In the rugged heartlands of Montana, the once formidable Grinnell Glacier-a beacon of natural splendor in Glacier National Park-is succumbing to the relentless march of climate change.
Named for the 19th-century conservationist George Bird Grinnell, this glacier has been a cornerstone of the park's identity.
Yet, as temperatures soar, the park faces a paradoxical future where its namesake glaciers may exist only in memory.
A Legacy Melting Away
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for IRONMAN
The transformation is stark. Visitors who once marveled at the icy expanse now encounter a pale blue lake, a serene but stark reminder of the glacier's retreat.
The park's ice fortresses, which stood for millennia, are crumbling, leaving behind a landscape grappling with an existential threat.
The loss is not just physical but symbolic, challenging the very essence of what these parks represent.
The National Park Service (NPS) has documented a staggering 60 percent loss of the park's namesake glaciers since the 1850s, and scientists predict their complete disappearance by century's end.
The federal agency tasked with protecting them is experiencing an identity crisis as a result of this grim reality. It's also a business need, since many websites receive tens of millions of visits annually.
Recently, the administration of President Joe Biden revealed plans to provide them with roughly $200 million in adaptation aid, money made possible by his landmark climate bill.
The retreat of Grinnell Glacier is emblematic of the broader changes sweeping across Glacier National Park.
This glacier is losing two to three acres annually, and occasionally up to ten acres, as a result of the warm summertime temperatures.
The park is warming at a rate that is almost twice as fast as the world average, and park visitors are already feeling the effects.
Some of the largest shifts are visible in fire and ice. Visitors to parks frequently find their vacation plans upended by wildland fire. In previous years, wildfires have caused months-long closures in parts of the park.
The crisis extends beyond Montana. In California, the colossal trees of Sequoia National Park, some of the largest on Earth, have been engulfed by flames as wildfires, fueled by drought and heat, become the new norm.
Further south, in Arizona's Saguaro National Park, the iconic cacti are under siege from a prolonged drought that threatens their survival.
These parks, once symbols of America's natural heritage, are on the frontline of a climate-induced identity crisis. The NPS, tasked with preserving these national treasures, confronts a philosophical shift.
With a changing climate, the question arises: what are they preserving if the very wonders that define these parks are vanishing?
In Sequoia National Park, wildfires have killed large giant sequoias (those 4 feet or greater in diameter) in much greater numbers than has ever been recorded, reaching a tipping point where the lack of frequent fire for the past century, combined with the impacts of a warming climate, have made some wildfires much more deadly for sequoias.
Between 2015 and 2021, six fires devastated extensive groves of giant sequoias in the Sierra Nevada.
Between 2015 and 2021, wildfires destroyed about 85% of the total acreage of giant sequoia groves in the Sierra Nevada, compared to just 25% in the century before.
About two million of the towering desert plants congregate like a forest at Saguaro National Park, which has the greatest concentration of the iconic saguaro cactus in the nation, their arms reaching skyward.
However, the number of young saguaros surviving in the park has been low since the mid-1990s due to drought, and highly variable or extreme weather makes it difficult for the saguaro to thrive.
In the southwestern United States, climate change is making the weather warmer and drier, which is creating more frequent and devastating fires.
Certain variables, such the growth of alien plants like buffelgrass, exacerbate these violent fires.
