[R]escue teams have scaled back their search for a former Vermont environmental leader who went missing in Glacier National Park in Montana earlier this month.
Mark Sinclair, who held leadership positions at the Vermont Conservation Law Foundation and Clean Energy Group, was last seen on July 8. He passed through a park visitor center at 2:30 p.m., leaving behind his car, keys, and dog. He wore a yellow bandana.
Two visitors reported that they saw Sinclair later on July 8, but there has been no sign of him since. According to a park press release, officials actively searched for Sinclair between July 9 and July 18 before moving the search to a “limited continuous mode.” The press release stated that the investigation will carry on in a “reduced capacity.”
Missing person posters will be posted throughout the park for the duration of the summer.
Park officials said the area where the search was conducted is “characterized by steep slopes with cliff faces frequently over 100 feet high.” Officials closed the trail over the weekend of July 13 because a grizzly bear was charging visitors.
“The Highline Trail poses unique challenges when bears frequent the area because there is often very little space for hikers to move aside if bears come through,” the press release reads.
According to National Parks Traveler, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department assisted Glacier National Park Search and Rescue team members. The search included ground patrols, canine units, a search drone, and a volunteer search and rescue division.
Two Bear Air and the U.S. Forest Service provided daytime aerial search capacity and nighttime infrared flights. The U.S. Geological Survey also assisted with search drone support.
Sinclair was semi-retired and based out of Whitefish, Montana, at the time of his disappearance. He was briefly employed at Glacier National Park as a visitor services assistant earlier this summer.
Prior to his time out west, however, Sinclair was a significant figure in the Vermont environmental community.
Sinclair was the director of the Vermont Conservation Law Foundation for many years, and later the vice president of the Clean Energy Group. During Sinclair’s time in the state, Paul Burns, the executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, said that Sinclair was “the best kind of ally.”
“He was incredibly smart and hardworking, but also generous, kind and quick with a smile,” Burns wrote in an email. “He cared about people and the beautiful places he fought so hard to protect. It’s heartbreaking to wake up each day now and think of him as missing.”
Chris Kilian, the current vice president of strategic litigation CLF and a former director, said Sinclair initially hired him — and that in the years since then, Sinclair has been a “close friend and colleague.”
“Mark was a great friend,” Kilian said. “Well, I keep catching myself using the past tense here: Mark has been a great friend and was a great colleague. He was both very inspirational in his commitment to environmental protection and environmental law, as well as supportive of my work and my career.”
While the park has reduced the scale of its investigation, both Burns and Kilian noted that they are holding out hope for Sinclair’s return. The park statement said that rangers will continue their efforts for the foreseeable future.
“We continue to ask the public to think back to their visits to the park last week. Additional sightings or the discovery of Mark’s belongings could help investigators identify new search tactics,” search commander Ed Visnovske said in the press release. “The park deeply appreciates the efforts of our county and federal partners.”
