Trump Withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord Wrong Direction for Adirondack Park
William C. Janeway
Executive Director
The Adirondack Council
The Adirondack Park is a national treasure and is the largest park in the contiguous United States.
The park’s rich biological diversity is a product of its location at the transition zone between the temperate, hardwood forests of the Appalachian Mountain Range and the mossy spruce/fir forests more common to Canada.
Science tells us that unchecked climate change would shift that transition zone northward into Canada, wiping out suitable habitat here for moose, fishers, spruce grouse, and other boreal animals that depend upon cold, wet, swampy forests. It will also wipe out a suitable climate for boreal plant species, such as the insect-eating pitcher plant and sundew. It will make our streams and rivers too warm to support healthy brook trout.
It will also harm Adirondack communities, as it makes the climate too warm for ski areas, Olympic winter sports training facilities, snowmobiling and other staples of the Adirondack culture and economy.
Climate scientists report that by 2100, the Adirondack Park’s climate will resemble present-day Richmond, Virginia without significant intervention to curb global warming.
