Tag Archives: Glacier National Park

Glacier Park’s climate a paradox – both wetter and drier

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Here’s an interesting article from the Hungry Horse News on the shifting climate in Glacier National Park . . .

Precipitation in Glacier National Park over the past few decades is up about 14 percent, but the Park is actually drier in many respects, with streams hitting low flows earlier than usual and wildfires occurring more frequently.

How can that be? Trees, U.S. Geological Survey scientist Dan Fagre explained at a recent talk in Apgar. While the Park may be wetter, it’s also warmer. And with warmth, there’s been less snow on average than in the past, he said.

With less snow, the treeline in Glacier Park has slowly but surely moved higher in elevation. And with more trees growing in the Park, there is more evapotranspiration, Fagre said. The trees draw water out of the ground and release it into the atmosphere, creating drier conditions, particularly in late July and August.

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Some of last winter’s snow persists in Glacier and other parts of Rockies

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From today’s Missoulian . . .

Scientists who monitor the effects of global warming are watching glaciers shrink all over the world, but this year could be an exception in parts of the Rocky Mountains.

Snow is already piling up in the high country, but not all of the unusually deep snow from last winter has melted. As a result, some glaciers and snowfields are actually gaining volume this year.

Scientists have measured new ice in Glacier National Park and atop Colorado’s Front Range mountains. In northwest Wyoming, there is photographic evidence of snowfield growth…

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Biologist tells Glacier employees that 1.3 million acres of roadless lands vulnerable

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From the Missoulian . . .

Despite a legacy of conservation in the Crown of the Continent ecosystem, a biologist told Glacier National Park employees Tuesday that 1.3 million acres of roadless public lands remain vulnerable, and with them a suite of fish and wildlife species…

Although the core of the ecosystem is protected by the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat and Great Bear wildernesses – as well as the first-ever Tribal Wilderness in the Mission Mountains – 1.33 million acres of roadless area “is still up for grabs,” Weaver said…

…he stressed the importance of habitat connectivity along the periphery of conservation lands in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, and in particular on the Rocky Mountain Front, along the North and Middle Forks of the Flathead River, and in the Swan Range.

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Seriously cold-water bugs

Environmental Issues, News, ,

An interesting article on rare, cold-water insect species found in Glacier National Park and, if you read carefully, the North Fork . . .

Slowly but surely, Joe Giersch has been scouring streams below glaciers and snowfields in Glacier National Park for rare and mysterious aquatic insects that in some cases haven’t been detected anywhere else on earth.

The effort has been paying off for Giersch, an aquatic entomologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who is based out of West Glacier.

“There’s a whole host of these alpine stream insects that are not only isolated below these high alpine streams, but many of these species are only found in this part of the world,” Giersch said.

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Proposed bill could open up Glacier Park to Homeland Security projects

Environmental Issues, News, , , , , ,

An important story posted to this week’s Hungry Horse News concerning the so-called “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act.” Recommended reading . . .

Glacier National Park’s border with Canada is marked by broad prairies and majestic mountains. A bill in Congress co-sponsored by Rep. Dennis Rehberg could conceivably allow the Department of Homeland Security to put roads and other access venues in areas currently managed as wilderness.

The proposed “National Security and Federal Lands Protection Act” would give Homeland Security broad powers over land that borders foreign countries.

According to the bill, “The Secretary of Homeland Security shall have immediate access to any public land managed by the federal government (including land managed by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture) for purposes of conducting activities that assist in securing the border (including access to maintain and construct roads, construct a fence, use vehicles to patrol, and set up monitoring equipment).”

The bill also would allow Homeland Security to waive a host of environmental laws…

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Web site aims to protect Glacier Park and its surroundings

Environmental Issues, News, ,

From this week’s Hungry Horse News . . .

A new Web site created by the National Parks Conservation Association aims to expose some of the threats facing Glacier National Park.

ProtectGlacier.com keeps an eye on the Park’s environmental news and showcases legislation NPCA and other partners support, most notably the North Fork Watershed Protection Act.

The Act, sponsored by Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, would ban any future mining and energy development in the North Fork watershed.

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Lake trout removal tactics paying off

Environmental Issues, News, ,

The Daily Inter Lake has a pretty interesting report on the progress being made to remove invasive lake trout from Quartz Lake in Glacier National Park . . .

It’s been rough and wearying work plying the waters of Glacier National Park’s remote Quartz Lake for unwanted lake trout, but the effort appears promising so far.

Since the experimental suppression project got under way in 2009, more than 1,500 non-native lake trout have been removed from the lake through spring and fall gill netting.

“All the signs are indicating that we are making a dent up there for sure,” said Clint Muhlfeld, an aquatic research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “We saw a pretty dramatic decline over the course of the spring sampling.”

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‘If Glacier leaves you speechless, speak up’ – ProtectGlacier.com launched

Environmental Issues, News, , , , , ,

Many of you already got an email from the National Parks Conservation Association announcing the opening of the “Protect Glacier” website. For those who haven’t seen the big announcement yet, here it is:

More than 30 years ago, fans of Glacier National Park were alarmed to learn of Canadian coal mining plans that would tear down entire mountains along the park’s northwestern border.

Today, after decades of international negotiation and diplomacy, those plans finally have been scuttled, with Canada pledging to protect the park’s world-class waterways from upstream mining.  Today the United States is working to do the same.

Even as major energy companies (including Chevron, BP, Exxon and ConocoPhillips) volunteer to retire their mining and drilling leases on Glacier’s western fringe, lawmakers struggle to pass protective measures prohibiting future mining of public lands in the North Fork Flathead River drainage.

That’s why a coalition of concerned citizens and Glacier Park lovers  — with help from the National Parks Conservation Association — has brought this historic issue into the dot.com future, with a website and clearing house dedicated to resolving land-use conflicts in the transboundary Flathead.

ProtectGlacier.com went live this week, a virtual world where visitors can explore maps and photographs from the Flathead, can learn about what’s at stake and flipthrough years of reports and research. They can read the latest park news, Tweet and re-Tweet and link to Facebook, and they can listen to what people are saying about the North Fork Watershed Protection Act.  That legislation (S.233) has been introduced by Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, and would withdraw public lands adjacent to the park from future drilling – just as the Canadians have done on their side of the border.

Online visitors to the site can sign a ProtectGlacier.com letter of support of the legislation, adding their voices to the thousands who already have spoken up on behalf of America’s finest alpine park.

This Website represents the future – our future, Glacier Park’s future – but it’s also just the latest chapter in a very old story, a story that Glacier’s advocates have been helping to write for decades. This is, in fact, how history gets written. So pick up that keyboard, and be sure to add a few lines of your own at ProtectGlacier.com.

Further reading: The National Parks Traveler website also has a good article about the ProtectGlacier.com site.

Glacier Park backcountry is slowly opening up

News,

From this week’s Hungry Horse News . . .

After a long, cold winter and equally cold spring, all but four of Glacier National Park’s backcountry campgrounds are now open.

As of presstime, Brown Pass, Hole-in-the-Wall, Sperry Chalet and Beaver Woman Lake were the only campgrounds that remained closed.

The four are closed “due to sensitive environmental conditions,” which usually means they’re too wet, have snow or may have seen other winter damage. Hole-in-the-Wall in particular usually opens late due to snow.

While many backcountry campgrounds are open, finding a spot may prove challenging…

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