Glacier National Park continues to lose its glaciers

On Wednesday (7 April 2010), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released an updated review of glacier retreat in Glacier National Park (GNP) (see news stories here and here). In conjunction with this new information, the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization (RMCO) and National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a new report, Glacier National Park in Peril, detailing the impacts climate change could have on the park’s ecosystems and tourism.

According to USGS, of the 37 named glaciers in the park, only 25 remain large enough to still be considered glaciers (minimum size of a glacier is 25 acres). Eleven of the 12 glaciers have disappeared since 1966—two of which (Shepard and Miche Wabun glacier) have fallen below 25 acres since 2005. USGS predicts that all the park’s glaciers will vanish by 2030, if not before.

To see a photographic slide show of glacier retreat within the park over the last 100 years, click here.

USGS data reveals that since 1900, the mean annual average temperature for the park and the surrounding area has increased 1.33°C (2.4°F), which is 1.8 times the global average temperature increase. According to the Glacier National Park in Peril report, data shows that from 2000 through 2008, “western Montana averaged eight days more per year of 90°F or higher and eight days fewer of 0°F or lower, compared to 1900 through 1979.”

The U.S. Global Change Research Program reported in Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States that the U.S. Northwest is projected to warm 3 to 10°F this century, with higher temperature projections associated with higher emission scenarios. 

Climate change is altering Glacier National Park’s landscape. This will have major implications for wildlife and tourism. The NRDC/RMCO report highlights the following impacts.

• Loss of wildlife: Extensive changes in species composition could occur from a changing landscape and ecosystem disruption. GNP hosts a variety of unique large mammals such as the grizzly and black bear, wolves, lynx, wolverines, mountain lions, mountain goats, bighorn sheep and elk.
• Water loss: Higher temperatures in the summer coupled with earlier snowmelt and reduced summer meltwater from shrinking glaciers could significantly disrupt ecosystems.
• Disruption of plant communities: “The park's expanses of alpine tundra, meadows, and wildflowers, plus a rare cedar-hemlock ecosystem, could all be reduced.” Disease from insects such as the mountain pine beetle could amplify.
• More Wildfires: A hotter, drier climate could lead to more wildfires, possibly causing trail closures, campfire bans and diminished visitation.
• Fishing loss: Higher stream temperatures can result in trout stress, which may lead to fishing closures or eliminate trout from certain streams.

Many of these effects have consequences for popular tourism attractions. Two million visitors a year come to GNP (11th most visited national park), generating jobs and revenue. The most recent economic analysis of revenue and jobs occurred in 2002. The National Park Service estimated that GNP directly generated 3,200 jobs and another 850 indirectly. Additionally, estimates reveal that park visitors contributed $160 million to Montana’s economy. However, the NRDC/RMCO report believes this number is low because in 2009 visitation was 5% higher and a 2008 survey revealed that 29% of out-of-state visitors cited GNP as their primary reason for visiting Montana—this group spent over $3 billion in Montana.

Glacier National Park is not the only park in peril. National parks all over the country, in every U.S. region, are predicted to experience impacts from a changing climate. See WWF’s National Parks in Danger, which draws from another NRDC/RMCO report, called National Parks in Peril.