BNSF Railway gives $500,000 for Glacier's 100th anniversary
(The following story by Rickard Ecke appeared on the Great Falls Tribune website on January 13, 2009.)
GREAT FALLS, Mont. A railroad has continued its longstanding love affair with a big, beautiful park.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation will provide a $500,000 gift over five years for Glacier National Park's 100th anniversary in 2010, officials said Monday.
"We are ecstatic about this wonderful gift," said Jane Ratzlaff, executive director of the Glacier National Park Fund. She said the campaign's goal is $3.5 million, so the railroad's gift is fully one-seventh of the total goal.
Ratzlaff said the gift marks the launch of the Glacier National Park Fund Centennial Campaign, which is seeking widespread support for the park's centennial.
The campaign fund will help support projects including key centennial exhibits that will tour the state, said Glacier Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright.
"The park staff are very grateful for our dedicated partners and friends who work hard to support unfunded park needs and programs," Cartwright said.
The relationship with BNSF goes back to the beginning of the park, when the Great Northern Railway brought workers and visitors to early Glacier as it was being developed. The railroad not only laid track through the region, but railroad workers built the park's famous chalets and hotels at East Glacier and Many Glacier in the park's early years.
Today, the gift underscores the BNSF Foundation's ongoing commitment to Glacier National Park.
"We have a longstanding partnership with Glacier National Park and are proud to be a lead sponsor of the Park's Centennial Celebration," said Gus Melonas, BNSF Railway spokesman.
The Glacier National Park Fund is a nonprofit fundraising partner for Glacier Park, with a mission to preserve and protect the beauty and heritage of the park. President William Howard Taft signed a bill in 1910 authorizing Glacier as the country's 10th national park.
