Overview:
Working with local stakeholders including backcountry skiers, mountain guides, ski areas, the Mountaineers, the American Alpine Club, local tribes, and Western Washington University students, we are ramping up our snow sampling campaign in the North Cascades. Glacial retreat is accelerating as temperature rise rapidly and this will have extreme consequences for Pacific Northwest urban, rural, and natural areas. We are creating a network of repeat sampling sites so we can track snow contaminants and glacial health over time. We are seeking partners, volunteers, and funding to help develop this program.
Volunteers will work with scientists to collect snow samples and other data on Mount Baker and other mountains in the region using the same techniques the ACSP uses on Mt. Everest and in the Andes. The samples will be analyzed in the lab and, working with our stakeholder groups, will be used for local hydrologic modeling and to predict future glacier changes and potential societal responses.
While in the past we have predominantly worked in the Andes and Himalaya, the global pandemic has forced us to begin acting as well as thinking locally and we at the ACSP have begun our new Mountain Environments Institute to help train local volunteers in the Pacific Northwest – especially young people – how to safely collect snow samples in mountainous terrain. We are hopeful that this local training institute will serve as a springboard to both help collect valuable environmental data to protect our home as well as help train the next generation of field scientist.
How To Help:
Volunteer to Sample! Email us at climberscience@gmail.com
Partners: