A breach remaining in the Otis Pike Fire Island Wilderness at Fire Island National Seashore is a reminder of Hurricane Sandy/NPS

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include NPS comment that the president's decision will not affect the agency's climate change mission.

President Trump's decision Thursday to have the United States exit the Paris Accord on climate change sent shivers through the nation's conservation community, but it remained to be seen how that action might impact the National Park System.

The National Park Service long has been one of the federal government's leaders on climate change, declaring it a real phenomenon driven by humankind, and the Interior Department on its website lists climate change as one of its priorities. Yet late last month there were media reports that Interior officials deleted a key sentence in a report on climate change and sea-level rise. The sentence --  “Global climate change drives sea-level rise, increasing the frequency of coastal flooding.” -- was scrapped and replaced with one that removed the cause of sea-level rise.

National Park Service officials in Washington said the president's action would have no impact on the agency's climate change mission. The agency has a number of web pages dedicated to climate change and how it is changing the world around us and the National Park System.

We may find that our future climate is challenging to parks and people alike. Although we can't yet predict exactly how climate change will impact a specific area, we are seeing—and will continue to see—the following kinds of changes:

• The timing of flowering, breeding, and migrating will change.
• Plant and animal ranges will move upward and northward.
• Storms will increase in intensity and/or frequency.
• Animal-borne diseases will spread into new areas.
• Historic buildings once safe from river floods and ocean levels will be in jeopardy, and park infrastructure will be at higher risk.
• The iconic views visitors enjoy from our national parks may look upon very different landscapes.

Impacts will vary widely by resource and by region and park. For example:

• Melting permafrost combined with rising sea levels and changing storm tracks in the Arctic are accelerating coastal erosion and loss of archaeological sites, and structures and disrupting modern Native lifeways and traditions.
• Higher intensity rainfall in the American Southwest is causing rapid deterioration of adobe structures, while conversely extended droughts and subsequent wildfires are raising threat levels for buildings and landscapes in the same region.
• In the Gulf of Mexico, sea level rise and more intense storms raise questions of maintenance for historic forts such as Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas National Park.
• As permafrost melts, archeological artifacts like bone tools from Lake Clark National Park and Preserve are uncovered. When these artifacts are exposed, they risk being lost or destroyed. Their stories would be lost forever as a result.
• Rising water levels could damage iconic monuments like the Jefferson Memorial due to more frequent and severe flooding in the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC.

Back in 2012 a potent storm named Sandy -- at one point labeled a Superstorm before being downgraded -- roared up the Eastern Seaboard, downing trees and flooding many units of the National Park System, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. A lingering marker of that storm, thought to be an example of the more powerful storms climate change would give rise to, is the breach it opened in the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness Area of Fire Islands National Seashore on the coast of New York.

Since then the Park Service has kept climate change in mind as its gone about its work. Indeed, as of Thursday the Park Service was planning to hold a webinar on Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy next week.

Cultural resources are our record of the human experience. Collectively, these archeological sites, cultural landscapes, ethnographic resources, museum collections, and historic buildings and structures connect one generation to the next. The National Park Service is charged with conserving cultural resources so that they may be enjoyed by future generations. Climate change is adding challenges to this role, and will continue to affect cultural resources in diverse ways. At the same time, through the tangible and intangible qualities they hold, cultural resources are also part of the solution to climate change.

Meanwhile, conservationists both criticized the president's decision and vowed to continue working to build consensus across the country to fight climate change.

"By withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, President Trump has abandoned the United States’ leadership on this critical issue and has ignored the voice of individuals and businesses across the country, including many in the outdoor industry," said Amy Roberts, executive director of the Outdoor Industry Association. "With his actions, the president threatens not only the $887 billion outdoor industry and the 7.6 million American jobs it supports, but threatens the very future of our planet.  

"In the absence of leadership by the Trump administration, we call on Congress and state leaders to redouble their efforts and support policies that address climate change and work to mitigate its impacts on communities and economies across the nation," she added. "As the majority of Americans are increasingly concerned about this growing threat, now is the time to work toward developing fact-based, innovative and bipartisan solutions."

Additional criticisms flowed from the National Audubon Society, Trout Unlimited, the American Bird Conservancy, Western Resource Advocates, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, among others.

US. Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, noted that with the president's decision the United States joins Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries not to support the Paris Accord.

“The Trump administration and its climate denier allies have isolated themselves from the real world,” Rep. Grijalva said. “Today’s announcement reminds me of the Bush official who dismissed the ‘reality-based community,’ and we all remember how well that went. Leaders of real stature don’t need to sacrifice human lives and Americans’ health to prove how smart and tough they are. If they have any hope of rebuilding their lost credibility, this administration and its apologists need to reverse course immediately and hire some people who understand the first thing about science.”