nation’s capital Ulaanbaatar.

During the visit, the Mongolian delegation toured the Park and met with staff and its non-profit partners the Park Volunteer Associates, Glacier Institute, Glacier National Park Conservancy. The conservancy paid for local expenses associated with the Mongolians visit to the area.

The delegation also worked with Park staff to assemble a “ger”, which is a yurt that the Mongolian Ministry of Environment gifted to Glacier Park in 2004. The ger has been set up behind the Apgar Visitor Center in the past and the park is looking at doing the same thing next summer at a new location.

The sister relationship allows both parks to exchange expertise on education and youth programs, geographic information system mapping and trails development, threatened species protection and the development of adaptive strategies in response to climate change.

The purpose of the sister park relationship is also to promote international cooperation for the mutual benefit of the parks, provide a forum for collaboration about shared challenges, enrich the experience and training of park personnel through international exchanges and to share the cultural and social values of both countries.