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蒙大拿冰川國家公園內的麥克湖 (Lake
McDonald) 一景
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蒙大拿的冰川國家公園(Glacier
National Park)
1910年時，國會在蒙大拿設立了冰川國家公園(Glacier
National Park)。為了保存當地的自然美景，環保人士喬治格林尼奧(George
Bird Grinnell)在創建此一公園時，扮演了一個非常重要的角色。印第安人對這片區域總是充滿了崇敬。已經住在此區域內達數百年的黑足(Blackfeet)、賽利希 (Salish) 和庫特耐 (Kootenai) 印第安人將其視為一個聖地。
冰川國家公園之名源自於其冰河景色。冰河是一大片會移動的雪和冰。當冬天的下雪量超出了夏天的融化量時，就會形成冰河。雪會累積並將下層雪堆積壓成冰。冰的底層變的有彈性，因此冰河可以移動。當冰河移動時，會帶走岩石和碎石。藉由混在其中的碎礫，冰河會磨蝕並刻劃它的行經土地。數千年過後，經由上述方式，形成了冰川國家公園現有的溪谷、銳利山峰及湖泊。現今公園內的冰河已超過50條，但比起20,000年前的巨大冰河，它們顯得小多了。
除了冰河、山脈和溪谷外，冰川國家公園佔地約一百四十萬英畝而且內有200個湖泊及溪流。公園也是各式各樣野生生物的家，包括黑熊、灰熊、大角鹿，金鷲、白頭鷹、大角羊、山羊、白尾鹿和黑尾鹿。
In 1910, Congress established Glacier National Park in Montana. Conservationist George Bird Grinnell played a key role in the creation of this park in order to preserve the land's natural beauty. Indians have always revered this region. The Blackfeet, Salish, and Kootenai Indians, who have lived in the area for hundreds of years, consider it a sacred place.
Glacier National Park is named for the glaciers that produced its landscape. A glacier is a moving mass of snow and ice. It forms when more snow falls each winter than melts in the summer. The snow accumulates and presses the layers below it into ice. The bottom layer of ice becomes flexible and therefore allows the glacier to move. As it moves, a glacier picks up rock and gravel. With this mixture of debris, it scours and sculptures the land it moves across. This is how, over thousands of years, Glacier National Park got all its valleys, sharp mountain peaks, and lakes. There are more than 50 glaciers in the park today, though they are smaller than the huge ones that existed 20,000 years ago.
In addition to its glaciers, mountains, and valleys, Glacier National Park covers approximately 1.4 million acres and includes 200 lakes and streams. The park is also home to many different types of wildlife, including black and grizzly bear, moose, golden and bald eagle, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and whitetail and mule deer.
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