Changing climates in the Pacific Northwest will result in lower snowpacks, warmer summers, and changes in distributions of plants and animals. North Coast and Cascades Parks are looking science to proactively manage parks with warming climates. We have conducted Vulnerabilty Assessments and develop Adaptation Strategies with adjacent US Forests in the northern Cascades and on the Olympic Peninsula. The Olympic Project was a collaborative effort between Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest. The North Cascadia Adaptation Partnership (NCAP) was a partnership across 6 million acres in the northern Cascades: North Cascades National Park Service Complex, Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, and Mount Rainier National Park. Projections of future climates, impacts on protected lands resources, and adaptation strategies and tactics are found in our publications from each project.
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- Locations: North Cascades National Park
- Offices: North Coast and Cascades Research Learning Center
FEBRUARY 2023 – Reintroduction offers a chance to return grizzly bears to the North Cascades Ecosystem—if the habitat available in their former home can support them. With temperatures rising rapidly in the North Cascades Ecosystem, this study asks a timely question: would a warmer ecosystem still support these massive omnivores?
- Locations: Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park
May 2018 – Butterfly abundances and plant flowering patterns are sensitive indicators of changing climates. The Cascades Butterfly Project is a long-term monitoring program where citizen scientists (volunteers) and National Park Service biologists monitor subalpine butterflies and plant phenology.
- Locations: North Cascades National Park
- Offices: North Coast and Cascades Research Learning Center
Climate models project average warming in the Pacific Northwest of 2.1 °C by the 2040s and 3.8 °C by the 2080s. Warmer temperatures will influence precipitation patterns in the northern Cascades by shifting many watersheds from snow to rain dominated systems. These shifts will result in more autumn/winter floods, higher peak flows, and lower summer flows.
- Locations: Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park
The North Coast and Cascades Network currently contains 485 glaciers that are iconic features of the region, and vital components of the parks hydrology and ecosystems.
Lichens are a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi. The fungus provides shelter for the algae and the algae provides food for the fungi. They do not have roots; instead they receive all their nutrients from the atmosphere. As a result, lichens are sensitive to atmospheric pollution.
- Locations: Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park, Olympic National Park
Remote high alpine lakes are sensitive indicators of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. Anthropogenic N deposition has potential to change species composition and ecosystem function in alpine lakes.
- Locations: Mount Rainier National Park
- Offices: North Coast and Cascades Research Learning Center
Mount Rainier National Park contains 29 named glacial features which cover an area of 30.4 square miles. While many studies currently exist that are documenting changes to these glaciers, one of the best ways to witness the dynamic nature of a glacier is with time-lapse photography. In 2018, the National Park Service’s North Coast and Cascades Research Learning Center funded the procurement of two field-deployable solar-powered high-resolution time-lapse cameras.
- Locations: Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park
In about 1900, a tiny insect called balsam woolly adelgid, a European native, appeared in North America on balsam firs. It can now be found in the West as well, in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California. In Mount Rainier and North Cascades National Parks, infestations have been found on subalpine fir and Pacific silver fir, but subalpine fir is more heavily damaged.
- Locations: Crater Lake National Park, North Cascades National Park, Yosemite National Park
Walking with Wildflowers is a citizen science program dedicated to monitoring plant phenology along the Pacific Crest Trail using observations from hikers and backpackers. Its main goal is to determine whether plant species are able to respond to changing climatic conditions and better understand how plants use seasonal cues to time flowering.
- Locations: Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park
Hoary marmots and American pikas are locally declining in response to climate driven changes in moisture, snowpack duration, warming temperatures, and cold exposure.
Tags:
climate change ncc rlc
Last updated: May 11, 2018