Covering just over 1 million acres, Glacier National Park straddles the Continental Divide in northwestern Montana. Diverse vegetation communities include moist western cedar- western hemlock (Thuja plicata - Tsuga heterophylla) old growth forests similar to those of the Pacific Coast, dry western grasslands and prairies, dense lodgepole pine forests (Pinus contorta var. latifolia), ponderosa pine (P. ponderosa) savannas, mixed conifer forests, and alpine and subalpine meadows. The diversity and complexity of the park's vegetation and wildlife necessitates innovative, long-term, and holistic management based on scientific knowledge. Fire history studies and records show that much of the park west of the Continental Divide has burned since the mid-1800's (Barrett and others 1991). Moreover, fire has been an essential process in defining vegetation communities and mosaics in the park for centuries and probably for millennia.