SAMAYA x ICE & LIFE
SCIENCE AT THE SERVICE OF GLACIER PROTECTION
In 2022 and 2023, the Ice & Life project carried out field campaigns on several glaciers in Haute-Savoie to compile naturalist data on the ecological state of these areas and better protect them. With the latest mission having concluded in the summer of 2023, project manager Kenzo Héas shares his experience regarding the realities of the field.
Kenzo Heas: The main challenge for Ice & Life is to better understand in order to better protect. It is a project that aims to develop multidisciplinary scientific knowledge about glaciers and the ecosystems that succeed their retreat, known as post-glacial ecosystems.
In the field, we carry out fauna inventories through opportunistic naturalist observations. For remote glaciers, these are often the first observations ever made in these areas. We spend an enormous amount of time observing the wildlife, which we then georeference. We also perform point abundance indices for birdlife. We choose proglacial margins, which is the space between the glacier's limit in 1850—the "Little Ice Age"—and the current glacier front. We place a GPS point within this area and record everything we see and hear. This operation is repeated several times per proglacial margin.
Finally, we conduct flora inventories, cataloging all the plants found in these environments at varying distances from the glacier.
In the field, we carry out fauna inventories through opportunistic naturalist observations. For remote glaciers, these are often the first observations ever made in these areas. We spend an enormous amount of time observing the wildlife, which we then georeference. We also perform point abundance indices for birdlife. We choose proglacial margins, which is the space between the glacier's limit in 1850—the "Little Ice Age"—and the current glacier front. We place a GPS point within this area and record everything we see and hear. This operation is repeated several times per proglacial margin.
Finally, we conduct flora inventories, cataloging all the plants found in these environments at varying distances from the glacier.
KH: We carried out field campaigns in 2022 and 2023 to see the type of biodiversity developing in these newly deglaciated spaces. In total, we surveyed 27 glacial systems in two years, mostly in the Mont Blanc massif and the Aiguilles Rouges massif.
We conduct our inventories in protected areas like nature reserves and in non-protected areas, in the legal sense of the term. Non-protected areas are subject to potential degradation linked to human activity and the installation of new infrastructure. Our assessments and field diagnostics help provide knowledge on the state of these environments subjected to varying degrees of human influence and different levels of foot traffic.
This is work we carried out specifically at the Tré-la-Tête glacier, in the Contamines Montjoie reserve, a protected space subject to regulations. Conversely, other proglacial margins where we worked are veritable open-air landfills, such as at Lognan, above the Grands Montets pass in Chamonix—a recently deglaciated space where we find ski resort waste and terrain remodeling, signaling significant degradation of this area. Here, we find ourselves with two sites from the same massif showing different levels of degradation, depending on the status of the protection.
We conduct our inventories in protected areas like nature reserves and in non-protected areas, in the legal sense of the term. Non-protected areas are subject to potential degradation linked to human activity and the installation of new infrastructure. Our assessments and field diagnostics help provide knowledge on the state of these environments subjected to varying degrees of human influence and different levels of foot traffic.
This is work we carried out specifically at the Tré-la-Tête glacier, in the Contamines Montjoie reserve, a protected space subject to regulations. Conversely, other proglacial margins where we worked are veritable open-air landfills, such as at Lognan, above the Grands Montets pass in Chamonix—a recently deglaciated space where we find ski resort waste and terrain remodeling, signaling significant degradation of this area. Here, we find ourselves with two sites from the same massif showing different levels of degradation, depending on the status of the protection.
For the latest campaign in the summer of 2023, you spent a lot of time in the mountains.
How does the bivouacking experience fit into your research?
How does the bivouacking experience fit into your research?
KH: Our entire field campaign this summer took place while bivouacking. We mostly used the Samaya NANO BIVY whenever it wasn't raining; otherwise, we took shelter under the tent. We carried an enormous amount of equipment with us, including binoculars and field guides for fauna and flora. We therefore had to save kilograms elsewhere, and the bivy was a minor revolution for us because it is so light.
Once the empirical evidence has been gathered and the assessment performed, how do you move from observation and data compilation to the actual protection of these spaces?
KH: To transition this project to a macro level, we are developing many scientific partnerships with Swiss glacial modelers who use IPCC scenarios and subglacial topography to predict what glaciers will look like throughout the century. Based on these models, we highlight the different types of ecosystems that will develop after the glaciers, whether they be fjords, terrestrial areas, forests, heaths, grasslands, or lakes, as well as the speed of these changes.
To protect these glaciers, we work with local stakeholders to shift mindsets by explaining these phenomena and their impacts precisely. We are pushing to see Nature as a common good rather than a resource subject to privatization. The message we convey at the regional level is that glaciers and the systems that succeed them are a hotbed of biodiversity and that it is imperative to protect them, both from an environmental and an economic perspective. These spaces are a refuge for Nature and a guarantor of water resources, which is essential for every living being on this planet.
To protect these glaciers, we work with local stakeholders to shift mindsets by explaining these phenomena and their impacts precisely. We are pushing to see Nature as a common good rather than a resource subject to privatization. The message we convey at the regional level is that glaciers and the systems that succeed them are a hotbed of biodiversity and that it is imperative to protect them, both from an environmental and an economic perspective. These spaces are a refuge for Nature and a guarantor of water resources, which is essential for every living being on this planet.
