Join the Glacier Institute for a three-day educational adventure in Waterton=Glacier International Peace Park, July 14-16. When it comes to nature and discovery, don't let the 49th Parallel stand in the way in this official Glacier Centennial Course.

Learn about the transboundary conservation while hiking the wilds of Many Glacier and Waterton Valley with instructor Steve Thompson. Explore the Alberta prairie where it meets the Rocky Mountains. Cruise the passenger vessel, the M.V. Internatinal, as it splits the waters and crosses the international border on Waterton Lake. Learn about the global movement of transboundary conservation that started here 78 years ago.

Waterton-Glacier was established as the world's first cross-border peace park in 1932 after Parliament and Congress were prodded by small-town community leaders in Montana and Alberta. Rotary Clubs in both countries invented the very notion of bi-national cooperation for national parks.

Learn how park managers cooperate across the border on resource protection, scientific research, search and rescue, visitor services and interpretation. We will discuss the peace park as the ecological core of the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. This course will also examine the growing international peace park movement around the globe, a movement spawned and inspired by the designation in 1932 of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the world's first peace park.

Your instructor, Steve Thompson, has worked for the National Parks Conservation Association for the past decade, including a stint as the cooperating editor of National Geographic's Crown of the Continent Geotourism Mapguide. (Free copies of the MapGuide can be ordered from the home page of this web site.) As a young man, he worked for the National Park Service at two other national parks that bump into Canada in the night: North Cascades and Isle Royale.

Recommended Reading:
Global Transboundary Protected Areas web site: http://www.tbpa.net/
Transboundary Protected Areas for Peace and Cooperation: http://iucn.org/dbtw-wpd/edocs/PAG-007.pdf
Rotary brochure: “It began as a bold idea: where no boundary could be seen, no boundary should be….” http://www.nps.gov/glac/pdf/rotary_web.pdf
National Geographic Geotourism MapGuide, Crown of the Continent including Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park: www.crownofthecontinent.net

Academic credit is available for teachers and through Flathead Valley Community College.

STUDENTS MUST HAVE A PASSPORT FOR THIS COURSE

Tentative Itinerary: Itinerary is subject to change based on weather, trail closures and boat schedules

Wednesday, July 14: Meet at Swiftcurrent Motor Inn – Many Glacier. Hike on the Swiftcurrent Trail to Bullhead Lake (seven miles/elevation gain 400 feet). Overnight lodging at the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn. Evening program: Transboundary diplomacy and cross-border advocacy to protect the Crown of the Continent, 1932 – 2010.

Thursday, July 15: Depart from Many Glacier to Waterton townsite. Take boat to Goat Haunt and return on foot over the International Boundary (seven miles/elevation gain minimal). Lodging in Waterton at the Aspen Village Inn

Friday, July 16: Depart Waterton for the Prairie Hike near the mouth of Blakiston Canyon (four miles/elevation gain minimal). Transport back to Swiftcurrent Motor Inn - Many Glacier

Glacier Institute

Moderate

All ages, including curious youngsters

We will hike up to 18 miles over three days. These are moderate hikes of 7, 7 and 4 miles each, with no major elevation gain. We'll stop and smell the flowers. Students must be sufficiently fit to do these hikes.

July 14, 2010 - July 16, 2010

Other Lodging