Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gore Will Hike Glacier To Warn Of Warming Climatologists Say Melting Ice Evidence Of Greenhouse Effect

Associated Press

Vice President Al Gore will hike to one of Glacier National Park’s receding glaciers on Tuesday to focus attention on global warming, the White House confirmed Wednesday.

“It’s a very important issue, and he wants to take a look at it firsthand,” said White House spokesperson Roger Salazar.

Gore will hike to Grinnell Glacier in Many Glacier Valley on the park’s east side, Salazar said. Grinnell is one of the park’s most accessible and spectacular glaciers, sitting in a high mountain bowl just below the Continental Divide.

Climatologists consider receding glaciers in the park to be a prime indicator that global warming has accelerated over the last century.

Dan Fagre, a U.S. Geological Survey climatologist who has based his work in Glacier for six years, said he expects to talk with Gore about the issue.

Fagre said the world’s scientists generally agree that the earth’s average temperature has risen about 1 degree Celsius in this century. The change has reduced the size of Glacier Park’s 70 or so glaciers by 73 percent since 1873, he said.

Fagre contributed to a comprehensive World Wildlife Fund report that was released in June on the eve of an international environmental summit in New York.

His work deals with the rippling environmental effects that result from receding glaciers. There were 150 glaciers in 1850, and now there are 50 that are receding because of accelerated global warming, Fagre contends.

Park scientists predict that all the glaciers in the park will eliminated by 2030 at the current rate of warming.

The World Wildlife Fund and other environmental groups are pressuring the Clinton administration to push for a strong international climate treaty aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The emissions are believed to be the main cause of the so-called “greenhouse effect” that causes climate warming.

Gore will arrive in Great Falls on Air Force 2 and will be flown by helicopter to an area just outside the park. A motorcade will take him to the Many Glacier Valley, where he is expected to make a speech before his hike to Grinnell Glacier.

The 3.8-mile trail from Lake Josephine to Grinnell may give Gore’s Secret Service detail a case of nerves. Just over a week ago a grizzly bear charged a park naturalist on the trail.