The Big Drip: Glacier National Park's Glaciers disappearing

Early explorers discovered more than 150 glaciers in the high alpine valleys of the area that later became Glacier National Park, but now only 26 glaciers remain, and - after having sculpted the park's features seven thousand years ago - all the glaciers are expected to be melted by 2030. That prediction was made by Dan Fagre, head of the US Geological Survey team studying global warming in these mountains. Fagre is racing to learn as much as possible about the glaciers before they're gone.

Global warming is to blame for the melting of the glaciers, and global warming is no longer questioned by scientists. But it is unknown how much of global warming is caused by human activity, and how much is natural change, such as residual warming from the end of the "Little Ice Age," the period from 1450 to 1890 when temperatures were a few degrees colder. The most drastic retreats of Glacier Park's glaciers occurred between 1920 and 1940, before human activities (the mass generation of greenhouse gases mostly by fossil-fuel use) could have caused much of an effect.

Global warming will also have the following effects:

• Forests will grow more quickly, which increases the chances of wildfires.
• Because glaciers store water for valleys and farms, their absence should make droughts more frequent.
• Lakes and streams will get warmer, drastically reducing habitat for trout and other cold-water fish.

In the short run, not much can be done to stop much of the damage, but ratification of the Kyoto protocol might slow things down enough to give ecosystems time to adapt.

Old-timers especially feel a sense of regret. Doug Follett, of Whitefish, estimates he has hiked 100 times in his 77 years into the backcountry so he could set foot on Sperry Glacier. "Glaciers are one of the change-makers on the face of the Earth. ... So we're all really impressed by the melting of these glaciers. Mostly, though, we're just sad."

(From the Missoula Independent, Feb. 5, 2004 - Feb. 12, 2004, summarized by Paul Schafer)