Global Warming in the News

By: Nanci Bompey 

ASHEVILLE — Climate change could have a huge effect on the Great Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Parkway and other national parks, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Parks Conservation Group.

The report, “Unnatural Disaster: Global Warming and Our National Parks,” said global warming could hurt native animal and tree species, lead to more landslides and flooding, and increase ozone pollution in the southern Appalachian Mountains.

“There are a whole slew of issues that could happen with climate change,” said Greg Kidd, senior program manager of the group’s Blue Ridge Field Office. “As temperatures and heat conditions change, there is going to be a lot of stress on a lot of ecosystems.”

Along with the southern Appalachians, the report warns that Yosemite and other Western parks will see more wildfires, and Cape Hatteras’ lighthouse on the North Carolina coast will have to be moved again before it washes away.

The parks conservation group is urging Congress and the Bush administration to take action to curtail global warming before the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016.

“It is a time to not only celebrate the parks but reinvest in them,” Kidd said.

According to the report, small increases in temperature along with drought and flooding could contribute to decline of trout in the Great Smoky Mountains.

A warmer climate would also increase ground-level ozone concentrations and favor the spread of insects, which could threaten native tree species. It could also mean more landslides, flooding and more bad air-quality days.

“These risks seem to be big risks,” said Phil Francis, superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway. “I don’t think any of us wants to see the predictions they’ve made come true.”

Great Smoky Mountains National Park spokesman Bob Miller said air quality in the park has improved significantly since the late 1990s because of cleaner power generation and cleaner vehicles, but the park does not have a way to measure the effect of global warming.

“We are not in the position to point to any species in the park and tie it to global climate change,” Miller said.

Models show the greatest effect of higher temperatures will occur at the southern and northernmost regions of the Appalachians, said David Easterling, chief of the scientific services division at that National Climatic Data Center in Asheville. But he said there is no way to predict how long it will take to see the effects in local forests.

“That’s one of the big questions,” Easterling said.