2025 GNPVA Speakers Series
All presentations are Free and open to the Public. Northwest Montana History Museum at 124 2nd Ave East, Kalispell at 7:00 pm.
The presentations will not be recorded for later viewing.
Paul Austin – January 27– Retired Chief Ranger in Glacier National Park
An Inside Look into Everything it Takes to Locate and Assist Injured and Lost Visitors in a Million-Acre Park with Few Roads
Paul retired last year after 28 years working for our National Parks. He started worked the summer of 1995 in the Belly River area of Glacier National Park as a Student Conservation Association Intern and was fortunate enough to work with teams in Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Denali, and Saguaro National Parks before coming back to Glacier as the park's Chief Ranger in 2014.
His connection to Glacier National Park also involves his mother and grandfather, who worked at the Many Glacier Hotel. Paul is proud to continue that family tradition, and that his kids are the fourth generation of his family to live in the park.
Paul and his wife have two sons and two dogs. They do many outdoor activities throughout the seasons in Northwest Montana, including backpacking, mountain biking, skiing, and traveling.
Gina Icenoggle – February 24 – Public Information Officer, Glacier National Park
Introduction to Native American Culture
Gina will share a guide to build cultural awareness of American Indian and Alaska Natives by illuminating the origins, history, and challenges facing native populations. Expect a two hour presentation with a brief intermission.
Gina Icenoggle is Amskapi Pikuni (Southern Piegan Blackfeet) and grew up on the D-K Ranch, owned by her family for four generations near Del Bonita, MT on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Her parents are Bill and Georgia Icenoggle of Del Bonita; her grandparents are George and Eva (DuBray) Hoyt of Del Bonita; and Melvin and Lila (Nicholls) Icenoggle of Twin Bridges, MT. Her maternal great-great grandmother was Under Fox Woman who was the lone survivor of a massacre at Fort Benton on the Upper Missouri River Breaks.
She started her position as Glacier National Park’s Public Information Officer in May 2020. As the PIO she handles internal and external (media) communications. She is also the Freedom of Information Officer and the liaison between the park and private landowners inside the park.
Before coming to Glacier National Park, Gina worked for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service for 30 years in public affairs and private-land conservation in Montana, Missouri, Oregon, Hawaii, Alaska and Washington state. Early in her career with USDA, she was recruited to begin a 25-year journey to create and instruct a class titled “Working Effectively with American Indians” for federal employees on reservations across the US. She served for two years as the national president of the American Indian Alaska Native Employees Association for NRCS. Gina was also the tribal liaison for NRCS in Oregon for eight years.
Gina earned a B.A. in Mass Communication and Public Information at Montana State University while competing for the Bobcat rodeo team. She also holds a B.S. in General Agriculture from Oregon State University. When not working, she enjoys helping at the ranch, enjoying her new grand baby, and competing at rodeos as a break-away roper.
Pete Webster – March 24 – Deputy Superintendent – Glacier National Park
Glacier Park Updates - Visitor Use Management 2025
Glacier National Park has tested how to get more visitors into the park while protecting animals and habitat for several years and has learned a lot. There are major projects going on across its million acres. Come hear this wide-ranging update and interact with Pete.
Pete has worked in nine national parks over an almost 40-year career, from Alaska to south Florida, although most of the time has been moving back and forth between Glacier and Yellowstone. Pete held 14 seasonal park jobs in his first 10 years before becoming a permanent law enforcement ranger. Then he was a ranger in Katmai and Yellowstone, District Ranger in Sequoia and Glacier, Deputy Chief Ranger at Shenandoah, and Chief Ranger at Denali. His law enforcement tenure culminated as Chief Ranger of Yellowstone when he returned to Glacier as Deputy Superintendent in June of 2019.
Pete met his wife, Dawn, at Michigan State and they have done most of this park service journey together. Their two oldest children were born while stationed at Old Faithful and their third was born while in Sequoia just weeks before moving back to St Mary. While none of their children were interested in pursuing the NPS themselves, they have thoroughly enjoyed the many adventures of living in national parks across the country.
