Populations of marmots may be affected by colder, snowier winters.
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SharePlanet will get cooler for 50 years
Published: October 07, 2008 5:00 PMUpdated: October 07, 2008 6:39 PM
Last year, the Farmers Almanac, established in 1792, predicted a colder winter with a heavier snow fall. To put it bluntly, many regions in North America received more snow than they had in 100 years last year.
A heavy snowfall is detrimental to the populations of ungulate and hibernating species, including the mountain caribou, which climbs higher into the mountains to locate winter feed it shares with other species.
Deep powdered snow slows down populations, but things get worse when a layer of crust forms. The sharp hooves of ungulates will penetrate the crust, slowing them down, while the large soft pads of cougars and wolves allow them to travel on top and easily take down prey.
This past summer, more than 20 marmot colonies were visited in the Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges. What stood out was there were no this-year pups among the populations and local guides had observed the same.
Some of the lodges had noticed a large decline in colonies, most likely because the older and weaker animals succumbed to long, harsh winter conditions.
The mountain goats’ greatest predator is the avalanche, which kills more mountain goats than golden eagles, grizzlies, wolves and cougars combined, and this year’s winter forecast is no better.
The Farmers Almanac predicts a cooler winter this year, with a whole lot of snow. That does not sound good for the ungulate populations and hibernating species, which won’t have enough fat on the outer layer to keep them through a long and cold winter.
Bears that depend on the salmon runs to top up their thermal tanks for winter may face a harsh winter this year due to low fish returns throughout B.C.
Farmers Almanac went further out on a limb this year than ever before, presenting “a study of solar activity and corresponding records on ocean temperatures and climate point to a cooler, not warmer climate for perhaps the next half century,” writes meteorologist and climatologist Joseph D’leo.
The only uncertainty is what the human factor will contribute to global temperatures, whether this will negate or prevail over any cooling trend, but the Almanac’s predictions have been more than 80 per cent correct, so count on a cooler cycle for a few years.
Those who want to keep warm this winter, but lower their heating costs and be environmentally friendly, should use wood for heat.
Remember the 1777 recipe, which tells people how to use only one log for the entire winter. “Throw a log out an upstairs window, dash down the stairs and outside, retrieve the log, dash upstairs, throw the log out the window and so on. Do that until you work up a sweat and you’ll be warm all winter”.
Next week, stay tuned for a hotter version of ‘Global warming for dummies’.
Lawrence Woodall is a longtime naturalist who lives in Port Hardy.
