Montana’s Glacier National Park (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) claims that climate change will cause the disappearance of the glaciers in Montana’s Glacier National Park in just 20 years.



“Climate change affects every corner of the American continent,” the DOI website stated. “It is making droughts drier and longer, floods more dangerous and hurricanes more severe.



“The glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park are melting so quickly, they’re expected to disappear in the next two decades,” the website stated, although no documentation is provided to substantiate that claim.



The section of the DOI website dedicated to climate change also reveals how much of the land in the United States and its resources are controlled by the federal government: “one-fifth of the land in the country, 35,000 miles of coastline, and 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf.”



“The impacts of climate change are forcing us to change how we manage these resources,” the website stated. “Climate change may dramatically affect water supplies in certain watersheds, impact coastal wetlands and barrier islands, cause relocation of and stress on wildlife, increase wildland fires, further spread invasive species, and more.”

The DOI’s National Park Service (NPS) website also described the more than one million acre park:



“Glacier National Park is not named so much for its small glaciers, but for the colossal work of colossal glaciers in the past,” the NPS website stated. “Ten thousand years ago, the topography of Glacier looked much the same as it does today.”



The NPS website also predicted the end of glaciers at the park in just 15 years.



“Since the last ice age ended, around 10,000 years ago, there have been many slight climate fluctuations that have been mirrored by the growth or recession of glaciers,” the NPS website stated. “Based on current trends, however, glacier recession models predict that by 2030, Glacier National Park will be without glaciers.”



The NPS website also credited weather for the diversity of plants and animals in the park.



“Glacier Park's varied climate influences and its location at the headwaters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Hudson Bay drainages have given rise to an incredible variety of plants and animals,” the website stated. “Its diverse habitats are home to nearly 70 species of mammals including the grizzly bear, wolverine, gray wolf and lynx.



“Over 270 species of birds visit or reside in the park, including such varied species as harlequin ducks, dippers and golden eagles,” the website stated.



The NPS website also tells potential visitors about how unpredictable the weather is at the park.



“Weather is always unpredictable in the mountains,” the website stated. “Be prepared for all types of weather!”