It has been a quiet year at the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area. But changes are still coming, and residents can still weigh in on a plan that will make a long-term impact to the region’s famous attraction.
Barbara Miranda is the recreation area’s director. She said she’s looking forward to seeing tourism bounce back in 2021.
“Even with this downturn in visitation in 2020, we’re still being told by our consultants that we’re anticipating about a million, close to a million visitors annually by 2040,” she said.
She also said there have been some changes and modifications to the plan that the public should know about.
“We’re proposing to make the Nugget Falls trail into a loop and we’re proposing to put some public use cabins in the campground,” said Miranda.
Miranda said other changes also include new trailheads and creating more opportunities to view wildlife. Some residents have already voiced their concerns over the proposed changes.
“Comments submitted earlier in the process stand and don’t need to be resubmitted,” she said. “Folks should be looking at those things that have been modified since the last scoping period [which] was last February of 2020.”
Previous versions of the plan included the controversial addition of boats that would take visitors across Mendenhall Lake to see the glacier up close. Because the glacier is receding, it eventually won’t be visible from where the visitor center is.
As it now stands, Miranda says the plan proposes to build three docks to allow boats on Mendenhall Lake. One by the visitor center, one by the glacier and one on the west side of the lake.
The deadline for this round of public comments is Jan. 15. Miranda said the Forest Service will release an environmental impact statement around summer 2021, followed by another round of public comments.
A previous version of this story stated that the decision to use boats on Mendenhall Lake has been postponed. That proposal has been revised since spring 2021. The current plan proposes building three docks on the lake.
