Glacier plans study on removing old cabin
Jim Mann | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 17 years, 11 months AGO
The Daily Inter Lake
Glacier National Park officials are officially pondering what to do with an aging, dilapidated cabin on Lake McDonald.
The cabin's last owner sold her "inholder" property to the park with instructions to restore the land to its natural state, yet the park is pursuing a formal environmental review on how to deal with the cabin.
The park is seeking initial public comments on the matter that will be used to develop an environmental assessment for removing the Roberts Cabin, named for its last owner, Mary Agnes Roberts.
Back in 2003, the park embarked on a similar environmental review aimed at removing the Roberts cabin and two others on Lake McDonald.
But that process was delayed to conduct a study on the eligibility of Lake McDonald structures for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
That study was finished this year, determining that the Roberts Cabin is a "contributing historic resource within the Glacier Park Villa Sites Historic District," according to a park press release.
The Roberts Cabin was built around 1950 by Edna Graham.
Her daughter, Mary Agnes Roberts, sold the property to the National Park Service in 1975, reserving a 25-year lease on the land that ended in 2000.
Roberts sold the property "with the understanding that the building would be removed and the property restored to its natural state," the press release states.
"The cabin has been uninhabited for many years and is in poor condition," Glacier Superintendent Mick Holm said.
"It presents a safety hazard to the public in its present state."
The upcoming environmental assessment will examine whether there should be no action or whether the cabin should be removed by a contract salvage crew or by park workers.
Once the assessment is written, the public will have another opportunity to comment.
Initial comments can be submitted by Dec. 29 to: Superintendent, Glacier National Park, attn: Roberts Cabin EA, West Glacier, Montana, 59936. Or comments may be submitted online at: