Consider it your backstage pass to everything
Glacier - if you are a fan of the park or
looking to take your vacation to the next level,
The Glacier Institute specializes in adventures
of the Glacier Park kind.
Okay adventure fans, this is the real deal.
The Glacier Institute is a non profit educational
partner of Glacier National Park, offering adventures in
learning both in and around the park for visitors of all
ages and fitness levels.
These classes are anything but dry, and we guarantee an
opportunity to see another side of Glacier Park you
won't achieve from exploring on your own. Like taking a
tour at a museum, the expert guides of these courses
offer insights and experiences that add another
dimension to the adventure.
A perfect example is the course we most recently
enjoyed, Glacier's Grizzlies and Black Bears, a single
day excursion into the habitat of bears with Chuck
Jonkel, Ph.D., a bear expert renown for his 40+ years of
work studying grizzly and polar bears. Founder of both
the Ursid Research Center and the International Wildlife
Film Festival, he is also a co-founder of the Great Bear
Foundation.
The course opened with a morning lecture on bears of
Montana and Glacier Park, their anatomy, disposition,
role in the environment and future. The outdoor
amphitheater was the perfect venue for the display and
review of casts of bear prints, skulls and a grizzly
pelt.
During a day full of marvels we wandered through old
growth wilderness as Dr. Jonkel uncovered the forest's
secrets for us, pointing out plants used by native
cultures and favorite edibles of local bears. He led us
to a vacant black bear den and we saw firsthand the
incredible ingenuity of these fascinating creatures.
We closed the day with a greater appreciation for bears
in general and their struggle to adapt to changing
environments and decreasing habitat. Unlike the fearsome
predators depicted in the mainstream media, Dr. Jonkel
helped the class to appreciate the nature of bears in
general by drawing connections between their needs and
ours, showing that like us bears want huckleberries, not
trouble!
We have had the good fortune to join The Glacier
Institute on a variety of courses, and while each has
had its distinct character one constant has been the
quality of instruction. The staff roster reads like a
Who's Who of area experts, and each brings the passion
of their topic to the class, offering as much
information as you can fit in your mental stuff sack.
So it's up to you adventure fans! Move through your
Glacier Park vacation with half the experience, or take
the road less traveled and sign up for a Glacier
Institute course. See the world through new eyes, your
camera full of memories of places and new friends you
might otherwise miss. Enjoy!
MORE RESOURCES
The Glacier Institute
Since 1983, The Glacier Institute, a private nonprofit,
has been providing hands-on, field-based educational
adventures to people from all over the world in nature’s
wildest places, Glacier National Park and the Flathead
National Forest, located within the Crown of the
Continent ecosystem. The Institute is an equal
opportunity provider of education.
The Crown of the Continent was a phrase coined by
Glacier National Park advocate, George Bird Grinnell
nearly 100 years ago to describe the magnificence of
Glacier’s peaks and valleys. Today, the phrase is used
to describe the larger ecosystem that boasts millions of
acres and spans the U.S.-Canadian border. Besides
Glacier-Waterton International Peace Park, the ecosystem
includes the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, the North
Fork Valley, the Blackfeet Reservation and thousands of
additional acres of public, private and tribal lands
spanning from Banff National Park to the Scapegoat
Wilderness.
The Great Bear Foundation
The Great Bear Foundation is a non-profit organization
dedicated to the conservation of bears and their habitat
around the world. The Foundation was created in 1981 to
be a voice for the bears. Everywhere wild bears exist,
they have been forced to adapt to habitat changes caused
by human population growth. In some cases, the bears
have become so endangered that they are on the verge of
extinction. It is possible for bears and humans to
successfully coexist, but now it is the responsibility
of humans to adapt and learn about ways to live with
bears.
The Great Bear Foundation is primarily a member-funded
organization, and the generosity and support of our
members makes our work possible.
The Glacier Institute
