A region's vitality, melting away

clipped from www.oregonlive.com HOOD RIVER -- The melting of Mount Hood's signature glaciers raises a crucial question for the region: How much do we depend on them and the cool meltwater they pour into rivers and creeks? New findings by Oregon State University researchers show that in certain places, the answer is: quite a bit. That is important news for Hood River and its famous fruit crop, which drinks in glacier water throughout the summer. Although rapid melting of the glaciers could release extra water in the near term, the glaciers eventually may retreat to higher, cooler and, in the case of north-facing Eliot Glacier, shadier reaches of the mountain, where their melting would slow, Nolin said. Eliot Glacier -- the mountain's largest -- supplies more than 85 percent of the August water in Eliot Creek, which flows from the glacier and provides an important water source for a local irrigation district.