Austin Amestoy: Welcome to The Big Why, a series from Montana Public Radio where we find out what we can discover together. I'm your host, Austin Amestoy. This is a show about listener-powered reporting. We'll answer questions, big or small, about anything under the Big Sky. By Montanans for Montana, this is The Big Why. Subscribe here so you don't miss an episode.
Today we’re tackling a question of great ecological importance — so, of course, I’ve got reporter Aaron Bolton here to guide us. Hey Aaron!
Aaron Bolton: Hey Austin!
Austin Amestoy: So, where is our listener question taking us today?
Aaron Bolton: We received a question about the Ninepipe area in the Mission Valley. Our listener wanted to know how the wetlands there formed and if climate change poses a threat.
Austin Amestoy: For those who may be unfamiliar, can you give us an overview of the Ninepipe area?
Aaron Bolton: The Ninepipe wetlands cover thousands of acres across the Mission Valley. There are nearly 15,000 acres that are protected by federal, state and tribal agencies, but many more wetlands are on private lands. So it’s really this sprawling complex of wetlands and grasslands tucked at the base of the Mission mountains.
Austin Amestoy: Our listener wanted to know how the wetlands there formed. What can you tell us about that?
Aaron Bolton: I drove out to the Ninepipe wetlands to meet Art Soukkala and Blair Libby. Both work on wetland conservation for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
And they took me near the Kicking Horse Reservoir. But surrounding the reservoir is this sea of brown grasslands dotted with these small bowl-looking wetlands.
Soukkala says massive glaciers carved through this valley all the way to Missoula. Those glaciers eventually melted as the earth’s climate changed.
That big melt formed Glacial Lake Missoula, which flooded into the Mission Valley.
“What that did was it dropped these silt, clay, loam soils. They’re very tight, they don’t allow water to percolate.”
Soukkala says what was left after the flood water receded was permafrost. That permafrost formed these ice-heaves.
“And when they melt out, they collapse. That creates depressions.”
Austin Amestoy: Are those depressions left behind the wetlands we can see today?
Aaron Bolton: Yes. The depressions collect runoff, and the soils deposited from the Lake Missoula flood prevent that water from absorbing into the ground.
They are commonly called prairie pothole wetlands. You can see many of them in eastern Montana as well.
But these wetlands, although created by natural climate change, could offer a window into the future of the Arctic as it thaws from human-caused climate change.
Austin Amestoy: Sounds like wetlands have a ton of scientific significance!
Aaron Bolton: That they do. But it’s not just the wetlands themselves that are important. It’s the grassland ecosystem they are a part of as well. Animals like waterfowl nest in those grasses and use these wetlands to feed. Grizzly bears utilize the grasslands and so do falcons.
The wetlands themselves do provide other ecological services beyond habitat. They filter out nutrient runoff from farms, they store water into the summer, mitigating drought, and they store an outsized amount of carbon.
Austin Amestoy: What do you mean by outsized?
Aaron Bolton: I’ll let Blair Libby with the CSKT explain that.
“We’ve known that wetlands store a disproportionate amount of carbon in their soils. It’s like 8% of the world's soils are wetlands, but approximately 30% of the world’s soil carbon are in those soils. So you can see how important they are.”
Austin Amestoy: Hm, so just as wetlands can help inform us about the future impacts of climate change, it sounds like they’re just as important to mitigating it.
Aaron Bolton: Yea, people like Libby say preserving wetlands everywhere, not just in the Ninepipe area, is one of the most important things we can do when it comes to combating climate change.
Austin Amestoy: Our listener wanted to know if human-caused climate change is a threat to these wetlands. Are they at risk?
Aaron Bolton: They most definitely are. Though it’s hard to predict how climate change will impact them. That’s because how wet or dry these wetlands are varies widely. And that’s completely normal.
Austin Amestoy: Why that variation?
Aaron Bolton: The Ninepipe wetlands are mostly what’s called perched wetlands, meaning they don’t have groundwater sources.
Snowmelt from the Mission Mountains fills these wetlands every spring. Some years are wetter and some are dryer. So the wetlands are really at the whim of how much snow we have in the mountains.
But with climate change, that variation will become more extreme. Tom Parker is an ecologist who's helped the CSKT with a lot of preservation work in the Ninepipe area. He says as the climate warms, we are likely to see more of those dry years. That means less of a chance for wetlands to recharge in the spring.
“Things would evaporate quicker, things would dry up sooner and provide habitat for earlier and shorter periods of time in the summer.”
Soukkala says more wetlands have been drying up earlier in the summer over the past decade. Last year was a particularly dry season and only 13% had water when he went out for his survey in July.
Austin Amestoy: Will there be a ripple effect as more of these wetlands potentially dry up faster every year?
Aaron Bolton: There could be less habitat for migrating birds or maybe the wetland habitat is gone by the time flocks need them. It also means that wetlands will filter toxins and runoff for a shorter amount of time during dry years. And if they dry up completely, they won’t provide any of those services. And the carbon they stored could be released back into the atmosphere, furthering climate change.
Austin Amestoy: That sounds like a future we want to avoid. Is there anything being done to save these wetlands?
Aaron Bolton: Well, there’s nothing we can do to guarantee good snow years.
But the CSKT is working to protect these wetlands from development. That’s been an increasing pressure as more people move to the area. The tribes have already protected 3,000 acres through purchasing land or easements.
But many of these wetlands are on private property. And a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling likely weakened protections for many of them. That means it could be legally easier for developers to drain and fill them in.
All my sources told me that while it’s bad that wetlands can dry up as a result of a warming climate, any flood years we have will quickly restore that habitat. Once the land is developed for homes or agriculture, those wetlands are gone forever.
Austin Amestoy: Aaron thanks for your reporting.
Aaron Bolton: Thanks for having me on.
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