Baby goat

Far north in central Montana, Glacier National Park is one of America's true natural treasures. Studded with glaciers,  granite mountains, lush green forests, plentiful waterfalls and abundant wildlife, the park is testament to the grandeur and beauty of America.

But climate change is having a drastic effect here. As CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman discovered when he visited Glacier National Park on Road Trip 2009, global warming is dramatically altering the landscape here. While the glaciers have been retreating for decades, "the rate and magnitude of the change we are witnessing today has not occurred since human civilization began," according to the National Park Service.

One eventual victim could be mountain goats, which are seeing their habitat shrink as trees "move into high alpine meadows." This baby mountain goat may well get a chance to live out its normal life as its parents and their parents and many past generations did, but that might not be true of its offspring. Or theirs.

Click here for the entire Road Trip 2009 package.

July 16, 2009 9:59 AM PDT

Photo by: Daniel Terdiman/CNET