Climate change could result in the catastrophic loss of wildlife, a report says. The National Park Service is called on to create a system to manage animals and plants. This National Park Service graphic explains the drastic effects of climate change on Glacier National Park. (Credit: Daniel Terdiman / CNET)

By Margot Roosevelt  The federal government must take decisive action to avoid “a potentially catastrophic loss of animal and plant life” in national parks, according to a new report that details the effects of global warming on the nation’s most treasured public lands. The 53-page report from the National Parks Conservation Assn., a Washington-based advocacy group, details concerns related to climate change in the parks, including the bleaching of coral reefs in Florida and the disappearance of high-altitude ponds that nurture yellow-legged frogs in California. The group called on the National Park Service to come up with a detailed plan and funding to adapt to temperature-related ecosystem changes. “Right now, no national plan exists to manage wildlife throughout their habitat, which often is a patchwork of lands managed by multiple federal agencies, states, tribes, municipalities and private landholders,” wrote Thomas C. Kiernan, president of the conservation group. …

Plan urged to save national parks from global warming effects via The Oil Drum