Outdoor experts share personal impacts of climate change

The streams and mountains of northwest Montana — the lifeblood for many who live here — are at risk, and the time to act is now.

This was the message espoused by speakers during a Nov. 8 forum titled “Fire on the Mountain” at the O’Shaughnessy Center. The event featured outdoor advocates Hilary Hutcheson, Ryan Busse and Todd Tanner sharing their experiences dealing with the effects of climate change. The program was part of a series of forums sponsored by Climate Smart Glacier Country.

Climate Smart Chairman Steve Thompson said the topic of climate change may be a difficult one to discuss with family at the Thanksgiving dinner table thinking the subject is “taboo.”

“People think that the science of climate change is political, and in fact it is not political, it’s just basic physics,” Steve Thompson said. “However, once we get beyond the reality that climate change is happening and we understand why, then we get into the question of what we do about it.”

Hutcheson works with Protect our Winters, an advocacy group for winter sports, and owns Lary’s fly fishing shop in Columbia Falls.

A year ago, before the White House transitioned to President Donald Trump’s administration, Hutcheson worked with a multitude of other professional athletes to help the Department of Energy compile a detailed report on the ways climate change affects her sport and career.

Testifying next to players from the National Football League and other major professional sports, Hutcheson got a chance to shed light on some of the issues facing her sport.

Some, like “hoot-owl” restrictions on rivers in western Montana, were news to those compiling the report. Hoot-owl restrictions close rivers to fishing from 2 p.m. to midnight to ensure fishing is done at the coolest time of day and to give fish a break when the water is warmer.

“It was neat to be able to tell them something about heat and energy and my activity here that they didn’t know, because they were tasked with putting that into a report,” she said.

For a fly fishing guide, time restrictions on when fishing is allowed means less time on the water with clients and less income, she noted. Even for those who aren’t guiding, restrictions mean less fishing and fewer products bought and used from her fly shop.

Hutcheson said ways the climate impacts her livelihood lined up with issues voiced by other athletes. Even Major League Baseball players spoke out about not being able to play at their highest level in extreme heat, and NFL players showed concern about the large amount of waste being produced at their stadiums.

The last she heard of the report was that it had been shredded, but Hutcheson is still fighting for better awareness of the effects of climate change.

During the forum Hutcheson screened “Convergence,” a short film featuring her and her two daughters talking about what fishing means to them and how that way of life is being threatened. The film was one of two shown during the forum made by Todd Tanner.

Looking at her daughters, both teenagers, Hutcheson said she realizes the new amount of worries and concerns they have to deal with regarding the changing climate.

“Now there’s teenagers who have this huge heavy thing on their shoulders,” she said. “This is something a lot bigger, something we don’t want to be so scary that we’re frozen and can’t move forward and do something. ”

Ryan Busse with Backcountry Hunters and Anglers also spoke on his experiences outdoors and how the hobbies and passions of Montanans are threatened by a changing climate.

Busse lives in Kalispell and is the chairman of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Vice President of Kimber America.

“I like to say that everybody in Kalispell, Whitefish, northwestern Montana — we work to live, we don’t live to work. We’ve organized our lives [around outdoor recreation], so these things are important to us,” Busse said. “This is our life, it’s who we are. It’s our being. Yeah, it’s fun, but it’s more than that.”

Busse focused primarily on fishing and bird hunting in Montana. Warmer lands and waters, along with more extreme weather, threaten to push the valued species of fish and birds away from northwest Montana, he said.

“Montana is the mecca for wild bird hunting. This is the place where people across the world by the thousands come every year,” he said.

The biggest actionable advice Busse had to offer was to contact state representatives.

When concern about the environment comes from unexpected demographics, the message comes across even stronger, he said.

“We live in a world where politicians, political parties and other interests like to put all of us in these particular boxes so they can predict exactly how we’re going to vote and behave,” he said. “When a bunch of camo, plaid wearing guys show up and they’re all of a sudden concerned about environment and climate issues ... it has a huge impact because we’re breaking down these barriers and these boxes.”

Outdoor writer and advocate Todd Tanner of Conservation Hawks shared a short film screening of “Cold Water” and talked about what’s at stake with climate change.

Tanner lives in Bigfork and is founder and president of Conservation Hawks, an alliance of hunters and anglers educating sportsmen about climate change and climate solutions.

“The thing I like to say is that climate change is personal, and a lot of us don’t realize that yet, but we will. It puts everything we care about, everything we love at risk,” Tanner said.

As for what the ordinary, outdoor-loving community member can do, Tanner said it’s all about communication.

Learning more about the effects of climate change, lowering personal emissions and using climate friendly products were suggestions form Tanner on how to be more climate-aware, but the key is to talk to family, friends and politicians about concerns.

“It is really simple, if you love to hunt, to fish, to ski — if you love Montana ... then we need to act on this stuff, we need to take it seriously, we need to inform ourselves and engage.”