East entrance to Glacier closed for year

Town Crier “Briefs from the Region” (1) – 6/26/20

Each year, hundreds of thousands of tourists access the Glacier National Park from the east by crossing Blackfeet tribal lands, traffic that is linked to their economic vitality. Amid a record number of COVID-19 cases in Montana, however, the Blackfeet Tribe has made the decision to close eastern travel to the park so as not to put their residents at risk. “Based on the spike in COVID-19 cases in Montana and the health and safety risk to the residents of the Blackfeet Reservation … the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council hereby desires to close the eastern border of Glacier National Park for the protection of the residents of the Blackfeet Reservation for the rest of the 2020 tourism season,” read the tribal ordinance, reports the Flathead Beacon. The tribe’s culture holds their elders in high respect, and believes these precautions are necessary to protect this vulnerable population from further spread of the novel coronavirus.