Indiana Dunes threatened by climate change, report warns

[ensho]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/green/chi-indiana-dunes-south-18-nov18,0,4642992.story


Experts say some noticeable changes already affecting plants, wildlife


About a decade ago, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore had one of the country's largest populations of the Karner blue butterfly. The nickel-size insects feasted on the national park's bountiful wild lupine and relied on northwest Indiana's heavy snowfall to protect its eggs in winter for spring hatching.

But the butterfly's population has declined in recent years, and some researchers are pointing to, among other things, warmer winters, less snowfall and other weather-related changes threatening the wild lupine.

The Karner blue's predicament is one of many listed in a report released last month naming the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore among 25 national parks in the United States endangered by climate change.

"This just re-enforces just how rare, unique and vulnerable it is," said Tom Anderson, executive director of Save the Dunes, based on the eastern edge of the national park in Michigan City, Ind.

The report, "National Parks in Peril," was compiled by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council and lists a variety of factors threatening the National Lakeshore, including warmer winters; predicted drops in Lake Michigan's water level; precipitation downfalls, which lead to flooding; invasive species; air pollution; and declines in fish populations from warmer-than-normal summer temperatures.

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"What's going to happen to our national parks can bring climate change home to people in a way that melting ice caps do not," said Stephen Saunders, president of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and former deputy assistant secretary for the Interior over the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It's not just the largest, most well-known, iconic parks. Nearly all of them are affected and vulnerable."
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one tick of the clock left

[imdjh]

1. Man loses 15 pounds in Florida, possibly due to climate change.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[imdjh]

4. OLO!

[Octafish]

3. Snows are nowhere near what they were there when I was a kid.

In the late 70s and early 80s, we could cross-country ski in the Michigan stretch of sand dunes in Berrien County from December through March. Now, we're lucky to have a few days' worth of good snow.

If we can see these changes in one lifespan, what will this world be like for our kids and grandkids?

[Mari333]

5. kinda weird here now also

no snow, no cold weather. My lilac trees are budding. This is Michigan. usually by this time of yr its snow and more snow. at least one snowstorm has happened.
Nada. It was 60 degrees last week.