Climate Watch · Front Page Story
The Ice That Feeds the Forest Is Melting
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High in the Olympic Mountains, above the Hoh Rain Forest, sits a giant river of ice called Blue Glacier. In summer, its melting ice trickles down and helps fill the Hoh River. But the Earth is getting warmer, and Blue Glacier is shrinking. Scientists who measure it say it is much smaller than it was when your grandparents were kids.
The Hoh River begins in ice. High on Mount Olympus, Blue Glacier — the largest glacier in Olympic National Park — releases meltwater all summer long, feeding the river that runs through the rainforest below. But as the climate warms, the park's glaciers are retreating. Park scientists count them: in 1982 the park had 266 glaciers; by 2009 only 184 remained, and about a third of the park's glacier ice area melted away in roughly 30 years. The largest glaciers, Blue Glacier among them, are thinning by about three feet of ice every year.
Why a Rainforest Needs Ice
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You might wonder: this forest gets 12 feet of rain a year — why does it need a glacier too? Here's the secret: most of that rain falls in winter. In late summer, when rain is rare, the melting glacier keeps the river cold and full. Salmon need that cold water to survive. No ice means warmer, lower rivers — and trouble for salmon, otters, eagles, and bears.
The Hoh's 140 inches of rain arrive mostly in winter. In late summer, when weeks can pass without a storm, glacier melt is the river's backup water supply — it keeps the Hoh cold, clear, and flowing. That matters because the river's salmon depend on cold water, and the forest's food web depends on salmon: otters, eagles, and bears all feed on them, and the nutrients from salmon even fertilize the trees. When the ice shrinks, the whole chain feels it.
A Warning From 2015
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In 2015, the mountains got almost no snow. That summer, something shocking happened: a wildfire burned in the Hoh Rain Forest — one of the wettest places in America! It showed scientists that even a rainforest can dry out when the snow disappears.
In 2015, the Olympic Mountains' snowpack collapsed to a tiny fraction of normal during a severe drought. That summer, the Paradise Fire burned for months in the Queets rainforest valley, just south of the Hoh — a wildfire in one of the wettest forests in North America. For scientists, it was a preview of what hotter, drier summers could mean for temperate rainforests.
🌿 The Hopeful Part
Here's the good news: the Hoh is protected inside Olympic National Park, and people are on the case. Scientists climb the mountains to measure the glaciers. Rangers teach visitors how to care for the forest. And researchers — like you! — tell the forest's story so more people will help protect it. Your StoryMap is part of the rescue team.
The Hoh has powerful allies. It sits inside Olympic National Park — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — where scientists have measured Blue Glacier for decades, building one of the longest glacier records in America. That data helps the world understand climate change. Rangers, researchers, and volunteers monitor the rivers, the salmon, and the marmots. And storytellers matter too: when you publish a StoryMap about the Hoh, you're doing real conservation work — helping people care about a forest most of them will never visit.