So TNWR has two campgrounds that are on our property and we have the pleasure of running them (very untypical of any refuge to have campgrounds). At Deadman Lake Campground we host interp talks every night during the week, starting this week. So my chosen day is Wednesday’s and I get to go talk to people for about 2 hours- give or take a bit.
Deadman Lake
My talk this week was originally going to be on Map & Compass Skills since no one knows how to use a compass anymore thanks to GPS and even less know how to use a topographic map… and in Alaska your GPS is bound to fail- this attributes to a large amount of hiking/mountaineering search and rescues!
But I decided against it and took the easy route for the first week and showed off my new Phenology Research Skills.
What is Phenology you may ask? Well good question. Here is the short and simple of it: study of the way nature changes over the years and what attributes to those changes. Well at least that’s the definition that makes sense to me. Basically the refuge entered into NPN (National Phenology Network). Phenology is one of those things that you basically volunteer to do and in the interior of Alaska summer is normally spent getting ready to survive the winter therefore not too many people want to participate. So they left it up to us! We have set up a handful of plots along the Alaska Highway and are keeping notes on these plots. This is a brain child of one of our biologists and as Pletta would say it I am the brainchild’s nanny basically. I am in charge of the plots at Highway Lake and the Visitors Center as well as keeping an eye on the plots at Deadman Lake Campground (the camp hosts are doing the research right now). We have pollinator plots, tree plots and plant plots and I get to watch em’ all! Basically every other day I need to go outside for 15 minutes and watch the pollinator plot and note a bunch of different things- i.e. flowering, bees, butterflies and all that jazz. The trees I need to note the phases the tree is going through, and what songbirds and mammals I see around the tree. The plant plots I note the variation in the plants once again. We have specific species we are looking for with songbirds, butterflies, dragonflies and all those guys- therefore I am relearning biology (“I am a geologist, I just scrape the biology off the geology normally and don’t look at it”). So its been interesting. It is a lot to take in and we just started this project this week, this year. So I am kind of a pioneer! COOL!
Pheno Plot
Pollinator Garden
So why do we do it? Well basically it is to try to check on this whole global warming hubbub. These changes, when recorded over years and years are compiled in a huge database with NPN and looked at in small and large scale. This is the kind of science that I wont see and probably my kids wont even see the result of. You know… the best kind of science.
One way you might have heard of it is if the name Aldo Leopald rings a bell- author of Sand County Almanac which is actually phenology at its finest! If you are from WI and especially the Madison/Dells/Baraboo area and have not heard of Mr. Leopald you should be seriously ashamed of yourself. Basically this guy did phenology for years in Sauk County.
The cool thing about phenology and the thing I stress is that everyone can do it. Anyone who ever realized when they were done with college and they studied the wrong thing and really secretly wished they wanted to be a scientist (we are the coolest people actually) can be a phenologist! All you need is a notebook and a pencil. Maybe some binoculars. Write down big picture changes- first snowfall, leaves changing, first flowers blooming… keep track of that! And if you want to get into detail- go for it man- the world is your oyster! This information is held pretty highly by federal, state and even county agencies since phenology is currently the hottest scientific trend.
And some flowers!
Arctic Rose
Labrador Tea
Arctic Rose
Something puffy
Blueberry?? (or is it cranberry?? i think its blueberry.)
The *something puffy* is actually Alaska cotton - from the sedge family. There are 14 species of AK cotton in the state.
ReplyDeleteI just took another trip to Denali Park and hiked the Savage River Trail. There were so many wildflowers blooming!
I'd like to recommend Verna Pratt's Alaskan Wildflowers book for reference: http://www.epinions.com/review/Verna_E_Pratt_Field_Guide_to_Alaskan_Wildflowers_epi/content_474059476612 I carry it in my camera backpack, and when we travel throughout the state. It's been a great help.
I love the many species of wildflowers that grow here! Your photos are lovely. Now I need to go in search of blueberry flowers. I've never seen them! I do like it when the berries come though.