Here’s a pretty interesting article posted to the Flathead Beacon that looks back at the history of wildfires in Glacier National Park . . .
Wildfires have played a prominent role in transforming the landscape of Glacier National Park throughout its 105-year history.
The Reynolds Creek Fire serves as the latest reminder of that incendiary influence as it burns over 2,000 acres in the St. Mary area. It’s the largest fire in the park since 2006, when the Red Eagle Fire scorched 34,000 acres.
The barren landscape along Lake McDonald, remnants of the 2003 Roberts Fire, which burned 57,570 acres in one summer, is perhaps the most visible example of fire’s powerful force and lasting effect. The fire was one of six massive blazes that burned more than 136,000 acres of land in Glacier that year, more than 13 percent of the preserve’s 1 million acres.
“The 2003 season is the pinnacle,” said Dennis Divoky, fire ecologist for the park.
But the fires of 2003 are only one chapter in the park’s long history shaped by fire and ash.