Glacier National Park

This past summer I had the opportunity to participate in conservation volunteer work on the Blackfeet Reservation and Glacier National Park in Montana. With the Glacier Two Medicine Alliance, I helped work to remove a dangerously invasive species called knapweed, a plant rapidly destroying healthy natural ecosystems. Their signature spiky green stem with an enticing purple flower may seem as if it is a decorative addition, blanketing the golden grasses of the plains, but each year, the chemicals its roots release continue to eliminate healthy levels of biodiversity.

Additionally, I had the chance to participate in the Glacier Volunteers program, hiking through the park and recording data on the huckleberry population in the park. The research included counting numbers of the berries along the trail at certain time intervals and noting characteristics of the plants to track patterns in their health.

Photos from Montana's beautiful wilderness where these volunteering operations were conducted

Lookout over Glacier Valley from East Glacier

Between the plains and the mountains just outside East Glacier

An incredible sunset with the mountains of Glacier National Park in the background

Central Glacier National Park

A beautiful pond near where I worked on the knapweed removal project

The river at Two Medicine Falls