What threatens the health of Colorado’s snow pack and the future of Utah’s red rock wildlands and will be made worse by the effects of climate change? And what can you do to help address this threat?
Quick answers:
Red dust falling on white snow.
Write the Interior Department or the Colorado
delegation and ask them to protect Colorado’s
snow pack and Utah’s wild lands by limiting surface disturbing
activities on BLM lands in Utah proposed for wilderness protection.
Background: An increasing body of scientific research indicates that dust from the red rock deserts of the Colorado Plateau is contributing to early snowmelt in Colorado. Snow stained by dust melts faster because it absorbs more solar energy than a pristine white snow pack. Recent research, for example, shows that in 2005 and 2006, dust deposition caused snow cover to melt 18 to 35 days earlier in the San Juan Mountains of western Colorado and in 2009, approximately 48 days earlier. Early snow melt not only contributes to regional climate change by increasing temperatures, it increases the risk of regional drought by diminishing the amount of water available later in the season when it’s needed the most. And it may threaten Colorado’s ski industry.
The color of the dust, prevailing wind patterns and other factors indicate that the Colorado Plateau – which includes the red rock wild lands of southeastern Utah – is likely the major source of dust on Colorado’s snow. And while the existence of some windborne dust is a natural phenomenon, research shows that activities that destabilize desert soils (such as off-road vehicle use, oil and gas development and grazing) greatly increase the susceptibility of desert soils to wind erosion exacerbating dust deposition on mountain snow pack.
What is needed: The best way to reduce windborne soil erosion is to prevent surface-disturbing activities, such as off-road vehicle use and oil and gas development, on fragile desert soils. Protecting BLM wild lands on Utah’s Colorado Plateau would limit these activities – diminishing the amount of red dust falling on Colorado mountains and also preserving spectacular landscapes deserving of wilderness designation.
What you can do:
If you live in Colorado, write Colorado Senators Mark Udall (http://markudall.senate.gov/?p=contact_us) and Mike Bennet (http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/). Ask them to take a leadership role in providing protection for Utah’s BLM wild lands, both to preserve these precious landscapes and to protect Colorado snow pack from red dust. As a first step, encourage them to ask Interior Secretary Salazar to limit surface-disturbing activities on Utah BLM lands proposed for wilderness, especially off-road vehicle activity and oil and gas development.
Otherwise, write Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science (Anne_Castle@ios.doi.gov) and urge the Department of Interior to limit surface-disturbing activities on Utah BLM lands proposed for wilderness, especially off-road vehicle activity and oil and gas development.
