Valley Views
Will grandkids get to see moose, mountain goats in Montana?
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We Montanans are passionate about wildlife. Doesn’t matter whether you hunt them, photograph them, hike to where you need binoculars just to see them as teeny dots, or just want to know they’re there - our home is special in large part because we share it with cool critters.
We’ve heard that polar bears are in trouble because the ice they depend on for hunting seals is disappearing as the climate warms. True, but far away. But it turns out that two species that practically define Montana’s mountains are particularly adapted to cold climates and are starting to suffer from global warming: moose and mountain goats.
In the alpine on a hot summer day you may notice that the goats are all hanging out on snow patches. Or you may see moose on a frigid winter day looking perfectly warm and comfy. While warmer temperatures are hardly the only difficulties they encounter, it’s increasingly clear that both species face precarious futures in Montana if, as predicted by climate scientists, Montana continues to warm. Because climate effects on these guys are subtle and slow-moving, it takes a long time (and lots of data) before the biological evidence accumulates. Until recently we didn’t have much science on how climate change was impacting these species here in Montana.
Good scientists lay out all plausible explanations objectively and methodically, open to all the possibilities. Maybe there’s a climate connection lurking in the data, maybe not. Before digging into the data, scientists think long and hard to ensure that the analyses they use are going to reveal underlying dynamics if they’re real, but won’t generate misleading conclusions.
After spending countless hours to ensure the science is right, it’s breath-taking to finally run an analysis, pull back the curtain, and learn about a climate effect on a wildlife population. Again, this is subtle stuff: neither moose nor goats just lie down dead, feet pointing toward the sky, when it gets too hot for them. They can, and do, make behavioral adjustments. But unlike people who can turn on air-conditioning, they can only adapt so far.
We’ve known from studies in New England, that ticks can be devastating for moose (it’s a different tick from the kind that sometimes crawls onto people in spring), draining them of energy and blood. They increase and affect moose more when winters are short. From work we’ve recently published, we now know those dynamics occur in the Rockies too. As our winters become shorter, we can expect our moose to become more tick-ridden.
We’ve also recently shown that a worm that infects some Montana moose is associated with higher mortality. The worm itself doesn’t care about the weather outside. But it’s transmitted by deer flies, which are more abundant and active in hot weather. When it’s uncomfortably warm, moose can retreat to the coolest places they know about. But even there, they have difficulty avoiding these parasites, which will become more common with climate change.
Mountain goats typify species that live on mountain tops where it’s cooler, and thus have few options when it gets warmer. Goats aren’t affected so much by parasites, but when the vegetation they depend on for nutrition is drier - a symptom of higher spring temperatures - they are less likely to survive. Already on the edge, goats will have an even tougher time in an ever-hotter Montana.
We know what needs to be done to halt climate change. Transition away from fossil fuels. Let’s all do our part to ensure our grandkids live in a Montana with goats and moose.
Dr. Rich Harris is a retired wildlife biologist who has authored numerous peer reviewed scientific papers on the effects of climate change on moose and mountain goats. He volunteers with Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a nonprofit advocacy organization. The Montana chapters of CCL welcome all to join their respectful, bipartisan efforts to urge Congress to enact commonsense solutions to reduce climate pollution and add clean domestic energy. See: cclusa.org
