Conservation Group Probes Avalanche Prevention Plan

A conservation group has filed a request for documents relating to the release of an upcoming decision by Glacier National Park regarding avalanche control on the railroad tracks that skirt the park’s southern border, out of concern that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway executives may have influenced the decision after the public comment period had closed.

Will Hammerquist, Glacier Program Manager for the National Parks Conservation Association, sent a request dated April 9 under the Freedom of Information Act to the National Park Service for any documents or correspondence between government officials and BNSF executives from January 2007 through April 11, 2008 related to the railway company’s request to bomb avalanche chutes in John Stevens Canyon. Those dates roughly outline a period when the Draft Environmental Impact Statement detailing Glacier Park’s decision on avalanche control along the rail line was held up in Washington, D.C., and the NPS regional office in Denver for longer than normal.

“We’re just worried, that in the closing days of the Bush administration, that people may be tinkering with it,” said John Wilson, NPCA’s associate regional director for the Northern Rockies. “We think it’s good business on behalf of the parks to illuminate the situation.”