Source:
Detroit NewsLast Updated: July 13. 2011 2:57PM
Climate change hurting national parks near Great Lakes, report says
Jim Lynch/ The Detroit News
Climate change is impacting some of the major national parks in the Great Lakes region, according to a report released today.
Michigan destinations such as Sleeping Bear Dunes, Pictured Rocks and Isle Royale National Park were among the five parks studied in a report that targets global warming as the cause of a host of negative impacts on the parks. Those include:
*Birds dropping dead at Sleeping Bear Dunes due to outbreaks of botulism.
*Declining moose population on Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
*Temperature changes allowing Lyme disease-carrying ticks to show up for the first time on Isle Royale.
*The deterioration of shorelines at each park resulting from decreased winter ice.
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"If we don't rein in our emissions of carbon pollution, temperatures in the Great Lakes could go up eight degrees or more by the end of the century," said Thom Cmar, a staff attorney with the NRDC's Chicago office. "That would be like moving Florida's climate to Indiana."
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Read more:
http://detnews.com/article/20110713/METRO/107130421/Climate-change-hurting-national-parks-near-Great-Lakes--report-says#ixzz1S14ONlXY