NPS Survey- 2023 Public and Stakeholder Engagement

[liketohike]

Here's a link to a survey regarding Glacier’s vehicle reservation system.
A chance to provide feedback through September 30, 2023:

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.c ... QRjUXQ2aXk

[davidwayne]

I submitted my suggestions......

[Jay w]

Here's a few of my comments:

Comments: Topic Question 4:
IF you have a reservation, you're fine. Otherwise, nothing has worked for me. It seems people make reservations for campsites, and when their plans change, they don't cancel the reservations. (It seems the cost is so low, it's not worth it to them to cancel.) I've also heard people make camping reservations simply for the entrance road pass. If occupants don't show up for their reservation, there is no system in place to open the campsite for another camper. Infuriating. Finally (on occasion) people poach the open sites. (Our neighbor got in a fight with a poacher).

Comments: Topic Question 5:
If a person with a reservation does not show up at the park, they are displacing another visitor. That is not fair and equitable. There needs to be some penalty, some reason for people to cancel reservations. Also, if there is a no show on the day of the reservation, that reservation needs to be thrown back into the system the next day. Family emergency, tough. Car breaks down, tough. Those are the rules. Show up.

Stop promoting the park on social media. The park is popular enough that it doesn't need any promotion.

I think you get the idea.

Jay

[mattB]

I really don't like the idea of RecreationDotGov controlling all the reservations for everything in Glacier.
I don't think the RecDotGov site works very well for campground reservations in general but its particularly bad for backcountry reservations.
And its terrible for trying to do a mix of reservable sites and first come first served sites.
It wasn't in glacier but I was on my way to Glacier last summer and was hoping to camp somewhere around the Montana Idaho border off I-90.
I wasn't sure how far I'd go so I didn't make a campground reservation, since the campgrounds I was looking at were only about 30% full.
So about 9PM I got to the campground about 10 miles off I-90 near St Regis Montana. I pulled in and the campground was at least half empty.
The campground host asked it I had a reservation, and I said no, because I'd checked and saw they weren't very full.
He agreed, but he said all the First-Come-First-Served sites were take and the only sites left were reservable sites, and that I couldn't have one of those sites without a reservation through RecDotGov. And then he added that they have NO WIFI and NO Cell Service at the Campground.
His only suggestion was that I drive back out to the freeway, and hope that out there I could get cell service and make a reservation...
So thats what I did. Wasted a half hour driving an extra 20 miles, and paid an extra fee to RecDotGov to "make a reservation". Its ridiculous to require online reservations for a campground that doesn't have WIFI or Cell Service.
The camp host was great, and he was clearly not at all happy with WreckDotGov.

[paul]

Just got back from a 6 night backpack in glacier. As far as permits go I think there's still no-shows that are using up 25-50% of the camps. Every camp we stayed at had an open site except for the last night which was on a Saturday. Here's the breakdown.

ELH - 1 of 4 sites was not used.
HEL - 1 of 2 sites was not used
COS - 1 of 4 sites was not used
GLH - 1 of 3 sites was not used
GLH - 1 of 3 sites was not used.
COS - all sites were used

The weather on the trip was generally good so that was not a factor.

[teapot57]

There is a virtual public meeting on this topic tomorrow night, August 23 at 6:00 pm Mountain time.

https://parkplanning.nps.gov/MeetingNot ... tID=118357