In light of recent changes to Glacier National Park's admissions via new ticketed vehicle reservation system; we request that our Montana residency status grant us the right to access Glacier National Park WITHOUT having to abide by these new admission rules.

This petition is the direct result of an inability to access our National Park at all due to the speed at which these limited number of tickets sell out, and/or due to the unintended traffic lines that have now become a permanent plague for many miles leading up to Park entrances, creating a secondary major public safety issue.

In Glacier National Park, nearly 3.5 MILLION tourists visit annually which creates a massive burden on the surrounding local communities. These small communities and their roads, bridges, sewage facilities, campgrounds, internet grids, and service industries are unfairly stressed and damaged from overuse, and yet local tax payers have to bear the burden of major infrastructure repair costs, which boil over onto state lands, campgrounds, boat ramps/parks and all else where federal funds do not address them.

With the addition of this new ticketed vehicle reservation system unveiled in 2021, the majority of local tax payers cannot even access Glacier National Park anymore due to the frenzy and speed at which a limited number of vehicle tickets sell out. The National Park Service has tried to soften this projected consequence by allowing entry without a vehicle reservation ticket from certain hours of the day, however; this has created a secondary (and arguably larger) traffic crisis during these hours that creates many-miles-long traffic lines completely blocking all access points for hours on end. This creates a hostile and dangerous commute for those living and working in surrounding areas, and is a massive public safety issue as emergency vehicles are often slowed or blocked from getting where they need to go. Additionallly, the majority of Montana's internet infrastructure is owned by dinosaur company, CenturyLink, using phone lines that haven't been updated since their installation between 50-112 years ago. This means that our ISP is also limiting our ability to compete with those making reservations from their devices supported by newer, faster ISP hardware in cities in other states.

In Montana, the population of the entire state is barely 1million. If every resident of this state visited Glacier National Park three times in the summer, it still wouldn't amount to the total visitation that GNP sees annually.... most of whom, are out-of-state travelers. On any given day pre-vehicle reservation system, GNP saw between 5000-10,000 vehicles daily. Of this number, less than 300 (or 3%) of them are owned by MT residents, enjoying a day in the park. With such a minuscule contribution to the traffic as it once was, this local demographic doesn't deserve to be lumped into a broken solution to a problem that has little to do with us. Thus, we feel exemption from this inequitable vehicle reservation system isn't entitled, nor an unreasonable request. There aught to be a proximity-clause to any National Park near anyone's home that grants them exemption from these prohibitive, spontaneity-killing reservation systems. Given the challenges of regulating such a system, we believe that a simple proof-of-residency (a driver's license) should grant anyone visiting a National Park within their state, exemption from any specific-thereto reservation SOP's.

We're not asking for priority, just a chance to sit at the table and enjoy our literal backyard Nat'l Park as we have for the last 113 years, without these audacious perversions to long-standing admission SOP's. We aught to be welcomed into GNP to help those who know little of "leave no trace" ethos, and what it means to be "bear aware," instead of being hopelessly evicted due to the myriad of issues aforementioned. We are stewards, and some of the kindest, most generous folk in this country. Let us show visitors to our park what real Montanans are all about, lest we leave them to continue to view us and our state through the distorted slant of Paramount Network's TV series, "Yellowstone," which attracted an additional 2.2 MILLION visitors to our state last year alone (Flathead Beacon, 2/23).

While we recognize the severity of GNP's mounting visitation crisis and support meaningful solutions to address this issue, the new ticketed vehicle reservation system in Glacier National Park isnt working for the very people that keep the Park and Montana's economy functioning. Please let us into our park!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCut9rvZSfs&feature=youtu.be

Sincerely,

Citizens of Montana.