REPORT: Global Warming Puts 12 US National Parks At Risk

[Bluebear]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global warming puts 12 of the most famous U.S. national parks at risk, environmentalists said on Tuesday, conjuring up visions of Glacier National Park without glaciers and Yellowstone Park without grizzly bears.

All 12 parks are located in the American West, where temperatures have risen twice as fast as in the rest of the United States over the last 50 years, said Theo Spencer of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

"Rising temperatures, drought, wildfires and diminished snowfalls endanger wildlife and threaten hiking, fishing and other recreational activities" in the parks, Spencer said in a telephone news conference. "Imagine Glacier Park without glaciers or Yellowstone without any grizzly bears."

The report said the parks at greatest risk are:

- Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico;

- Death Valley National Park, California;

- Glacier National Park, Montana;

- Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah and Arizona;

- Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California;

- Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming;

- Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado;

- Mount Rainier National Park, Washington state;

- North Cascades National Park, Washington state;

- Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado;

- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho;

- Yosemite National Park, California.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060725/us_nm/environment_parks_dc

[mom cat]

1. What a tragedy. If we can't make the sacrifices to avert a total meltdown

then humans deserve the extincion that they face.