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14 | MARCH 26, 2014 IN DEPTH FLATHEADBEACON.COM
‘We Have the Most to Lose’
While the debate over global warming remains polarizing,
on-the-ground changes are surfacing in Montana
By DILLON TABISH of the Beacon
T
odd Tanner is an avid hunter and
angler based at the foot of the
Swan Range near Bigfork where
he lives on a 25-acre plot with his fam-
ily. He said he doesn’t align himself with
either the Republican or Democratic
party. His lifelong experience in the out-
doors has turned his attention to what
he believes is the most important issue
facing sportsmen: climate change.
“We have the most to lose,” he says.
“Our future is at stake here.”
It’s an opinion that can rule feath-
ers among his colleagues, many of whom
stand on the other side of the debate over
global warming. It can also spark outcry
from skeptics who still raise charges of
distortion and disbelief, despite a steady Going-to-the-Sun
stream of scientiic reports warning of Road is seen etched
across the Glacier
dire consequences.
National Park vista.
Amid the political bickering, Tanner BEACON FILE PHOTO
founded the local nonproit group called
Conservation Hawks, hoping to awaken day’s landscape, climate change remains something that if you aren’t seeing it al- boogey man. We need to understand
sportsmen to what he believes are real a touchy subject and source of perennial ready wherever you are, you will see it.
where things are changing,” he said.
threats to the heritage of hunting and conlict, particularly in the American “It’s going to change things in a way Flathead Lake approached the
angling and the unique ecosystem of West, where abundant outdoor opportu- that you won’t like and it’s going to make warmest temperatures on record last
Northwest Montana.
nities hold a prominent position along- it impossible to give those things to your summer, and the biological station in
Wildire seasons are burning longer side energy development.
kids and grandkids if we don’t deal with Yellow Bay is analyzing the details and
and more severe. Severe drought has af- Last week Gina McCarthy, adminis- it now.”
determining what impacts that trend
licted nearly every state in the West. trator of the Environmental Protection Meanwhile, as the debate rages on, might be having. Results are expected
In Montana, there have been nine cli- Agency who helped craft the Obama ad- federal and state agencies are increasing later this summer.
mate-related disaster declarations since ministration’s new climate change plan, attention on potential climate change Last year an outbreak of disease-car-
2011, including one earlier this month, began a tour of the West by meeting with impacts and emerging trends.
rying midges that thrive in warm weath-
when Gov. Steve Bullock declared a lawmakers and coal miners in North Da- Flathead National Forest is cur- er killed nearly 200 deer, leading the
lood emergency after temperatures rently revising its expansive manage-
kota. The visit marked the beginning of state to reduce tags for districts north
swung nearly 60 degrees and put 30 of an aggressive campaign that is expected ment plan, and for the irst time signii- and west of the Missouri River. Moose
the state’s 56 counties under high-water to pick up steam in the coming months, cant credence is being given to climate populations, which seek colder climates,
warnings.
as the Obama administrations unveils change as a factor in policy decisions.
have mysteriously dwindled, leading to
Despite an abundant, cold winter the latest set of rules in June that will aim A draft of the new plan states in its a statewide study to try and determine
across the U.S., the last three months ac- to reduce carbon pollution from coal- opening, “The intent of the planning why. Last year also saw four river clo-
count for the eighth warmest period on ired power plants, the primary source of framework is to create a responsive sures due to warm temperatures and
record for combined global and ocean greenhouse gas emissions. The inal ver- planning process that informs integrat- low stream lows.
surface temperatures between Decem- sion of the administration’s Climate Ac- ed resources management and allows Dan Vermillion, chairman of the
ber and February, according to the Na- tion Plan is expected to be published by the Forest Service to adapt to changing Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission,
tional Climate Data Center. Last year mid-2015, and would give states another conditions, including climate change, which is largely responsible for shaping
was tied for the fourth hottest, and nine year to devise compliance plans.
and improve management based on new policy and making inal decisions for the
of the 10 warmest years on record have Similar to the new health care law, information and monitoring.”
state’s outdoors regulations, predicts
occurred since 2000.
the climate plan is expected to be met Last week Scott Spaulding, isheries the general hunting season will need to
Tanner believes all of this is damag- with severe pushback among lawmakers program leader for the Northern Region be moved back two weeks in the coming
ing Montana’s sporting heritage while and the energy industry.
of the U.S. Forest Service, gave a pre- years to adapt to changing weather pat-
hurting his kids’ future chances of ex- But what about everyday residents?
sentation on how the changing climate terns that are afecting hunters’ abilities
periencing hunting and angling in the Stanford University conducted a is interacting with aquatic systems and to chase game. Although several factors
state’s wide-open spaces. Citing a multi- public opinion survey last year, and cold water ish species. Speaking at the are playing into recent low harvest num-
tude of reports, including a recent publi- 79 percent of respondents in Montana Swan Ecosystem Center, Spaulding said bers, climate change is clearly a big one,
cation by the National Wildlife Federa- agreed that global warming is occurring. he has been overseeing a new pilot pro- he said.
tion, along with irst-hand experience, Yet 48 percent said the federal govern- gram in the Lolo National Forest and “There really are impacts on sports-
Tanner says big game populations and ment should do more to address warm- conducted a irst-ever vulnerability as- men as a result of climate change,” said
their habitats are sufering under the ing and only 5 percent said warming was sessment on a geographic scale of ish- Vermillion, who owns the guiding com-
impacts of severe drought, rising tem- extremely important personally and eries. The study’s indings are expected pany Sweetwater Travel Company in
peratures and greater weather extremes. was likely to inluence voting.
to be published later this year, and the Livingston.
Fisheries are similarly being harmed due In a separate poll, climate change program will likely be expanded region- “I don’t think climate change should
to climate change, Tanner says.
ranked 19th on a list of Americans’ top ally, including throughout the Flathead, be a political issue. It afects all of us,
“It’s obvious what’s happening be- priorities.
according to Spaulding.
whether you’re a wheat farmer, an an-
cause we can see it with our own eyes, “For most people, it’s this amorphous “We’re hoping to get to move the dial gler, a hunter, a cherry farmer. The soon-
and everything we see corroborates the thing that they just don’t experience in a a little bit on our understanding of (cli- er we recognize that and adapt to it, the
science,” he says.
personal way,” Tanner says. “Our point mate change impacts) but also not just better of we are.”
But not everyone agrees, and in to-
to sportsmen is that this is personal. It’s
to wave the lag of the climate change
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