Iceworms

Glacier retreat and disappearance is a well-known and worldwide phenomenon. Less well known are the ecosystems that specialize on glacier ice. Of these the most diverse are likely the Pacific Northwest (PNW) maritime glacier ecosystems located from central Oregon to SW Alaska. Besides red snow algae and snow fleas, the most visible inhabitant is the glacier ice worm. Scientists in Alaska, Washington, and New Jersey have discovered that there are likely three species of glacier ice worm in the PNW. While they have been around for > 5 million years, their habitat appears threatened in a way that National Parks and other typical conservation approaches may not be able to mitigate.

Ice-worms are a relatively simple organism to search for and they are common in some Pacific coastal ranges (Olympics, Kenai) and absent in others (e.g., Juneau Icefield). It would be especially useful to know where people see them, with a GPS location and a digital photo of the worm and where it’s at, say cross glacier. That’d be simple enough that even a mountaineer could do it; however, while most alpinists carry cameras, few carry GPS, so a glacier name or map location and an altitude would be sufficient. And an actual ice worm in ethanol would be ideal, so long as there is accurate location information. Even a photo of a finger on the map would suffice.