Collier Glacier is shrinking

Image: Mary Hare, of La Pine, and Diana Eddleston, of Bend, hike past Middle Sister’s Collier Glacier in late July. In the top photo, circa 1910, the glacier reached the ridge they are walking on — more than a mile farther than it is today

BREAKING EARTH NEWS

OREGON, USA

BEND, Ore. - Between the North Sister and Middle Sister in Oregon's Cascade Range, Collier Glacier has advanced and receded for hundreds of thousands of years. But like many glaciers, it is headed in one direction these days: backward.

It is in serious peril, says geologist Ellen Morris Bishop of the Fossil-based Oregon Paleo Lands Institute. "We have basically a really sad picture of Collier Glacier today."
Geologists blame among other things a warming climate, altering the landscape and perhaps the availability of water to high-elevation ecosystems. Collier is shrinking faster than most of the 35 glaciers in the state.
"Now everything is just in a chaotic shrink," Bishop said.


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