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Glacier National Park Zion National Park Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park Rocky Mountain National Park Yellowstone National Park Everglades National Park Acadia National Park Assateague National Park Bandelier National Park Saguaro National Park Theodore Roosevelt National Park Virgin Islands National Park

America's national parks are some of the most spectacular and treasured places in the country.

But these wild landscapes are confronting the greatest threat in their history - global warming. Rising temperatures are wreaking havoc in some of the nation's most pristine areas, and will continue to do so if we don't act quickly.

The Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and NRDC identified the 25 national parks most at risk of global warming in the September 2009 report, National Parks in Peril.

Warmer temperatures are melting glaciers at alarming rates, causing sea levels to rise and threatening coastal parks such as Acadia, Cape Hatteras and Everglades. But the repercussions don't end there. Hotter and drier conditions, and extreme storms and flooding, put plant communities everywhere at risk. With habitats and food sources devastated, wildlife are already struggling to survive.

Climate change poses a grave threat to our national parks. If we don't begin to curb our greenhouse gas emissions and work to reverse the warming process, we might lose these natural wonders forever. Congress needs to take action now.

last revised 9/30/2009