The Appalachian Trail Can Provide a Refuge from Climate Change

The Appalachian Trail increasingly is being seen as a buffer from climate change along its more than 2,000-mile northbound path from Georgia to Maine.

A 2012 study by The Nature Conservancy concluded that healthy forests are key to removing carbon dioxide from the air, and that the Central Appalachian Mountains are a critical carbon-removal landscape.

The mountains also harbor a “wide variety of plants and animals while also serving as sources of clean drinking water, fertile soils, and other important services people rely upon for survival,” the Conservancy study said.

The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, a part of the National Park Service, also provides a corridor for plants and animals to survive by shifting their range northward as the climate warms, and provides a refuge from other environmental stresses, such as habitat fragmentation and pollution, according to a study by The National Parks Conservation Association.

“The AT is and can continue to be part of the solution” for climate change, says Marian Orlousky, director of Science and Stewardship for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

“Keeping our forests healthy and intact is a big focus,” she says.

Along that line, the ATC is working to expand the AT corridor through land purchases, working with federal, state, and local organizations, says Dennis Shaffer, director of Landscape Conservation for the ATC. The organization’s strategic plan for 2021-2024 aims to protect an additional 100,000 acres of AT land in three years.

The ATC, The Conservation Fund, and the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club recently acquired 600 acres of land near McAfee Knob in Virginia, and the ATC worked with The Nature Conservancy and other groups to acquire 127 acres of forestland along the Kittatinny Ridge and the AT in Pennsylvania.

The Price of Climate Change

But from the Great Smoky Mountains in the South to the White Mountains in the North, climate change is increasing pressure on the AT.

Winters are growing warmer and shorter. Rainfall is increasing in the North, while droughts are becoming more frequent in the South. Plant and animal habitats are shifting north, and invasive plants and pests are moving in.

Climate change is all around us, according to the 2018 National Climate Assessment, a summary of climate change and its effects on the United States. The report, issued every four years, draws on scientists, a federal advisory committee, federal agencies, and the National Academy of Sciences.

For hikers, the changes may be varied. Warmer winters could mean less snow in early spring and a later first fall snowfall, extending the hiking season. The number of days with high heat and humidity are expected to increase.

A longer hiking season could increase the number of thru-hikers, section hikers, and day hikers on the 2,193-mile AT, putting more stress on trail organizations and trail maintainers in the 14 states that the trail spans.

Climate change is also projected to alter the geographic range of disease-carrying insects and pests, exposing more people to ticks that carry Lyme disease and mosquitoes that transmit viruses such as the Zika and West Nile viruses.

More and stronger hurricanes are a threat, especially because the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, which covers peak hiking season. The Appalachian Trail was closed during Hurricane Florence in 2018, although damage was not as extensive as predicted. Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 caused extensive damage to the AT and other trails in New England.

Working with Communities

The threat extends to rural communities near the trail that rely on natural resources, which are expected to suffer as a changing environment affects many people’s livelihoods.

In West Virginia, The Nature Conservancy is working with the logging, mining, and tourism sectors to explore how a nature-based economy could stimulate growth and create new jobs. That includes developing a business plan to demonstrate how improved forest management and carbon credits, solar energy, and agricultural activities on formerly mined lands can contribute to the economy.

“We have a unique opportunity to demonstrate the economic diversification potential that can come from helping forest owners gain new revenue sources through programs that leverage these natural solutions,” Campbell Moore, Central Appalachians program director for The Nature Conservancy, said in the 2012 report.

The Central Appalachians—Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee—are also seen as breeding grounds and seed banks for animal and plant species pushed out of their original habitat because of climate change.

The 2012 Nature Conservancy study analyzed 156 million acres from Virginia to Maine and into southern Canada. Scientists looked at forests, wetlands, and mountain ranges as collections of neighborhoods where plants and animals could live. Areas with diverse topographies, geologies, and elevation ranges were estimated to offer the greatest potential for plant and animal species to “move down the block” and find new homes as climate change alters their traditional neighborhoods, the report said.

The study identified the highland forests of West Virginia as one of the most resilient areas.

The Role of National Parks and Forests

The National Parks Conservation Association, in its report on climate change, said national parks are a place where natural communities have a better chance of coping with a changing climate.

“With our public lands and waterways at the forefront of the climate crisis, they offer one of our country’s best defenses for addressing these threats. Protecting, restoring and preserving them is key to combating it,” NPCA President and CEO Theresa Pierno said in a statement.

Here’s a look at climate change in two national parks and one national forest that the AT passes through.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, designated as a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve, is home to a rich diversity of species and ecosystems. It is also a premier tourist destination, a wild island in a heavily populated East Coast.

The park’s signature blue haze covering mountain peaks, along with high rainfall and humidity, make the Smokies a biodiversity hot spot. For now, the haze may be protecting the mountains from some of the effects of climate change.

But scientists wonder what will happen if rising temperatures cause that haze to disappear, and the National Park Service is funding studies that are seeking answers.

The park has one of the largest remaining tracts of eastern old growth deciduous forest, large stands of Fraser fir and hemlock, and more tree species than all of Europe. But acid rain, drought, and invasive pests are taking a toll.

The rare and ancient forests may be threatened by increasing ground-level ozone and insect pests unleashed by warming.

Warmer summers can produce more ozone pollution and more days with poor air quality, increasing health risks for visitors.

Native brook trout, already at the southern edge of where they can live, are threatened by lower stream flows and flooding from storms. For now, high-elevation streams surrounded by forests that are not yet affected by climate change may be able to continue sustaining trout populations.

In 2016, the Chimney Tops 2 Fire, determined to be arson, burned about 11,000 acres in the park, approximately 2 percent of the 500,000 acres in the park’s boundaries. Fueled by dry ground cover and spread by strong winds and windblown embers, the fire reached as far as Gatlinburg, Tennessee, killing 14 people in its path.

The fire occurred at a time of “exceptional drought,” according to the National Weather Service. If droughts become more common, wildfires are expected to increase, and contribute to a decline in air quality.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, a prime hiking and camping destination a short drive from the metropolitan sprawl of Washington, D.C., may become more heavily used as the climate warms and people seek cooler air in the mountains.

Increased vehicle traffic could worsen air quality, already a problem in the Shenandoahs and the Smokies. More than 20 million people a year drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway connecting the two parks.

Trout streams in the Shenandoahs also are facing increased pressure as drought lowers the stream levels and warming increases water temperatures. Floods can scour streambeds, destroying habitats. Eastern hemlocks in the park provide shade for streams and help keep the water cooler, but the trees are declining as the invasive woolly adelgid takes a toll.

The National Parks Conservation Association said that an estimated 95 percent of the park’s hemlocks—often called the redwood of the East because of their soaring height and broad trunks—have been killed by the woolly adelgid.

The trees are also crucial for providing wildlife habitats, such as for the endangered Shenandoah salamander. The salamander is found on high peaks in the park, where high-elevation trees crucial to its survival are being replaced by lower-elevation trees because of climate change.

White Mountain National Forest

By 2035, the Northeast is projected to be more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer on average than during the preindustrial era. This would be the largest increase in the contiguous United States and would occur as much as two decades before global average temperatures are expected to reach a similar milestone.

Rural communities that depend on agricultural, tourism, and natural resource-dependent industries will be affected by warming winters and less snowfall. Ski areas are already feeling the effects of less snowfall.

Tree pests such as the hemlock woolly adelgid and emerald ash borer are expected to emerge earlier in the season and expand their range. Both insects are already a big threat to hemlock and ash trees.

Moose, already at the southern limit of their habitat, do not tolerate heat well. As spruce, fir, and hemlock decline in the White Mountain National Forest of New Hampshire, there are fewer cool spots that provide respite from summer’s heat. That in turn can lead to heat stress, and make the animals more susceptible to parasites.

Winter ticks, thriving in recent warm winters, are taking a devastating toll on moose, as a New Hampshire Fish and Game Department study found. Twenty-one cows and 22 calves were collared in February 2014, and by spring 14 calves and one adult cow were dead because of winter ticks.

Migratory songbirds are arriving earlier in the spring. And birds dependent upon spruce and fir forests—the trees most vulnerable to climate change in the Northeast—are declining in numbers.

The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, a collaboration of the US Forest Service and private research institutions formed in 1955 in the White Mountains, has found that average annual precipitation increased by 12 inches since 1956, with the biggest increase in the summer (6.6 inches) and the smallest in the winter (0.66 inches).

Winter temperatures have increased by an average 3.5 degrees since 1956, while summer and fall temperatures have risen by an average 2.3 degrees. Spring temperatures are up by an average 2.2 degrees.

Since 1956, average snow depth declined by 12 inches, and the number of days with snow on the ground declined by 24 days.

The National Climate Assessment said there has been a 70 percent increase in “extremely heavy storms” in the Northeast since the 1950s. Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 caused extensive damage to trails in the White Mountains.

The Appalachian Mountain Club, which maintains and monitors trails in the White Mountains, has been at the forefront of climate change scientific research and its effects on the mountains.

The club has found:

Snowmelt in Pinkham Notch occurs two weeks earlier now than in the 1930s, although the timing of snowmelt on Mount Washington’s summit has not changed.
Alpine plants in the Presidential Range in the White Mountains are flowering one to two days earlier than in the 1930s. Flowering has advanced by weeks at lower elevations.

But the AMC noted some positive signs.

Ozone levels have improved since monitoring began in the mid-1980s and the most recent levels are the lowest recorded. National Clean Air Act programs that set targets for air quality and emission reductions are credited for that change.
Haze pollution has also been decreasing and visibility improving because of a decrease in sulfur and nitrogen air pollution.

Georgia Murray, AMC staff scientist who oversees the club’s air quality and climate monitoring programs, said the higher peaks of the White Mountains are not seeing the same climate changes as the valleys below. “The whole region is warming,” she says, but the upper elevations are not warming as fast.

What Can Be Done

Outdoor recreation clubs recognize the threats from climate change, and are taking steps to adapt.

The Green Mountain Club, overseer of the AT and Long Trail in Vermont, has outlined three areas to focus on.

Backcountry caretakers and educators: The GMC calls them the front line for trail and resource management at high-use sites, and says it must employ enough caretakers to manage increased use and provide public education.
Technology, science, and best practices: Ensure trails are durable and able to withstand the effects of climate change.
Protecting trails: Be prepared to restore trails that are most susceptible to extreme weather.

The AMC has been tracking and fighting climate change for years.

The club’s Conservation Action Network battles efforts to roll back environmental protections and encourages cleaner energy and transportation.

In addition the club has been tracking spring flower blooms, monitoring when tree leaves emerge in the spring and change color in the fall, measuring temperature and snow, and tracking other climate metrics to investigate the impacts of climate change on mountain ecosystems.

The AMC is also upgrading huts and lodges to be more energy efficient. Its Highland Center lodge and education center uses the latest in green design and technology.

What You Can Do

Hikers can help protect the AT, from practicing Leave No Trace to advocating for environmental causes.

Leave No Trace: Key among the seven principles of Leave No Trace is protecting and preserving rare plants that grow along the AT, the ATC’s Orlousky says. Plants already struggling to survive in a changing climate can be put under more stress by hikers straying off trails.
Volunteer: Join programs that monitor forest changes, such as iNaturalist, eBird, and the US National Phenology Network. Help maintain a trail. Join the AMC’s Conservation Action Network and help monitor plant flowering and fruiting by using the iNaturalist phone app.
Less packaging: Try to buy food in bulk, and dispose of packaging responsibly.
Mud season: Stay off trails during the wet season right after the snow thaws to avoid damaging them. Don’t cut new trails around muddy spots.
Vote: Support political candidates and organizations that work to mitigate climate change.

Looking Ahead

What does the future look like for the AT?

The National Park Service has partnered with the US Environmental Protection Agency to form the Climate Friendly Parks program, which seeks to make parks models of climate stewardship and education.

Among the program’s goals are:

Educate park employees about climate change and air pollution, and what they can do to lessen their impact.
Create a plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants.
Communicate with park visitors how climate change and air pollution affect the parks, how parks are dealing with those issues, and how individuals can take steps to mitigate climate change and pollution.

The ATC has played a big role in preserving habitats threatened by climate change.

It worked with House leadership in Congress to form an AT caucus to address land protection and policies that support the AT.

The ATC began projects to limit the spread of the emerald ash borer and focus on expanding habitat for the golden-winged warbler and pollinators such as monarch butterflies and bees.

The Appalachian Trail Landscape Partnership, formed in 2015 by the ATC, the park service, and conservation groups from Georgia to Maine, works to protect land along the AT.

The Wild East Action Fund that helps preserve land along the AT is part of that effort.

The ATC also works with partners to promote volunteer efforts to monitor and protect rare plants and animals along the trail, and remove invasive plants.

“The future is a monumentally collaborative effort,” the ATC’s Shaffer says. “No one is going to do this on their own.”