Climate Change Hits US Federal Land, Water - Report
Date: 10-Sep-07
Country: US
Author: Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
But the federal agencies that manage over 600 million acres
(242.8 million hectares) of federal land -- nearly 30 percent
of the land area of the United States -- and more than 150,000
square miles (388,500 sq km) of protected waters have little
guidance on how to deal with the effects of global warming, the
Government Accountability Office said.
"Undertaking activities that address the effects of climate
change is currently not a priority" for the five US agencies
that manage this territory, the report by the nonpartisan
investigative arm of Congress said.
These agencies are the Bureau of Land Management, Forest
Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The Interior Department, which includes three of the five
agencies, ordered them in 2001 to analyze potential climate
change effects on US-managed lands, but has not yet provided
direction to managers on how to plan for climate change, the
report said.
Resource managers at the other two agencies echoed that
sentiment, according to the report.
"Resource managers are uncertain about what actions, if
any, they should take to address the current effects of climate
change and to plan for future effects on their resources," the
report's authors wrote.
DWINDLING GLACIERS, INVADING GRASSES
The authors based their conclusions on discussions with
scientists, economists and federal resource managers, and field
studies of four federal areas that represent distinct
ecosystems.
These are: the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary,
representing coasts and oceans; the Chugach National Forest in
Alaska, representing forests; Glacier National Park in Montana,
representing fresh waters; and the Bureau of Land Management's
Arizona field office, representing grasslands and shrublands.
In the Florida Keys, they found rising sea levels that can
be attributed to climate change have already affected low-lying
areas, and saltwater intrusion on land has cut the fresh water
and habitat that support native plants and animals.
In the future, the report said global warming may hamper
fishing and tourism in this ecosystem, notably by causing coral
to bleach, cutting down on fish habitats and lessening the
coral's draw for snorkelers and scuba-divers.
Warmer temperatures and reduced precipitation associated
with climate change in Alaska's Chugach National Forest have
contributed to outbreaks of insects, such as the spruce bark
beetles which have killed some kinds of spruce trees over the
forest's 400,000 acres (161,900 hectares), the report said.
In Montana, the glaciers that give Glacier National Park
its name are dwindling, down from 150 in 1950 to 26 now,
according to the report.
Arizona's Mojave Desert is suffering more virulent
wildfires due at least in part to climate change, the report
said, because drought has damaged native plants and allowed
invasive grasses to take over, making it easier for fires to
start and harder to extinguish them.
The Agriculture, Commerce and Interior departments all
generally agreed with the report's recommendation to develop
clear plans for resource managers at the five agencies, the
report said.
