The wildflowers that delight visitors every spring could disappear from Rocky Mountain National Park unless people reduce the nitrogen afflicting the park’s tundra, lakes and other ecosystems.
This spring, state and federal agencies signed an agreement that pledges to work toward the shared goal of reducing the park’s nitrogen levels. Most pollution-control plans seek only to cut the amount of chemicals in the air, but this effort also aims to curb nitrogen accumulations in the water and soils – an unprecedented goal for U.S. pollution regulators. Credit is due the National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and state Air Quality Control Commission.
Early action is warranted. The University of Colorado’s alpine research station in the Indian Peaks originally made the connection between loss of native wildflowers and unnaturally high nitrogen levels. Now a report warns that the park’s nitrogen levels are about twice the critical load – that is, the point at which the pollution radically changes ecosystems. The new study, by Jill Baron of the U.S. Geological Survey, found that nitrogen already has changed algae growth in the park’s lakes. Algae is part of the food chain, so if the algae die or change, fish and other species could be harmed.
Long term, nitrogen also will make the park’s lakes acidic, potentially leading to the “dead lake” syndrome that for years haunted New York’s Adirondack Mountains. The Adirondacks are recovering today only because EPA and Eastern states imposed very strict pollution controls. Conditions aren’t yet that extreme in Rocky Mountain National Park but it’s crucial to act soon.
Every week, workers take water samples from Loch Vale, one of the park’s most popular destinations. Studies show that the lake’s nitrogen levels jump on days when the wind blows from the east or southeast – so the pollutant likely comes from the Front Range.
Power plants, auto exhaust, oil and gas drilling and overuse of nitrogen fertilizer by farmers (and bluegrass-growing city slickers) all could lead to a slow death of the park’s lakes and wildflowers. Clearly, many ideas for cleaning up the Front Range’s air also could help the park.
The political resistance to more stringent pollution controls, such as requiring power plants to install more pollution controls, likely will be intense.
But as folks in the Adirondacks can attest, progress is possible when the political will matches what the science shows.
