Climate change is making Utah's Zion National Park one of the nation's 25 most endangered parks, according to a report by national environmental groups.
"Zion is vulnerable to a loss of ice and snow, a loss of water, more downpours and flooding (when it does rain), a loss of plant communities, a loss of wildlife, a loss of cultural resources, intolerable heat, a loss of fishing, and more air pollution," according to the "Parks in Peril" report.
It was released by the National Resources Defense Council and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.
The report did not rank which of the 25 parks on its list are the most endangered, but discussed challenges that each faces.
The report said that amid climate change, the average temperatures in the Colorado Basin were 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit hotter in 2003-07 than the 20-year average. It said as climate change may move storm tracks northward, precipitation levels may fall by 40 percent in the future in the Southwest.
"Zion illustrates the vulnerability of the Colorado Plateau parks to a loss of water," the report says.
"Spectacular Zion Canyon in the heart of the park was formed through the erosive power of a rapidly flowing North Fork of the Virgin River," it said. "If the river's natural flows are diminished, it will not be as powerful and will no longer continue shaping the canyon's geology as it has."
"National parks are often referred to as the 'canaries in the mine shafts' when it comes to climate change," said Bill Wade, chairman of the executive council of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. "By their characteristics and locations, impacts and effects of climate change are noticed in national parks first and are a forewarning about what will happen elsewhere."
"Climate disruption is the greatest threat ever to our national parks," said Stephen Saunders, president of the Rocky Mountain Climate organization and principal author of the report. Theo Spencer with the NRDC said, "Clean energy legislation is now moving Congress that would help preserve our national treasures while creating more jobs, economic growth and national security.
"We could lose entire national parks for the first time, as Everglades, Ellis Island and other parks could be submerged by rising seas," he said. "To preserve our parks, we need to reduce the heat-trapping gases that are threatening them."
The other parks listed are: Acadia, Assateague, Bandalier, Biscayne, Cape Hatteras, Colonial, Denali, Dry Tortugas, Ellis Island, Everglades, Glacier, Great Smoky Mountains, Indiana Dunes, Joshua Tree, Lake Mead, Mesa Verde, Mount Rainier, Padre Island, Rocky Mountain, Saguaro, Theodore Roosevelt, Virgin Islands, Yosemite and Yellowstone.
e-mail: lee@desnews.com