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Video updates climate change impacts in Glacier National Park

This 2009 photo by the U.S. Geological Service shows remnants of the Jackson Glacier at Glacier National Park.  (Associated Press)
This 2009 photo by the U.S. Geological Service shows remnants of the Jackson Glacier at Glacier National Park. (Associated Press)

WEST GLACIER, MT.  – A new video, entitled A Changing Landscape: Glacier’s Warming Climate, explores current research on Glacier’s melting glaciers and how Glacier National Park’s ecosystem is responding to climate change.

Glacier, where the impacts of climate change at Glacier National Park are becoming increasingly evident, is a good laboratory for study.  From about 150 glaciers within the present boundaries of the park in 1850, the number has dwindled to 25 glaciers --and the survivors are predicted to disappear by 2030, if not earlier.

The video was shared at the recent Crown of the Continent meeting in Missoula by University of Montana graduate student Sarah Moody. She produced and edited the video as part of her graduate studies with help from photographer Stephanie Oster.

“Ecosystem impacts are more profound than the visual loss of losing glaciers,” said Glacier National Park Superintendent Jeff Mow.  “Although fossil records show that many species have adapted over time to changes in climate, the rapid rate of climate warming we’re currently experiencing is what will be challenging for many species, he explained.

Drier woodlands fuel increasingly intense forest fires, and lower (and warmer) streamflows are affecting the aquatic food web as well as downstream human communities.

More information about climate change impacts at Glacier National Park is on the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center’s website.



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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