Daniel B Fagre, Ph.D.
Biography
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow. Wildlife Biology. 1981-83. University of California, Davis
Ph.D. Animal Ecology. 1981. University of California, Davis
M.S. Animal Ecology. 1978. University of California, Davis and B.A. Environmental Science. 1975. Prescott College, Prescott, Arizona
B.A. Environmental Science. 1975. Prescott College, Prescott, Arizona
Research Interests
Dr. Daniel Fagre works for the United States Geological Survey as Research Ecologist and Director of the Climate Change in Mountain Ecosystems Project, and Lead Investigator in the U.S.G.S Benchmark Glacier Program. He has been working since 1991 in the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park to understand how global-scale environmental changes will affect mountain ecosystems. Stationed at Glacier National Park, Montana, he has collaborated with other scientists around the world on diverse research projects that addresses glaciers, avalanches, amphibians, alpine plants, paleoclimates, snow chemistry and ecosystem dynamics of bioregions among others. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, has been faculty affiliate at six different universities and mentored or sponsored many graduate students, published three books and 150+ scientific publications, and co-founded several national and international science networks. He is currently active in the Western Mountain Initiative, a program to coordinate mountain research across different areas; GLORIA, a global program to monitor alpine vegetation on mountain summits on six continents; and CIRMOUNT, a consortium of mountain scientists.
Science and Products
Glacier Research
As Glacier National Park’s namesake glaciers recede, CCME staff are monitoring many of the park’s glaciers to determine the causes of change, assess their ecological and hydrological effects, and predict future changes and effects. Intensive research to determine the mass balance of Sperry Glacier will determine whether small cirque glaciers like Sperry can serve as reliable indicators of...
Floristic similarity, diversity and endemism as indicators of refugia characteristics and needs in the West
The floras of mountain ranges, and their similarity, beta diversity and endemism, are indicative of processes of community assembly; they are also the initial conditions for coming disassembly and reassembly in response to climate change. As such, these characteristics can inform thinking on refugia. The published floras or approximations for 42...
Malanson, George P.; Zimmerman, Dale L.; Fagre, Daniel B. Glacier-derived August runoff in northwest Montana
The second largest concentration of glaciers in the U.S. Rocky Mountains is located in Glacier National Park (GNP), Montana. The total glacier-covered area in this region decreased by ∼35% over the past 50 years, which has raised substantial concern about the loss of the water derived from glaciers during the summer. We used an innovative...
Clark, Adam; Harper, Joel T.; Fagre, Daniel B. Assessing the importance of terrain parameters on glide avalanche release
Glide snow avalanches are dangerous and difficult to predict. Despite recent research there is still a lack of understanding regarding the controls of glide avalanche release. Glide avalanches often occur in similar terrain or the same locations annually and observations suggest that topography may be critical. Thus, to gain an understanding of...
Peitzsch, Erich H.; Hendrikx, Jordy; Fagre, Daniel B. Protected area management
Designated protected areas are diverse in scope and purpose and have expanded from Yellowstone National Park in the United States, the world’s first national park, to 157,897 parks and protected areas distributed globally. Most are publicly owned and serve multiple needs that reflect regional or national cultures. With ever-increasing...
Wang, Yeqiao; Fagre, Daniel B.; Prato, Tony Climate change and the Rocky Mountains: Chapter 20
For at least half of the year, the Rocky Mountains are shrouded in snow that feeds a multitude of glaciers. Snow and ice eventually melt into rivers that have eroded deep valleys that contain rich aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Because the Rocky Mountains are the major divide on the continent, rainfall and melt water from glaciers and...
Byrne, James M.; Fagre, Daniel B.; MacDonald, Ryan; Muhlfeld, Clint C. Simulating future residential property losses from wildfire in Flathead County, Montana: Chapter 1
Wildfire damages to private residences in the United States and elsewhere have increased as a result of expansion of the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and other factors. Understanding this unwelcome trend requires analytical frameworks that simulate how various interacting social, economic, and biophysical factors influence those damages. A...
Prato, Tony; Paveglio, Travis B; Barnett, Yan; Silverstein, Robin; Hardy, Michael; Keane, Robert; Loehman, Rachel A.; Clark, Anthony; Fagre, Daniel B.; Venn, Tyron; Stockmann, Keith Spatial contexts for temporal variability in alpine vegetation under ongoing climate change
A framework to monitor mountain summit vegetation (The Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments, GLORIA) was initiated in 1997. GLORIA results should be taken within a regional context of the spatial variability of alpine tundra. Changes observed at GLORIA sites in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA are quantified within the...
Fagre, Daniel B.; George P. Malanson Symposium 9: Rocky Mountain futures: preserving, utilizing, and sustaining Rocky Mountain ecosystems
In 2002 we published Rocky Mountain Futures, an Ecological Perspective (Island Press) to examine the cumulative ecological effects of human activity in the Rocky Mountains. We concluded that multiple local activities concerning land use, hydrologic manipulation, and resource extraction have altered ecosystems, although there were examples where...
Baron, Jill S.; Seastedt, Timothy; Fagre, Daniel B.; Hicke, Jeffrey A.; Tomback, Diana; Garcia, Elizabeth; Bowen, Zachary H.; Logan, Jesse A. Examining spring wet slab and glide avalanche occurrence along the Going-to-the-Sun Road corridor, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
Wet slab and glide snow avalanches are dangerous and yet can be particularly difficult to predict. Wet slab and glide avalanches are presumably triggered by free water moving through the snowpack and the subsequent interaction with layer or ground interfaces, and typically occur in the spring during warming and subsequent melt periods. In Glacier...
Peitzsch, Erich H.; Hendrikx, Jordy; Fagre, Daniel B.; Reardon, Blase Geomorphic determinants of species composition of alpine tundra, Glacier National Park, U.S.A.
Because the distribution of alpine tundra is associated with spatially limited cold climates, global warming may threaten its local extent or existence. This notion has been challenged, however, based on observations of the diversity of alpine tundra in small areas primarily due to topographic variation. The importance of diversity in temperature...
George P. Malanson; Bengtson, Lindsey E.; Fagre, Daniel B. Time lapse photography as an approach to understanding glide avalanche activity
Avalanches resulting from glide cracks are notoriously difficult to forecast, but are a recurring problem for numerous avalanche forecasting programs. In some cases glide cracks are observed to open and then melt away in situ. In other cases, they open and then fail catastrophically as large, full-depth avalanches. Our understanding and management...
Hendrikx, Jordy; Peitzsch, Erich H.; Fagre, Daniel B. Timing of wet snow avalanche activity: An analysis from Glacier National Park, Montana, USA.
Wet snow avalanches pose a problem for annual spring road opening operations along the Going-to-the-Sun Road (GTSR) in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. A suite of meteorological metrics and snow observations has been used to forecast for wet slab and glide avalanche activity. However, the timing of spring wet slab and glide avalanches is a...
Peitzsch, Erich H.; Hendrikx, Jordy; Fagre, Daniel B.