GLACIER NATIONAL PARK — Glacier National Park is looking to update their 2003 fire management plan and needs your input.

The new proposed plan outlines how park staff manage wildfires, prescribed burns, and fuel treatments.

According to the park's programmatic environmental assessment, a new fire management plan is needed to make sure "Glacier’s fire management guidelines are consistent with current conditions and the latest NPS policy."

Protecting visitors, infrastructure, and Glacier National Park's natural and cultural values is the top priority while re-assessing fire management through a risk-based approach.

An additional goal, according to the environmental assessment, is to "promote ecological and social conditions that create, maintain, or restore fire-resilience to the landscape where the natural role of fire can function in the ecosystem."

The environmental assessment reports that fire behavior in GNP ranges from creeping and/or smoldering to fast-spreading crown fires. However, the behavior depends on the area's fuels, weather, and topography.

Further, the assessment states that the Continental Divide can alter fire behavior — by either barricading against fire movement due to the lack of vegetation in the high alpine or influencing the weather patterns, drought conditions, or wind.

Fire tactics and strategies will be chosen based on the location they'll be used in the park and the resources that the area maintains.

There are many different climates and landscape types throughout Glacier's over one million acres.

In the proposed plan, Glacier National Park is divided into two fire management units — one for each side of the park.

"The west side of the park is generally moister than the east side, supporting mixed forest types with dense vegetation, as well as cedar-hemlock forests in some areas. The landscape east of the Continental Divide is generally drier and more sparsely vegetated, characterized by mixed forest types and grasslands," the environmental assessment states.

GNP is accepting public comment until March 12, 2025.

Comments can be submitted online or by mail to: Superintendent, Glacier National Park, Attn: FMP 2024 EA, P.O. Box 128, West Glacier, Montana, 59936.

Click here for more information on the proposed plan.

WATCH RELATED: New wildfire danger for Yellowstone National Park