Glacier reveals plan for motor boats on Lake McDonald

Glacier National Park today will begin scheduling motorized watercraft inspections and sealing for boaters to launch on Lake McDonald after a 30-day quarantine period.

The quarantine process is designed to prevent invasive mussels and other invasive species from entering park waters on motorboats. Currently, the inspection and quarantine program is only available for motorized boat launch on Lake McDonald.

The quarantine process will consist of the following steps:

1. Call the Apgar Backcountry Permit Center to make an inspection appointment at 406-888-7859. Inspection appointments will be available seven days each week from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in half-hour intervals. All boats must be clean, drained, and dry before they are inspected.

2. Boats that pass inspection will be sealed to their trailer and the date of sealing will be recorded.

3. After a 30-day quarantine period, sealed watercraft may return to the Lake McDonald AIS inspection station during normal operating hours, where an NPS inspector will verify the seal is intact, remove it, and open the gate at the boat launch.

4. Upon taking their boat off the lake, if a boater wishes to launch again in Lake McDonald at a future date without another 30-day quarantine period, they can request to have their boat resealed by an Park Service inspector and then have that seal verified intact and removed when they want to launch again.

Park waters were closed to all motorized and hand propelled watercraft last November, following the detection of invasive mussels within the State of Montana.

Since then, the park has been working on a phased response to allow some hand propelled and motorized boating opportunities to continue. In April, the park announced that hand propelled watercraft would be allowed to launch on park waters following a staff inspection. Simultaneous with that announcement, the park began developing a new motorized boating program, researching quarantine and other aquatic invasive species prevention best practices used in other areas.

Motorized watercraft rented and operated under Park Service concession contract will continue to be available.

These boating procedures will be in place throughout the summer season. Fall boating access procedures and winter water closures will be announced soon, the park said.