Tourists Find Montana Still Pretty Wild

Bear maulings. Mountain lion attacks. Charging bison. Armed highwaymen shooting at hapless tourists. And to top it all off, a foot of snow in the middle of August.

Montana’s summer has generated headlines that would make tourist officials anywhere else blanch.

But the folks here say the headlines, particularly those about bears and lions and summer snow, reinforce the Big Sky state’s reputation as one of the country’s last frontiers.

“It’s not the publicity we’re looking for, but it lets people know that there are wild animals out here,” said Matthew Cohn, acting director of the state promotion division in the Department of Commerce.

Visits to Glacier and Yellowstone national parks are on a record pace, although tourist numbers for August, when most of the incidents occurred, will not be counted until after Labor Day.

It’s been a rough summer for tourists:

* A 12-year-old Arizona boy was seriously injured by a mountain lion in Glacier National Park this month.

* An Oregon man was mauled by a grizzly bear this month in another section of the park.

* In Yellowstone National Park, a Montana woman was mauled by a grizzly sow, and two tourists were gored by bison in separate incidents this summer.

* A Maryland family was chased in their car, shot at and robbed on U.S. Highway 93 southwest of Glacier this month, and three local youths were arrested. A day later, a North Carolina man was charged with shooting at a Minnesota couple on Interstate 15 near Great Falls.

Then on Aug. 22, a snowstorm dumped up to 16 inches on parts of Montana.

Yellowstone spokeswoman Joan Anzelmo said that through July, 1.7 million people had visited the nation’s first national park, 10% more than last year, and this year’s total is expected to top 3 million.