Part 7

A surprising number of insects live on the stream bottom, finding a measure of protection from the current in the jumble of rocks. Underwater beetles live under the gravel or among the debris at the stream-edge, or cling to stones and sticks. Scurrying and creeping among the rock-crannies are the larvae of stoneflies, mayflies, and caddisflies. These and the small fish that venture up from lower lakes are the food of the water ouzel, a creature that loves the places where the waters thunder.

■ The noise of the water is overpowering. A slip into this boiling rage would mean quick death. Looking 10 meters across the dim, mist-slippery, water-scoured canyon, I see a young water ouzel peering out of its unique nest, on the lookout for its parents. Clouds of spray keep the nest of living moss continually wet; but this bird is waterproofed with an oily plumage and keeps its vigil at the nest opening. Peering into the torrent below, then upstream and downstream, it awaits patiently the delivery of the next meal.

With the approach of one of the adults, three other heads crowd the opening, begging yellow mouths agape. Flying low, the ouzel parent zeros through the heavy spray, alighting on a slippery boulder below the nest ledge. Preparing to fly up to the nest with its load of insect larvae, the ouzel spots me across the water. At its sharp _jigic, jigic_ alarm, the bills of the young snap instantly shut. Nervously the bird regards my close presence, dipping its entire body rapidly up and down, as if keeping time with the surging torrent.

Discovering no danger, the dusky blue-grey bird bobs more slowly. The other adult, returning from an upstream forage, alights on the same rock, occasioning a new outcry from the fledglings. Each in turn, the parent birds fly up to feed their young, beating their wings to maintain their position at the perchless nest. Not pausing to regard me further, they split the stream between them again, one flying upstream and one down, to continue the hunt. Blinking and shaking the collected mist from its bill, the single young sentry renews its watch.

In Shallow Waters

Life abounds in the shallow lakes and ponds. Calm, protected John’s Lake offers a fine example of how a complex aquatic plant-and-animal community can exist in balance in a confined space. The water teems with the microscopic algae, protozoans, and rotifers that sustain the barely visible zooplankton. Dancing, flitting, hopping, and swaying through the water, these zooplankton in turn support the larger plankton-eating animals.

Dragonflies and damselflies shoot past, crackling their wings, and perch in the bog grass. Looking into the shallow water, you will see a wealth of small animal life. A spotted frog swims into view, floating to the surface beside a lily pad so that its eyes protrude above the water.

The ribbonlike form of a leech swims across the bottom toward deeper water. Looking closer, you see that the water swarms with bizarre shapes—water boatmen propelling themselves with oarlike appendages, a gliding mayfly nymph, then a predacious diving beetle surfacing, grasping a bubble of air beneath its shiny brown wing plates and disappearing downward again—the bubble’s edge shining silver—into the brown bottom debris. Suddenly a whirligig beetle sets the surface to spinning, wrinkling the view below.

Everywhere in the water there is animal life, forms that are attached, free-swimming, crawling on the bottom, and clinging to or swimming on the surface film. The gray, slimy encrustation on a sunken log looks like a covering of lichen but is really a freshwater sponge, a colonial animal that feeds by filtering minute plankton from the water. Another attached creature is the barely visible hydra; this twig-shaped predator, related to marine jellyfish, captures water fleas and other small animals in its several poisonous tentacles.

Water beetles, backswimmers, water boatmen, and many other creatures move about more or less freely in the water, propelling themselves along with jerky movements. Suspended between surface and bottom are the zooplankton, the tiny water fleas, cyclops, daphnia, and others, which feed by filtering minute algae. On the bottom and below live scavenging worms. Water striders skate on the surface film.

Along the shore, frogs, salamanders, garter snakes, and water shrews are hunting. Dabbling and diving ducks patrol about, tipping or submerging for the bottom plants. Moose tracks circle the muddy shore. Because it produces vegetation abundantly, John’s Lake sustains a great diversity of animal life.

Beaver Ponds

Fully 10 percent of all the present meadow area in the Rocky Mountains is estimated to have been created by beaver, the only animal besides man that engineers extensive changes in the environment to suit its own needs.

When beavers dam a stream, they set in motion another form of succession. If the resulting backwater floods a forest area, the trees are soon killed, creating a broad opening in the forest canopy. Water-associated plants and shrubs quickly invade the pond and shoreline, creating favorable habitat for waterfowl, moose, blackbirds, amphibians, wading birds, warblers, marsh hawks, and a score of other animals.

After many years the water becomes shallow, filling in with silt and plant debris. When the beavers abandon the site, the dam may rupture for lack of maintenance and the pond will rapidly drain. Or it may continue to hold, delaying for several more years its slow conversion to meadow. Stimulated by the nutrient-rich mud, the water grasses, sedges, and shrubs finally choke the water with their accumulating debris, transforming the area into a bog.

Gradually the ground firms as more humus is created and more silt is trapped. The area becomes meadow, supporting grasses, sedges, and other flowering plants. Trees begin to reinvade the drier ground, and eventually the meadow reverts to forest. Centuries may be required to see this cycle through, from forest to pond, to bog, to meadow, to forest again. At each stage many of the animal inhabitants change: the song of the western robin and the chatter of a red squirrel in the original, pre-beaver forest give way to the croak of a heron; the heron is replaced by the insect-and-berry-eating cedar waxwing; the waxwing is followed by the tree-dwelling western robin and red squirrel.

Lakes Cold and Deep

Seeming to skate on its own reflection, a spotted sandpiper comes in low over the quiet water, wingtips almost touching the surface of the lake. It alights at the shore and folds its wings. Amid the rounded rocks, this plain but elegant little shorebird is all but swallowed up. Teetering constantly on long legs, it sets off along the water’s edge, pecking here and there, coming closer and closer, never forgetting to stop and curtsy, as if acknowledging, while hurrying offstage, the applause of an audience.

As it draws near, several water striders skate away from the shore. A stonefly, scuttling between two rocks, is deftly speared. So large a morsel makes the bird pause and rough its feathers, then scamper into the water to take a drink. Teetering again, it passes in front of me and continues down the shore, where I soon lose sight of it rounding a rocky point.

I am sitting at the foot of Lake McDonald, watching the darkness gather over the valley, seeing the last light slide upward to the tips of the distant mountains. As daylight dissolves, this long fleet of familiar peaks seems almost to glide toward darkness, slow and silent as sailing ships.

The sheet of motionless water stretches many kilometers away between tree-covered moraines. The water is deep and cold. No emergent plants line the barren shore. It would seem that no life, except for the single gull that rests on the water far away, exists in this nearly thousand-meter-high lake.

■ Considering the great volume of Glacier’s large, deep lakes, the life they support is indeed meager. A large part of the reason lies with the nature of their shores, where almost no plants grow. A combination of factors prevents the development of a lush shoreline growth.

Contoured like bathtubs, these steep-sided lakes exhibit narrow or non-existent shoreline shallows, which are vital for the production of rooted plants. Strong wave action and extensive seasonal fluctuations in the level of these natural reservoirs prevent the development of emergent water plants in locations where they might otherwise be expected.

Since sunlight cannot penetrate to the bottom of these deep lakes, they are deprived of bottom-anchored plants in midlake as well. As a result, herbivorous animal life must depend almost wholly on algal growth. Wave action inhibits the spread of free-floating algae by washing much of it onto the shore. Deep lakes are also low in available oxygen, preventing the development of bottom decomposers, which would rapidly release nutrients as they break down the accumulating debris washed into the lake. Without a steady supply of nutrients, plant growth is retarded.

Since the food chain depends upon green plants, the ability of a lake to support higher animals such as fish depends upon its ability first to produce adequate plant growth. The production of one kilo of trout requires that a lake produce about 1,000 kilos of plants to support 100 kilos of herbivorous invertebrates, which are eaten by 10 kilos of carnivorous insects, on which the trout feed.

Compared to smaller shallow lakes, which teem with visible life, cold, deep, nutrient-poor lakes such as McDonald appear to be watery deserts. Yet because of their great volume—Lake McDonald contains 5 or 6 cubic kilometers of water—these large lakes do sustain significant numbers of fish. Of the 22 kinds of fishes found within the park, most are coldwater species. Trout, whitefish, grayling, suckers, minnows, and carp fill the roles of herbivore, carnivore, and scavenger. Agile, highly mobile, and acutely sensitive, fish represent the most successful total adaptation to the aquatic environment.

Through the stocking of nonnative species, including plantings in formerly fish-free lakes, the natural aquatic communities of many of Glacier’s lakes and streams have been permanently modified.

Aquatic food chains are not confined to the water. Ospreys, ducks, mergansers, otter, mink, and many other semi-aquatic or terrestrial birds and mammals utilize the plants and animals of the water. In fall, a remarkable spectacle occurs along the outlet of Lake McDonald. Attracted to the kokanee salmon concentrations, which run from Flathead Lake to spawn and die in these clear, shallow waters, bald eagles collect to exploit the vulnerable fish. In 1977, 444 eagles were counted in one census. This food resource is also exploited by grizzlies, coyotes, skunks, gulls, loons, and other animals. On occasion, even white-tail deer have been observed swallowing salmon!

Shooting Stars

This park is very special. The people who know it well feel proprietary toward its mountains, scattered lakes, and glaciers. Perhaps it is the arrangement of the land, an unsurpassed concentration of American wilderness. Time and again I have thought, as I regarded some aspect of this country, _yes, this is exactly right_—almost, it would seem, as if some magic existed that could translate thought and emotion into rock and bark.

Glacier remains largely unexploited, bearing still the aspect of the Earth the Indians knew for 500 generations—a land where it is yet possible to feel a sense of discovery, sense that a single man matters. On too many mountains, man has tarnished whatever he has touched; but here the land has shed, as a fir sloughs snow, a long succession of traders, trappers, explorers, hunters, surveyors, prospectors, loggers, settlers, and tourists.

You may walk the same trail a dozen times and not tire of the view. I have given up wondering why. I know only that these are mountains a man might grow old with, and that mountain-fever never diminishes but only changes its look, as a forest does over many years.

Repeatedly I have noticed that this park creates an instant bond between strangers. A certain pause intrudes at the first mention of Glacier National Park, and a look of distance comes, as Red Eagle becomes real again, or the wind at Firebrand is remembered, or the flowers of Fifty-Mountain converge once more upon the senses.

Never are we quenched. If a goshawk rushes past, straining upward with its squirming load of ground squirrel, forever afterward our blood demands more. The sight of a wolverine running is not enough. Nor the magnificent assemblage of bald eagles feasting on November salmon. More days of this: mountain goats leaping impossible ledges, wave tracks from a beaver reaching out on dawn water. There are messages here, loud as kingfishers. The land has languages, stories to tell.

But in wilderness there is no moral, save that it must continue. For all our probings and plottings we discover no adequate interpretation of the forces we find swirling about us. A larch you must touch to know; your neck must feel the ache of too much looking up. Watch its treepoint pirouette. Then, looking back at the world level, you will find that you have lost all answers. We have learned the art of building bridges, cataloging plants, predicting what a shrew might do. Of the essential mystery, we know nothing.

For nature assigns no “roles” to its creatures; there is no “reason” for a forest fire, which burns mightily but with no intent. Life’s only “purpose” is the feeding of life, and the beauty we see therein is but its lack of guarantee: for the chipmunk and the weasel, and the man who measures his life to theirs, no assurance of long days and tempered seasons, abundant seeds, ample meat. In wilderness there is mystery yet, unsimplified, not reduced, resplendent and immense.

Whatever the conclusion of this planet, however many the acts to follow in this consuming drama—mountains coming up, mountains going down, forests, lakes, and seas skimming past like wind-driven scud clouds before a storm—at least in the scant shadow of this present age there is an achievement of sorts. For now, with this creature man, such things as mountains can be loved. And men have memories to fill.

Tomorrow I will look for shooting stars—purple spring flowers that point their fire down, always down toward the center of the Earth, as if to give in their brief term beneath the sun a tribute to this most excellent mystery.

Today I can say nothing more, neck-sore now from looking at larchtops swaying with the wind of this splendid morning.

Appendix

Mammals of Glacier National Park

Distribution information was obtained from _Meet the Mammals of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park_, by Robert C. Gildart (see Reading List). Nomenclature follows, for the most part, _a Field Guide to Mammals_, by William H. Burt and Richard P. Grossenheider.

Key to symbols: E—occurs east of Continental Divide (spruce-fir forest; aspen; bunchgrass meadows) W—occurs west of Continental Divide (redcedar-hemlock-lodgepole-fir-larch forest; some meadows) A—occurs in alpine areas (above upper edge of continuous forest) R—rare in Glacier National Park

Shrews Masked shrew, _Sorex cinereus_ E, W, coniferous forests, meadows, pond and stream edges Vagrant shrew, _Sorex vagrans_ E, W, A, moist forests and grasslands, marsh and stream edges Northern water shrew, _Sorex palustris_ E, W, stream edges

Bats Little brown myotis, _Myotis lucifugus_ E, W, coniferous forests, often around buildings, caves; nocturnal Long-eared myotis, _Myotis evotis_ E, W, A, R, coniferous forests, meadows; nocturnal Long-legged myotis, _Myotis volans_ E, W, A, coniferous forests, meadows; nocturnal Big brown bat, _Eptesicus fuscus_ E, W, coniferous forests; often around buildings, caves; nocturnal Silver-haired bat, _Lasionycteris noctivagans_ E, W, coniferous forests; meadows; nocturnal Hoary bat, _Lasiurus cinereus_ E, W, coniferous forests; mostly nocturnal

Cats Bobcat, _Lynx rufus_ E, open forests, brushy areas Lynx, _Lynx canadensis_ E, W, coniferous forests Cougar, _Felis concolor_ E, W, coniferous forests

Raccoon, bears Raccoon, _Procyon lotor_ E, W, R, open forests, stream bottoms Black bear, _Ursus americanus_ E, W, A, forests, slide areas, alpine meadows Grizzly, _Ursus arctos_ E, W, A, forests, slide areas, alpine meadows

Canines Red Fox, _Vulpes vulpes_ E, grasslands, open forest Coyote, _Canis latrans_ E, W, A, forests, grasslands Gray wolf, _Canis lupus_ E, W, R, coniferous forests

Mustelids Striped skunk, _Mephitis mephitis_ E, W, open forests, grasslands Badger, _Taxidea taxus_ E, W, grasslands River otter, _Lutra canadensis_ E, W, R, rivers, lakes Wolverine, _Gulo gulo_ E, W, A, coniferous forests, alpine meadows Least weasel, _Mustela rixosa_ E, R, open forests, grasslands Shorttail weasel, _Mustela erminea_ E, W, A, coniferous forests, meadows Longtail weasel, _Mustela frenata_ E, W, A, open forests, meadows Mink, _Mustela vison_ E, W, creek and lake edges Marten, _Martes americana_ E, W, A, coniferous forests Fisher, _Martes pennanti_ E, W, R, coniferous forests

Lagomorphs Pika, _Ochotona princeps_ E, W, A, rockslides Snowshoe hare, _Lepus americanus_ E, W, coniferous forests Whitetail jackrabbit, _Lepus townsendii_ E, W, R, grasslands

Squirrels Hoary marmot, _Marmota caligata_ E, W, A, rocky areas, alpine meadows Richardson ground squirrel, _Spermophilus richardsonii_ E, R, grasslands Columbian ground squirrel, _Citellus columbianus_ E, W, A, open woodlands, grasslands, alpine meadows Thirteen-lined ground squirrel, _Spermophilus tridecemlineatus_ E, R, grasslands Golden-mantled squirrel, _Spermophilus lateralis_ E, W, A, high, open forests; rocky areas Least chipmunk, _Eutamias minimus_ E, W, A, high, open forests; brushy, rocky areas; alpine meadows Yellow pine chipmunk, _Eutamias amoenus_ E, W, open forests; brushy, rocky areas Redtail chipmunk, _Eutamias ruficaudus_ E, W, open forests; brushy, rocky areas Red squirrel, _Tamiasciurus hudsonicus_ E, W, coniferous forests Northern flying squirrel, _Glaucomys sabrinus_ E, W, coniferous forests; nocturnal

Pocket gophers Northern pocket gopher, _Thomomys talpoides_ E, W, A, meadows

Beaver Beaver, _Castor canadensis_ E, W, streams, lakes

Voles and kin Deer mouse, _Peromyscus maniculatus_ E, W, A, forests, grasslands, alpine meadows Bushytail woodrat, _Neotoma cinerea_ E, W, A, rocky areas, old buildings Northern bog lemming, _Synaptomys borealis_ W, R, coniferous forests Mountain phenacomys, _Phenacomys intermedius_ E, W, A, coniferous forests, alpine meadows Boreal redback vole, _Clethrionomys gapperi_ E, W, coniferous forests Meadow vole, _Microtus pennsylvanicus_ E, W, open forests, meadows; along streams; marshy areas Longtail vole, _Microtus longicaudus_ E, W, coniferous forests, grasslands Water vole, _Arvicola richardsoni_ E, W, A, high-elevation stream and lake edges Muskrat, _Ondatra zibethica_ W, streams, lakes, marshy areas Western jumping mouse, _Zapus princeps_ E, W, A, grasslands, alpine meadows

Deer Wapiti (American elk), _Cervus canadensis_ E, W, A, open forests, meadows Mule deer, _Odocoileus hemionus_ E, W, A, open forests, meadows, often at high elevations Whitetail deer, _Odocoileus virginianus_ E, W, coniferous forests, meadows, creek and river bottoms Moose, _Alces alces_ E, W, coniferous forests, lakes, slow streams, marshy areas

Bovids Mountain goat, _Oreamnos americanus_ E, W, A, high peaks and meadows Bighorn, _Ovis canadensis_ E, A, open mountainous areas

Reptiles and Amphibians of Glacier National Park

Note: This check list is based upon actual specimens in the Park and other collections, according to Dr. Royal Brunson, Montana State University.

Reptiles Great Basin Garter Snake, _Thamnophis elegans vagrans_ A large garter snake of mountainous areas, usually with large spots.

Great Plains Red-sided Garter Snake, _Thamnophis ordinoides parietalis_ Dorsal stripes varying from yellow to blue or black. Usually found near water.

Hypothetical List: Rubber Boa, _Charina bottae utahensis_ May occur in rock slides or, possibly, in forested areas, on either side of the Divide.

Gopher Snake, _Pituophis catenifer sayi_ May occur along eastern boundary (Great Plains).

Yellow-bellied Blue Racer, _Coluber constrictor mormon_ May occur on eastern boundary of Park along border of Great Plains.

Painted Turtle, _Chrysemys picta_ May occur in ponds and sluggish waters from Upper Sonoran Zone to Canadian Zone.

Western Skink, _Eumeces skiltonianus_ May occur in Transition Zone along western border of Park.

Northern Alligator Lizard, _Gerrhonotus coeruleus principis_ May occur in Transition Zone along western border of Park.

Amphibians Tiger Salamander, _Ambystoma tigrinum melanostrictum_ Ground color either black or bluish-black, with large spots or blotches of yellow.

Long-toed Salamander, _Ambystoma macrodactylum_ Ground color black or dark brown; wide band of yellow extends from back of head to tip of tail.

Northwestern Toad, _Bufo boreas boreas_ Widely distributed over entire Park. (Also known as Columbian, Northern, or Western Toad.)

Western Spotted Frog, _Rana pretiosa pretiosa_ Widely distributed over entire Park. (Also known as Western or Pacific Frog.)

Green Frog, _Rana clamitans_ One specimen, from Bowman Lake. (Chicago Natural History Museum)

Tailed Frog, _Ascaphus truei_ Should be fairly common, although it is not often taken.

Pacific Tree-toad, _Hyla regilla_ Small size and disks on fingers and toes identify this species. Common throughout Park.

Fishes of Glacier National Park

Classification and common scientific names are from: “A List of Common and Scientific Names of Fishes from the United States and Canada,” American Fisheries Society Publication No. 2, 1960.

Key to symbols: N Species native to at least one major drainage of the Park. I Non-native species, having been introduced into Park waters by man. S A species of sporting qualities and valued for recreational angling. 1 Waterton Drainage 2 Belly River Drainage 3 Swiftcurrent Drainage 4 St. Mary Drainage 5 Two Medicine Drainage 6 Middle Fork Flathead River Drainage (exclusive of McDonald Valley) 7 McDonald Valley Drainage 8 North Fork Flathead River Drainage

Family _Salmonidae_ (trouts, whitefishes, and grayling) Lake Whitefish, _Coregonus clupeaformis_ (I) (1, 2, 3, 4, 7) Pygmy Whitefish, _Prosopium coulteri_ (N) (7) Mountain Whitefish, _Prosopium williamsoni_ (N) (S) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) Kokanee (Sockeye) Salmon, _Oncorhyncus nerka_ (I) (S) (3, 7, 8) Cutthroat Trout, _Salmo clarki_ (N) (S) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) Rainbow Trout, _Salmo gairdneri_ (I) (S) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7) Brook Trout, _Salvelinus fontinalis_ (I) (S) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) Dolly Varden, _Salvelinus malma_ (N) (S) (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8) Lake Trout, _Salvelinus namaycush_ (N) (S) (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8) Arctic Grayling, _Thymallus arcticus_ (I) (S) (2, 8)

Family _Esocidae_ (pikes) Northern pike, _Esox lucius_ (N) (S) (1, 2, 3)