As Glacier National Park’s visitation grows steadily year after year, a group of stakeholders hopes to bring more focus to how that growth has, and will continue to impact West Glacier and other gateway communities.

The undertaking, known as the Glacier Park Gateway Project, will solicit extensive input from residents in West Glacier and the Flathead Valley on “how to best celebrate and maintain all of West Glacier’s best natural, historic and aesthetic qualities and sense of place,” according to a press release.

The nine-month project, expected to unfold in four phases, will be spearheaded by professionals with the National Parks Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program, which supports community-led natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation projects across the nation. The project in West Glacier will be added to a list of more than 350 projects nationwide that are also partaking in the program in some capacity.

Supporting partners include the U.S. Forest Service, Flathead County, the University of Montana, National Park Conservation Association and others.

“That area is not just the gateway to Glacier, it’s the doorstep,” said Sarah Lundstrom, program manager for Glacier National Park. “There is no differentiation between Glacier and West Glacier in many peoples’ minds and there is a lot of interest in how those communities will grow alongside the park.”

Development in the area is guided by the Canyon neighborhood plan and the Canyon Area Land Use Regulatory System. However, both documents are several decades old and while Lundstrom said the new project’s final visionary plan is not regulatory in nature, she noted it could eventually be used to “guide or amend those” other plans.

Monica Jungster, a member of the planning committee who has lived in West Glacier for more than 60 years, said the plan will be “very collaborative in nature.” Residents, local business owners, organization leaders, park representatives and others will be invited to attend discussions regarding sustainable tourism, alternative transportation, wildfire safety planning and maintaining wildlife corridors.

“This is a big umbrella that will allow and support community members in looking at their neighborhood plan to see what needs to be kept and what needs to be improved,” Jungster said. “This jump to 3 million visitors in recent years has brought forth challenges that need to be addressed. The majority of those people are funneled through this canyon and West Glacier area.”

Jungster and Lundstrom both said while a spike in visitation was the main driver for the Gateway Project, there has also been a great deal of interest surrounding shifts in land ownership over the last few years.

In 2014, a large portion of the park’s west gateway changed hands after the Lundgren family sold its lands and business holdings to Pursuit — formerly known as Glacier Park Inc. — after 68 years of family ownership. The company also owns iconic destinations in Glacier such as the St. Mary Lodge and the Belton Chalet.

Lundstrom said as larger swaths of land in Glacier and the greater Canyon area change hands, there are chances those spaces will see development.

“We want to be more proactive. It’s way easier to set a vision and say ‘this is what we think we may want for the future’ rather than say after the fact ‘this isn’t what we wanted,’” Lundstrom said.

As the project moves forward over the next few months, Lundstrom said the committee wants to loop in major landowners, companies such as Pursuit and Flathead County planning leaders to help “set the vision for the gateway communities.”

A public meeting and open house will be held at Flathead Valley Community College on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 6 p.m. To learn more about the project, go to www.westglacier.mindmixer.com

Reporter Kianna Gardner may be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com