In a new report, the nonprofit Clark Fork Coalition tries to make climate change understandable at the local level - and to prompt policymakers and residents to take action.
The comprehensive report, titled “Low Flows, Hot Trout: Climate Change in the Clark Fork Watershed,” compiles more than five decades of scientific research into a 36-page document about the impacts of climate change in the Clark Fork River Basin.
“Decades of data and observations now point to a clear conclusion: The Clark Fork River basin is experiencing a very real shift in climate,” according to the report's overview. “During the next 100 years, this shift is expected to accelerate, contributing to physical, ecological, social and economic changes, many of which have already begun.”
The report also offers suggestions for using the region's natural resources more efficiently and reducing emissions from smokestacks, tailpipes and other sources of greenhouse gases.
Karen Knudsen, the Missoula-based coalition's executive director, said the report could serve as a model for public education and action in communities across the West, where human growth and development is rapidly changing the landscape.
“This report is meant to stimulate public discussion about an issue that can be confusing and complex,” she said. “It's meant to pull a lot of fragmented information together into a comprehensive approach.”
The coalition supports the findings of the United Nations' climate change panel, which concluded last year that global warming is occurring and is very likely human-caused, so the Clark Fork Basin report doesn't include climate change skeptics.
“That didn't seem proactive or productive,” said Chris Brick, staff scientist for the coalition.
The report, which was supported by the National Wildlife Federation, is to be presented at a public luncheon July 29 in Missoula and at a dozen community meetings across western Montana this summer. It also will be presented at the Headwaters Summit, a three-day workshop in September in Missoula to raise public awareness and find policy solutions for climate change's impacts on water resources in the Northern Rockies.
The Clark Fork Coalition spent about six months and $30,000 to produce the document.
Climate change has had a cascading effect in western Montana, where rising temperatures have prompted a range of changes, according to the report.
The 22,000-square-mile watershed's average temperatures have risen 1 degree to nearly 2 degrees since 1950, causing more of the region's precipitation to fall as rain rather than snow.
The average spring snowpack has decreased 30 percent, causing earlier runoff, lower streamflows and higher water temperatures.
The decrease in moisture has caused a longer and more intense wildfire season across the region, where more acres have burned since 2000 than in the entire 20th century combined, according to the report.
The U.S. Forest Service's fight-all-fires policy reduced the number of wildfires for decades, contributing to a buildup of forest fuels in areas where a growing number of homes are being built.
The report highlights climate change's impacts on fish, wildlife and plants, where warmer air and water temperatures are jeopardizing habitat for trout, birds, bears, elk and other native species.
Among the report's recommendations are more community planning to restrict development in fire-prone areas, more efficient use of water, more public transportation, streamside setbacks and stimulating development where municipal services already exist.
The report recommends that a land-, water- and forest-restoration economy and renewable energy development continue to be pursued using open space bonds, tax incentives and other tools available to communities and governments in the Clark Fork Basin.
Brianna Randall, the coalition's water policy director, said everyone can make a difference, from residents using less water and electricity at home to legislators advocating renewable energy production and river-sensitive growth management.
“We hope this report really stimulates people to take action,” she said.
More information is available at www.clarkfork.org.
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