The environmental challenges faced by Glacier Park today would have been unimaginable 100 years ago. Although the park retains its incomparable natural beauty, forces are at work on many levels that undermine the stability of its ecosystem. These forces range from increased visitation to changes in the surrounding areas, all of which impinge upon wildlife habitat.

The greatest challenge to Glacier’s flora and fauna is also the least understood: climate change. Nowhere in the lower 48 states is the global warming trend more obvious as in Glacier’s high altitude terrain, where its namesake glaciers have retreated at an alarming rate. Today they are mere remnants of what they were at the time of the Civil War when there were 150 named glaciers; now there are less than 37. Some are just one-third of their original size. Under current warming trends, the park will be devoid of glaciers by 2030 - during the lifetimes of most of us.

According to Jack Potter, Glacier’s Chief of Science and Resource Management, “We have a pressing need to determine what species are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.” Some, such as the pika, appear to be bellwether species—the proverbial ‘canary in the coal mine’—whose sensitivity to climatic change is most pronounced. Already the little pika, still resident at Glacier’s high altitudes, is becoming extinct in many areas.

Questions also abound about the effects of early melt-off in the spring on the park’s bear populations, as well as the impact of decreasing snow-pack on mountain goats. Wolverines, too, could face problems denning in lesser snow-pack. Another concern is that some of the park’s fisheries may be threatened as streams, which normally run cold, become shallower and warmer late in the summer. Bull trout, which need strong flows of cold water to spawn, would be unable to propagate if stream temperatures rose.

With so much at stake, acquiring baseline data about the biology, habitat requirements, and wildlife populations is more important than ever before. Too little is known about the biology and ecology of the myriad species in the park to be able to assess the potential impacts of climate change on them. Without such data, park personnel cannot accurately determine how species are doing aside from anecdotal information - are they thriving, holding their own or disappearing?

Wildlife population inventories are only one kind of useful data. Another relates to identifying connectivity corridors: the routes that species with large territories, such as grizzlies, wolverines and wolves, use to move from one area to another. What we recognize as Glacier National Park is only part of a 16,000 square-mile ecosystem known as the Crown of the Continent which comprises corners of Alberta, British Columbia and Montana. Wildlife is oblivious to these human-imposed boundaries but the cooperation of many management agencies is essential to keeping their corridors open.

Scientists have already surmised that such connectivity corridors may provide a hedge for some species against the effects of climate change. Identifying these routes and where they cross thoroughfares is a critical first step to keeping them open with underpasses, wildlife easements or other wildlife-friendly adaptations.

Research projects can’t be put into place and results compiled and analyzed overnight. “An in-depth study takes time, often months or even years, to ramp up and begin to produce valuable data,” says Potter. Therefore, seed money is essential for inventory and research projects to get underway as soon as possible. Monies raised by the Glacier National Park Fund are necessary for this research that otherwise couldn’t be done.”

The following research projects are of paramount importance at this time:

• Basic Inventory Research: Park managers need to identify and prioritize species with the highest need for basic inventory research. Funding through the Centennial Campaign will allow for this follow-up research and surveys to be conducted.

• Many Glacier Valley Human/Wildlife Interaction Study: The abundance of wildlife in the Many Glacier Valley is a magnet for visitors, resulting in an increased potential for wildlife and human confrontation. This project would not only inventory the wildlife populations in the area but would result in the development of recommendations on how best to sustain existing populations and avoid interactions harmful to both animals and visitors. In addition, the program would provide rangers in wildlife-rich areas the opportunity to help visitors observe the animals at a safe distance through binoculars and scopes. Not only would this onsite ranger presence enable visitors to see animals they otherwise wouldn’t notice, but it also gives park staff the chance to educate visitors about how detrimental habituation—becoming accustomed to the presence of people—can be for some animals, as well as for them.

• Connectivity Corridor Study: This project builds on preliminary connectivity fieldwork to document important wildlife connective corridors south to the Bob Marshall Wilderness area, to the north and west to southern British Columbia and the North Fork of the Flathead River. With so many factors - from increased visitation to warming trends - affecting the territories of Glacier’s wildlife, it is imperative to keep these corridors open to the wildlife living in the Crown of the Continent