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4th of July fireworks shows were canceled across the West this year, one of the many ways climate change is creating a "new normal" in America. More than 150 fire scientists signed a letter urging people to skip fireworks, citing unprecedented heat and wildfires burning across the region.
According to the Bureau of Land Management, people have started more than 370 wildfires in Utah this year alone. A wildfire in Alaska triggered an evacuation order for a hot springs resort on Monday, and even Hawaii is battling a surge in wildfires.
Climate change is also driving changes at Yellowstone National Park, where a new assessment found that temperatures are as high or higher than any time in the last 20,000 years, and likely the warmest in 800,000 years. The most severe warming in the park is happening above 5,000 feet in elevation. Below sea level, Death Valley National Park was nearly 8 degrees hotter than normal in June, reporting an average temperature of 102.9 degrees, peaking at 128 degrees on June 17.
America's power grid is woefully unprepared for climate change. Kyri Baker, an engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, told Recode “I would probably give our power grid maybe a C minus. It’s like this perfect storm of extreme temperatures, more electricity consumption, and aging infrastructure.”
How to handle the crowds
As America's national parks overflow with visitors, travelers are discovering nearby public lands, especially in places like Utah, where the Bureau of Land Management has taken on a larger role managing crowds. The St. George News profiles Allysia Angus, one of just two landscape architects employed by the entire agency. Angus has spent more than 20 years based out of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, although she's worked on projects from Alaska to Oregon as well.
“First thing you do is listen,” Angus said of her work with local residents and visitors. “You try to understand. I would say it’s not that uncommon that our visitors and the local public actually share a lot of the same concerns. You have to acknowledge that making everyone ‘happy’ is impossible. We have to make decisions that are solid for the location and for the variety of people and critters that depend on it.”
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Things get full really, really fast. And that's where we're seeing a lot of struggles. Folks are new to this, this recreating on public lands, and they don't quite understand what that means ... it's not a hotel."
