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Environmental Groups Release Climate Impact Report On Wildlife

Pennsylvania’s outdoor traditions like hunting and fishing are increasingly at risk due to rising temperatures, according to a new report by the National Wildlife Federation.

Game Changers: Climate Impacts to America’s Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Heritage takes a comprehensive view of the challenges today’s wildlife are facing as climate conditions worsen, threatening the very customs that have shaped and cultivated America’s passion for the great outdoors.

“I commend the National Wildlife Federation for hosting this gathering and the other speakers for attending to address this invaluable report that takes a hard look at just how climate change affects the wild species so many of us know, love and find invaluable to our Pennsylvania way of life,” said Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. “One only has to look at our Eastern hemlock and how it has been decimated by the wooly adelgid, an invasive insect that thrives and spreads in warmer winters, to see how climate change adversely affects so many wildlife species and the deep-seated traditions that surround our state tree.”

Other press conference speakers joining Dunn include John Arway, Executive Director, Fish and Boat Commission; Dr. Benjamin Jones, chief, Habitat Planning and Development Division, Game Commission; Dr. Shawn Rummel, Field and Research Manager, Trout Unlimited; and Ed Perry, PA Outreach Coordinator, National Wildlife Federation.

Warming temperatures are placing a clear threat to the sport of hunting and fishing alike, bringing new stressors to both big and small game. The National Wildlife Federation’s new report takes a deeper look at what these climate conditions are doing to specific game species:

— Ecosystems: A warming world is altering the species composition of Pennsylvania’s forests, thereby affecting our native species.

Based on the latest science, our state fish, the brook trout, our state bird, the ruffed grouse, and state tree, the hemlock, will largely be gone from the state by the turn of this century. Rising global temperatures have facilitated the spread of the wooly adelgid, a noxious insect pest that is decimating hemlocks throughout the northeast.

Cold winters once kept the adelgid confined to the southern United States, but rising temperatures have allowed it to spread to the North Country. Brook trout are so closely allied with hemlocks that at one time they were called hemlock trout.

So as the hemlocks go, so goes our state fish.

Conservation biologists call hemlocks a keystone species, that is, a species upon which many other species depend. Hemlocks not only provide thermal cover for trout streams in the heat of summer, but also important cover for deer, turkey, grouse and other wildlife during the cold of winter.

Some species, such as the solitary vireo, black-throated green warbler, and northern goshawk are considered to be hemlock obligates.

— Snowshoe Hare: This species is at the southern end of its range, and is in danger of disappearing from Pennsylvania due to habitat changes triggered by climate change.

Studies conducted by Penn State wildlife ecologists warn that the state’s hare population is in jeopardy – not from hunting – but from the disappearance of the hare’s preferred habitat – young, dense, regenerating hardwoods and conifers, devastated by tree diseases and invasive pests. Less snowfall also renders the hare’s white camouflage coat a liability, making them more vulnerable to predators.

— Fish: Pennsylvania anglers are witnessing first-hand how extreme rainfall events are tearing up stream banks on some of our finest trout streams, while low flows coupled with high temperatures stress our state fish, the brook trout.

Past development activities have already eliminated over thirty percent of brook trout in Pennsylvania, and scientists forecast that unless strong measures are implemented to reduce carbon pollution, brook trout will be largely gone from the eastern United States by the year 2100.

As climate change continues to take its toll on wildlife, state wildlife agencies have been forced to curtail hunting and fishing seasons.

For example, in New Hampshire, climate change has caused the moose population to drop more than 40 percent in the last decade which has forced the state to shorten the moose hunting season and reduce hunting permits by nearly 85 percent. Such actions are also becoming common in other states, threatening American values and the overall sport of hunting and angling.

"America's hunters and anglers have a proud legacy of working to protect fish and wildlife, a tradition that stretches back generations and continues today," said John Arway, Executive Director of the Fish and Boat Commission. "The science is clear: the longer we delay taking meaningful steps to reduce atmospheric pollution, the more serious the harmful impacts to our natural resources and our fishing and hunting heritage. We need to act now for the benefit of people, fish and wildlife, and their habitats."

More than 37.4 million Americans participated in fishing, hunting and wildlife recreation in 2011, according to the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, & Wildlife-Associated Recreation. These sportsmen and women contributed billions of dollars to fish and wildlife conservation, and also pumped nearly $90 billion into the economy.

“The American tradition of hunting and angling, and the possibility of its decline, also is addressed, while simultaneously speaking about the major contributions sportsmen and women have done for wildlife conservation and funding,” said Ed Perry, Outreach Coordinator, National Wildlife Federation said.

Rural communities often depend on these outdoor adventurers to keep small businesses afloat. Therefore, the loss of recreational hunting and fishing opportunities due to climate change could have real economic impacts across the nation – particularly in rural communities.

The report highlights the immediate actions that are needed to both protect wildlife and the treasured American pastime associated with them.

Game Changers: Climate Impacts to America’s Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Heritage calls on our leaders, hunters, anglers and conservationists to speak up for wildlife by directly:

1. Supporting the Clean Power Plan – Presented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this plan would establish first-ever limits on carbon pollution from our country’s largest source – power plants. These new standards are a critical next step in reducing America’s carbon pollution and spurring the transition to wildlife-friendly clean energy sources.

2. Expanding large-scale conservation funding investments for wildlife - It would take at least $1.3 billion annually to prevent certain wildlife species from becoming threatened or endangered. At the moment, funding only provides $50 million annually across the nation. Greater funding is needed to better protect wildlife. With a large-scale national investment for wildlife, agencies could better manage species and the habitats they depend upon.

3. Encouraging strong action on methane pollution – This greenhouse gas traps more than 80 times as much heat as carbon does over a 20 year period, meaning a small amount of pollution can have big impacts on climate. The EPA has fortunately proposed a rule calling for reducing methane emissions. This rule needs support from sportsmen and women who are seeing the climate impacts to wildlife first-hand.

4. Reducing fossil fuel use and rejecting the expansion of dirty fuels – Oil, gas and coal development destroy, degrade, pollute and fragment habitat. Carbon and methane pollution from these sources exacerbates climate stressors for wildlife. There is a clear need to slow and stop the expansion of dirty energy reserves in the interest of our big and small game.

5. Investing in clean, wildlife-friendly energy – The need to improve energy efficiency is evident. Energy sources such as offshore-wind, solar, sustainable bioenergy and geothermal can all provide a smooth transition to clean energy, while also limiting the impacts to wildlife.

A copy of the report is available online.

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