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Adapt or Die: The Outlook for Wildlife: As our climate warms, many of our critters’ home ranges will shift northward in elevation. And, just like the Clark Fork basin’s alpine vegetation, animals that thrive at the highest elevations will be the hardest hit. As patches of alpine habitat shrink, disappear, or become more fragmented, species like wolverine, which depend on spring snow in the mountains for denning and rearing young, may simply disappear in the basin. Species that can’t adapt by colonizing new areas, or species that depend on very specific food sources—such as the lynx, which rely on snowshoe hares—may decline or die out. Meanwhile, species that are masters at adapting, such as whitetail deer, will likely thrive.
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GRIZZLY BEARS: Grizzlies are the epitome of an omnivore—they’ll eat anything from ladybugs to plants to mammals. But one of their most critical pre-hibernation foods, the nut of the whitebark pine tree, is rapidly disappearing. For the past few decades, the trees have suffered from white pine blister rust. Now, on top of this disease, pine bark beetles have been attacking whitebark pines for the past 10 years. Warmer temperatures have allowed beetles to move upslope from lodgepole forests to the higher elevation whitebark pine stands. This high elevation food source has become more important to bears’ diet as roads and human settlements divide up their habitat and diminish their lower elevation foods. Losing the whitebark pine will probably lead to more conflicts as bears seek substitute foods. |
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DEER AND ELK: Milder winters spell good news for ungulates such as deer and elk. Shallower snowpack means less die-off for ungulates, and easier access to browse deciduous twigs—like willows and aspen—that used to be buried by deep winter snow. Predators such as wolves may also benefit from an increase in deer and elk populations, although carnivores that depend primarily on winter-killed carrion, such as wolverines, may be out of luck.
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BIRDS: Since many of our favorite birds require highly specific habitats and food sources, they literally are “canaries in the coal mine” with their vulnerability to changes in climate. For instance, 90 percent of all bird species in Montana depend on wetlands or streamside vegetation to survive. So, with persistent droughts, loss of habitat from humans draining wetlands and removing riparian vegetation, and competing uses for our freshwater, it’s no surprise the five fastest-declining bird species in Montana all depend on water. The belted kingfisher, which needs clear water to see its prey, is among the fastest disappearing of all Montana birds, declining 88 percent since 1967. Great blue herons require large cottonwood trees to nest in, and have declined 81 percent statewide. The killdeer, a common shorebird, is down 80 percent, and the population of the blue-winged teal, a small duck, has dropped 72 percent.
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Wildlife
