Glacier National Park is 100 years old -- and in big trouble

[RWebb]

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press Writer

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. (AP) -- Age has not been kind to Glacier National Park.

The gorgeous million-acre park in northwestern Montana celebrated its 100th birthday on Tuesday. But many of its glaciers have melted, and scientists predict the rest may not last another decade.

The forests are drier and disease-ridden, leading to bigger wildfires. Climate change is forcing animals that feed off plants to adapt.

Many experts consider Glacier Park a harbinger of Earth's future, a laboratory where changes in the environment will likely show up first.

"What national parks all give us is, in effect, a controlled landscape where we can see the natural and climatic processes at work," said Steve Running, a University of Montana professor and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in 2007 for his work on climate change.

Average temperatures have risen in the park 1.8 times faster than the global average, said Dan Fagre, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist.

The change is visible to the naked eye, with the vast moraines left behind as the giant glaciers melt away. Climate change is blamed for the increasing size and frequency of wildfires, and lower stream flows as summer progresses.

What this all means for the bears, wolves and other big predators in the park is unclear, Fagre said.

* * *

Fagre said that based on geologic evidence, the park had about 150 glaciers in 1850, the end of the so-called Little Ice Age. Most would have still been around when the park was established in 1910.

Only about 25 named glaciers are left, and they could be gone by 2020, Fagre said.

* * *

[legion]

Oh no! The world is changing! We must keep it perfectly static based on some arbitrary standard!

[Red88Carrera]

+1

[ODDJOB UNO]

yeah thats about a national parks lifespan.

[Erakad]

Give it a good 50K years....glaciers will be back.

I'm not worried.

[Scuba Steve]

Wonder if there were any glaciers there before the last ice age?

[slakjaw]

I am thinking about using some vacation time this year to go up there.

[slakjaw]

Humans sure are slow to change. And some think they can control the climate? oh well. I still wanna see the park.

[k9handler]

Lived here in Montana for 3 years now and never been to Glacier. All the talk about snow melting away, yet the roads there are still closed due to snow.
Each of the past three years we have had horrible winters, just two weeks ago we had a major winter storm that killed hundreds of cattle and closed roads for days...it's freakin MAY! Last year we had six + inches of snow in June...guess my point is I would not mind a little global (heck just Montana) warming.

[cgarr]

So they may have to change the name of the park from GLACIER NATIONAL PARK to maybe: COCONUT GROVE NATIONAL PARK?

[Joeaksa]

You guys are NOT helping RWebb at all.

He is looking for more "tree hugger sympathy" and is not getting ANY on this thread.

What are we going to do? The world is changing? Go hide in the cave again?


HD, know what you mean. Lived in Helena for a while and loved it there, but the place is so big and rugged that its hard to see everything. Beautiful state!

[LakeCleElum]

Al Gore? Paging Al Gore...........

[Rick Lee]

Yeah, and there was a rock slide at Zion around 1990 that totally changed the place too. Really ruined my second trip there, since I was expecting it to look the same as when I was first there in 1980. And that collapse at Arches last year too. Damn! The Earth is supposed to stay exactly the way we like it. It's here for us and how dare it change. Anyway, once that caldera under Yellowstone blows, global warming will be reversed for eons and it will still be George Bush's fault.

[Superman]

Originally Posted by slakjaw

Humans .......some think they can control the climate?

And some think humans cannot impact climate. They, and several industries coincidentally, take the position that climate change has nothing to do with things like deforestation and the millions of tons of material our machinery deposits into the air daily. This way, they can summarily dismiss any and all discussions about environmental stewardship.

[cgarr]

Global Warming Stress Syndrome Increasing, Psychologist Says

Dr. Hyde described typical symptoms: “A belief that mankind causes every bad event, excessive hand-wringing, frequent bowel movements, a tendency to lurk on Internet message boards and post things such as, ‘There is a consensus! There is a consensus!’, an irrational desire to measure one’s personal ‘carbon footprint.’” But the most worrying of all is the, “Urge to make idiotic comments in public tying global warming to any event.”

[89911]

I just can't understand how you can extrapolate from a brief span of time and conclude theories. What about the theory that we are still coming out of an ice age and that warming is a natural occurrence?

[island911]

You think that is bad, you should see Mt Saint Helens ... the whole top blew off!

We really should have a massive tax to pay for a massive effort to scoop-up all of the ash and dirt scattered around the States, and return it to it's proper place.

...and then transplant all new trees.(gti)

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by legion

Oh no! The world is changing! We must keep it perfectly static based on some arbitrary standard!

Well put!

[scottmandue]

What possible impact could six billion people have?

Yeah, you guys have it all figured out...

[island911]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

What possible impact could six billion people have?
Yeah, you guys have it all figured out...

Kill them all? Will that put everything "right"?

Seriously, it's clear that you don't have it all figured out ...or even kind of figured out. The fact of the matter is; it is what it is. ...nature, that is. And, regardless of impact on nature, mankind is not separate from nature; anymore than trees are separate from nature.