GLACIER NATIONAL PARK - The Glacier Institute out of Columbia Falls has been the official education partner of Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest since 1983.
Their goal is to strengthen connections to the natural world through nature courses, guided hikes and educational tours.
“Every day I get to relive the experience of seeing this place for the first time through other people’s eyes,” said Glacier Institute Outdoor Education Specialist Wyatt Herndon.
Check out the tour with Glacier Institute:
Herndon has guided hundreds of people on hikes in Glacier National Park, sharing the breathtaking beauty of the vast landscape.
“It might be their first experience in the mountains, it might be their first experience around bears, it’s just about making sure that they leave with something that’s educational.”
Herndon's educational guides cover a wide-range of topics, highlighting the importance of staying on trail, and how to properly dispose of trash in bear country.
“A newfound love of this place and also coming away with a message and a purpose of what they need to have in order to protect places like this,” said Herndon.
Glacier Institute offers guided tours for people of all ages and hiking ability.
They’ve also served thousands of children over the years through school field trips and summer camps at the Big Creek Outdoor Educational Center in the North Fork.
“We really feel that people won’t want to protect something that they don’t love, and they don’t love something if they don’t know, and so we really feel that our job as the Glacier Institute is to kind of provide that initial knowledge that is so critical to feeling confident and comfortable in being outdoors,” Glacier Institute Director of Development Mady Rigg.
Rigg said their goal is to inspire the next generation to be good stewards of the land.
“How we behave when we’re entering a wild space and the way that we prepare to go into those places, and how we leave them when we go,” said Rigg.
More information about the Glacier Institute can be found here.