Following the lead of a National Park Service initiative, Glacier National Park officials are embarking on a plan to purge house trailers from the park.

The program is starting with 10 aging, deteriorating trailers in the St. Mary area that are used as housing for seasonal employees. The park is taking comments on the proposal, which also will involve building new "dorm-style" buildings as replacement housing.

"They are serviceable but they are definitely not in the best shape," said park engineer Jim Foster, who estimates that the trailers date back to the 1960s or 1970s.

Mary Riddle, Glacier's environmental compliance coordinator, said the proposal is tied to a service-wide initiative aimed at removing trailer housing from all national park units. The service, at different times, resorted to trailers as temporary housing that ended up being permanent, she said.

Park officials also want to remove the St. Mary trailers because they are located in the lower flood plain for Divide Creek, which has a history of flooding.

"The trailers are in poor condition and for safety reasons need to be removed from the Divide Creek flood plain," Glacier Superintendent Mick Holm said in a press release. "They are also incompatible with the St. Mary Historic District."

To provide replacement housing, the park is proposing to build new structures at either the Rising Sun, Swiftcurrent or East Glacier housing areas, or in a suitable location outside the park. Park officials also will consider a combination of those locations. Foster said removing the trailers and replacing them with new structures is projected to cost $3.9 million.

A meeting to gather initial public comments will be Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Student Commons Building on the Blackfeet Community College campus in Browning.

More information is available on the Internet at:

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/parkHome.cfm?parkId=61