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POSTED: Sunday, Mar. 29, 2009

What the parks are doing to reduce carbon emissions

Staff at Washington's three national parks want to focus early efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in these key areas.

NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK COMPLEX

Transportation: Getting from park headquarters in Sedro-Woolley requires a 50-mile drive for park superintendent Chip Jenkins. The legislation that created the park dictated Sedro-Woolley as park headquarters to provide jobs.

The park's operations center facility is in Marblemount, also outside the park. These two locales explain why transportation accounts for 50 percent of the carbon footprint from park operations.

"We have so many people driving back and forth just to get to the park," said Jenkins, who drives a hybrid Honda Civic for park duties.

Park staff is working with the Defense Logistics Agency to analyze the park's fleet and make recommendations to increase efficiency.

Education: Jenkins said the park can be an example to visitors on how to reduce their carbon footprint at home. He cited the use of biodiesel fuel for vehicles at Stehekin in the Lake Chelan National Recreation Area.

Additionally, if the park can run a successful recycling program at the remote Colonial Creek campground, Jenkins hopes that would encourage people to recycle at home, where they have curbside service.

The park, working with the North Cascades Institute, will host high school students from across the country to teach them about the ecology of the North Cascades and climate change. The idea, Jenkins said, is that the students will put what they learned from park scientists and other experts to work in their schools.

Ecosystem changes: The park has seen the volume of its 300 glaciers decline by 7 percent from 1958 to 1998, according to a 2006 study by Andrew Fountain and Frank Granshaw. Jenkins said monitoring changes will be incorporated into a general management plan being written for the Ross Lake National Recreation Area.

Park staff also will inventory and monitor mountain lakes, bird populations and changes in vegetation. The changes in alpine lakes is of particular interest.

"One of our scientists said our mountain lakes are giant petri dishes in the sky because so much stuff falls from the sky," Jenkins said.

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK

Transportation: Getting around the park is a challenge for park employees and visitors. Transportation accounts for 72.6 percent of the park's total carbon footprint, and 23.8 percent of its operational footprint. Park employees often drive long distances to get to work and to reach work sites within the park.

The park has taken steps to reduce its transportation emissions. It owns 10 hybrid vehicles, two van pools shuttle employees from their homes in Eatonville and a no-idling regulation is in place.

Park staffers also want to persuade more visitors to use the shuttle bus system to Paradise, the most visited locale in the park. This year the route was extended to the community of Ashford.

Park leaders want to run an ongoing shuttle system but have to resolve where to park visitor vehicles and how to pay for the system.

"We're looking at a voluntary system, not mandatory, to entice people out of their vehicles and into shuttles," said Bryan Bowden, the park's community planner.

Building energy needs: Energy to heat and light buildings accounts for 55 percent of the park operations' carbon footprint.

"In some ways it doesn't surprise me, with the infrastructure we have and its age," acting park superintendent Randy King said

The Sunrise Lodge is the park's new poster child for energy inefficiency. The aging building has single-pane windows, no insulation in the walls and lots of "natural ventilation," better known as holes and gaps.

Insulating the walls and the ceiling would cut heat loss by 72 percent, said Teodora Rutar Shuman, a Seattle University professor, which could save 2,900 gallons of diesel fuel a season.

Personal responsibility: This applies to park employees and visitors, said Jim Fuller, the park's utilities manager. He cited the concept of vampire energy, which is energy wasted by electronics in standby mode or chargers that are plugged in but not being used. Studies estimate standby power accounts for 5 to 6 percent of electricity usage in the United States."People have to understand, OK, it's not a big deal to leave your computer on," Fuller said. "But if the guy next to you doesn't (turn it off), and the guy in the office next door doesn't, and everyone in Tacoma doesn't, it all adds up."

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

Transportation: Emissions from visitor transportation account for 61.4 percent of the park's total carbon footprint. Park staff is discussing alternative transportation, said superintendent Karen Gustin.

"When you look at Olympic, you see all these access roads going into the park. You have all these people in individual cars driving into the park," she said.

Gustin said the park might look at partnering with Clallam County's bus system.

Recycling: Park staff estimates handling waste accounts for 5.7 percent of the park's carbon footprint. But hauling waste is a significant challenge at a park as far-flung as Olympic, where park staffers have a three-hour drive from headquarters in Port Angeles to the Quinault River area.

"We want to be more organized in how we approach it," Gustin said. "We want to be sure we capture as many of the recyclables as we can."

Ecosystem changes: If climate change continues, frequent flooding and habitat changes could alter the landscape and threaten park infrastructure. Significant road repairs were necessary following major floods in 2006 and 2008. A comparison of aerial photos taken during the last 50 years shows trees encroaching into the subalpine meadow.

"We were just brainstorming how changes might occur. But a huge part of it was getting the staff to think about what might happen," said Nancy Hendricks, park environmental protection specialist.