With the National Park Service’s 100-year anniversary this year, national parks and their gateway communities are preparing for a banner year for visitors.

But speaking to the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow explained that Glacier, already bracing for a third straight year of record-breaking crowds, is planning a subdued centennial celebration this year.

“We’re not just going to have a big party about all the achievements the National Park Service has had over the past 100 years,” he said. “We really want to be focused on what it means to be better prepared for the next 100 years.”

During his talk, Mow returned to the theme of “preparation” repeatedly, saying that Glacier was essentially “saved by the bell” last August when wildfires and thick clouds of smoke kept many would-be visitors out of Glacier during the seasonal visitation peak.

Despite the visitor count in August dropping 14 percent from the previous year, 2016 still set a new annual visitation record.

“We actually were spared in 2015 from the visitation that Yellowstone saw,” Mow said. “I don’t know if their staff was really prepared for it, from what I heard. Once they got into it, they had to ride it out, and it was pretty tough on them overall.”

Glacier has upped the number of seasonal staffers this year and Mow said he hopes to establish a “mobile strike force” of cross-trained employees that can quickly respond to a crisis such as the fast-spreading Reynolds Creek Fire that forced closures and evacuations on the eastern side of Going-to-the-Sun Road last summer.

But he conceded that long-term solutions are elusive and his fellow superintendents in Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Zion and Arches national parks also are struggling to manage the growing crowds.

“We’re all sort of scratching our heads, asking, ‘How can we not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs here?’” he asked.

Glacier is pursuing a stronger relationship with its gateway communities, local organizations and the neighboring national forests to encourage park visitors to explore other parts of the region.

That includes equipping park employees with recommendations for visitors who became weary of the late-summer Glacier crowds and directing them to resources such as the new summer visitor center at Belton Depot, a collaboration among local chambers of commerce.

Mow said they also recommend visiting glaciermt.com, a state-run website providing travel information about Western Montana.

“There were lots of people willing to wait two, three hours just to get to Logan Pass,” Mow said. “But for people that don’t want to wait two or three hours, we want to say, ‘Here are some alternatives.’”

Mow is concerned about how the seemingly nonstop annual increases in visitation will stress the park’s wildlife and other resources, the park’s staff and visitors’ ability to enjoy their experiences in Glacier.

During the meeting, a brief presentation by Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau Executive Director Dylan Boyle indicated Northwest Montana is on track to feel those impacts increase again this year.

The Canadian dollar hit a nine-month high of 79 cents per U.S. dollar last week, and Boyle said economic indicators favor a steady increase of visitation in Montana’s travel and tourism industry.

“Above 80 cents on the dollar is when we can potentially see an increase in visitation and an increase in expenditures as well,” Boyle said.

He added that national and statewide indices predict tourism will stay steady and possibly grow slightly over the next six months.

“The bottom line is we’re expecting a good summer season — near steady visitation and expenditures.”

Glacier’s celebration of the National Park Service Centennial will amount to a handful of small activities scattered throughout the park, possibly including the first-ever international “Dark Sky Protected Area” designation this summer for the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

Mow said that the park participated in the Whitefish Winter Carnival, with park employees including Mow riding one of the trademark red buses in the parade to honor the Park Service’s 100-year mark.

But even on Aug. 25, the day that will mark one century since Congress established the federal agency to oversee its parks, Mow said Glacier’s celebration likely won’t extend much beyond some free snacks.

“I imagine we’ll be serving up a lot of cake throughout the park on that day,” he said.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.