July 6-7 2009
Wrangell Mountains Center held the first Wrangell-St. Elias Research Summit last summer, bringing together academic researchers, NPS resource managers, students, and agency scientists conducting work in and around Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.
Monday July 6
8:00 Breakfast provided by Wrangell Mountains Center
9:00 Introductions Each participant was given a few minutes to introduce themselves and their research to the group, along with placing a pin in a map of the park indicating their research location(s). Participants included:
Guy Adema—Denali National Park, Climate monitoring
Christie Anastasia—Murie Science and Learning Center, Denali National Park
Dan Doak—University of Wyoming, Population Ecologist
Julie Elliott—University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, Tectonics
Tamara Harper—Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Invasive Plant Control Program
Barry Hecht—Berkley, Hydrologist, and Wrangell Mountains Center college program
Donna Holland—Indiana University Prude University Fort Wayne, Sociologist
Phil Hooge—Denali National Park, Murie Science and Learning Center
Meg Jensen—Superintendant of Wrangell-St.Elias National Park and Preserve
Ray Kreig—Geologist and Civil Engineer
Laura LaBlanc—University of Alaska Fairbanks, Glaciologist
Mike Loso—Alaska Pacific University, Geologist
Chris Larsen—University of Alaska Fairbanks, Glaciologist
Maggie MacCluskie—National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program
Bill Morris—Duke University, Plant Ecology
Jeremy Pataky—Executive Director of Wrangell Mountains Center
Ben Shaine—Wrangell Mountains Center college program
Todd Stoeberl—Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Interpretation
Kirin Riddell—Bill Morris’ research assistant
Alex Rose—PhD. Research on Swallows at Long Lake
Miranda Terwilliger—Wrangell-St.Elias National Park, Ecologist
Eric Veach—Wrangell-St.Elias National Park, Chief of cultural and natural resources
Jeff Welker—University of Alaska Anchorage, Arctic Ecologist
Molly Welker—Wants to help the Wrangell Mountains Center grow
10:15 Keynote talks
NPS-led research
Miranda Terwilliger, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Mollie McCormick, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Miranda Terwilliger, Park Ecologist:
Current research ongoing within the park mostly consists of work under the
Central Alaskan Inventory and Monitoring Network (CAKN I&M). Projects under
this umbrella include: climate, shallow lakes, streams, snowshoe hare abundance, bald eagle nests, and vegetation. In addition researchers survey for swans and their signets in cooperation with the US Fish & Wildlife Service. In addition Wrangell-St. Elias has some coastal research happening in conjunction with Parks along southeast coastal Alaska. Scott Gende, an ecologist based out of Juneau, has been conducting some basic inventory and monitoring of shore zone habitat including wave exposure, substrate type, sediment texture, intertidal organisms, subtidal algae, and some subtidal fauna. Judy Putera, the wildlife biologist, has monitors caribou and sheep populations in the park in addition to CAKN groups. She has a joint research project with ADF&G studying grizzly bears on the Malaspina forelands starting this year and assists USGS researcher Michelle Kissling with a Kittlitz's Murrelet (an endangered sea bird) study in Icy Bay. USGS researcher Gretchen Rolfer is currently undertaking a Dall's sheep genetics project throughout the park. Miranda Terwilliger currently oversees the vegetation monitoring and the invasive weeds programs and is working on inventorying our bats species and caves and karst throughout the park. In addition she will be doing fire ecology studies on the recent Chakina Fire.
Many of the Park needs include basic information about species in the park. The Park knows little about its predator populations, an issue that comes up regularly. They know very little about the marine mammals off of our coastline. They are very concerned about the impacts of climate change on the park as a whole and how it will change the ecosystems and the creatures dependent on it. If basic information can be gathered through larger research questions they would find it most useful.
Molly McCormick, Park Fisheries Biologist:
The freshwater fish inventory project started in 2001. NPS researchers are looking for presence/absence of fish species. This project is ongoing; they have sampled 52 streams, 30 ponds and lakes, 13 rivers, and one estuary. Baseline water quality data sets were also collected at most of these sites. NPS researchers are examining Sockeye and Chinook population estimates form the Tanada Creek weir. They have early Alaska Division of Fish and Game data from the 1970s. The NPS has collected data from 1997-1998 and 2001-2009.
They also have Sockeye population estimates from Long Lake. The Collins family has collected data from 1974-2002. The NPS has data from 2003-present.
They have Miles Lake sonar counts of salmon in the Copper – 1978 – present. We also have Federal harvest salmon data – 2002 – present, for the Chitina and Glennallen subdistricts. State harvest salmon data – 1960s to present – for the Chitina and Glennallen subdistricts. We are working on a project on Burbot abundance data from Copper and Tanada Lakes, 2007 – 8, as well as Kokanee genetics sampling in 2008. There is an airborne contaminant project in Copper, Tanada and Summit Lakes going on summer 2009. Some intersexed fish were found in the Copper Lake samples and further analysis will be done this year.
NPS researchers have collaborated with CRWP to conduct baseline water quality data at several places on the road system in the park.
Some future research possibilities in the Park include, examining Kokanee in the Copper Lake with an underwater camera in the outlet to Copper Lake. Researchers are interested in learning how much mixing there is between anadromous and landlocked sockeye. They are also interested in Long Lake, what are the fish populations, and what do the sockeye salmon that spawn in April do throughout the winter months? The NPS would also like to conduct a further study of airborne contaminants – depending on what the current studies tell us.
Central Alaska Network ‘Vital Signs’ Inventory and Monitoring Program
Maggie MacCluskie, National Park Service:
In 2001 the National Park Service implemented a long-term inventory and monitoring program across 270 park units. The Central Alaska Network of parks includes Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, and Denali National Park and Preserve. The intent of the program is to inventory and monitoring a suite of variables that indicate the state of the park resources. The conceptual model for the network in to monitor attributes across an altitudinal gradient as well as the latitudinal gradient of the network. The program has been phased in over the last eight years and at present the ‘vital signs’ being monitored in Wrangell-St. Elias include: climate, snow pack, vegetation structure and composition, water quality, macroinvertebrates, moose, caribou, shallow lakes, snowshoe hares, and bald eagles. Annual reports from monitoring activities are available on the network website at http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/cakn/reportpubs.cfm. Opportunities exist for researchers conducting projects in the park to share in logistics of getting to some remote locations in the park. Inquiries for those opportunities should be directed to Maggie MacCluskie, Program Manager, Central Alaska Network (Maggie_MacCluskie@nps.gov or 907-455-0660)
Ecological Studies in the Wrangells: Past, Present, and Future
Daniel Doak, University of Wyoming:
While a wide diversity of ecological projects have been conducted in the Wrangell Mountains, and more generally in the park as a whole, Daniel Doak will concentrate on work done by academic researchers. He will also classify this work into three general groups: studies of single-species, species interactions, and community interactions and effects. In the first group, work includes studies of lichen demography by Michael Loso, research on the latitudinal gradient in clutch size using tree swallows at Long Lake, by Alexandra Rose, and studies of climate effects on population growth and demography by William Morris and Daniel Doak. Species interactions research includes studies of plant-herbivore interactions using dwarf fireweed, by Daniel Doak, effects of spatial patchiness on a Dryas-feeding caterpillar and its enemies, by Patricia Doak, the complex interactions of bumblebees and bluebells by William Morris, and work on bark beetles and white spruce by Patricia Doak. In the last category of ecological work, community effects interactions and effects, Michael Loso also worked on the effects of bark beetles, as well as wood harvesting, on white spruce populations. Also in this group of research is work by Steve Matsuoka and others on the effects of beetle kill on breeding bird abundance and diversity, and research on the effects of grizzly bear digging on alpine plant communities by Daniel Doak and Michael Loso. The presentation concludes with discussion of work done in the late 1960s at Skolai Pass, (The Icefield Ranges Research Project Scientific Result: Volumes 1-4, 1974) on various aspects of abiotic drivers and ecological pattern that could provide baseline data for a resampling program now.
The St. Elias Erosion/Tectonics Project (STEEP)
Julie Elliott, Aaron Berger, Chris Larsen, Terry Pavlis, Natasha Ruppert, and Lindsay Worthington, UAF Geophysical Institute:
Southern Alaska is a tectonically convoluted region. In the east, the Fairweather-Queen Charlotte faults system forms a major strike-slip plate boundary while in the west, subduction occurs along the Aleutain megathrust. In between these two tectonic regimes is a complex transitional area known as the St. Elias orogen. The tectonics of the St. Elias orogen are further complicated by the on-going collision of the Yakutat block, a small sliver of the earth’s crust, with southern Alaska. This collision has resulted in one of the highest coast mountain ranges on earth and some of the most spectacular topography in North America. The peaks and valleys are heavily glaciated; making the St. Elias orogen is an ideal place to study the interactions between glacial erosion and tectonics.
Despite the superlative topography and glaciers, not many details about the tectonics and erosion were known. Many major questions remained about the plate motions, locations of active faults, tectonic history, and past and present amounts and timing of erosion. To help answer these questions, the St. Elias Erosion/Tectonics Project (STEEP) was designed. The project involves researchers from ten universities in a variety of disciplines including geodesy, seismology, glaciology, geology, thermochronology, and geodynamic modeling.
Results from STEEP indicate that the Yakutat block is moving to the northwest at a rate of about 50 mm/yr, resulting in about 45 mm/yr of convergence between that block and southern Alaska. Based on GPS and seismic data, the Icy Bay/Malaspina Glacier region appears to be the current collisional front, with northwesterly dipping thrust faults taking up some of the total tectonic motion. Geologic field studies show that old, E-W oriented faults have been overprinted by younger NE-SW trending structures. Currently active thrust faults continue westward from Icy Bay/Malaspina Glacier area in echelon formation through the Yakataga region to the Bering Glacier. Thermochronology work indicates that rocks in the southern half of the orogen have been exhumed at a faster rate than those in the northern half, indicating that a structure in the vicinity of the Bagley ice field is acting as a barrier to tectonic deformation and concentrating it nearer to the coast. The fastest rates of exhumation roughly correspond to the areas experiencing the highest rates of glacial erosion, suggesting that the glacier activity may be focusing the tectonic motion. Offshore, seismic reflection data from the Gulf of Alaska reveals that previously active faults were shut down and buried by the massive outpouring of sediment during the extensive Pleistocene glaciations. Younger, active faults have developed to the east and west of the buried structures.
Cryosphere research in the Wrangells
Chris Larsen, University of Alaska Fairbanks:
In Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve we have the largest extent of ice outside of the polar regions. This is driven by the high mountains right next to the ocean. Recent cryosphere research in the Wrangells can be thought of as focusing on three primary questions: how thick is the ice, how fast is it melting, and how fast is it moving?
The Bering Icefield is 1250 m thick at its maximum. This was measured out of an airplane with electromagnetic echoes—a relatively new technique compared with traditional ice penetrating radar operated from the glacier surface. The Malaspina Glacier has most of its bed below sea level where the glacier is moving the fastest and causing the most erosion; the maximum thickness of the ice there is 1000 m.
How fast are the glaciers melting? In 1992, Chris Larsen inherited (from Keith Echelmeyer) an ongoing effort to record mass balance of Alaskan glaciers. So far most of the major glaciers in Alaska and the Yukon have been measured using laser altimetry shot from a small airplane flown down the center of a glacier. During the flight the elevation of the surface of the ice is recorded. The first flight gives a base line for elevation and then the second flight, usually about five years later shows the change in ice elevation. From these measurements glacier volume changes can be determined and then compared over time to determine the mass balance of the glacier. Many of the glaciers have now been flown three times since the beginning of the project. One important finding is that some of the glaciers have dynamic events that effect them more than climate change, such as surging events or tidewater. Many glaciers in lower elevations are thinning much faster than others, such as the Yakatat Icefield, Brady Icefield and Harding Icefield. How fast are glaciers moving? Tim Bartholomaus studied the Kennicott glacier with continuously recording GPS stations and found diurnal velocity variations, due to water flow, with an average speed of 0.5 m per day. Another recent study of the Bering Glacier found that the glacier speeds up around 3-4 pm and slows down at around 3-4 am. As in the Kennicott Glacier study, it appears that melt water and pressure account for the increased speed of the glacier.
A new project for the Park is in Icy Bay. The Bay is a new feature created in the last 100 years as the Malaspina Glacier breaks away from its terminal moraine causing unusually rapid glacier retreat in deep water fjords. Now there are two glaciers and a bay where the Malaspina Glacier used to be. It is currently being monitored as part of a three year project focused on glacier seismicity: earth quakes caused by glaciers. The glaciers are monitored with GPS stations, seismometers, and time lapse photography to document motion and calving.
Historically, the biggest cryosphere project in the Wrangells was on Mt. Wrangell, where over 50 years of seismic data has been collected along with other research. Some highlights of this work include Terris Morre’s work in 1953 examining high latitude and altitude cosmic rays. In the 1960’s Carl Benson and Roman Motyka worked on a project examining volcano and glacier interactions, and beginning in 2003 researchers from Japan, Russia, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks have been working together examining ice cores from Mt. Wrangell for atmospheric particulates.
12:30 Lunch provided by the Wrangell Mountains Center
1:30 Walk to glacier edge Hosted by local scientists Mike Loso, Barry Hecht, Bill Morris, Dan Doak, and Ben Shaine. The walk fostered discussions of the water resources of McCarthy and Clear Creek, as well as discussions of glacial moraine formations and history at the toe of the glacier.
4:30 Happy hour Scientists and members of the community interacted and discussed research in the park. Hosted by the Wrangell Mountains Center
5:30 Dinner provided by the Wrangell Mountains Center
7:00 Public lecture Hosted by the Wrangell Mountains Center
“Bluebells and Bumblebees: Pollination Biology of Wrangell Mountains Wildflowers”
Bill Morris, Duke University:
Most of the wildflowers that make alpine meadows in the Wrangell Mountains such beautiful places to visit require the pollination services of bumblebees. In this talk, Bill Morris first talked about some favorite wildflowers that require visits by bumblebees in order to produce seeds. Next he discussed how bumblebee pollination affects humans in the Wrangells, which is a tale of good plants (blueberries and cranberries), bad (or at least mixed) plants (roses, with edible rose hips but also spines) and ugly plants (devil's club, covered with spines, although also used in herbal medicine), all of which are pollinated by insects. Bill next talked about 3 aspects of the biology of bumblebees (their ability to keep the hive warm, their life cycle, and their thermal physiology) that make them uniquely able to act as pollinators in cold places such as the Wrangell Mountains. Finally, he discussed his own research on the interaction between bumblebees and one particular plant, bluebells. Bumblebees take nectar from bumblebee flowers by chewing holes in the side of the flower to more easily access the nectar, without contacting the reproductive parts (the stigma and anthers) of the flower. This nectar larceny thus does not benefit the flower. However, an experiment Bill has done shows that when bumblebees are abundant, nectar robbing does not have a detrimental effect on bluebells. That is because bumblebees also visit the same flowers in a different way to collect pollen (the only source of protein in the bumblebee's diet), and in so doing, pollinate the flowers. Nevertheless, other experiments he has done show that in years when bumblebees are scarce, robbing of nectar may reduce bluebell seed production. Thus the strength of the mutualism (a jointly beneficial interaction between 2 species) between bluebells and bumblebees may vary from year to year, depending on how many bumblebees are foraging for nectar and pollen during the time period that bluebells are flowering.
Tuesday July 7
8:00 Breakfast provided by the Wrangell Mountains Center
9:00 Morning Talks
Eric Veach—How to apply for a WRST research permit, Who needs a research permit and What are the benefits?:
People who are doing work in the park that is outside of what visitors are allowed to do need a permit. As a permit holder you are also responsible for providing the Park Service with an annual research summary of your work. If you are intending to use a helicopter for access to the park, if your are going take anything from the park, if you are going to dig any holes in the park or if you will have a large group of people or staying for a long period of time you will need to get a research permit for your work. All of this information as well as the applications for permits are available on the parks webpage.
The whole process takes time, so it is something that should be planned ahead of time. Please give about two months for the process. If there will be a disturbance to the park then the permit may have to go into the Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement process, which could take up to a year or longer.
Helicopter use in the park is limited during sheep hunting season so that is something to keep in mind when determining your research timeline.
Roundtable Discussion
Topic Ideas for group discussion:
Park Wide Research Priorities
Funding Sources Available for Research
Educational goals for the group
Summit Follow up Work
1. What can we do after the workshop?
2. Should we do this again?
Wrangell-St. Elias Research Priorities
One of the major research goals that the Park Service has is to gather more information on wildlife in the park, especially about the predator species. This is an area where not much is know at the present time, few species even have a base line of population size.
This created a group discussion of Wrangell-St. Elias as a place of great latitudinal, altitudinal, and climatic gradients that can be examined for the impacts of the changing climate. The group suggested using this overarching goal to create base line studies for the wildlife populations in the park, but to also look at the larger systems connections in this unique environment. Fostered by this discussion of the Park need for monitoring key species and the goals of academic scientists to study systems interactions, the idea of a white paper for the research in the park was created. This document will outline a set of research priorities and goals, authored by private investigators but conceived in collaboration with the Park Service, so that scientists know what the research needs are for the Wrangell-St. Elias region. This document might also serve as a guiding document for subsequent NPS planning.
Plans were set in motion to have another meeting in the coming year for some of the researchers to get together to start work on the white paper. The next step is creating a budget for the meeting and writing a proposal; Dan Doak volunteered to lead this effort. The white paper will focus the research priorities for Wrangell-St. Elias around landscape changes in the park, examining systems interactions rather than species interactions. The group concluded that the white paper would be a way to link the park with the academic researchers and enable them to work together to understand the changes in this landscape.
Summit Follow Up Work
The group then changed gears to talk about follow work to the Summit. The formation of a webpage was suggested that would consist of information about the Summit and would be made available to a wide audience. This website would be linked between the Wrangell Mountains Center, the Murie Science and Learning Center and the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Some suggestions for the site included being able to host a list of current and historical research projects in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, links to papers and research that has been done in the park, and a description of the permitting process for other people who are interested in doing research in the park. This website will be hosted by the Wrangell Mountains Center and display the role that the Center plays in hosting research and researchers in the Wrangell’s.
Outreach Opportunities
The group then moved on to discuss outreach opportunities that would be available to share the natural history of the park along with the rich cultural history, especially in Kennecott where the glacier is so accessible to visitors. Some suggestions were to place interpretive displays in the Kennecott Recreation Hall and in the General Store where interpretation has no been fully planned yet. Along with these, trailside displays were also suggested for along the main hiking trails. Allowing park visitors to have a more in-depth understanding of the natural history since Kennecott is a very culturally rich location the wonderful natural history of the location is often over looked. The summit participants also discussed purchasing/creating traveling interpretive displays that could be used around the park to educate visitors and locals about the areas natural history. These displays could be used in school classrooms by educators and by Park Rangers around the Park.
The group also discussed an annual meeting between park interpretation rangers, local guides and researchers working in the park to allow the transfer of current work between scientists and the people talking with park visitors. This would allow visitors to have the most recent information and keep locals and rangers connected with the park as a whole. This exchange of information is important, especially in a Park the covers so much area.
The roundtable discussion was finished up with a discussion of methods to turn primary scientific papers into a form that was easily understood by the general public. Allowing lay people to have an understanding of the general research being done in the park without having to wade through the pages of primary literature that is not written for the average citizen.
12:30 Lunch provided by the Wrangell Mountains Center
1:30 Vans to Kennicott Free time for exploring and discussion
3:00 Poster session The group reconvened at the Kennecott Recreation Hall for a poster session with the community. The Posters presented were:
Baseline Studies of Dall’s Sheep Populations: Genetic Diversity and Parasites
Gretchen Roffler—USGS Alaska Science Center
The Effects of Environmental and Social Changes on Arctic and Sub-Arctic Rural Alaskan Families
Donna Dea Holland, PhD.—Indiana University Prude University Fort Wayne
Environmental Geochemical Study of Stratabound, Porphyry, and Skarn Deposits in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
R.G. Eppinger, P.H. Briggs, V. Ballestrazze—US Geological Survey, Denver, CO
D. Rosenkrans, NPS, WRST, Copper Center, AK
Permafrost Monitoring in Wrangell-St. Elias and other CAKN Parks
Guy Adema—Denali National Park/CAKN
Long Term Data Set from the Long Lake Weir Identifies Trends in Copper River Basin Sockeye Salmon Stocks
Molly McCormick—Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Joshua Schmidt—Central Alaska Network Inventory and Monitoring Program
Eric Veach—Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Accretionary Tectonics of Southern Alaska Constrained by GPS
Julie Elliott, Jeffery Freymuller, Christopher Larsen, and Roman Motyka—Geophysical Institute, UAF
Time-Series Analysis of Icequakes and Ice Motion, Bering Glacier, AK
Laura LaBlanc, Chris Larsen, Mike West, Marin Tuffer—Geophysical Institute, UAF
Shad O’Neel—Alaska Science Center, USGS, Anchorage
Cave Inventory Wrangell-St. Elias National Park: UAS-WSENP CESU Project
Kevin Allred, Carlene Allred, Steve Lewis, Cathy Connor—Tongass Cave Society and the UAS Environmental Science Program
Glacier Sliding Response to Varying Water Inputs at the Kennicott Glacier, Alaska
Timothy C. Bartholomaus, Robert S. Anderson, and Suzanne P. Anderson—University of Colorado, Bolder
What is the History of the Uplift of the Old Wrangells and the Creation of the Chitina Valley and its Tributaries, Including the Kennicott Valley?
Ben Shaine
Plant and Community level Response of the Arctic Tundra to Long Term Snow Addition and Increased Air Temperatures in Northern Alaska
Robert Pattison, Jeff Welker, Bjartmar Sueinbjornsson, Patrick Sullivan, and Jeremy Chilgnell
6:00 Dinner provided, potluck style, public welcome at the Kennicott Recreation Hall
7:00 Changes in the Land Moderated panel discussion of landscape change, based on the personal experiences of longtime residents hosted my Mike Loso in the Kennecott Recreation Hall. Panel members were:
Mark Vail, Fireweed Mountain
Ben Shaine, Kennicott
Kirk Ellis, Nabesna
JoeNeal Hicks, Mentasta
Kelly Bay, McCarthy
The discussion started off with introductions of the speakers and each of them explaining to the audience why they are able to talk about change in the land. Mark Vail came up to Alaska in his teens and went dip netting in the Copper River. He caught a large Red Salmon and this made him want to live in the Kennicott Valley. He bought a piece of land in the Fireweed subdivision sight unseen, and rode his bike out the McCarthy road in 1987 and had lived here ever since. Mark lives a subsistence lifestyle.
Kirk Ellis lives in Nebesna on the north side of the park. His parents moved to Alaska in the 1950’s and his whole family has lived a subsistence lifestyle. He has seen a lot of change in his life, mostly a loss of wilderness.
JoeNeal Hicks is from Mantasta, he is an Alaska Native, and his grandmother is Katy Jones. He had a hard childhood, no playing, just gathering food for the winter. The subsistence lifestyle is difficult. About 75% of his diet growing up was from subsistence, and now in his community it is only about 45%. He has seen many changes with land especially with ANLCSA. He didn’t notice changes until after joining the military, now Joe is thankful for everything he has.
Ben Shaine came to Alaska at the age of 20. He has tried to leave many times, but keeps coming back. Now he teaches the college program for the Wrangell Mountains Center so that he can give this opportunity to other college students. He has seen many changes through the 27 years of the college program.
Kelly Bay came to Alaska in 1975; he ended up in Fairbanks, and then got a job working on the pipeline. One of his friends saw the Wrangell Mountains from the Alaska Range, and they drove down the McCarthy road and stayed. He has built a home here and spent many years trapping on the Chitina.
Mark Vail has noticed many changes in the Kennicott valley, melting on the glacier and changes in the braiding of the Kennicott River. He has seen many social changes as well. In the 1980’s there were not as many people here, but now more and more people come to stay in the summers, but not thought the winter. Also Mark has noticed an increase in the number of moose in the area. He feels this is due to the increase of hunting of wolves and bears in the park. Kirk has also noticed a steady decline of game in the area; Joe has seen this trend too.
All of the panel members have noticed a social change, especially regarding land issues with the formation of the National Park and the limitations of private lands. One can no longer go out and live on your own anymore. There have also been many changes noticed with the receding glaciers. Everyone has noticed that there is less ice then there used to be. There have also been changes with Iceberg Lake, which used to be full all year round and now drains once a year or so.
The panel members think that any changes to the road will change McCarthy; any road improvements will increase the number of people coming into the town in the summer. But at the same time they understand that without these changes, like the Park being formed or road improvements, they would not have the life they do now.
The panel ended by encouraging the next generation to think about their environment and to make choices that reduce their impact on the land no matter where they are living, in McCarthy, Anchorage, or somewhere else. Mark Vail encouraged the audience to walk the last mile when ever possible, and to think about one’s impact on the land, not just locally, but globally as well. The panel members gave final comments to the audience about preserving the sense of place that we have here in the Wrangell Mountains.
