Earth Equity News

Plan Urged to Save National Parks from Global Warming Effects. By Margot Roosevelt, LATimes, August 7, 2009. "The federal government must take decisive action to avoid 'a potentially catastrophic loss of animal and plant life' in national parks, according to a new report that details the effects of global warming on the nation's most treasured public lands. The 53-page report [Climate Change and National Park Wildlife, PDF] from theNational Parks Conservation Assn., a Washington-based advocacy group, details concerns related to climate change in the parks, including the bleaching of coral reefs in Florida and the disappearance of high-altitude ponds that nurture yellow-legged frogs in California. The group called on the National Park Service to come up with a detailed plan and funding to adapt to temperature-related ecosystem changes. 'Right now, no national plan exists to manage wildlife throughout their habitat, which often is a patchwork of lands managed by multiple federal agencies, states, tribes, municipalities and private landholders,' wrote Thomas C. Kiernan, president of the conservation group."