I’m Dan Blumstein and lead (with my colleague Julien Martin) one of the longest-running mammal studies in the world here at RMBL.

I just left Gothic after spending a week in the field.  And I have to say — this season is unlike anything I have ever seen. While we’ve experienced variable snowpacks that are getting thinner over time, we always have had to ski into Gothic to start our season. This year we walked on a dry road!

Take a look at these photos my student Emily Renkey took comparing what it looked like four years ago to this year:

While I was there, I was back out checking on the marmots, and they are already telling us something important. The conditions we are seeing are not typical, and the marmots are responding in ways that reflect that. They are emerging earlier and facing high predation risks from our coyotes and foxes. Some may have not survived given the low snowpack and lack of insulation.

These kinds of changes that marmots and other species face matter — not just here, but far beyond the Gunnison Valley. I live in Los Angeles, and California depends on the water that comes from the snow up in Gothic.

I will be back this summer to continue marmoteering and host a few community talks. Bring your friends, your kids, your neighbors. This is a moment to come together and better understand what is happening and why it matters.

You can also follow the Marmot Project on Instagram to see how conditions have changed over the past few years — and what we are seeing in real time.

— Dan

Daniel Blumstein, PhD is a professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at UCLA and in UCLA’s Institute of the Environment & Sustainability.

Top: yellow-bellied marmots.