"We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes -- something known only to her and to the mountain."
Written more than 50 years ago, this well known passage from the early career of conservationist Aldo Leopold has inspired many. He had killed the wolf not because he was in danger, but because he had wanted to see more deer on that mountain available for sportsman. But without a natural predator, deer overran the forests, destroying the natural balance created by the mountain, the unintended consequences of removing just a single element from the system.
Are we watching the fierce green fire dying from the mountainsides of Glacier National Park? The disappearing element this time isn't wolves, it is instead the park's namesake glaciers. When this region of northern Montana was designated the country's 10th national park in 1910, there were 150 glaciers inside its borders. Today, that number is down to 27, and shrinking fast. When the ice melts, new rocks are exposed which hold the sun's heat and help melt the glaciers faster. Water from glacial melt speeds up the process too by acting as a lubricant between the glacial ice and the rock that it rests on. It is estimated that Glacier National Park will have no more glaciers in less than 25 years from now. Global warming is the cause.
But Glacier isn't the only park suffering from the effects of warming temperatures, it isn't even the only one at risk of loosing its namesake. According to the National Park Service, Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California may be losing its population of Joshua trees, which need cool winters and freezing temperatures to flower and set their seeds. And, if sea levels rise as predicted with the melting polar ice caps, coastal parks and parks at very low elevation, like the Everglades National Park, could be irrevocably altered. The warming temperatures have meant a far greater risk of wildfire. The number of acres burned during the 2006 fire season set a 45-year-high. Animals are at risk, too. The pika, a small mouse-like creature that lives among the mountainside rocks in places like Yosemite and Mount Rainier (among others), are moving higher and higher in elevation each year to seek cooler temperatures. At some point, they won't be able to escape the warmer temps and extinction will occur.
Just like Leopold's wolf, the late arriving winters, early spring snow melts, and vanishing ice of Glacier National Park represent just the tipping of the problems for a delicate natural system that depends on snow, ice, and a balance of temperatures. Consider the snowshoe hare or the ptarmigan which change their appearances to match the white snows of winter or the grey colors of summer, depending on the season. When snows continually melt early, these creatures cannot adapt fast enough, and their seasonal camouflage betrays them. When glaciers melt away, streams that had been fed by the cold runoff warm up. As the stream temperatures rise, the types of organisms, like bugs, fish, and plants which needed the cold water, die off in those areas. Even the high mountain meadows of Glacier are at risk. Heavy snowpacks had meant a very short growing season during the summer months, but when snows melt early, tree seedlings take root and survive, significantly altering the mountain landscape.
Our system of national parks were established, in part, to protect the complex systems of the natural world. Because of the far reaching and complex effects of global warming, the National Park Service has been put in a situation where it may be impossible to fulfill its objective to conserve the scenery, natural objects and wildlife unimpaired for future generations. Aldo Leopold, years after he had written about his wolf experience, described conservation as the "state of harmony between men and land". The message from the land is growing louder by the day, and if harmony is to be achieved, mankind better make some changes soon.
Jeremy Sullivan is the founder of the blog www.parkremark.com, where he provides "a perspective on our National Parks not offered through ordinary channels."
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