News About RMCO

On April 7, 2010, RMCO and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released Glacier National Park in Peril: The Threats of Climate Disruption, a first-ever comprehensive assessment of the vulnerability of Glacier to an altered climate. "Melting glaciers a concern for Glacier Park's tourism industry," in the Missoulian, April 8, is an excellent overview of the profile. Another is "Climate change continues to melt Glacier National Park's icons," in National Parks Traveler, April 12. Other Montana coverage included in the Great Falls Tribune, Daily Inter Lake, the Billings Gazette, local TV and radio stations, and others. Coverage was also worldwide (reaching at least England, Australia, China, and India) and included NBC Nightly News, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, the Weather Channel, and local TV stations, reaching at least as estimated 19 million television viewers. Print and Internet coverage included an Associated Press article carried by USA Today, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Boston Globe, Atlanta Journal Constitution, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Las Vegas Sun, Denver Post, Newsday, Seattle Times, Huffington Post, and at least 410 other media outlets across the country.

On October 1, 2009, RMCO and NRDC released a report, National Parks in Peril: The Threats of Climate Disruption. The substantial nationwide new coverage of the report included at least 70 some articles and television news shows, including articles by McClatchy news service and Associated Press, both used widely across the country; an editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune; and this sample of other articles: Indiana Dunes threatened by climate change, report warns, Chicago Tribune; Climate change threatens national parks..., Miami Herald; Sounding alarm on threat to Assateague, Baltimore Sun; Padre Island National Seashore at risk..., San Antonio Express; Padre Island National Seashore on list..., Fort Worth Star Telegram; Climate change endangers Zion, Deseret News; Climate change threatens national parks, report warns, Sacramento Bee; Climate change leading threat to Smokies, Asheville Citizen-Times; Report Says Climate Change Threatening Acadia, WBZ TV/Maine; Climate change imperils national parks, Fresno Bee; Changing temperatures threaten national parks, Tacoma News Tribune; Climate Change Threatens National Parks, The (Lakeland, FL.) Ledger; Groups call RMNP vulnerable, Fort Collins Coloradoan; Climate change report details impact on Indiana Dunes, Gary Post Tribune; Climate change threatens national park, The Olympian; Report claims climate change threatens Acadia, Bangor Daily News; Study: Parks imperiled, Jackson Hole Daily; Climate change threatens national parks, report warns, Kansas City Star; National park? Try national wasteland, Las Vegas City Life; Report: 25 most endangered national parks, Indianapolis Examiner.

In addition, we know of the report being covered on the Weather Channel and six local TV stations, with an estimated viewership of half a million people. Radio interviews of Stephen Saunders, president of RMCO, and Theo Spencer at NRDC were heard by more than 6.2 million listeners. Finally, the report was covered by many online-only news services and blogs including, among others, USA Today, dailykos, Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Grist, and Treehugger.

On August 24, 2009, RMCO's Saunders testified at a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on National Parks field hearing on climate change and parks in Estes Park, Colorado. The hearing was chaired by Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO), the subcommittee chairman, and was also attended by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). When Stephen delivered his testimony, he declared climate disruption the greatest threat ever to our national parks, and recommended actions that can be taken to protect the parks. In particular, he emphasized a recommendation that the National Park Service be given the statutory flexibility to use entrance and recreation fees to address climate change in parks (both reducing emissions and adapting to changes) so long as those actions are coupled with visitor education about the projects and their purposes. Now, such fees can only be used for construction and maintenance projects that are highly visible to visitors. He also urged Sen. Udall to hold an oversight hearing in D.C. when the new NPS director is confirmed and has had time to develop a new climate change strategy for the Service; Chairman Udall said he would do so.   See press coverage in the Summit County Daily,  Fort Collins Coloradoan, Loveland Reporter-Herald, Durango Herald, the Denver Post, and a national Associated Press article.

Global Warming Affecting U.S. From Coast To Coast, Hartford Courant, February 3, 2009. “Question: Which parts of the United States are or will be hardest hit by global warming? . . . A recent report by two leading nonprofits, the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council, details how the 11 U.S. Western states together have experienced an increase in average temperature during the past five years about 70 percent greater than the global average rise.”    

In March 2008, RMCO and the Natural Resources Defense Council released a report, researched and written by RMCO staff, on the evidence that the West’s climate is already changing. Hotter and Drier: The West’s Changed Climate includes a new analysis showing that the 11 western states have warmed 70 percent more than the global average, with the greatest warming concentrated in the Colorado River basin, where it affects the interior West’s most important water source. With additional information drawn from 50 scientific studies and 125 other scientific and governmental sources, the report documents that the West’s climate has changed more than any other region in the United States outside of Alaska, with effects that include more heat waves, smaller snowpacks and earlier snowmelt, increased wildfires, unprecedented infestations of tree-killing bark beetles, loss of wildlife populations, loss of fishing and hunting opportunities, and hardship for farmers and ranchers.

The report received widespread news coverage, including “Warming felt more in western U.S.,” in the Los Angeles Times; “Temperature rising out West,” in the Salt Lake City Tribune, “Arizona temperatures rising more than average,” Arizona Republic; “American West heating nearly twice as fast as rest of world, new analysis shows,”  Science Daily; and “Warming affects trees, streams in West,” by the Associated Press. It was also also cited in As fight for water heats up, prized fish suffer, an April 1, 2008 New York Times article describing competition for water intensifying as the climate gets warmer and drier. Additionally, the report was covered by CBS News, the Today Show, United Press International, Reuters, the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and other news outlets in (at least) Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon,  Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.

This was RMCO’s third major report in 2-1/2 years, following Less Snow, Less Water: Climate Disruption in the West and Losing Ground: Western National Parks Endangered by Climate Disruption.