Cutting the dedication ribbon for the new For Future Generations: Yellowstone Gifts (photo by Shad Stites)At a special celebration yesterday in Yellowstone, Deputy Superintendent Chris Lehnertz andXanterra Parks & Resorts' General Manager Jim McCaleb cut the unique dedication ribbon—created from bison-dung based paper—for the new store “For Future Generations: Yellowstone Gifts.”

The store features an innovative approach to green retail: its sole purpose is to educate and inspire park guests to help protect national parks. Lehnertz commended Xanterra for the depth of the company’s environmental commitment and for helping to support the mission of the National Park Service with the store’s important interpretive displays on climate change.

Xanterra’s Director of Environmental Affairs in Yellowstone, Beth Pratt, spoke about the threats climate change presents to national parks and its wildlife such as the pika and grizzly bears. She also introduced what she believes is the most significant aspect of the store: the new sustainability scorecard Xanterra developed that rates all products offered in the gift shop on social and environmental attributes. “We believe this is the first retail store to extensively utilize a transparent and extensive environmental scorecard.”

The celebration also included a sustainable vendor fair with displays from businesses with products sold in the store and suppliers who assisted with the green remodel of the facility. After a dessert buffet that included locally made chocolate, Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, gave a presentation on climate change.

See below for a photo slideshow of the event:

Larry Schweiger, NWF President, wildlife watching in Yellowstone (photo by Beth Pratt)President & CEO of the National Wildlife Federation Larry Schweiger appealed to an audience inYellowstone National Park yesterday to take action at this important “moral moment” in the fight against climate change.

Schweiger outlined the overwhelming evidence that thousands of peer reviewed scientific reports have documented on climate change, and showed startling images from around the world representing the toll global warming has already taken on this planet. He recently attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and urged attendees to put pressure on their elected representatives to pass comprehensive legislation.

Schweiger also related how he spent the morning on a wildlife watching tour in the park despite the negative 38-degree temperature. “I hope for more days like this. Yellowstone needs 40 below days to remain a healthy ecosystem for its inhabitants like the whitebark pine and the grizzly bears.”

At the end of his presentation, Schweiger displayed photographs of his grandchildren and made a heartfelt plea for Americans to assume leadership in the fight against climate change for the sake of future generations. “I don’t know a single parent who wouldn’t do anything in their power for the sake of their children. But yet we are leaving our children a dangerous inheritance with a rapidly changing climate.” In his new book, Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth, Schweiger echoes this sentiment: “For the sake of all children, please join me in this effort to avoid a climate crisis and keep wildlife thriving.”

Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation (photo courtesy NWF)Since the age of fourteen, Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation(NWF), has been active in wildlife conservation. Over his impressive career, he has spearheaded environmental efforts through his work in non-profit and government service, and since 2004 has led the NWF, America’s largest conservation organization.

Like most environmental leaders, Schweiger realizes the dire consequences that climate change presents toward life on earth, and he recently attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen to urge world governments to act. His new book, Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth, is an impassioned plea for us to combat climate change before it destroys the precious legacy of life that we leave to our children and grandchildren. All author proceeds from the book are being donated to NWF.

Last Chance outlines the threats that wildlife face from climate change, most alarmingly the statistic that “40 to 70 percent of all species could be extinct within our children’s lifetimes if we don’t take action now.” The book, however, is not just a compilation of scientific figures, although it provides an excellent summary of the projected impacts of climate change. Indeed, Last Chance also serves as a call to action for every citizen of the world.  “Global warming is not only an intellectual matter, but also a deeply moral and spiritual issue that lets no-one off the hook. We must all answer, not just with our best thoughts and words, but with our hearts and actions.”

Mr. Schweiger will be speaking on climate change and signing copies of his new book in Yellowstone National Park on January 7, 2010 at 8:00 pm at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. 

Success at Copenhagen is crucial to the survival of Yellowstone--and all of our national parks. (Photo by Beth Pratt)World leaders gathering in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference negotiated over a draft climate agreement and methods for transferring green technologies to developing countries. Connie Hedegaard, President of the conference, reported “we have made considerable progress over the course of the first week.” Protesters disagreed, with tens of thousands flooding the streets of the city yesterday, holding banners with messages like “There is no Planet B” and demanding immediate action from the delegates.

Although to most people the bureaucratic meetings in a distant city seem to have little relevance to their own lives, what happens in Copenhagen doesn’t stay in Copenhagen. The inability to come to a consensus on a treaty has dire repercussions for the entire world. And here in the United States, progress—indeed, a solution to the climate crisis—is imperative to the survival of our cherished national parks.

Climate change is already threatening our national parks—some of the best-protected places on the planet. Jon Jarvis, the newly appointed Director of the National Park Service (NPS), deemed climate change “potentially the most far-reaching and consequential challenge to our mission than any previously encountered in the entire history of the NPS.” If we don’t develop a global solution to reduce the ever-increasing production of greenhouse gas emissions, the future of “America’s Best Idea” is at stake.

In Yellowstone National Park, a tiny insect has become a serious threat to the mighty grizzly bear. As a result of warming temperatures at higher elevations, the mountain pine beetle has gained a foothold in whitebark pine forests and is destroying an important part of the bear’s diet. Scientists now predict glaciers will disappear from Glacier National Park by 2030, and Joshua Tree National Park may lose its namesake tree within the next century. Climate change and other environmental ills have pushed a third of amphibians on the verge of extinction, including the mountain yellow-legged frog in Yosemite. And rising temperatures have diminished habitat for the cold-loving pika—a high elevation dweller than can perish from overheating--in Yosemite and other parks.

Recent reports by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, and the National Parks and Conservation Association warn of these threats and many others that climate change pose to our national parks.

Copenhagen must be successful at uniting the world to stop global warming. Using the strategies discussed this past week—many of them practical, feasible and workable—week two of the conference must yield comprehensive solutions. If our leaders fail to act, they not only fail the grizzly bears in Yellowstone and the yellow-legged frogs in Yosemite, they also fail to protect our country’s important heritage of national parks, what writer Wallace Stegner called “the best idea we ever had.”

View a photo slideshow of Ten National Parks in Peril.

Grizzly bears in Yellowstone are threatened by climate change (photo by Beth Pratt)Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem remain protected as the result of this week’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy. 

Two years ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wanted to remove the grizzly bear from theendangered species list. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a non-profit advocacy group, filed suit to block the removal. 

The non-profit won the case and Judge Molloy placed the grizzly bears back under federal protection in September, stating, "Without the protections of the Endangered Species Act, the Yellowstone grizzly bear distinct population segment will be placed in jeopardy." The government appealed the ruling and sent the case back for review, which was resolved with the announcement this week of the grizzly bear’s protection being upheld.

In Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area, a tiny beetle may decide the fate of the kingly grizzly bear. A beetle that destroys the whitebark pine tree has gained a considerable foothold in Yellowstone because of the effects of climate change. High in nutritional value, whitebark pine nuts provide a valuable food source for the bears. The relationship between the bear’s survival and the whitebark pine was an important part of Judge Molloy’s decision. 

In some parts of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, beetles have destroyed up to 70 percent of the trees in whitebark pine forests. Removing this important component of the grizzly bears’ diet puts considerable stress on the species that could ultimately lead to extinction. Louisa Wilcox, senior wildlife advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, has warned, “If these trees go, they could take Yellowstone’s grizzlies…with them. If we want to save not just the whitebark pine, but the animals and plants like the grizzly bear that depend on this tree for food, we need to move to protect and restore them now.”

Even the popular news host Stephen Colbert has raised attention about the plight of Yellowstone’s bears—albeit humorously—with a segment on his regular feature “Threatdown.” Yellowstone’s bears have also attacked Colbert for promoting anti-ursine propaganda and fear mongering.