Ecosystem
Imagine yourself deep underwater in a massive bay. It is spring, and the Pacific Ocean's warm waters have entered and warmed the typically frigid strait. Powerful tides stir up nutrients from the sea floor and distribute them into the water. The conditions are primed for an explosion of life. For a few months in the spring, millions and millions of tiny plant plankton fill the bay, and small fish such as herring and capelin follow to gorge on the tiny life forms. These prey fish in turn attract salmon and sea lions, and whales who feed on the small organisms. None of this would be possible without sunlight, water, and warmth. Glacier Bay has a wide variety of ecosystems. Massive old growth forests teeming with evergreens, sitka spruce, and hemlock. Expansive glaciers that provide hiding spots for small animals and and a hunting ground for birds of prey. Miles of coastline are roads for animals such as moose and bighorn sheep. But the one ecosystem that all of Glacier Bay National Park is centered around is the stunning system of bays, inlets, rivers, and coves that make up Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay has only been open water for a few hundred years, and the glaciers that remain are receding at faster rates then ever. The cold water melting off the glaciers could threaten species that make their home in the bay. Alaskan winters are on average a whole 5 degrees warmer than is normal. This could have all sorts of repercussions for the park including early spring snow-melt, reduced sea ice, shrinking glaciers, bark beetle infestations, eroding shoreline, and more forest fires. All of the extra run-off water is causing streams to swell, which washes away salmon eggs and erodes the shoreline. However, the park is defending itself against global warming in many ways. Glacier Bay was the first national park in Alaska to receive the Climate Friendly Park Designation, for doing things such as recycling 58% of their waste (33% more than Anchorage), enforcing a no-idling policy, and investing in cleaner running generators.